Sasaki has launched a free tool to help designers to assess a proposal’s carbon emissions from early in the design process. The Carbon Conscience App, which builds on a year-long internal research project within the firm, seeks to differentiate itself from rival applications which require extensive detail on form, materials, and quantities, and instead focuses on use in early concept stages.

The app is centered around a geographic map interface, upon which designers can allocate land to buildings and landscapes. By inputting preliminary data such as the number of floors, basic material decisions, and ecosystem typologies in the case of landscapes, the app generates estimates for carbon emissions, carbon storage, and carbon sequestration.

“The user can compare design options, test alternate land uses, structural systems, and landscape and façade materials—and see the impact of their choices,” explains Sasaki. “By switching from turf to meadow, from steel to mass timber, from concrete sidewalks to brick, Carbon Conscience can inform our choices early in the design process, laying the framework for lower, neutral, or positive carbon projects in detailed design phases.”

The tool is available for free via Sasaki’s website here, along with tutorial videos, a research paper, presentations, and references.

Sasaki’s app is in response to a growing appreciation for the importance of the built environment sector in combatting climate change. As noted in a recent report by the World Green Building Council, 75% of annual global greenhouse emissions are from the built environment, while embodied carbon accounts for 50% of the lifetime emissions from new buildings.

The Carbon Conscience App also builds on a legacy of software design at Sasaki. In June of this year, we spoke to the firm’s in-house software development group Sasaki Strategies, who offered an insight into how those from an architecture background can pivot into data science and software development. The group was previously responsible for a software application that generates sustainable design strategies for ecosystems in western states of the USA.

The app also joins a growing portfolio of software tools designed by architects and urbanists, which are aimed at measuring embodied carbon. Our feature piece exploring Sasaki Strategies also included conversations with Sour Studio on their Carbon Calculator, CallisonRTKL on their CLIMATESCOUT tool, and KieranTimberlake and Building Transparency on the LCA tool Tally.