Free, Open-Access Tool for Built Environment Sector to Support Carbon-Smart Procurement Decisions

SEATTLE — (BUSINESS WIRE) — October 31, 2022 — Building Transparency, a nonprofit organization that provides open-access data and tools to foster a better building future, today announces the launch of the beta version of its latest tool, Tally Climate Action Tool (tallyCAT), which is keenly focused on carbon reductions. Developed in collaboration with Perkins&Will and C-Change Labs and funded by the Province of British Columbia, this free and open-access tool provides the data necessary to prioritize low-carbon products and make environmentally responsible decisions early, swiftly, and confidently – all while working within Revit, a building information modeling (BIM) software.

tallyCAT beta marks an important milestone for the building and construction industry as it is being launched at a time when attention to embodied carbon reduction is a growing priority. The tool provides designers with real-time information on material performance and carbon impacts via direct access to the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator’s (EC3’s) global database of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) – the primary pathway for manufacturers to communicate the environmental impacts of their products. It will also integrate directly into Revit, saving designers time and allowing them to scale up.

“Our team at Building Transparency is hyper-focused on providing the tools and resources needed to help the built environment industry understand, measure, and reduce its embodied carbon emissions,” said Stacy Smedley, Executive Director at Building Transparency. “The tallyCAT beta tool is another step for us in providing a robust ecosystem of tools to enable action and the prioritization of low-carbon design and procurement decisions. With this new tool, we’re able to meet designers where they are in Revit and provide the data necessary to drive green specification and procurement.”

Development & Support of tallyCAT

The development of tallyCAT beta is made possible through a partnership between Building Transparency Canada, Perkins&Will, and C-Change Labs, who are focused on driving carbon reductions in the industry. This group of innovators was awarded a $460,000 grant from the Province of British Columbia’s 2021 CleanBC Building Innovation Fund to bolster development of this project.

The tallyCAT team aims to ignite widespread change in the building, design, and construction sectors. “We are co-developing tallyCAT with the aspiration of bringing low-carbon product selection into the design process, developing data-informed workflows that can become integral to every project,” said Jesce Walz, a designer and carbon leader at Perkins&Will. “Our team is focused on leveraging the power of open access tools and collaborative partnerships to improve our industry’s environmental impacts.”

Also in 2021, world-renowned architecture firm, KieranTimberlake, gifted Tally, the life cycle assessment (LCA) tool to Building Transparency for its continued management, hosting, and development. The tallyCAT design team is leveraging the capabilities of Tally LCA and EC3 to develop tallyCAT into a free and open-access next-generation climate action tool. The early-access beta version of tallyCAT is the initial socialization of a Revit-based carbon reduction tool that integrates with EC3 and is a significant milestone on the journey to make low-carbon product decisions earlier in the design lifecycle.

“We are grateful for the financial support from the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation and to KieranTimberlake for trusting our team with Tally LCA,” said Smedley. “These organizations have made the development of tallyCAT possible as we work to drive climate action in the built environment sector.”

Today, the Tally LCA tool and now, tallyCAT, support the direct export of material quantities from Revit to EC3, streamlining the process to evaluate project material conditions. Additionally, tallyCAT allows for synchronization between Revit and EC3, making it easier to identify carbon reduction opportunities within the Revit environment. Building Transparency, Perkins&Will and C-Change Labs hope to make tallyCAT a whole-life carbon tool and plans to release an updated version in 2023.

Ongoing Management of Tally LCA

At the same time, the nonprofit will continue to maintain Tally as an LCA tool. Moving forward, this tool will be referred to as tallyLCA, reflecting its ability to help measure multiple categories of environmental impact beyond embodied carbon and support users looking to inform sustainable design from a holistic perspective of ecosystem impact reduction. Building Transparency has also kicked off a project to create a free, open-access building material LCA dataset, which will enable tallyLCA to become the nonprofit’s third free tool offering upon its completion.

“We are thrilled to continue our support of Building Transparency’s ecosystem of open-access carbon-reduction tools,” said Billie Faircloth, Partner and Research Director of KieranTimberlake. “We look forward to transitioning tallyLCA into a free and open-access tool.”

tallyCAT beta Launch at Greenbuild

tallyCAT beta will be launched at and demoed throughout the Greenbuild Conference and Expo, taking place from November 1 – 3, 2022, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. Attendees will be able to learn more about tallyCAT and other updates and initiatives from Building Transparency at Booth #1839. The team will lead demos and participate in panel discussions and sessions about embodied carbon, low-carbon procurement, and the need for material innovations within the built environment sector.

Attendees can learn more about the education sessions and other experiences at Greenbuild at: https://informaconnect.com/greenbuild/

About Building Transparency

Building Transparency is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides open-access data and tools that support broad and swift action across the building industry in addressing embodied carbon’s role in climate change. Formed in 2020, Building Transparency hosts, manages, and maintains the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, which provides thousands of digitized EPDs in a free, open-source database, and tallyLCA, the nonprofit’s life cycle assessment tool. Building Transparency strives to provide the resources and education necessary to shape a better building future through promoting the adoption of the EC3 tool and tallyLCA, establishing the official materialsCAN and ownersCAN programs, and working with global policymakers.

About Perkins&Will

Perkins&Will, an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm, was founded in 1935 on the belief that design has the power to transform lives. Guided by its core values—design excellence, diversity and inclusion, living design, research, resilience, social purpose, sustainability, and well-being—the firm is committed to designing a better, more beautiful world. Fast Company has named Perkins&Will one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in Architecture three times, and in 2021, it added the firm to its list of Brands That Matter—making Perkins&Will the only architecture practice in the world to earn the distinction. With an international team of more than 2,000 professionals, the firm has over 20 studios worldwide, providing integrated services in architecture, interior design, branded environments, urban design, and landscape architecture. Industry rankings consistently place the firm among the world’s top design practices. Partners include Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen; retail strategy and design consultancy Portland; sustainable transportation planning consultancy Nelson\Nygaard; and luxury hospitality design firm Pierre-Yves Rochon (PYR). For more information, visit www.perkinswill.com.

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Building Transparency Contact
Kelly Ronna
Trevelino/Keller
kronna@trevelinokeller.com

Perkins&Will Contact
Vicky Su
Perkins&Will
Vicky.su@perkinswill.com