Carbon Modeling Tool – Facilities Lifecycle

By peter.cholakis@verizon.netCarbon Modeling Tool, Carbon Modeling Tool - Facilities Lifecycle, Facilities Lifecycle

Carbon modeling tool for the facilities capital delivery process.

  •  Assess carbon over the whole life of constructed assets
  •  Align carbon and costs
  •  Develop carbon options
  •  Capture data and monitor carbon targets
  •  40% reduction in construction carbon emissions
Components The two components of the Carbon Planning Tool are:

·        Carbon Modelling Tool – top-down whole life carbon assessment and optioneering, used during the project appraisal phase to enable quick and simple carbon assessment to inform the solution selection process. LINK

·        Carbon Calculator – detailed bottom-up whole life carbon assessment, incrementally built up during the delivery phase, following selection of a preferred project solution option. The final Carbon Calculator assessment is used to create data points in the carbon models within the Carbon Modelling Tool. LINK
 The construction carbon modeling tools estimates emissions from a variety of sources covering the whole life of a project. These emissions sources are described below, and are split into capital carbon (which occurs, at the time of project implementation – most often the construction of the project, which is known as the first intervention), and lifecycle carbon (which occurs over the asset’s lifetime, which is 100 years within ERIC).

Capital Carbon

Category Description
Materials Carbon associated with materials used for the project, including extraction, processing, manufacture and distribution – this is also known as cradle to gate embodied carbon.

This step excludes carbon associated with the installation and use of the materials during the construction process, which should be fully captured in the Installation section. However for several earthworks materials, some construction processes may be included in the emissions factor applied (where noted in descriptions).
Transport Carbon associated with the transportation of resources. Three subcategories are assessed:

·        Materials – delivery to site

·        People – travel associated with both contractor and non-contractor personnel to site

·        Plant – delivery of plant from supplier to site

Carbon associated with the manufacture, servicing and repair of plant is not included within the calculator.
Installation Carbon associated with the construction process. Three subcategories are assessed:

·        Site establishment – fuel/energy use during construction

·        Plant use – fuel use during construction

·        Waste – transportation off-site to dispose of excess materials and other construction process waste such as arising from the site.

Carbon associated with the final disposal of waste is not included within the calculator.

Lifecyle Carbon

Category Description
Operational carbon Carbon associated with the ongoing operation of each asset/sub-asset. Four subcategories are assessed:

·        Use – use/manning of assets, based on travel to/from the site

·        Maintenance – planned maintenance activities, based on an assessment of travel to/from the site and use of plant and materials where required

·        Repair – an assessment of unplanned repair activities, based on an assessment of travel to/from the site and use of plant and materials where required

·        Energy – power consumption
Refurbishment carbon Carbon associated with interventions at the end of an asset/sub-asset’s useful life that extend the useful life.
Replacement carbon Carbon associated with re-building an asset/sub-asset at the end of it’s useful (or if refurbished, extended useful) life.
Demolition carbon Carbon associated with the demolition of life-expired asset/sub-assets. Three subcategories are assessed:

·        Materials Waste –  transportation off-site of demolished materials

·        People – travel to/from site

·        Plant – transportation to/from site and fuel use

Carbon associated with the final disposal of waste is not included within the calculator.
Residual carbon The carbon emissions associated with assets that extend beyond the 100-year project lifespan. The residual carbon is presented and subtracted from the whole life carbon total to produce a total net emissions figure for the project.

Figure below outlines the options available to estimate the capital carbon emissions for earth used

carbon tool

 

(Source of above – Whole Life (Construction) Carbon Planning Tool, Instruction: LIT 14284                                                                      Published: 02/09/2021)

 

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