We have completed hundreds of LCI/LCA studies on construction materials and products, making it possible for our software to address more than 95% of core and shell construction systems. The Athena team follows international standards and protocols and applies recognized North American life cycle impact assessment methods.  The LCA process starts with defining the goal and scope for the study (consensus with the client on what we are trying to achieve). The Athena team then gathers primary life cycle inventory (LCI) data from manufacturing facilities in partnership with industry. When needed, Athena additionally draws on the most robust secondary LCI data or our own proprietary databases. Athena will often facilitate external peer review of the study. We will upload materials and assembly data into our tools and/or upload the client’s LCI data to the US LCI Database, thus making it more widely available to other LCA practitioners and tools. We can either publish a confidential report or, if requested, we can make it publicly available from our website. We can also use these data to develop an environmental product declaration (EPD).

Athena expertise and advanced in-house resources are brought to projects too complex for typical wbLCA software and practitioners.  Athena experts are often participants in design charrettes, however they can also support the design process remotely throughout the design stages. If requested by the design team, Athena’s technical work can be done collaboratively with the designers so that the design team leaves the project with an added bonus of Athena software training. The Athena team will add the LCA results to the Athena buildings database if possible, for future use in benchmarking.

The Athena Pavement LCA web app generates environmental impact results over the entire life cycle for one or more roadway designs, to support design decisions that are seeking a smaller environmental footprint. This work is performed collaboratively with the highway engineering team.