Our next-generation whole-building LCA tool.

ID=3925 :: post_name=athena-building-lca :: post_title=Athena Building LCA :: post_status=publish :: post_type=page :: post_category=Array

Coming soon: Athena Building LCA

This free web app is a next-generation whole-building LCA tool aligned with state-of-the-art guidelines and standards. The Athena Building LCA web app is as compliant as reasonably possible with ISO 219301, EN 159782, and the National Guidelines for Whole-building LCA3.

The purpose of this tool is to enable advanced whole-building LCA practice in line with the national guidelines and with maximum transparency and flexibility. Import a bill of materials, set the assessment parameters, and get cradle-to-grave LCA results for all 21930 impact categories, based on background environmental and scenario data.

Users can define their own scenarios to override our defaults. In other words, you can use your own data for transportation distances and modes, replacement rates, and end of life fates. You can create your own custom products and can use your own environmental data for products.

The tool will give you highly detailed and disaggregated LCA results, to enable contribution analysis by building element, material, work result, and year.

You will need a bill of materials to use this tool. If you don’t have one yet for your building (for example, if you are in early design), use the Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings to generate a bill of materials, for import into the web app.

The guiding principles behind the design of this software:

  • Apply a standardized format to data and its creation, collection, storage, and use.
  • Enable modeling of any activity included in the EN 15978/ISO 21930 scope.
  • Conduct LCA according to the national wbLCA guidelines.
  • Report results by flow, work result, element, and year.
  • Implement a data structure suitable as a data exchange format for wbLCA.

Notes:

[1] ISO 21930:2017 Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works – Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services.

[2] EN 15978:2011 Sustainability of construction works – Assessment of environmental performance of buildings – Calculation method.

[3] National Guidelines for Whole-building LCA (National Research Council Canada 2022). This document is the closest available to a North American standard for wbLCA calculation and reporting.