November 18, 2013
The Athena Sustainable Materials Institute today released an update to its popular life cycle assessment (LCA) software package for North American building designers – the Impact Estimator for Buildings (v4.5). The Impact Estimator is a free and compliant whole building LCA software for those seeking the LCA credits in Green Globes® and LEED® (v4 and MR pilot credit 63). The update is available for download from Athena’s LCA Tools site, calculatelca.com.
Enhancements and updates captured in this version:
- New and updated cradle-to-grave North American steel product data;
- New GAF TPO roofing membrane data;
- Supports new user defined concrete mix designs and blended cements;
- Includes latest CORRIM US regional wood product data;
- New Canadian wood products data (LVL, I-joists and CLT);
- Updated end-of-life landfill process data;
- New bio-products carbon accounting scenarios including end-of-life effects;
- Updated metal building systems LCI data and assembly quantity take-offs;
- Full compatibility with US EPA’s TRACI v2.1 characterization method; and
- New software “Auto Update” capability.
For more detail on enhancements and updates, click here.
This release was made possible by support from the following: American Iron and Steel Institute, Steel Recycling Institute, World Steel Association, GAF, CORRIM (Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials), the Metal Building Manufacturers Association, the Structural Engineers Institute, the USDA Forest Products Lab, and Athena Institute members.
FAQs, video tutorials and an updated user manual are available at calculatelca.com/resources. Athena will also be at Greenbuild in Philadelphia – drop by Booth #1842 in Exhibit Hall B for a personal demo of the new software and its features.
Building Product Manufacturers take note – Athena is now accepting brand name LCA or EPD product data in the Impact Estimator. Find out how.