ARC473:

Building Life Cycle

Assessment

Lecture 4: Classification & Comparison

of Building LCA Tools

Instructor
Dr. Ahmed Khaled Abd El-Hameed
Sustainable Design & Resource Efficiency
Typical Whole-Building LCA Tool
 Classifications of LCA Tools – Levels
The classification is not exact as is, some tools have characteristics of more than one level.

Product LCA Tools

These tools can provide a framework for supplier-to-supplier comparisons as opposed to

material-to-material comparisons. BEES is an example of these tools.

Assembly LCA Tools

These tools evaluate assemblies for their environmental footprint by considering the
combined effect of all the products. ATHENA EcoCalculator is an example of these tools.

Whole-building LCA Tools

These tools assess the environmental impact by including all the systems and assemblies.
They can compare design options due to different life-cycle stages or the contribution
towards a particular impact. ATHENA Impact Estimator is an example of these tools.
 Classifications of LCA Tools – Users
Tools for LCA Practitioners

These tools help in structuring the analysis; linking user-/pre-defined unit processes;
including standard datasets; and providing analytical and computational frameworks.

Carrying out an LCA of a whole building using these tools can be a strenuous task. The
real use for LCA practitioners’ tools in the building industry is to use these tools to build
product and assembly LCAs, which can then be embedded in building-specific tools.

Tools for General Users (Architects)

These tools have all the basic LCA work done in the background. In most cases,
databases are locked and cannot be modified. These tools have a user-friendly interface
in which the user is prompted for inputs and need not structure the analysis.

The model breaks down the selected assemblies into their respective products, converts
it onto a bill of quantities, and applies LCI databases to get the inventory of consumed
resources and emissions. For some tools, this is followed by impact assessment.
 Classifications of LCA Tools – Application
The classification based on their application to a design stage is dependent on:

 The amount of information available for the project during that stage.
 The type of decisions taken during that stage.

Pre-Design Stage

During this stage, basic information like building form, gross building area, and schematic
floor plans is available for a number of design options. A simplified whole-building LCA
tool can be used to assess the impact of a specific form or structure system. Envest and
ATHENA Impact Estimator are examples of these tools.

Detailed Design Stage

During this stage, more accurate information is available and decisions regarding building
systems and products are taken. Thus, product LCA tools are the suitable tools.
 Classifications of LCA Tools
Based on Region

Some LCA tools have an LCI database locked to them and are not compatible with other
databases. Since LCI databases are region-specific tools.

ATHENA Impact Estimator has the ATHENA and US LCI databases embedded in it, which
are specific to North America. Other tools like SimaPro are more adaptive in their
linkages to different databases and thus are not region-specific.

Based on Life-Cycle Phases Included

Not all the LCA tools are capable of conducting a cradle-to-grave LCA analysis. Cradle-to-
gate LCA tools will only account for impacts due to material manufacturing and the
building construction phase, whereas cradle-to-grave LCA tools like BEES & ATHENA
Impact Estimator account for all life-cycle stages.
 LCA Tools – ATHENA Impact Estimator

ATHENA Impact Estimator (IE) is the primary software tool in North America allowing
users to evaluate whole buildings and assemblies based on internationally recognized LCA
methodology. The types of assemblies covered by this tool are foundations, walls, floors
and roofs, columns, and beams.

It provides a full inventory of natural resource, energy, and water use and of emissions to
air, water, and land for a complete building or for individual assemblies. The aim of the
tool is to indicate implications of different material mixes and design options and consider
trade-offs among the various environmental effects.
 LCA Tools – BEES

Developed by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Building for

Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) provides product-to-product
comparisons on the basis of environmental and economic performance.

Users are allowed to apply weighting factors selectively to environmental and economic
impact and then weigh various environmental factors.
 LCA Tools – Envest

Developed by BRE, the Web-based tool Envest has been designed to simplify the process
of designing environmentally friendly buildings. It allows both environmental and financial
trade-offs to be made explicit in the design process, allowing the client to optimize the
concept of best value according to their own priorities.

It has been developed for use during the early design stage. It allows large design
companies to store and share information in a controlled way, enabling in-house
benchmarking and design comparison. Two versions of the tools are available: Envest 2
estimator and Envest 2 calculator.
 LCA Tools – SimaPro

Developed by PRe consultants, this software is product design orientated. SimaPro is a

professional LCA software tool. Complex products with complex life cycles are easily
compared and analyzed. The inventory databases and the impact assessment methods
can be edited and expanded without limitation.

The ability to trace the origin of any result makes SimaPro unique. It is one of the most
widely used LCA tool. Three versions of SimaPro are available, depending on the kind of
analysis one intends to conduct.
 LCA Tools – GaBi

Developed at the IKP University of Stuttgart in cooperation with PE Product Engineering

GmbH, the GaBi 4 software is one of the leading expert systems for balancing complex
and data-intensive process networks.

Other than LCA, GaBi has the capabilities to assist in GHG accounting, life cycle
engineering, design for environment, substance flow analysis, strategic risk management,
and total cost accounting.

GaBi enables the user to develop the product system for analysis. Since the product
system is user-defined and not fixed, as in other building product and whole-building LCA
tools, it is presumed that there are no tool assumptions.
 LCA Tools – General Information
ATHENA
BEES Envest SimaPro GaBi
IE

Country Canada USA UK Netherlands Germany

Release date 2002 1997 1990 1991

National
Athena Institute of BRE
PRé PE
Developer Institute Standards sustainable
Sustainability International
International and consulting
Technology
www.athenas
www.nist.gov/
mi.org/our- http://envest2
services- https://simapr www.gabi-
Website software-
resources/soft
.bre.co.uk/det
o.com software.com
data/impact- ailsLCA.jsp
ware/bees
estimator
 LCA Tools – Users, Levels & Life Cycle Cost
ATHENA
BEES Envest SimaPro GaBi
IE

Basic user ● ● ●
Expert user ● ●
Product
LCA ● ● ●
Assembly
LCA ●
Building
LCA ● ●
LCC analysis ● ● ●
 LCA Tools – Life Cycle Phases
ATHENA
BEES Envest SimaPro GaBi
IE
Production
(Manufacturing) ● ● ● ● ●
Construction
(Installation) ● ● ● ● ●
Operation
(Maintenance) ● ● ● ● ●
End of Life
(Demolition) ● ● ● ● ●
Recycling ● ● ● ●
 LCA Tools – Impact Categories
ATHENA
BEES Envest SimaPro GaBi
IE
Global
Warming ● ● ● ● ●
Fossil Fuel
Depletion ● ● ● ○ ●
Ozone
Depletion ● ● ● ● ●
Smog
Formation ● ● ● ○ ●
Acidification ● ● ● ● ●
Eutro-
phication ● ● ● ● ●
 LCA Tools – Impact Categories (cont.)
ATHENA
BEES Envest SimaPro GaBi
IE
Ecological
Toxicity ● ● ● ●
Water Use ● ● ○ ●