HELSINKI, Finland, Oct 18, 2023 – Solibri is pleased to announce the Carbon Checker, an extension for Solibri Office, that helps AEC industry to quickly analyze the model’s carbon footprint by embedding generic emission factors into BIM objects in Solibri Office. BIM managers, coordinators, designers and even LCA analysts can define and calculate a project’s carbon footprint without deep knowledge of embodied carbon calculations. Carbon Checker also allows planning permission authorities to investigate the carbon footprint of proposed projects.
Cost-effective carbon calculations for sustainable construction
Carbon Checker marks a significant leap forward for AEC firms, helping them simplify carbon calculations for planning permissions. In the past, these calculations were complex and time-consuming, often requiring the involvement of external consultants. However, according to David Jirout, the developer behind Carbon Checker, it’s now possible to model a carbon footprint 3 to 10 times faster than with contemporary mainstream work methods.
Suppose you already have a well-structured model in Solibri Office and a BIM Coordinator familiar with the project. In that case, it may take just a few additional hours to compute the carbon footprint of individual BIM objects with Carbon Checker.
“Historically, you would pay 13,000 – 14,000 euro for a building to get analyzed from an environmental point of view where carbon would be a part of the analysis. With Carbon Checker on top of Solibri Office, the contemporary BIM Coordinators will be able to conduct carbon calculations on top of their designs with almost 10 times the time efficiency of what’s being done and possible to do today.” David Jirout, CEO & Founder of Illuminum.
This transformative leap in efficiency means that BIM professionals can now complete a task that used to take weeks in a matter of hours, dramatically reducing both costs and project timelines. Watch the interview with David Jirout to learn more.
Early-stage design decisions based on data
It’s important to note that Carbon Checker is not designed to be a full-fledged Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool. Instead, it seamlessly integrates into the early design and planning phases of construction projects. Architects, engineers, and planners can use it to explore the environmental consequences of various material choices before finalizing designs, providing valuable insights into sustainability during the decision-making process.
David Jirout explains, “This makes it cheaper for the industry to conduct carbon calculations. This makes it more accessible, and we can actually build a better picture of how much construction impacts the planet and take meaningful actions during the design process.”
First available in Finland and Sweden
Currently, Carbon Checker utilizes two databases with generic emission factors from Finland and Sweden: Emissions Database for Construction by SYKE (Finnish Environment Institute) and Climate database by Boverket (the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning). The extension is thus available to customers in Finland and Sweden. However, Solibri is committed to expanding its reach as more countries develop similar official databases.
At the moment, Carbon Checker enables you to work with material information in Swedish, Finnish, and English and to create a bill of quantities together with carbon calculations per individual BIM object, yet structured per material, component type, or technical discipline.
Ville Kyytsönen, CEO of Solibri states: “Today, I am happy to see our existing solution offering in clash checking and beyond to incorporate sustainability with its feature set. It is important for me to see our company expanding in the direction that supports our customers’ needs for today and especially tomorrow. I see today’s release as a stepping stone for much greater things to come in the area of environmental management and sustainability.”
As part of the Nemetschek Group, Solibri’s AEC/O mission is to provide best-in-class digital solutions that combine the human experience to empower people to shape a better, more sustainable world, together.
Activate Carbon Checker today
The Carbon Checker extension is available free of charge for Solibri Office customers with a valid maintenance agreement or subscription.
If you’re a Solibri Office user: Go to File > Solution Center to see the Extensions you have available and their status (Install, Update or Uninstall).
If you’re a Solibri Office Lite user (individual subscription purchased online): Go to File > Extensions to see all the public Extensions.
Visit our Help Center to learn how to use the Carbon Checker.
To download Solibri Office free trial version, click here.
About Solibri
Solibri is the leader in BIM Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Providing out-of-the-box tools for BIM validation, compliance control, design process coordination, design review, analysis, and code checking. Solibri’s corporate message is to develop and market quality assurance solutions that improve the quality of BIM-based design and make the entire design and construction process more productive and cost-effective. Solibri’s customers include major building owners, construction companies, architects and engineering firms in more than 70 countries. Solibri is part of the Nemestchek Group. For more information, visit https://www.solibri.com.
