Lake Oswego-based Carbon Title is gearing up to release the massive U.S. building database it has been building, and it plans to offer a sneak peek.
The company has created a tool called Carbon Title Explorer, a database of more than 100 million homes and commercial buildings in the U.S. with estimates of each structure’s carbon footprint. This includes the carbon created during construction and the materials used as well as local utilities and ongoing carbon use.
The idea is that building owners can accurately account for the carbon usage of their portfolio and consumers can be selective of where they want to occupy.
The estimates are based on a model built with the help of a climate data scientist.
“Think of it as a nutrition label for buildings on carbon,” said co-founder Trevor Dryer.
The company was founded by Dryer, who previously founded and sold the fintech Mirador Financial, and Miles Haladay, a longtime executive at construction software maker Viewpoint.
The startup, which revealed what it is working on last fall, has a team of 15 full-time-equivalent employees.
The company’s goal is to help the real estate industry decarbonize. Globally, the sector accounts for nearly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the founders.
The duo see transparency and accountability as key to decarbonizing the industry. With their public-facing tool, users can compare buildings and make decisions. And building owners can see where they need to work on upgrading facilities or purchasing offsets.
“When I started this, I was more skeptical,” said Haladay. “I wanted to get in (to this business) because we didn’t think (the industry) would decarbonize. I think it has a shot now. It starts with awareness to understand and change behavior.”
He added, “We talk about it in Portland, we have all these empty buildings. We have to be cognizant about the carbon in these buildings. The best building we do is to reuse a building that exists today. Look at those assets, we need people to think about that.”
The team is doing a lot of education about the carbon footprint of buildings both during construction and over the long term and how this differs from programs like LEED certification.
Using Carbon Title Explorer, users can search a building and bring up what the company is calling the building’s carbon title. Building owners can claim their building and add more details about any upgrades that have been made that would affect the carbon footprint or highlight carbon offsets that have been purchased.
The startup generates revenue when building owners claim their building on the site.
