Carbon Index — Configure Carbon Profiles, Baselines & Rule Sets
The Configuration engine provides centralized management of carbon estimation parameters, project Gross Internal Area (GIA) baselines, lifecycle study periods, and automated material mapping rule sets. Profiles can be locked as corporate standards or customized for specific client requirements and building typologies.
Configuration Workspace Layout
The Configuration interface is organized into three primary sections:
- Profile Selector & Management Bar: Switch between available profiles, clone existing profiles, create new custom profiles, or save changes.
- Project Metadata & Baseline Parameters: Configure building-level assumptions such as Gross Internal Area (GIA), study period, and assessment purpose.
- Automated Mapping Rule Set Table: Review, add, edit, or remove pattern-matching rules that automatically assign materials and EPDs during harvest.
Profile Architecture: Locked vs. Project Profiles
Carbon Index distinguishes between two profile tiers:
| Profile Tier | Badge | Modifiable | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| System Default Profile | (Default) / Locked |
No | Certified baseline incorporating standard ICE v3 material factors and RICS defaults. Guarantees a clean, uncorrupted baseline is always available. |
| Project Custom Profile | Custom |
Yes | Specific to an individual iTwin project or organization. Stores custom EPD overrides, project GIA, and tailored regex mapping rules. |
Project Baseline Parameters
| Parameter Name | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Internal Area (GIA) | 1,000.0 m² |
Total enclosed floor area measured inside external walls. Crucial denominator used to calculate carbon intensity ($kgCO_2e/m^2\ \text{GIA}$). |
| Reference Study Period | 60 Years |
Standard building design life per RICS WLCA and BS EN 15978 guidelines. |
| Design / Assessment Stage | Stage 3 - Spatial Coordination |
Current project maturity stage (e.g. RIBA Stage 2 Concept, Stage 3 Coordination, Stage 4 Technical Design). |
| Building Typology | Commercial Office |
Typology benchmark category (Commercial, Residential, Education, Healthcare, Infrastructure). |
Automated Mapping Rules Builder
The Mapping Rules table controls how the harvesting engine interprets raw BIM element strings:
Rule Properties:
- Source Pattern: String or regular expression matched against element names, family names, or ECClasses (e.g.
*Concrete*C30*,*Structural Steel*,*Double Glazed*). - Match Type:
EXACT: Case-insensitive direct string equality.CONTAINS/REGEX: Wildcard or regular expression matching.MANUAL_OVERRIDE: Explicit instance-level assignment.IGNORED: Automatically flags matched items for scope exclusion.
- Target Carbon Material: Assigned canonical material profile or EC3 EPD UUID.
- Custom Density ($kg/m^3$): Optional density override replacing standard canonical density.
- Custom EPD Factor ($kgCO_2e/kg$): Optional product-specific $A1–A3$ factor override.
Rule Precedence & Execution Order
During the Harvest & Calculate Carbon sequence, rules are evaluated in the following order:
- Instance-Level Manual Overrides: User-specified element overrides take highest precedence.
- Exact Source Pattern Rules: Direct matching rules configured in the active profile.
- Pattern / Regex Rules: Wildcard rules evaluated from top to bottom.
- Heuristic Keyword Matcher: Built-in fallback analyzing material strings against the 30+ CI Canonical material categories.
- Unlinked Fallback: Elements with no matches are marked as
UNLINKEDfor user review.