The Beginner’s Guide to MEP Embodied Carbon represents more than just a research document—it is a testament to the power of collaborative innovation and shared commitment to sustainable building systems. This comprehensive resource was developed through cross-industry collaboration between MEP 2040 and the Carbon Leadership Forum.
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This guide addresses a critical gap in building decarbonization efforts by focusing on MEP systems, which can account for up to 27% of product stage embodied carbon, 52% of overall embodied carbon (excluding operational carbon), and 73% of whole life carbon. Whether you’re new to embodied carbon concepts or looking to enhance your existing knowledge, this guide provides practical methodologies, material selection strategies, and actionable steps to measure and reduce the carbon impact of MEP systems. From detailed BIM takeoff techniques to real-world case studies, we’ve created this resource to empower manufacturers, designers, owners, contractors, and policy makers with the tools needed to move from measurement to meaningful carbon reduction in MEP systems.
The guide includes:
- Detailed MEP BIM takeoff methodologies
- Material selection guidance for high-impact systems
- Default embodied carbon values for data-poor categories
- Category-specific decarbonization strategies
- Life cycle calculation breakdowns with uncertainty guidelines
- A real-world case study: University of Illinois’ Wymer Hall
- Actionable steps for all stakeholders
Whether you’re integrating MEP systems into your carbon assessments or looking to understand and reduce your systems’ impact, this guide provides practical methodologies to move from measurement to meaningful action. We encourage you to download the guide, share it with your networks, and continue your valuable contributions to reducing MEP whole life carbon.
Supplementary Resources
To access the supplementary resources, please go to the MEP 2040 website
- Data Entry Template: The MEP 2040 Data Entry Template helps you to record information for the MEP 2040 Whole Life Carbon Pilot and the MEP 2040 Benchmarking Study. The values in this template have been updated from v1 in the following ways:
- Project Data Additions:
- On-site EV charging
- Detailed Building Use Type
- EUI
- Addition Floor Area (m2)
- Renovated Floor Area (m2)
- Whole Life Carbon Data Additions:
- New reporting sub-categories, including: Air Handling Units <25 Tons, Air Handling Units >25 Tons, Chillers/Heat Pumps – Air Cooled, Chillers/Heat Pumps – Water Cooled, Cooling Towers, Heat Pumps – Self Contained (PTAC, PTHP, WSHP), Split Systems – Ducted, Split Systems – Ductless, Horizontal Pipe (Exterior) (for Geothermal), Drinking Fountains, Showers, Sinks, Site MEP Required and Optional categories
- Refrigerant losses built in per equipment sub-category
- Operational Energy Modification:
- Reference to BranchPattern CLEAR Tool for optimized operational carbon calculations
- Project Data Additions:
Supporting Tools
1. Piping System and Discipline Result Workbook: A workbook for organizing piping systems by discipline and recording their mass data from Revit before entering it into LCA software. Use alongside pages 17-24 in the Beginner’s Guide to MEP Embodied Carbon.
2. Wire and Conduit Estimator: A workbook for organizing all modeled wire lengths by size, to associate with available Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), as well as scaling wires to their associated conduits and available EPDs. Use this workbook alongside the workflow described on pages 31-32 of the Beginner’s Guide to MEP Embodied Carbon.
3. Uncertainty Calculation Template: This resource helps practitioners understand, quantify, and communicate uncertainty in MEP carbon assessments. It provides a structured way to evaluate how assumptions about material quantities, emissions data quality (EPDs), geographic and technological representativeness, and whole-building parameters influence overall carbon results, translating those uncertainties into a clear percentage impact on project outcomes. In doing so, it supports more transparent decision making, better interpretation of LCA results, and more informed conversations about confidence, risk, and comparability in carbon reporting.
4. Beginner’s Guide Schedules for Revit: This resource helps practitioners to apply the Revit formulae described in the guide by importing the schedules into their Revit project. The schedules include:
- Cable Tray
- Chilled Beam
- Duct
- Electrical Circuits
- Imperial Pipe
- Mechanical Equipment (VAV)
- Metric Pipe
- Panelboard
Please note that the schedules utilize Project Units, in an imperial model the pipe schedules will both use imperial units and in a metric model the schedules will both contain metric units – the differences are found in the formulae.
Webinar Recording
In this recorded webinar, the research team from the report shares details about the methodology used, additional findings, and how this research can support the design and policy communities toward decarbonizing real-world buildings. You can view the recording below, or by following this Youtube link.
Thirteenth Quarterly Forum Webinar Recording May 1, 2025
- This Forum focused on our newly released (April 22, 2025) Beginner’s Guide to MEP Embodied Carbon, bringing together our signatories, supporters, and friends to explore this important resource for advancing whole life carbon assessment in MEP systems.
- We reviewed key aspects of the guide, including measurement methodologies, life cycle stage assessment, and decarbonization strategies that emerged from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Wymer Hall case study. The case study findings highlight that MEP systems represent 27% of cradle-to-gate embodied carbon, rising to 56% when including fugitive emissions, repair, and replacements.
- We heard updates from our Whole Life Carbon pilot group, which has brought together 40+ individuals from MEP firms across the country to study 30+ projects. This collaborative effort continues to build our industry’s knowledge base and practical approaches to measuring and reducing whole building, whole life carbon.
V2 Authors
The research within this document was performed by the MEP 2040 Data, Analysis and Reporting group and Carbon Leadership Forum on behalf of the following individuals:
- Kayleigh Houde, Buro Happold
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Rachel Wrublik, PAE Consulting Engineers
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Anika Jang, Introba
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Elizabeth Larsen, Bala Consulting Engineers
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Angelique Fathy, Henderson Engineers
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Joel Ahearne-Ray, Turner Construction
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Shahrzad Soudian, KPMB Architects
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Sihaam Ahmed, SCS Railways
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Ghina Annan, Stantec
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Aaditya Patel, Stantec
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Shivanie Rambaran, Buro Happold
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Mehdi Robati, Lendlease
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Mike Kasuya, AME Consulting Group
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Brendan Gardes, Newcomb Boyd
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Aurora Jensen, Carbon Leadership Forum
V1 Authors
- Kayleigh Houde, Buro Happold
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Kim Shinn, TLC Engineering Solutions
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Aurora Jensen, Carbon Leadership Forum
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Scott Farbman, Energy Solutions
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Rachel Wrublik, PAE Consulting Engineers
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Joel Ahearne-Ray, Turner Construction
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Wyatt Ross, CMTA Inc.
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Spencer Jarrett, OneClick LCA
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Alfred Uzokwe, HGA
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Brian Johnson, HOK
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Mirko Farnetani, Skidmore Owings & Merrill
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Eliana Peralta-Sapienza, Branch Pattern
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Nathan Kegel, IES Ltd.
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Stet Sanborn, SmithGroup
Expresiones de gratitud
Contributors:
- Meghan Lewis, Carbon Leadership Forum
- Shannon Sadjak, Trane Technologies
- Luke Leung, Skidmore Owings & Merrill
- Kristy Walson, Branch Pattern
- Celine Damide, Brightcore Energy
- Erica Weeks, Paladin, Inc.
- Jason Lam, Buro Happold
- Cory Duggin, TLC Engineering Solutions
- Tim Russell, Buro Happold
- Melanie Chamberland, Buro Happold
Reviewers:
- Kjell Anderson, LMN Architects
- Efrie Escott, Schneider Electric
- Nathan Vader, PAE
- Louise Hamot, Introba, CIBSE
- Keith Davidge, Introba
- Josh Jacobs, WAP Sustainability Consulting
- Maggie Smith, Atelier Ten
- Leela Shanker, WAP Sustainability Consulting
To each of the authors, contributors, and reviewers listed, we extend our deepest gratitude for your intellectual generosity, technical expertise, and unwavering dedication. Your diverse perspectives, rigorous analysis, and collective insights have transformed what began as an ambitious vision into a comprehensive roadmap for measuring and ultimately reducing embodied carbon in building systems. Each of you brought not only professional expertise, but a genuine passion for creating meaningful change in our built environment. The conversations, debates, data analysis, and collective problem-solving represented in this document reflect the best of interdisciplinary collaboration. This work is a shared achievement—a collective response to one of the most pressing challenges of our time. We are profoundly grateful for your time, expertise, and commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in decarbonization.
Publish Date
April 2026
Citación
Houde K., Jensen A., Shinn K. (2026) The Beginner’s Guide to MEP Embodied Carbon Version 2. MEP 2040.
Derechos de autor
The Beginner’s Guide to MEP Embodied Carbon is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The authors, MEP 2040 and Carbon Leadership Forum accept no responsibility for any loss or damage resulting from actions taken or not taken based on material in this publication. While we make every effort to provide accurate and current information, we make no representations or warranties of any kind regarding the completeness, accuracy, reliability, or suitability of this content or any external websites/companies referenced. We do not endorse any information, products, services, or graphics for any purpose.