How are vanguard Architects tackling #ClimateEmergency?

In recent weeks on the blog, I’ve covered how to measure your carbon at home (and devised a beta spreadsheet to do so); how to audit the carbon footprint of your architecture practice (by the 30 June deadline laid down by Architects Act); and this week, I was planning to delve into the topic of how to measure the carbon impact of design and construction projects.

But, to be honest, I was feeling daunted by that task, because I’m not an architect myself, and no amount of talking to architects about their process and experiences would equip me with the knowledge I’d need to do justice to the topic.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to get an email from Clinton Cole; the Sydney-based architect whose own house, Welcome to the Jungle, was singled out by Kevin McCloud as embodying an ideal way forward.  

How is Clinton Cole measuring sustainabilty, carbon and embodied energy in architecture projects?

Clinton told me about the research conducted by his design and building firm - CplusC Architectural Workshop – into sustainability, carbon, embodied energy and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software, over the past six months. And he very generously gave me permission to pass his findings on to you, which saved my brain from exploding, and hopefully will help you too.

So, from Clinton’s own hand I share the following advice:

“This is the best piece of software by a very long shot: www.oneclicklca.com. It aggregates the most trusted independent research on embodied energy material data from all over the world on almost every conceivable material or product.

It even includes an average distance from supplier/source to your project location etc, and allows you to go to the next level of adding in electricity and gas costs, solar, water storage, battery etc.

If a material is not in the database, you simply notify them and they will do the research and add it to the system.

I’ve attached some snaps of the results we produced on a completed project using their free trial. Don’t take this as gospel as we picked up two errors after the trial ran out, which would have been an easy fix.

Image provided by C+C Architectural Workshop using the OneClick LCA tool.

The data is generated directly from our BIM model (this project is actually built) and the results took about 4-5 hours to produce. This was our first time using the software so most of that time was spent learning the system.

In my view, this is the silver bullet that can change the world of architecture for the better and address the Climate Emergency. It is already used extensively in the USA and throughout Europe, but only two architecture firms in Australia have picked it up, and only very recently.

This is how we could manage and monitor projects produced by Architects (amongst the many other professionals it can also serve); improve our projects during the design phase with respect to embodied energy; and show our clients in real time what the impact of every decision has on CO2e. 

The attached reports highlighted to us that certain materials we use in very small quantities actually have enormous embodied energy. We now have the ‘as built data’ and the software to review alternative materials on our projects moving forward and in real time.

Image provided by C+C Architectural Workshop using the OneClick LCA tool.

Image provided by C+C Architectural Workshop using the OneClick LCA tool.

Image provided by C+C Architectural Workshop using the OneClick LCA tool.

 In addition, this is potentially how we could judge projects for industry awards - by benchmarking minimum LCA CO2e standards; standards that in my view should be well above local and state government minimums. This is the opportunity to show consumers our value, value that is actually measurable and meaningful in the context of the climate emergency we are facing.”

Thanks Clinton for sharing that very comprehensive review of the One Click LCA tool with our readers.

If your practice doesn’t have the time or inclination to undertake months of research into the various LCA tools currently available, please feel free to road-test Clinton’s recommendation, and trial the product against projects in your own practice.

And if you have done some research of your own - about how to measure carbon in the design/construction phase of your projects (ie Life Cycle Analysis, or LCA) - and would like to share your findings, please let me know what tools and/or systems you use, by clicking here to send me an email.