New free tool for calculating the carbon footprint of buildings

The Rocky Mountain Institute has just launched Green Footstep, a free online carbon calculator that it claims can assess emissions over a building's life-cycle.

One of the program's developers, Michael Bendewald, explains how it works: "Since we all have bank accounts, allow me to use an accounting metaphor to explain Green Footstep's way of showing a project's carbon emissions. The native-state carbon storage of a site, including such things as standing timber and other vegetation that existed before development, is the amount of carbon the owner of the facility ‘owns.’ Any carbon emissions send the owner into a ‘carbon debt.’ In order for a project to be ‘carbon neutral,’ this debt must be paid off and the original amount of carbon – equal in magnitude to the native-state carbon storage – must be restored. Green Footstep allows designers to adjust design targets, such as building energy use intensity and incorporating more renewables, that will get the building out of the carbon debt, edging the building closer to carbon neutrality."

I wonder if the software will provide the depth of detail that many green architects and designers look for in tools like this. If anyone tries it, let us know. The tool is available here.