Unpacking the Grey Climate Backpack
The Grey Emissions Calculator makes it possible to roughly compare components, building elements or constructions in terms of their CO2 emissions in relation to their production, use and end of life.
The CO2 values determined with the Grey Emissions Calculator support you in climate protection-oriented decision-making processes at component level.
The tool is free of charge, but registration is required. It is intuitive to use and compatible with all common CAD programs. For technical questions and questions about the application, please contact Philipp Hollberg directly info@caala.de.
Background knowledge
Emissions from the production, transportation, processing and use as well as the end of life of building materials are often referred to as grey emissions. These are generated by every building product and are a partial element in the overall balance of a building during its expected use.
Determining, optimizing and offsetting grey emissions
The goal of climate neutrality can therefore only be achieved if the entire life cycle or period of use is considered over time, i.e. only if all CO2 emissions are fully recorded and offset in the balance sheet through climate-positive building operation.
This means that the CO2 emissions generated by the production, use and end of life of a new building or refurbishment must be determined. And these can only be offset over time by consistently overproducing energy on site and avoiding CO2 emissions elsewhere. Buildings optimized in this way actively contribute to the climate and energy transition and compensate on site.
Depending on the type of building, it can be very challenging to achieve ‘climate-neutral’ status. In order to offset CO2 emissions, it is necessary for the property to generate sufficient energy of its own - which in turn depends on the location and geometry as well as any very high utilisation-related energy consumption. Against this background, the energy efficiency of the building is also an important building block on the way to climate neutrality.
Five fields of action to optimize the CO2 footprint
The grey emissions calculator helps to achieve a low CO2 footprint for building components. This important optimization should always be accompanied by considerations on other fields of action such as sufficient use of space, recyclable designs, flexible use or low material consumption:
- Low CO2 footprint of materials: optimization and reduction of the CO2 intensity of components and materials
- High space sufficiency: optimization of the space required for use and multiple use of space
- Circular design: optimization of the recyclability of the materials used in the building
- Flexible use: optimizing adaptability to other building uses and designing the service life of components to suit their use
- Low material consumption: optimization and reduction of the required material masses from a life cycle perspective
Conclusion
When selecting the building materials used in terms of their CO2 emissions, it is important to bear in mind that different materials often have different properties in terms of their functionality. In order to optimize CO2 emissions, the costs, availability, durability and transport routes of the building materials used should therefore also be taken into account in the comparisons.
Further information:
This knowledge was donated by:
www.caala.de
Please address contact inquiries to: Philipp Hollberg, info@caala.de