What if making lower-carbon building decisions could be easier, faster, and better integrated into your design workflow?
Join Passive House Accelerator LIVE! for a hands-on look at the new web-based BEAM (Building Emissions Accounting for Materials) tool from Builders for Climate Action. Originally developed as a spreadsheet, BEAM has evolved into a powerful web app that makes estimating embodied carbon, comparing building assemblies, and evaluating material choices more accessible than ever.
Jacob Deva Racusin, BEAM Co-Developer and Senior Research and Innovation Advisor at Builders for Climate Action, will lead a live demonstration of the updated tool. He’ll show how to explore building materials, create and compare assemblies, and assess carbon storage alongside emissions to better understand the climate impacts of design decisions.
Jacob will also demonstrate how BEAM connects with energy modeling software, helping practitioners evaluate operational and embodied emissions together and move toward a more integrated, whole-building approach to carbon accounting.
Whether you're a longtime BEAM user eager to explore the new web app, a designer looking to make more climate-conscious material choices, or a newcomer to embodied carbon estimating, this session will offer strategies you can apply to your next project.
What You'll Learn
Explore the new BEAM web app: Navigate material options and build assemblies to answer real-world design questions.
Compare embodied carbon impacts: Evaluate assemblies that meet the same design requirements while accounting for both emissions and carbon storage.
Connect operational and embodied carbon: Learn how to incorporate energy modeling data into BEAM to support more informed, whole-building design decisions.
The presentation will be followed by an open discussion and live Q&A. Bring your questions—Jacob loves them!
About the Presenter
Jacob Deva Racusin is the Senior Research and Innovation Advisor at Builders for Climate Action, where he focuses on embodied carbon and the development of BEAM. He also serves as Director of Building Science and Sustainability at New Frameworks Natural Design/Build. An author, educator, and consultant, Jacob combines building science expertise with ecological stewardship to advance policies, building codes, and education that support a climate-just building industry.
This free presentation will take place on Wednesday, December 16th at 12:00 PM Eastern / 9:00 AM Pacific and will be followed by a live Q&A session. We hope you'll join us!