RIB Software launches free-to-use carbon quantifier to optimise construction work

As the industry contributes to a third of global greenhouse gases, new tech will help businesses quantify carbon emissions

Leading multinational provider of innovative technology solutions to the architecture, engineering, and construction industries, RIB Software, has partnered with non-profit organisation, Building Transparency, to develop the RIB Carbon Quantifier.

Through a direct link with Building Transparency’s Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3), the application allows users to quickly, easily and consistently allocate carbon environmental product declaration values against their imported estimate data, including resource quantities.

This comes as studies highlight the industry’s impact on the environment, with construction constituting a staggering 39 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and accounting for 36 per cent of global energy demands.

Executive Insight

René Wolf, Chief Executive Officer at RIB Software, says there is a growing need to reduce emissions within the engineering and construction sector to combat the damaging effects of climate change. “Until recently, the industry’s response to reducing building-related emissions has focused on energy efficiency by reducing operational emissions – the energy used to heat, cool and light buildings.

“Although previously effective, this approach overlooks embodied gas emissions associated with material and construction processes across a building’s lifecycle, which represents a quarter of the CO2 emitted during the life of a building and 11 per cent of all global carbon emissions.

“It is therefore critical to increase efforts to quantify, monitor, evaluate and ultimately reduce the embodied carbon emitted throughout the lifecycle of a construction project – and the driving factor for why RIB Software developed the Carbon Quantifier application,” explained René.

Through this powerful partnership of technology, industry professionals will now have access to an additional toolset to optimise the efficiency in the quantification and measurement of carbon, thus better facilitating design and procurement decisions, helping the global AEC industry in achieving a lower embodied carbon footprint.

René added that the need to accelerate decarbonisation practices in the industry is critical, and using an application like the RIB quantifier will not only allow users to optimise carbon quantification but will ensure they avoid unnecessary energy spent and emissions generated from associated projects and processes.