During recent years, knowing the CO2 emissions of various building components has become more important and is now a key decision-making tool.
– We are seeing a paradigm change from buying kilos of steel to buying as few CO2 kilos as possible. As it is a vital part of the design process these days, designers need to produce optimal emission figures for their proposals, claims Simo Hakkarainen, the business director for DELTABEAM®.
With an EPD (environmental product declaration), a manufacturer can report comparable, objective, and third-party verified data that shows the environmental performance of their products and services.
– Not all solutions out there have an EPD, but DELTABEAM® does, like all Peikko products.
With the EPD data, Peikko is able to include CO2 calculations with Peikko Designer® DELTABEAM SELECT software.
Why does it matter?
The building industry stands for 40% of all CO2 emissions in the world, and therefore needs to create solutions for lowering these emissions. To do so, designers need access to reliable emissions data for their chosen solutions.
– A building’s frame accounts for 20% of its total emissions. Within the frame, the structure, with all its beams and slabs, stands for 50% of the frame’s emissions. So, from a CO2 perspective, choosing the right beam solution has a significant impact on a building's overall CO2 performance, Hakkarainen says.
DELTABEAM® has the benefit of a lower CO2 footprint than many of its competitors.
– When comparing the performance of various frames – wood, concrete, and steel – it’s important to note how slim floors and long spans the solution offers. Often, a DELTABEAM® composite beam allows for longer spans.
How the CO2 calculations affect the DELTABEAM SELECT online dimensioning tool?
– The DELTABEAM SELECT release shows CO2 figures for both DELTABEAM® GREEN and regular beams, making for an easy comparison between the two. It’s a great tool for figuring out early in the project how you can have a positive impact on CO2 emissions with the right structural choices and DELTABEAM® technology, R&D engineer Salla-Mari West says.
The difference between the earlier and the new release is the improved DELTABEAM® optimization that finds a viable solution even more often than before. Initially, the pre-dimensioning tool was built to allow for easy beam comparison, as well as from an economical point of view.
– That’s why the algorithm was designed to suggest different DELTABEAM® profile options for users to select the most optimal solution for their projects.
The algorithm change gives the CO2 footprint for each different beam design. The user interface remains as unchanged and as familiar as possible.
Try it yourself: https://deltabeamselect.peikkodesigner.com/
