Carbon footprint calculator for construction projects

Abstract

With the advent of awareness regarding carbon emissions and desirable reduction, this paper provides a calculator for the estimation of carbon footprint resulting from construction projects. For this purpose, we developed a software toolkit dubbed ‘Carbon Footprint Calculator for Construction Projects (CFCCP)’ capable of building a complete construction material database of carbon emissions. This is accomplished by accounting for wide range variables including construction size, landscape, and material construction. This calculator yields more accurate estimates as compared with other recently introduced calculators which consider only the general inputs of a certain project and produce estimates within ±25% accuracy. In this paper, the cost of the accuracy is accomplished via quality library variables such as project design plan, detailed bill of quantities (BOQ), and schedule timeline. The tool automatically outputs a detailed report describing the tasks and their associated carbon emissions which enables managers to take corrective measures to minimize these emissions before the onset of the project. Although the focus of this paper is on construction projects, the utilization of CFCCP may also be extended to other project types if database files for the project material can be built. For example, potential applications may involve the design of green buildings given that these kinds of buildings typically utilize materials from distant sources resulting in noticeable increase in their initial carbon footprint.