The new soaring Rosario Norte Building in Santiago, Chile, possesses something that no other structure in Latin America has: a life cycle analysis of its construction.

Conservación & Desarrollo (C&D), a Chilean consulting firm, partnered with San Francisco-based Climate Earth to compute what they believe to be the first carbon footprint of a new building in Latin America.

The 570,487-square-foot, 16-story building was constructed by Constructora NOVATEC S.A. and will house the Chilean headquarters of Deloitte. The building was designed to meet LEED-Gold standards, with features that include rain and gray water collection and reutilization, smart electricity management, a curtain wall that takes advantage of the sun and wind to reduce use of chillers and heaters, green walls and elevators that recover kinetic energy.

The construction phase (pictured above) produced 28,830,000 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent. It is important to note that this footprint represents just a fraction of the total life cycle impact of the building over a 60-year span. Climate Earth CEO Chris Erickson points out that in the next 10 to 20 years, a period crucial for climate change, the construction phase remains greater than 50 percent of the impact. Over a 60-year span, construction will account for approximately 10 percent to 20 percent of the total life cycle impact. An assessment of the use phase of the building will begin once the building is occupied.

The infographic below breaks down the carbon impacts of this new building into four categories of activities that comprise the construction process. (Click on the image for a full-sized version)

Graphic design by Sam Smith.