LCA Background Data

The Athena Institute is committed to data quality – our software is respected because it is backed by the most current and reliable data available.

The Impact Estimator draws from LCI and LCA data files that are downloaded along with the software. These files are proprietary to the Athena Institute and are encrypted for security; they additionally are not appropriately viewed as stand-alone files because they are designed to work only in the context of the data integration undertaken by the Impact Estimator. However, it is the intent of the Athena Institute to provide as much transparency as possible regarding the data and inner workings of our software. Therefore, much of our data is available in reports downloadable from the Athena Institute web site.

Our embedded data is the result of on-going research since the inception of the Athena Institute, and is periodically updated as funding allows – either from our core funds, or according to client requests.

Data development by the Athena Institute includes life cycle inventories or life cycle assessments of specific industries, product groups, transportation, construction processes and maintenance tasks. Our work is always conducted in accordance with the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards and other standards as appropriate, and compliant with our own strict research guidelines including internal review and, when warranted, external peer review.

For a list of products included in our tools, please see the latest user manuals

Interested in adding a material or system to our databases? Send us an e-mail with your contact information and we will follow up promptly.