Driving Sustainability with Open-Source Software Solutions

This year, Bentley Systems solidified its investment in tools that simplify carbon reporting with the announcement of new Carbon Analysis capabilities in iTwin Experience (the company’s version of a single pane for visualizing, analyzing, managing and sharing infrastructure digital twins). The carbon analysis tool features continuous reporting and carbon visualization functionality to allow engineers to streamline carbon calculations during the design process.

READ MORE: Putting the Digital Twin to Work

“Embodied carbon” is the carbon footprint of an asset before it is built, encompassing the greenhouse gases emitted during the construction process. The International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) estimates that embodied carbon from new infrastructure will be responsible for half of the world’s carbon footprint released between now and 2050.

Taking it One Step Further With AI

Using Bentley’s carbon analysis means engineers can make “cradle-to-gate” assessments on a design’s carbon footprint from the moment raw materials are extracted until it leaves the factory’s gate, according to Biagi.

This year, Bentley Systems also delivered OpenSite+, the first engineering application leveraging generative AI for civil site design. The digital twin-native product integrates with Bentley’s iTwin platform. Since it is built on large language models, users have instant AI-powered capabilities when they create, revise and interact with requirements documentation and 3D site models. In addition, the copilot handles layout optimization and automates drawing production in a fraction of time compared to traditional CAD software.

The integration of AI and machine learning for proactive asset management effectively ensures the company’s acceleration to the next phase in digitally transforming critical infrastructure asset management.

According to Biagi, copilots for site design users bring together different sources of data. “With a few key prompts, it’s able to generate scenarios, it’s able to generate layouts and suggest context that can then be evaluated against lots of different other criteria—cost, carbon accounting, the land, remediation and so many other different disciplines,” he said. “What it’s allowing is for engineers to be able to evaluate concepts so much faster and to be able to get to a stage of a very mature design very, very quickly.”

Editor’s Note: Rehana Begg served as a juror in Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2024 Going Digital Awards.