T05_RE2020 Bilan Carbon
Mots-clés : Approche dynamique, Carbone incorporé, Du berceau au berceau, Du berceau à la tombe
Keywords: Dynamic Approach , Embodied Carbon, Cradle to Cradle, Cradle to Grave
Date de création : 18/09/2025 | Date de révision : -/-/2025
Fait par / created by Orlando George-Ibitoye | Approuvé par / approved by XXX
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Abstract :
To help describe the environmental impact of an asset, its life cycle is split into stages and modules as defined by EN15804. The environmental impact this spreadsheet refers to is carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (kgCO2e), also known as global warming potential (GWP). An example split of emissions from Modules A1–C4 is shown below, using example data from the LETI Embodied Carbon Primer across all building elements for a medium scale residential building. This highlights the importance of Modules A1–A3 to Embodied Carbon Over the Life Cycle. Remember that efforts to calculate, report and reduce embodied carbon should be taken in conjunction with bigger picture discussions about the whole life performance of built assets along with emissions from land use change. Embodied carbon is just one piece of the sustainability puzzle.
The fundamental principle of an embodied carbon calculation is to multiply the quantity of each material by a carbon factor for the life cycle modules being considered: material quantity (kg) × carbon factor (kgCO2e/kg) = embodied carbon (kgCO2e)
Use embodied carbon as a key design metric and communicate findings to your design team members whenever there is a significant design decision to be made and at project milestones. The most important time to calculate embodied carbon is in the early design stages. The earlier the better. It is crucial to have time and scope to make changes in light of your embodied carbon assessment.
The dynamic approach applies a time based function which applies a reduction coeffecient / a lower weighting to carbon released later in the future. This is because carbon released now is more impactful than that released later.
Example : Imagine an emergency room already filled to capacity, with doctors struggling to keep patients alive. If ten more people arrive in that moment, the system buckles: staff cannot cope and the entire structure risks collapse. But if those same ten patients were to arrive decades later, the situation could be very different — the hospital might have expanded, new treatments might exist, and doctors may be better equipped to handle the pressure. The burden is still real, but it no longer carries the same catastrophic consequences.
In the same way, emitting carbon dioxide today, into an atmosphere already under critical stress, is far more damaging than releasing it in the future. Timing matters: every tonne of CO₂ we add now has an outsized impact on a system already on the edge.
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