by Simona Fischer, Emily Gross, Veronica McCracken Karr, and Java Nyamjav
As awareness within the building industry about the global warming potential (GWP) of building materials and products grows, digital tools have become available to help architects model and estimate the embodied carbon footprint of architectural assemblies. However, finish materials, such as casework and countertops, are typically not included in modeling tools, which emphasize core, shell and partition wall elements. This gap makes it difficult to generate a complete embodied carbon footprint for multiunit housing, hospitality spaces, and other project types where finishes, such as millwork elements, comprise a significant volume of materials used in the interior architecture.
This report presents a method for modeling the GWP of casework and countertop materials using Tally, an embodied carbon modeling plug-in for Revit, and available data from product-specific environmental product declarations (EPDs), resulting findings, and a spreadsheet-based calculator for calculating the GWP of casework on a project.
