The open-source tool gives users the ability to develop carbon reduction strategies in real time.
Thornton Tomasetti, the international engineering firm, has launched Beacon, an innovative embodied carbon measurement tool poised to change the way structural engineers understand and manage embodied carbon optimisation. The tool gives users the ability to measure embodied carbon, allowing for more informed decisions throughout the design process.
Beacon is being introduced after a research and development process, led by Thornton Tomasetti’s CORE studio, a firm-wide virtual incubator focused on innovation through computational modelling and research. The tool is a sophisticated Autodesk Revit plugin that generates a comprehensive data visualisation of a project’s embodied carbon. Beacon provides data in a manner similar to the engineer’s thought process, providing a clear visualisation of a project’s embodied carbon quantities by material type, building element and floor levels, allowing engineers to know exactly where embodied carbon can be minimised for optimisation.
“Thornton Tomasetti continues to lead the industry’s efforts on efficient and environmentally conscious designs,” added Robert Otani, principal and chief technology officer at Thornton Tomasetti. “We decided to make Beacon an open-source and easy-to-use tool, so it can be shared at a global scale. We hope this unique and comprehensive tool will push the industry forward into developing innovative strategies that result in more sustainable and efficient structures.”
Beacon’s launch follows Thornton Tomasetti’s November release of results from its multi-year, project-based embodied carbon measurement study. The study focused on identifying the type of structures, materials and components with the highest carbon emissions.
“The built environment is estimated to be responsible for about 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions when building materials are factored in,” said Amy Seif Hattan, corporate responsibility officer at Thornton Tomasetti. “Therefore, it is up to us to help effect change. Beacon will help structural engineers address embodied carbon in new construction.”
“We were first-day signatories of the UK Structural Engineers Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency, and by opening this tool up to the industry, we hope to help our structural engineering peers to reduce the embodied carbon quantities in their designs,” said Duncan Cox, a London-based senior associate in the firm’s Sustainability practice who headed up the firm’s eight-year embodied carbon measurement study.
Beacon is currently available for download at the following website: https://core-studio.gitbook.io/beacon/
