The most impactful decisions on a building’s carbon footprint are made at the early stages of a new build or retrofit design. While some choices like structural material or heating infrastructure have a clear impact on emissions, less obvious features like building shape, ceiling height or other materials used can have a significant impact on both embodied and operational carbon. Existing software solutions are either too complex or expensive for the concept phases of designs, leaving carbon analysis for later on when key decisions have already been made — resulting in final designs that are not optimized for carbon.

To bring these choices to light at the earliest stages of concept design, C.Scale has developed a software platform to show architects and designers changes in the carbon footprint of their building designs in real time. Their software platform integrates whole life decarbonization into designers’ existing workflows, seamlessly allowing them to create sustainable buildings from the beginning.