Calculating the carbon footprint of buildings can be tricky but a newly released tool aims to make it easier. The free tool, called BEAM (Building Emissions Accounting for Materials) Estimator, is a product of Builders for Climate Action and answers the questions: "What is the carbon footprint of my building materials? And how can I reduce those impacts?"

The Canadian group is "working with builders, designers, developers, policy-makers, researchers and manufacturers to tackle the serious impact of buildings on our climate and work toward real zero carbon buildings."1 At its helm is Chris Magwood, director of research at Builders for Climate Action and a Treehugger regular.