One Click LCA and Trimble to boost low carbon structures

To make it easier to design and deliver low embodied carbon structures, life-cycle assessment specialist One Click LCA is collaborating with Trimble on a free carbon assessment tool.

The tool, which is fully integrated with Tekla Structures, Tekla Structural Designer, and Trimble Connect, is available for free until the end of 2021.

According to research by One Click LCA, structural elements are responsible for around 70% of a building’s embodied carbon footprint. Cutting the embodied carbon in structures is critical in the ‘race to zero’, as outlined in the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference goals.

The collaboration between One Click LCA and Trimble is designed to make it easier to calculate and reduce embodied carbon at any phase of a project: from early analysis and design, through to finished construction.

According to One Click LCA, the combination of its Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) database and Trimble’s constructible models enable the emissions of every nut, bolt or rebar to be calculated accurately.

The Trimble integration was developed by construction consultancy, Sweco, in collaboration with One Click LCA.

Sweco has used the integration in an ambitious project to design a carbon-neutral sports venue, as Ossi Kujala, structural designer at Sweco Structural Engineering explains, “We are currently working on a low-carbon project, using Tekla for structural design, and One Click LCA to evaluate life-cycle impact. One Click LCA’s integration with Trimble has helped us to obtain easy early-stage carbon assessments of each design option,” he says.

“The integration also simplifies the process of material quantity estimates after design changes with a high level of accuracy, meaning that we can maintain up-to-date quantity estimates and lifecycle information with little effort.”

The Trimble connection is one of a series of integrations. One Click LCA also offers free tools and integrations with McNeel Rhino and IES Gaia, with the aim of supporting the sector to decarbonise.

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