15.4. The Structural Carbon Tool#
Note
This tool was obtained from the The Institution of Structural Engineers under the following copyright statement: The Structural Carbon Tool © Copyright Elliott Wood Partnership Limited 2020 - Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to copy, use, sub-license, publish, and distribute the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following condition: The above copyright notice and this permission notice including the below disclaimer of liability shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
Calculating embodied carbon in the same rigorous way across all designs will allow meaningful comparisons to be made between structural schemes, developing our understanding of embodied carbon as well as how the industry can most effectively reach net zero carbon. This guidance is equally applicable to infrastructure and building projects. The calculation of embodied carbon must become a key part of every design process. Such efforts support the immediate need to reduce resource demand and increase reuse and recycling to enable a circular economy.
This guidance will:
Help you select and specify materials that are efficient while ensuring they’re safe and durable.
Establish an agreed set of principals for the measuring of embodied carbon.
Reduce the amount of carbon you use in your projects.
Quantify the benefits of low carbon design to the client and society.
Inform you about alternative ways you can move towards net zero carbon design.
This guide has been translated into an open-source Excel estimator, The Structural Carbon Tool Version 2. The tool can be used to quickly identify ways in which to minimise embodied carbon on your designs.
The following videos will explain how The Structural Carbon Tool works.
Warning
This tool was obtained from the Website of The Institution of Structural Engineers at 27/10/2024. An updated version 3 was released in 2025.