LCA and Embodied Carbon

DesignBuilder provides 2 methods to calculate environmental impact of the building construction (as opposed to its operation):

• One Click LCA.
• Embodied Carbon.

One Click LCA Integration

The recommended way to carry out a complete Building Life Cycle Assessment, is through our native integration with One Click LCA ®, a powerful yet easy to use LCA and LCC platform. The integration enables DesignBuilder users to:

• Transfer their DesignBuilder energy models quickly and easily to One Click LCA for additional materials analyses.
• Achieve BREEAM Mat 01 LCA and LCC credits and LEED v4 LCA and materials credits.
• Use One Click LCA’s material database to get a true picture of the carbon & LCA performance.

Note: The One Click LCA integration uses the material names selected in the DesignBuilder model, mapping those to known certified data contained in the extensive One Click LCA database. The embodied carbon data entered in the DesignBuilder Materials database is not used in these analyses.

For more information on the integration see: DesignBuilder and One Click LCA: instant Life Cycle Assessment from DesignBuilder 5.2

Guidance on how to access One Click LCA from DesignBuilder can be found at: DesignBuilder - One Click LCA Guidance

Note: You should contact One Click LCA to obtain a licence to access their online system from DesignBuilder.

Embodied Carbon Results

DesignBuilder also provides a report of the embodied carbon and equivalent carbon data for the building on the Embodied Carbon tab of the Cost and Carbon screen. The carbon data covers only bulk construction and glazing materials and not lighting, HVAC and other building services.

The calculation is made by summing the embodied carbon data for each surface in the model, calculated using construction material layers and the embodied carbon data for each material.

The materials and constructions inventories are equivalent ways of showing the same data, but broken down in different ways. The total for the building is shown at the bottom.

An example Embodied carbon report is shown below.