PHribbon & Carbon Calculator

• Simple, Variant and Step by Step Costs

  Estimating costs for a retrofit is complex. Costs change over time and also vary by region and by contractor. Accurate information must be obtained through quotes, however some uncertainty can be reduced by estimating some of the costs in advance. This can lead to much better estimates over time. PHribbon helps by

  • adding a new sheet (seen below) that lists the measures you have added and works out the cost
  • organizing the rates for retrofit costs into groups and giving initial figures (which may need to be updated). These can be edited on the PHribbon Retrofit Costs “RCosts” tab.
  • “Simple” generates the Net Present Value of a PHPP for a retrofitted building
  • “Variants” compares the Net Present Value of several options that have been modelled in PHPP using variants
  • “Step by Step” works out the Net Present Value of a sequence where each variant of the PHPP represents a step for the same building

There is also an list for Consequential Costs – where specific circumstances could significantly increase the cost of a particular measure. This feeds back into the main table:

PHribbon exports into Mark Siddall’s Daylight Factor calculation sheet. An example of the output is given below. Mark gives training in his spreadsheet in this Daylight Factor Training Video .

PHribbon is written to align with the RICS 2^nd Edition (2023) Professional Statement on Whole Life Carbon. This is based on EN 15978 and is required by RIBA, CIBSE and IStructE. It is suitable for the RIBA 2030 Challenge v2, LETI and has initial estimates for the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard (UKNZCBS). There are also some local authorities that require Embodied Carbon calculations, such as London (London Plan 2021), South Hams (Totnes).

PHribbon calculates Whole Life Carbon, which combines the embodied CO₂ from materials with the operational CO₂ from running the building.  It is cradle to grave, covering stages A-C (and most module D info) :

Module A, A1-A3 Manufacture including A4 Transport to site and A5 Construction including A5.1 Pre-construction demolition and A5.3 Construction waste.
Module B, Use of the building including B4 Replacement
Module C, End of Life of the building including RICS estimates where this info is missing
Module D1 where info is provided in the EPD (RICS est for missing info is not yet implemented) and Module D2 calculation of exports from PV or other renewables.

The AECB Carbon Calculator works in a similar way except that it doesn’t link to PHPP and only calculates Embodied Carbon. This also means that it can’t give full RIBA or LETI results, only the embodied part.

Minimum requirements:

• Windows PC, or a Mac with a PC emulator (Parallels, VMware)
• Microsoft Excel from a current version of office, or within last 5 years
• Dropbox or Sharepoint for us to send you updates
• PHPP version 10, though most of it will also work on older PHPP v9 files

Microsoft have had the facility to add custom buttons on a ribbon (toolbar) in Excel for some time. Tim Martel and the AECB have teamed up to create one for PHPP which speeds up common tasks and extends what PHPP can do. No special PHPP is needed. It is designed for PHPP v10 and most buttons (apart from windows and d-reveal) are also compatible with earlier versions of PHPP: 9.6, 9.3, 9.1 and 8.5. You can also use it with PHPPs created by designPH.

PHribbon is continually updated with new EPDs that replace old ones that expire, new Future Energy Scenarios from NESO and revised Government CO2 reporting data.   Your subscription allows us to keep it updated and you automatically receive updates and fixes as they are released.

The first year’s subscription is included in the purchase price.

PHribbon consists of three parts: Whole Life Carbon, Build PHPP, and an annual subscription fee to enable software developments and upgrades.

The total package price is £250 ex VAT for non members and this includes a £70 ex VAT purchase of an annual recurring subscription fee.  The subscription fee will be payable annually on the purchase anniversary.

The AECB members price is £200 ex VAT which includes a discounted subscription fee at £50 ex VAT also payable annually.

The price of the software includes a user guide.

Your payment confirmation email will ask for a security code which you get from a downloaded spreadsheet.  Pressing the button in that spreadsheet just reads a unique code on your computer, it makes no changes whatsoever.  If you change your computer in the future a new Licence Key will be sent to you free of charge.

Software will be distributed by Dropbox to enable updates to be sent to you automatically.  Once you have the software, copy it from the Dropbox to your own folder.  Enter the licence key at the top of the Install tab then follow the instructions below it.  You will also need to enable macros, there are instructions about how to do this safely in the User Guide. (Macros are already part of PHPP v9.6 variants version written by the Passivhaus Institute.)

For any questions please email Tim

By using this software you agree to these terms :

• Users may not redistribute the PHribbon spreadsheet, or repackage it free of charge or otherwise.
• The software has been rigorously tested and great care has been taken to ensure there are no errors, however not every situation in which PHPP can be used can be foreseen, therefore checks for costs are still recommended. Any mistakes found will be corrected free of charge and all users updated. The user is responsible for checking the figures, especially in circumstances where they are critical. In extreme circumstances the maximum compensation will be a refund of the price paid for the software. By using this software you agree that no legal claim can be made against the AECB nor Tim Martel.
• Costs provided are indicative only and are the best information available to the author. By their very nature they are variable according to location, supplier and quantity. They serve only as a starting point and can be updated at any time either for one project (i.e. changing the figure in the costs tab in the PHPP) or by changing the master table for all future projects in the PHribbon spreadsheet.