New Ways to Assess and Measure Embodied Carbon in New Homes

A NEW WAY to assess embodied carbon in new homes and measure it has been launched by the Future Homes Hub.

The Future Homes Hub says it used to be that most of the carbon emissions of a new home over its lifetime would result from the energy used by the occupants.

Now, with the increasing thermal performance of new homes, and as the energy grid continues to decarbonise, the focus is beginning to shift towards the embodied carbon of construction materials. These emissions are associated with manufacturing products and assembling them into a complete building. They also come from the maintenance and eventual deconstruction of the building.

Embodied and operational carbon together make up the whole life carbon (WLC) of a product, which is important to be able to measure and reduce in tackling climate change.

Whole Life Carbon Conventions and Tool

The Future Homes Hub’s Whole Life Carbon Conventions for New Homes introduces a methodology for measuring WLC. If this adopted nationally is will create a consistent set of tools and interpretations that will lead to an even playing field in conducting assessments.

Alongside this, the Hub has launched the first version of its Whole Life Carbon Assessment Tool for testing. The tool allows housebuilders to quickly calculate embodied carbon by having a number of construction build-ups and values already built in, giving a consistent embodied carbon measurement.

This means, for the first time, how much carbon our homes will produce over their lifecycle can be calculated and compared, like for like.

David Robins, Director of Central Technical Service at Places for People, who was involved in the Future Homes Hub working groups that developed the Whole life carbon conventions and tool, said: “As we deepen our approach to reducing emissions, we rapidly need much better information on where the carbon emissions arise for different build types. Only then can we set credible targets that we can embrace with confidence.

“Calculating the embodied carbon can be time consuming and expensive so having the free tool will mean that everyone can calculate the embodied carbon on developments at an early stage.

“For us, this is invaluable, as we will be able to make adjustments to the design or specification quickly and check the impact it has on the embodied carbon calculations as the project progresses through the concept, planning and detailed design stages. This will open up a world of possibilities and start to influence the design choices we make along with the materials and manufactures we select.”

It is expected that housing developers will work with their supply chains and manufacturers to raise awareness of embodied carbon and reduce it in the homes they build.

View the Whole Life Carbon Conventions for New Homes and download the Whole Life Carbon Tool.

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