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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are Whole Life Carbon Assessments (WLCAs)?
Whole Life Carbon Assessments (WLCAs) provide a comprehensive view of a building's total carbon emissions, capturing both embodied and operational emissions.
Check out our blogs Whole Life Carbon Assessments and the Carbon Buzzwords for more!
Why should I be performing WLCAs at the early stages of design?
Late-stage carbon assessments hold little value as they are performed when the design is too advanced, with substantial time and money invested, for any significant changes to be considered.
Early-stage assessments, especially during the conceptual stage, are best as this is when your ability to influence the WLC impact (especially the embodied carbon impact) of your design is at its greatest. This stage forms the crux of carbon considerations, setting the overall vision and targets of the project. An early-stage WLCA paves the path to achieving low-carbon design goals downstream and underscores the project's commitment to sustainability.
Check out our blog posts on WLCAs - The When and Where, Embodied Carbon - What's all the fuss about? and Why 2030 matters
What do I need before I can start predicting and reducing the carbon impact of my projects in Preoptima?
Not much! You just need a simple massing model in a .obj file that you can import into the software.
Preoptima acts as your Carbon Co-Pilot and sizes the structure, sub-structure, facade, roof, and MEP system of your design's geometry automatically. We do the heavy lifting and extract material quantities and building assemblies so that you don't have to.
You can export obj files from most design tools and software, so you can start predicting the carbon impact of your every design choice today!
How long does it take to run a WLC assessment in Preoptima?
It takes a matter of minutes from importing your massing model to receiving WLC results.
Preoptima assesses the impact of your design choices in real-time so you can quickly explore, compare, and contrast design choices and their carbon hotspots. We empower you to make data-driven design choices quickly and efficiently.
Is there a limit on the number of designs Preoptima can contrast and compare?
No, you can import a limitless number of different geometric designs and/or consider limitless design variants for each geometry.
What kind of results can I expect from Preoptima?
Preoptima allows you to optioneer with your imported massing model. Therefore, every time you make a change in the building parameters, Preoptima performs generative design on the structural system and returns a new model with updated take-off of material quantities and carbon impact data.
Preoptima also facilitates automated .obj and Excel file exports and reporting.