Low-carbon design and CO2 accounting

It is a formidable challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the infrastructure, civil and hydraulic engineering, and construction sectors. The best time to take this up is during the design phase of a project, as the design stage involves making choices and considering interests.

Until now, the carbon impact of projects is often assessed at a late stage in the process. Dubocalc is an effective method but the major decisions will have been taken by that stage. Witteveen+Bos developed a support model for the decision-making process – CO2 Accounting – that makes it possible to compare both the quantified carbon emission of a project and the estimated costs of design concepts and variants. The outcomes provide a way of validating design decisions and checking sustainability ambitions.

Witteveen+Bos can offer advice on the most suitable tools to use in specific phases of a project, for example: CO2 infra calculator, CO2 Accounting or Dubocalc.