Autodesk is making a revised method for tracking greenhouse gas emissions available for free to other companies.
The design software company on Monday published the results of its own program to reduce its environmental footprint. It also open-sourced its methodology, called Corporate Finance Approach to Climate-Stabilizing Targets (C-FACT).
Although many companies do track their greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), there is not a standardized way for setting targets or reporting that data in the U.S.
Autodesk's methodology is based on the the long-term target of reducing global emissions by 85 percent by 2050, set by United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. From there, companies can set targets based on their relative contribution to global gross domestic product.
"Corporate GHG target setting has become a little like the Wild West, with few laws, little scrutiny, and quite a bit of aimless shooting," said Emma Stewart, senior program lead for Autodesk's sustainability initiative, in a statement. Autodesk is encouraging others to use the method because the targets will be proportional to a company's economic contribution.
The company has committed to using the C-FACT method through 2020. From 2008 to 2009, its greenhouse gas footprint increased by 1 percent. But its revenue grew during that period, so the "carbon intensity per unit of added value" dropped. Carbon intensity by square foot and per employee also dropped in the period.
WALTHAM, Mass.--Green buildings aren't only for well heeled individuals and corporate headquarters. There's an ocean of existing buildings ripe for an efficiency makeover.
Autodesk, a company best known for its AutoCAD three-dimensional design software, has spent the past year developing extensions to its existing products focused on green renovations of existing commercial buildings, company executives said here on Monday.
Last year, Autodesk acquired two companies that had developed analytical tools intended to bring more hard numbers to sustainable design efforts. When used with Autodesk's existing applications, professionals such as architects, designers, and contractors can get a snapshot of how existing buildings perform in terms of energy and water use and can simulate the impact of architectural changes.
A screen shot from Ecotect, an application acquired by Autodesk that allows architects to measure and plan the environmental impact of design decisions. Based on an information model, the application here shows the heat gain inside a building from different sources, such as ventilation and the sun, during different times of the year.
(Credit: Autodesk)The focus on renovation is partly driven by the downturn in the building industry but also a raft of building efficiency mandates coming from national or state governments, said Catherine Palmer, the marketing manager for Architecture, Engineering & Construction solutions at Autodesk.
For example, the federal government earlier this month issued an executive order (click for PDF) that mandates that all new federal buildings built by 2030 need to be net zero energy, or generate as much as they consume. Many of these regulations also apply to renovating existing buildings, Palmer said.
About 40 percent of energy use and greenhouse emissions come from buildings in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. And about 85 percent of the buildings that existing today will be around in 2050, Palmer said.
Green building retrofits are 5 percent to 9 percent of the commercial building marketplace now but are projected to grow to more than 20 percent in five years, according to a recent report from SmartMarket.
Wanted: good building data
There are a number of examples of commercial buildings that have been retrofit to be more efficient. The Empire State Building, for example, did a $20 million conversion which is expected to lower energy consumption by 38 percent. Autodesk's office here is a LEED-certified Platinum level building. Rather than tear down an existing structure, the company used the shell of existing building and remade the interior with a number of green-building features, such as light sensors, more sustainably produced materials, and the use natural daylight to cut down on artificial lighting.
The challenge with these efficiency retrofit projects is that the tools to analyze the potential savings in energy, water, or materials are slow or inaccurate, according to Autodesk executives. A building owner may compile current energy use in a spreadsheet, for example, which is not connected to the building-management system or design software.
In Autodesk's lobby in Waltham, Mass, the company chose to display a number of projects, including printed three-dimensional models (on top) and a multi-layered map of a city that shows both buildings and underground infrastructure such as subways.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)Autodesk now offers two add-on products to its Revit Architecture building-information modeling application to capture existing building data in a 3-D model and then simulate possible changes.
During a demonstration on Monday, Autodesk technical marketing manager Chico Membreno showed how designers and architects can quickly convert photos of an existing building into a 3-D model in Revit.
From there, an application called Ecotect Analysis allows an architect to input various data, such as weather patterns and available daylight, and to see the environmental impact of different design choices. That building model can then be imported into a hosted application, called Green Building Studio, which will tell the user how the building will perform in terms of energy use, carbon emissions, and water.
"A lot of people use rules of thumb," Membreno said. "This empowers the architect and gives them data to back up their design decisions."
For example, a company could use Ecotect analysis to simulate how much electricity could be generated by solar panels or how much daylight is available for internal lighting. Green Building Studio can then analyze how those choice will impact the environmental performance with data such as projected energy costs and water use.
The company has designed its sustainable analysis products for architects and building professionals and contractors working on new construction or renovations. But the tools could also be used to monitor whether green building investments measure up to expectations, which is often not the case. Energy-service companies, for example, need to quantify efficiency improvements to secure financing, said Palmer.
Autodesk executives declined to give a price for the software but a third-party review indicated that Revit Architecture's suggested retail price was about $5,500.
That price and the training required means that individual homeowners are unlikely to use the software. But the commercial market is very large: Autodesk estimates that $400 billion a year will be spend on commercial renovations.
Software plays a key role in the clean-tech world, whether helping consumers size up their carbon footprints and crunch the costs of solar panels, or aiding manufacturers in reducing toxicity throughout the supply chain.
Autodesk unveiled an add-in in April to enable designers using prototyping software Inventor to calculate the carbon emissions of an array of products.
Autodesk Inventor's Sustainable Materials Assistant can estimate a product's toxicity, carbon footprint, and capability to be recycled.
(Credit: Autodesk)The Sustainable Materials Assistant, available as a preview through Autodesk Labs, also adds up data about the toxicity and recyclability of materials used, and how the final result might comply with regional regulations.
Users must populate data fields with information about toxic ingredients, regulations, and the like. Autodesk Inventor 2009 then makes calculations about the overall ecological impact, which the designer or engineer can adjust.
Unverferth Manufacturing Company used the add-in to mock up a soil tiller for farms that would release less CO2 while digging up dirt.
Designers used Autodesk Inventor to create this model tiller that disturbs topsoil less than others.
(Credit: Unverferth Manufacturing)Adobe brags of Photoshop helping to welcome an era of digital photography that wastes fewer trees and toxic chemicals. Similarly, Autodesk boasts that its software lets designers waste fewer materials on physical prototypes. In addition to hearing of such indirect ecological benefits of using software for design, prepare to see more applications directly incorporate sustainability data within their interfaces.
Free Google Earth mapping and Sketchup modeling software, which are easier for consumers to toy with, added tools in April for designing green buildings. Users can upload to and find each others' models on the 3D Warehouse site.
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