From 6 Seconds to Under 100ms: How the Embodied Carbon Observatory Separates Grid Improvement From Real Decarbonization With Tiger Data

Ankur Podder, a solo developer and founder of dexdogs.earth, has created the Embodied Carbon Observatory, an open-source temporal observatory that tracks carbon intensity in US building materials using TimescaleDB. The observatory analyzes over 40,000 Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and 25+ years of EPA grid data to determine if a decrease in a concrete plant's carbon emissions is due to genuine improvements or a cleaner regional grid. This tool, developed to meet the demands of Buy Clean procurement policies and corporate sustainability commitments, integrates multiple data sources, including EC3 and EPA eGRID, to provide a detailed, interactive map capable of showing real-time decarbonization insights. By using TimescaleDB's hypertables and continuous aggregates, the observatory reduces query times from 6-8 seconds to under 100ms, allowing for interactive, real-time attribution rather than overnight batch processing. The project is entirely open-source under the MIT license and aims to expand its capabilities to include other materials like steel and timber, providing a comprehensive resource for evaluating the decarbonization of building materials in the US.

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