To be able to consider reduction of embodied carbon in a building, you need to first have a reliable calculation for the products and materials being used. The new 2.4 release of SMD’s popular design software Elements® now includes an embodied carbon calculation to help the designer/engineer/architect identify the embodied carbon in their design when it comes to composite floor slabs.
This addition to SMD Elements® Design Software (available for Windows), an industry first, provides the user with data that enables both a structural and environmental decision to made when designing a composite slab on metal decking. Using the wealth of research and carbon values (kgCO2e/kg) available to SMD through their active representation on the BCSA Process & Technical, Metal Decking and Cold Formed Members & Sheeting Committees, the software report now includes section 7 covering Lifecycle Assessment. This section of the report builds up the embodied carbon value for both the deck and concrete elements of the slab, with values for the Product (A1-A3), Deconstruction (C1), Transport (C2), Waste Processing (C3), End of Life (C4) and the key benefit of Reuse, recovery and recycling (module D).
The new feature was developed in response to customer feedback received from specifiers. Now when specifying SMD product’s you not only are specifying products with less steel per m² compared to other products on the market (based on a similar steel thickness), but you also have the data to backup your decision when it comes to Sustainability.
Further information on Lifecycle Analysis and the research behind the Embodied Carbon values used can be found on BCSA’s information steelconstruction.info website. Later in the year look out for the next release that will include data specific to the steel fibre reinforced TAB-DeckTM solution available in conjunction with ArcelorMittal.
Other Related Topics
