The carbon calculator is an Excel spreadsheet that calculates the embodied carbon dioxide of materials plus carbon dioxide associated with their transportation. It also considers personal travel, site energy use and waste management.
Our carbon calculator could help you make decisions on the the sustainability of your construction activities.
We have a broad interest in construction and the associated environmental impacts. We are also a significant construction client. Our construction spend (£200 million for 2007-08) accounts for approximately 3% of the construction civil engineering sector.
As a construction client, our role is to lead by example and demonstrate what sustainable construction means in practice. Improving resource efficiency and reducing carbon emissions from our construction projects is an important part of that.
Working with Jacobs we have developed a carbon calculator aimed at our construction activities. We will be using it on all of our major construction projects from November 2007.
What do we use it for?
This tool helps us assess and compare the sustainability of different designs, in carbon dioxide (CO2) terms and influences option choice at the options appraisal stage.
It helps highlight where we can make big carbon savings on specific construction projects.
We can also use it to calculate our total carbon footprint from construction and help us to reduce it.
The tool was developed with our own construction activities in mind (predominantly fluvial and coastal construction projects). However, other construction clients, contractors and consultants may find it useful when assessing their own activities.
We have updated our Construction Carbon Calculator. As well as incorporating the latest data on the embodied carbon in construction materials into the tool, we have also took the opportunity to make some significant improvements to the tool by putting a greater emphasis on helping the user to reduce the embodied carbon of their projects.
Case studies
The case studies below show examples of how, along with our framework partners, we have used the carbon calculator to identify big carbon savings on our projects:
