Carbon profiling

Carbon profiling is a mathematical process that calculates how much Carbon Dioxide is put into the atmosphere from 1msq of space in a building over 1 year.

The metric analysis this in two parts, 1 operational carbon emissions and 2 embodied carbon emissions, which are then added together to produce an overall figure which is termed the ‘Carbon Profile’.

Embodied Carbon Emissions relate to the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from creating and maintaining the materials that form the building eg the carbon dioxide released from the baking of bricks or smelting or iron. In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured in ECE’s (Embodied Carbon Efficiency) in KgCO2/msq/year

Occupational Carbon Emissions relate to the amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the direct use of energy to run the building e.g. the heating or electricity used by the building over the year. In the Carbon Profiling Model these emissions are measured in BER’s (Building Emission Rate) in KgCO2/msq/year.

The BER is a United Kingdom government accepted unit of measurement that comes from an approved calculation process called sBEM (Simplified Building Emission Model)

The purpose of Carbon Profiling is to provide a method of analyzing and comparing both operational and embodied carbon emissions at the same time. With this information it is then possible to allocate a projects resources in such a way to minimize the total amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere through the use of a given piece of space.

A secondary benefit is that having quantified the Carbon Profiling of different buildings it is then possible to make comparisons and rank buildings in term of their performance. This allows investors and occupiers to identify which building are good and bad carbon investments.

Simon Sturgis and Gareth Roberts of Sturgis Associates in the United Kingdom originally developed ‘Carbon Profiling’ in December 2007.

Carbon Profiling

From http://en.wikipedia.org/