Smarter climate decisions with new early stage tool

How does the shape of a building affect its climate footprint? This can be difficult to grasp today, as there are no established methods for calculating climate impact in the early stages of design. Now FOJAB, in collaboration with IVL Swedish Environmental Institute, Warm in the Winter, Tyréns, RISE and Chalmers, is developing a tool for this. The Swedish Energy Agency has granted SEK 3.8 million in funding.

The climate impact of buildings is largely determined early in the construction process, but the relationships between shape, frame solution and climate footprint are currently difficult to calculate. Calculations are usually made late in the project and many conditions and decisions that can affect climate impact are already locked in.

The new tool will make it easier for construction and real estate stakeholders to evaluate the climate impact of different solutions, in order to make wise climate decisions at the design stage.

The tool links the Grasshopper 3d program, which is often used as a sketching tool in early stages, and the Construction Sector's Environmental Calculation Tool (BM). When different building elements such as an exterior wall, an interior wall or a floor are linked to simple digital volume sketches, an automatic feedback on the building's climate impact is given based on generic climate data for building resources. In this way, the architect can quickly and easily - and early on - compare the climate footprint of different building alternatives.

The three-year project that has now been granted funding is a further development of a previous project within the Swedish Energy Agency's E2B2 research program. The tool will now be further developed with better measurement data to make the results more reliable. Price and energy efficiency will also be integrated into the tool.

- The tool increases the understanding of the factors that drive the climate footprint, both initially in the design phase and what needs to be monitored during the course of the project. It will help developers and clients in the private and public sector as well as architects and designers," says Petra Jenning, architect and project manager at FOJAB.

Would you like to know more? Feel free to contact us:
Petra Jenning
petra.jenning@fojab.se
tel. 072 236 12 44