Assess the Carbon Footprint of Your Infrastructure Design in Minutes

Bentley's web-based Carbon Analysis offers a suite of capabilities that make sustainability a more natural part of infrastructure design, from streamlining the end-to-end carbon reporting process to offering new levels of data transparency within live design models.

Carbon Analysis simplifies what can be a painstaking data management exercise by aggregating all project and asset data—sourced inside or outside Bentley—through an iTwin (Bentley’s infrastructure digital twin). If your design files are missing material data, integrated workflows calculate material volume and quantities automatically, inputting precise data within the solution and eliminating any need for estimations or spreadsheet management. Then, through our trusted LCA partners, you can generate a highly accurate carbon report from lifecycle stages A1-A3 from a trusted LCA database. This process is easily repeatable since all data is stored automatically.

Beyond reporting, Carbon Analysis takes this embodied carbon data further by pulling it straight into the live design. Appearing as a simple, cloud-based heatmap within the 3D model, users can see the impact that individual design elements have on their environmental footprint. The solution also has integrated workflows to optimize for decarbonization, making the process of implementing material changes and quickly seeing their impact a seamless part of the design and construction process.

 

How It Works

1. 1. Synchronize design data into a project iModel.
   2. Group design data based on material type to create a simplified quantity takeoff of the design. This includes identifying materials and quantities for each grouping either through available design information or via calculation configuration directly in Carbon Analysis.
   3. Export Data: Export data to a trusted third-party LCA database, where carbon reporting from lifecycle phases A1-A3 is generated. You can run as many assessments as needed; all customized data is saved, making additional reporting more efficient each time.
   4. View Embodied Carbon: View embodied carbon within the live 3D model as a heat map on each design element.
   5. Optimize Designs: Optimize designs for decarbonization and then see the impact of changes on embodied carbon.

Carbon Analysis gives infrastructure designers and engineers the capabilities they need to support sustainable design and accelerate decarbonization.

 

Carbon Analysis Guide

Carbon Analysis is available within Bentley Infrastructure Cloud to those with proper entitlement and permissions via a button in the left-hand navigation bar. Select the project of your choice to access this capability.

 

iModels & Grouping

Introduction to Grouping

This step organizes the material and prepares a bill of quantities for the design. You will create groups of design elements that will use the same construction materials to quantify them for the report.

 

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1. Start with the iModel Selection: Locate the iModel within the project. There must be one model available to utilize Carbon Analysis.
   2. Open the iModel: Access the existing data prepared within the iModel for the carbon calculation process.
   3. Visualize the Design: Observe the standard visualizer in the main portion of the screen.
   4. Access the Model Tree: Find the model tree on the right-hand side of the screen.

 

Grouping

Initiate the Grouping Process by clicking the "Groups" button within the left-hand panel to start grouping the elements in the design into common material sets. The goal is to group all elements based on the material for the carbon report. You can inspect individual components by clicking on them to view their details. Depending on the maturity of the design, you may have more or less information available within the design data.

1. 1. Create Material Groupings: Prepare different material groupings as part of the design.
   2. Add Group: Click on "Add Group" and explore the first method: "Selection."

Selection Method

Zoom in and select an element within the viewer first, then check the properties on the left-hand side. To perform the group selection, select the desired property, for example "User label", so that it will select all the elements matching the unique value for the selected property. The system will automatically colorize and zoom into the groupings for better visualization. Add the group by providing a Name and an optional Description, then click the "Save" button. A name can only contain letters, underscores, or digits. To see the added group again, turn on the "Color by Group" option.

Query Keywords Method

You can also select elements using Query Keywords. For example, type "Concrete wall." Click "Apply" to select the elements that match the Query Keyword.

Manual Method

You can also add a group using the Manual Method. This is not recommended for most users.

 

Group Properties

Within each group you must add properties for the information which is needed for the carbon report. This includes, at a minimum, properties for material and quantity. Each group must have these properties included before exporting to one of the LCA partners.

To add a property, select the desired group and click the ‘Add Group Property’ button at the top of the left panel. From here you can enter a description and then choose the type of property you need:

• • Mapped Properties: This selection will utilize design data that is included in the iModel properties. If the design data includes property values for material or for quantity this is likely the best option to choose.
  • Calculated Properties: This selection is used for the required quantity information and will pull geometric data out of the modeled elements within the group.
  • Custom Calculation: This allows for custom calculations to be performed for the property value. This can be used to simply fill in missing material information or perform mathematical calculations. More information on the custom calculations can be found here: https://developer.bentley.com/apis/grouping-and-mapping/operations/create-property/#customcalculations

Once all groups and properties have been created the grouping step of Carbon Analysis is complete.

Partner Integration

After the design data has been grouped it is ready to send to one of our LCA partners to generate the embodied carbon data. Two different LCA partners are available for integration:

1. 1. EC3 Building Transparency
   2. One Click LCA

Both integration partners require the user to have their own account created with the external service.

EC3 accounts are completely free and can be created through the building transparency website here:  https://buildingtransparency.org/

OneClick LCA is a paid, premium service which requires an account subscription. More information can be found on their website here: https://oneclicklca.com/

 

EC3 Export

To export the design data to EC3, select the EC3 tile from the left-hand panel at the Carbon Analysis home. You must first log in with your EC3 account credentials to be able to export the data to EC3.

If you haven't added any reports yet, click the button to create your first report. The report name will appear in the EC3 interface. In the EC3 export you will select which groups you wish to include in the export and identify the material and quantity properties for each group.

In the EC3 interface the elements from the design will automatically be grouped within their group, material and an additional identifier. The ‘Group by’ option allows the user to select the additional grouping behavior. Selecting ‘Group Name’ will simply utilize the group name to simplify the view within EC3. Selecting ‘User Label’ will utilize the user label field within your design information. Depending on your design data this may or may not be valuable.

Once the report is configured, you can click the "Export" button. It will then be submitted to EC3 as a new building project on the EC3 website. You can check this by clicking on the "Open in EC3" button. On this report in EC3, scroll down to see the data that we've exported. Within the system, you can expand this and check the class group.

Additional Info: Within EC3, you can potentially define multiple materials. For example, within your concrete elements, you may also want to represent the steel rebar included within the concrete. This configuration allows you to define multiple material types to be submitted to EC3. You can now utilize the functionality here to associate the EPDs and the different environmental data with the information that's coming from Bentley Infrastructure Cloud.

 

One Click LCA Export

The One Click LCA integration requires minimal data preparation. In this process, you simply list all the groups you created and indicate what you expect to submit. A button submits this information to the One Click LCA website. Users need a paid subscription to One Click LCA. When you export data to One Click LCA, it becomes a project on the One Click LCA website. However, there is no round-trip functionality for One Click LCA, meaning you cannot pull data back into our system. All configurations are done within the One Click LCA website, similar to EC3. We are in discussions with the One Click LCA team to add a visualization component in the future, but this feature is not available yet.

Visualization

Visualization is available through the EC3 integration and allows users to more easily interpret the embodied carbon results and adjust the proposed design. Return to Bentley Infrastructure Cloud to visualize the Carbon Analysis Report from EC3. Click on the EC3 tile and, from the menu for the desired report click the ‘Visualize’ option.

This provides a heatmap visualization of the embodied carbon that allows users to overlay reports directly onto individual element information in the design. This reduces the need to sift through spreadsheets or dashboards to identify which elements are represented within the carbon information.