Glossary

App Concepts

• A Project includes a baseline and one or more decarbonization scenarios.

• A Baseline is a scenario for a project where no attempts have been made to reduce carbon emissions. To define a baseline, C.Scale makes a set of "business as usual" assumptions based on user inputs. When C.Scale's "business as usual" assumptions are not appropriate, they can be refined.

• A Scenario is a set of strategies to lower a project's carbon emissions. Scenarios are constructed individually and compared against one another in the Compare Scenarios tab.

• A Portfolio includes all active projects in your organization, allowing for an "apples to apples" comparison across the same scope categories and LCA stages.

• A Static Collection is a manually curated list of projects.

• A Dynamic Portfolio is criteria-based: created using a Primary Use Case filter, it automatically includes any new projects matching that filter.

• A Target Scenario is the scenario designated as the reference for portfolio comparison and AIA DDx reporting.

Carbon Accounting and LCA Terms

• EUI (Energy Use Intensity). Energy use by the building per unit area per year (in kBtu/sf/yr or kWh/m²/yr).

• ECI (Embodied Carbon Intensity). Embodied carbon emissions from the building over the analysis period divided by building area, typically expressed in kgCO2e/m².

• Embodied Carbon Emissions. Cumulative emissions associated with building materials, their replacements, and landscape maintenance.

• Refrigerant Emissions. Cumulative emissions associated with refrigerant use in building services.

• Electricity Emissions. Cumulative emissions associated with energy use from the electrical grid.

• Fossil Fuel Emissions. Cumulative emissions associated with onsite fossil fuel combustion.

• Reduction from Baseline. Cumulative reduction in emissions of the current scenario as compared to the baseline.

Electricity Grid Metrics

• Average Emission Rate (AER). Annual emission factors calculated by summing total generation of all resources in a given year on a MWh basis. Includes precombustion emissions from fossil gas leakage. Described in NREL's Cambium model as "AER Load: Combustion + Precombustion."

• Long-Run Marginal Emission Rates (LRMER). Emission rates of the next unit of electricity considering the grid's structure as variable. Preferable to AER for buildings, which are long-lived assets with a marginal influence on grid evolution. Described in NREL's Cambium model as "LRMER: Combustion + Precombustion."