BEAM:
What's the carbon footprint of your building?
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BEAM is the Building Emissions Accounting for Materials estimator tool.
BEAM is a easy-to-use tool for assessing the carbon footprint of your building materials and understanding the best ways to reduce your climate impact. BEAM is developed by the team at Builders for Climate Action to suit the needs of the low-rise building sector. Input your building dimensions, and BEAM will show you the carbon footprint of all the material options for your building in a simple and comparative format. Click on the materials of your choice for each assembly, and BEAM will show you a report at the material, assembly and whole-building levels. BEAM is a game-changer, bringing clarity to the carbon footprint of your building designs. |
Dedicated to serious CLIMATE ACTION
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Builders for Climate Action is working with builders, designers, developers, policy-makers, researchers and manufacturers to tackle the serious impact of buildings on our climate and work toward real zero carbon buildings.
We want to offer future generations our best efforts to reign in the worst effects of climate change through smart, coordinated and effective action to address emissions in the sector while building a world that is just and equitable. |
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A MUST READ book for all designers
In Build Beyond Zero, carbon pioneers Bruce King and Chris Magwood re-envision buildings as one of our most practical and affordable climate solutions instead of leading drivers of climate change. They provide a snapshot of a beginning and map towards a carbon-smart built environment that acts as a CO2 filter. Professional engineers, designers, and developers are invited to imagine the very real potential for our built environment to be a site of net carbon storage, a massive drawdown pool that could help to heal our climate.
"A profound yet very doable climate action plan for the building industry. They present a smorgasbord of solutions available for use today to help move the industry from climate villain to climate hero."
-Kirsten Ritchie, Principal, Gensler
"Approachable and deeply informative, this book should be required reading for industry professionals."
-Stacy Smedley, Building Transparency
"You will never design or build a building in the same way again."
-Victoria Kate Burrows, World Green Building Council
"There is much to love in this book. It will give the general read an understanding of the issues, but it will have many lightbulb moments for professionals and will give them a new language."
-Lloyd Alter, Treehugger
"A profound yet very doable climate action plan for the building industry. They present a smorgasbord of solutions available for use today to help move the industry from climate villain to climate hero."
-Kirsten Ritchie, Principal, Gensler
"Approachable and deeply informative, this book should be required reading for industry professionals."
-Stacy Smedley, Building Transparency
"You will never design or build a building in the same way again."
-Victoria Kate Burrows, World Green Building Council
"There is much to love in this book. It will give the general read an understanding of the issues, but it will have many lightbulb moments for professionals and will give them a new language."
-Lloyd Alter, Treehugger
OUR LATEST RESEARCH
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EMBARC examines over 500 as-built homes!The EMBARC study examined data from over 500 single detached, semi-detached and town houses built between 2017 and 2020 in the Toronto region. The report provides insights at the regional level, as well as at the building and material level.
The EMBARC study was conducted by Builders for Climate Action and Passive Buildings Canada with funding from The Atmospheric Fund.
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Together we can go BEYOND zero
HIGH EMISSION HOMESIt is not unusual for a new home to be responsible for between 250-500 kg of emissions per square meter. That's a quarter-ton to half-a-ton per square meter! We don't meet any climate goals at this rate.
We need to stop doing this now! |
BUILDING AS USUALAfter studying hundreds of homes, we have found that average results are between 150-250 kg CO2e/m2.
At this rate, new homes in North America are responsible for 50 to 60 million tonnes of emissions per year! Not good enough... |
BEST AVAILABLEIt is entirely possible to build an affordable new home with widely available materials that cuts emissions by 25-75%.
This is the low-hanging fruit, and every builder in North America is capable of results like this. We all need to get here Within the next 3-5 Years! |
BEST POSSIBLE
Builders across North America are achieving results like this today.
They are innovating, using the best possible possible materials, and showing us that better is possible today. We all need to get here Within the next 10 years! |
WHAT IS EMBODIED CARBONIf you need a primer on embodied carbon, these videos are for you!
Take a few minutes to learn about the vast impact of material-related emissions and how we can reduce them, quickly. |
THE FUTURE IS CARBON POSITIVE
We can get to zero carbon - and then better
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A Clear Pathway to Carbon-Storing Buildings
We can set realistic thresholds for combined up-front and operational emissions - carbon use intensity - to steer the low-rise building sector in a climate positive direction that is measurable and achievable.
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