Mainstream whole life carbon assessment tools such as OneClick LCA and eTool are popular across the industry, but require a certain level of expert knowledge to complete them.
The whole life carbon assessment is not completed by a consultant so it’s more cost efficient and time efficient. When we do use consultants to supplement CarboniCa, they add value to the project by helping make the assessment more robust and reduce carbon, rather than completing the assessment.
The results are as good as mainstream tools and often more accurate. Side by side assessments have shown that, through the use of mainstream tools, assessments often underestimate embodied carbon because of gaps in the assessment and assumptions made by the assessor.
The helpdesk and support of the tool is provided by construction engineers who understand the calculations and can help users solve problems
The tool automatically generates design and procurement recommendations, making it a carbon reduction tool rather than just a measurement tool
It’s an upskilling tool for project teams, by giving contractors, consultants and clients knowledge and understanding of carbon in the built environment. For example, our teams now can explain the carbon footprint of a project to clients and how to improve it, because they understand it
The report is transparent. Clients know what assumptions have been made and trust the data more
The tool has a simple view where all possible forms of construction have been modelled one by one. This takes the user through the process of completing an assessment rather than a blank canvas.
The data inputs are designed around the data that is available to a contractor such as the cost plan and BIM outputs, so that data can be entered efficiently and accurately.
The tool also has an advanced view where the user can customise all of the assumptions and be in full control of the assessment.
The tool is credible in the UK because it has been built from the ground up on the RICS professional standard for whole life carbon assessments, and third-party validated against it.
Supply chain intelligence is fed directly into the tool in the form of data and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), so it reaches the client quicker to inform decision-making about product selection and design options.
