Reference Data

Embodied Carbon Emissions

Data Description	Reference Sources	Comments
Structural Quantities	Price & Myers; DeQo; C.Scale; RASMI; others → Request info	Structural quantities by building type by structural system
Structural Material Carbon Intensities	EC3/Building Transparency; Okobaudat; Quartz; OpenImpact; CLF Material Baseline Report; Corrim; ICE; Aalborg University	Assume concrete density 2400 kg/m3 and timber density at 450 kg/m3
PV Panel Lifecycle Emissions	de Wild-Scholten (2013)	Includes panel only (racks and cabling excluded)
Cladding Carbon Intensities	Payette's Kaleidoscope (2021)*; EC3/Building Transparency; C.Scale → Request info	Cladding, roofing, and glazing units.
Interior Fit-Out Carbon Intensities	CLF TI Study (2018); C.Scale → Request info	Data best describes commercial office fitouts
MEP System Carbon Intensities	CLF MEP Study (2018)	Data-scarce category
Hardscape Carbon Intensities	Carbon Conscience; EC3/Building Transparency; C.Scale Internal Data → Request info	Based on standard hardscape details
End-of-Life Emissions	EPA WARM; EC3/Building Transparency	In year 60
Embodied Carbon Benchmark Values	Benke, B., Aurora J., Mel C., Simonen K., and Meghan Lewis. (2025). “The Embodied Carbon Benchmark Report.” Carbon Leadership Forum. Benke, B., Chafart, M., Shen, Y., Ashtiani, M., Carlisle, S., Simonen, K. A Harmonized Dataset of High-Resolution Embodied Life Cycle Assessment Results for Buildings in North America (buildings dataset)	Embodied Carbon results in C.Scale reference the CLF WBLCA Benchmark Study v2 results

Operational Carbon Emissions

Data Description	Reference Sources	Comments
Carbon Intensity of Electricity, 2023-2050	Cambium 2023 (USA); EEA (EU); Dep't for Energy Security and Net Zero (UK)	Includes AER and LRMER metrics across three grid scenarios: Midcase, High Cost Renewable Energy, 95% decarbonization by 2045
Carbon Intensity of Electricity, 2051-2110	Extrapolation algorithm by C.Scale	Extrapolate 2050 Cambium estimate using average annual decrease across 2023-2050 for each geography. Or, assume 2050 value remains constant.
Refrigerant Charge	Quantities from Rodriguez 2019	Total refrigerant charge across all of a building's HVAC+R systems
Energy Use Intensity Benchmark Value	Zero Tool (North America); summary of EPC databases (EU and UK)	CBECS/RECS 2003
% of EUI from onsite combustion	Zero Tool	CBECS/RECS 2003
Solar Resource	PVWatts v8	NREL Physical Solar Model
Energy Production from PV Array	PVWatts v8	NREL PVWatts v8
Hourly Load profiles	End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock	coming soon

Carbon Storage and Sequestration

Data Description	Reference Sources	Comments
Landscape Carbon Sequestration	Carbon Conscience; Pathfinder; McPherson and Simpson (1999); Ingram et al. (2016); Gu et al. (2015)
Landscaping Maintenance Emissions	Carbon Conscience; Pathfinder; Jones (2010) (pdf)
Biogenic Carbon Storage	CEN (2014). EN-16449: Wood and wood-based products - Calculation of the biogenic carbon content of wood and conversion to carbon dioxide Hoxha et al (2020). Biogenic carbon in buildings: a critical overview of LCA methods. Buildings and Cities,1(1) ACLCA, (2019). ACLCA Guidance to Calculating Non-LCIA Inventory Metrics in Accordance with ISO 21930:2017. ACLCA.	For timber structural elements.
Soil Organic Carbon	FAO GSOC	Used in calculation of emissions from greenfield development.

*Full citation for Payette’s Kaleidoscope: Payette’s Kaleidoscope Embodied Carbon Design Tool, data from Tally by Building Transparency and KT Innovations, thinkstep, and Autodesk using industry representative LCI data unless otherwise noted. Accessed in November 2023.

Reference Data via API

The regionally-specific carbon Intensity data used in C.Scale is exposed via out API at the /api/carbon-intensities endpoint. This is useful for populating tooltips and helper texts when C.Scale is integrated in your application.