Green Me Now

An online calculator helps architects, designers, and builders calculate carbon emission reductions in new construction and retrofit residential and commercial projects. The free calculator, called Green Footstep, is the brainchild of the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Green Footstep allows users to address multiple sources of carbon emissions over a building's lifetime, to estimate the carbon-emission impact of design decisions, says EcoHome Magazine.

In addition to carbon neutrality and net-zero site energy performance goals, Green Footstep also helps designers comply with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED energy credit guidelines.

Green Footstep accounts for a project site’s intrinsic carbon storage and weighs it against the carbon emissions generated by site preparation, construction, and operation of the building. Users can see the areas in which their projects fall short of carbon reduction or energy performance goals and make changes accordingly.

It lets users adjust design targets, such as building energy use intensity and incorporating more renewables, which will get the building out of carbon debt.

RMI recommends designers, builders, architects, and other users employ Green Footstep for a project as early as the pre-design phase and then test multiple target design changes, as necessary, throughout the design process. Users enter project information--including location, site characteristics, and building characteristics--and the program generates a carbon emissions building performance report.