Experiments to Determine the Most Effective Way to Map BIM Information Into Athena Software for Embodied Carbon Calculations

We are in a climate emergency, and urgently need to reduce carbon emissions. Buildings are currently responsible for 39% of these emissions globally and it is critical that these be mitigated to restrict the impact of global warming. Embodied carbon refers to the greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials and is a priority for reductions in the immediate term. This research calculates embodied carbon through Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings software using two methods. The first creates quantity takeoff for the building assemblies by using Revit software and imports them as modified Excel Bill of Materials (BOM) into the Athena software. The second creates building assemblies in Athena software using BIM assembly types and quantity takeoffs. The Smart Campus Integration and Testing Hub (SCITHub) project was used as a case study. It was observed that Revit software does not have the ability to create building assemblies in extensive details as the Athena software has. Revit software can be further developed to produce detailed assemblies as per the Athena software properties. Besides, the Athena software can also be developed to contribute to add further details into the Revit imported BOMs.