Version 4.2 Build 02

Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings 4.2.02 (Version 4.2 Build 0208) was released in April 2013.

Changes & Issues Addressed:

  1. TRACI 2.1 :
    The US EPA also issued a new version of its TRACI impact characterization methodology in 2012 and this new version of our software now supports the new methods and equivalency measures advocated by the EPA. Changes include the following:

    • New Release Compartment : Acidification Water on an SO2 equivalent basis. This compartment is added to the Air compartment when calculating the Acidification Potential values.
    • Reports – Summary Measure – Acidification Air : The US EPA TRACI Acidification Air measure has been changed to an SO2 equivalent basis. Acidification Air is now presented as "Acidificaiton Potential (kg SO2 eq)" instead of "Acidification Potential (H+ moles eq)"
    • Reports – Summary Measure – Human Health Criteria : The US EPA TRACI HH Criteria measure has been changed to a PM2.5 equivalent basis. HH Criteria is now presented as "HH Criteria (kg PM2.5 eq)" instead of "HH Respiratory Effects Potential (kg PM10 eq)"
  2. Life Cycle Stage Allocation : Moved manufacturing, construction, and end of life effects associated with construction waste materials (e.g. 5% concrete, 8% wood) to the construction-installation stage.
  3. Life Cycle Stage Allocation : Adopted the modularity principle advocated by the European Standard EN 15804. Report column headings have been updated.
  4. Life Cycle Stage Allocation : Material replacement quantities and corresponding effects were being allocated to the wrong life cycle stage.
  5. Assembly - Walls - Pre-engineered Metal Wall (zero tree results) : When you a pre-engineered metal wall was added to a project, the GWP (and other measures too) value in tree were zero at the assembly level. At the group level, there had a value, but for it was not showing up at the assembly level.
  6. File Menu - Sample Projects : Added Sample Projects so can easily load sample projects :: Add Sample Projects to the File Menu to facilitate end user opening and cloning of the Sample Projects.
  7. Assembly Group Copy : Added the ability to copy all of the contents in an Assembly Group between projects.
  8. Assembly - Walls - All : Custom Wall assemblies were double counting the Construction Transportation Effects.
  9. Assembly - Floor - Wood Joist Floor : There was a span validation bug for Imperial only for the 50 psf value whereby the maximimum and minimum span constraints were not being enforced.
  10. Assembly - Walls - Curtain Wall : Curtain Wall was contributing a 0.00 quantity value which was causing a formatting error during generation of the Bill of Materials report.
  11. Envelopes - Material Replacement Calculation for Span < MinimumSpan : The wrong span value was being used to calculate replacement envelope materials for assemblies that have Span as in input. When the Span entered by the user was less than the Minimum Assembly span (e.g., for Concrete Hollow Core Floor/Roof assemblies), the envelope material replacement calculations were using the Minimum Span value instead of the User Span.
  12. Project – Building Height and Gross Floor Area : The entered value for both Building Height and Gross Floor Area input fields, though displayed in the appropriate unit of measure, were being interpreted as SI even if the unit entered was Imperial. For instance, when 20 ft was entered for the building height, it was being interpreted as 20m.
  13. Project – Building Height and Gross Floor Area : Changes to either Building Height and/or Gross Floor Area input fields were not forcing any open reports for the affected project to refresh.
  14. Project - Duplication - Operational Energy Consumption Cross-Linking : When a project was duplicated, the Annual Operational Energy property was being cross-linked back to the original project object so long as both projects were open and active in the tree. Closing then re-opening either project would break the cross-linking.
  15. Project - Duplication - Location Change - Open Reports : Open reports were not refreshing properly for projects that had been duplicated (cloned) when the location was changed for either the original or the cloned project.
  16. Report Viewer : The report viewer was updated from Microsoft Report Viewer 2008 to Microsoft Report Viewer 2010.
  17. Reports - Tables - Export to Excel - Formulas : When Table Reports were Exported to Excel, the Report Viewer named each of the Total fields that contain summation formulas. In order to manipulate the data, we recommended copying the exported data and using Paste Special – Values to remove the formula and named cell dependencies.
  18. Assembly - Extra Basic Materials : For projects that did not yet have an Extra Basic Materials assembly, the
    "Add Extra Basic Materials" dialog could be launched multiple times, and the first dialog saved to the project would "win".

Database Updates

  • TRACI 2.1 :
    The US EPA also issued a new version of its TRACI impact characterization methodology in 2012 and this new version of our software now supports the new methods and equivalency measures advocated by the EPA. Database changes include the following:

    • updated the TRACI characterization factors to be consistent with the US EPA TRACI version 2.1.
    • Global warming was updated to match IPCC2007, toxicity impact categories were converted to the USEtox model and fossil depletion was added following Eco-indicator 99. This method now also contains normalisation factors for the US and US-Canada. For the US, the reference year for the inventory data collected is 2008, whereas for the US-Canada, Canadian data from Lautier et al. (2010) for 2005 was used and updated for relevant substances with data from 2008. A manuscript is currently being prepared for publication. See the PRé Sustainability "Methods update SimaPro 7.3.3" for more information.
  • Windows :
    New windows data and additional window frame and glazing types were added. Window Frames are now self-contained products where as in previous versions window frames were "constructed" on site. The one exception to this is for "Aluminum Window Frames", for which no new data was available in time for this release.

    1. Updated Window Frame Type and Material records for:
      • Aluminum Clad Wood Window Frame Double Pane (previously Aluminum Frame)
      • Vinyl Clad Wood Window Frame Double Pane (previously PVC Clad Wood Frame)
      • PVC Window Frame Double Pane (previously PVC Frame)
      • Unclad Wood Window Frame Double Pane (previously Wood Frame)
    2. Added new Window Frame Type and Material records for:
      • Fibreglass Window Frame Double Pane
      • Aluminum Clad Wood Window Frame Triple Pane
      • Vinyl Clad Wood Window Frame Triple Pane
      • PVC Window Frame Triple Pane
      • Unclad Wood Window Frame Triple Pane
      • Fibreglass Window Frame Triple Pane
    3. Updated Window Glazing Type and Material records for:
      • Double Glazed Soft Coated Argon (previously Low E Sliver Argon Filled Glazing)
      • Double Glazed Hard Coated Argon (previously Low E Tin Argon Filled Glazing)
      • Double Glazed Hard Coated Air (previously Low E Tin Glazing)
      • Double Glazed No Coating Air (previously Standard Glazing)
    4. Added new Window Glazing Type and Material records for:
      • Double Glazed Soft Coated Air
      • Triple Glazed No Coating Air
      • Triple Glazed Soft Coated Air
      • Triple Glazed Hard Coated Air
      • Triple Glazed Hard Coated Argon
      • Triple Glazed Soft Coated Argon
  • Updated Material : The Default Unit of Measure Mapping for Large Dimension Lumber was corrected to "Mbfm large dimension" from "Mbfm small dimension".
  • Updated Smog Potential : The Smog Potential being calculated some fuels was wrong.
  • Updated Materials : Updated and expanded our fiberglass and mineral (rock) wool insulation materials.  Working with NAIMA, these data have now been stratified by r-value to better reflect the density of these materials at various thicknesses.
    • Updated Material : FG Batt R11-15 - renamed from Fiberglass Batt
    • Updated Material : MW Batt R11-15 - renamed from Rockwool Batt
    • Added Material : Fibreglass Batt
    • Added Material : Fibreglass Loose Fill
    • Added Material : Mineral Wool Batt
    • Added Material : FG Batt R20
    • Added Material : FG Batt R30
    • Added Material : FG Batt R40
    • Added Material : FG Batt R50
    • Added Material : FG LF Open Blow R13-20
    • Added Material : FG LF Open Blow R21-30
    • Added Material : FG LF Open Blow R31-40
    • Added Material : FG LF Open Blow R41-50
    • Added Material : FG LF Open Blow R51-60
    • Added Material : FG LF Cavity Fill R15
    • Added Material : FG LF Cavity Fill R22
    • Added Material : FG LF Cavity Fill R30
    • Added Material : FG LF Cavity Fill R38
    • Added Material : MW Batt R20
    • Added Material : MW Batt R30
    • Added Material : MW Batt R40
    • Added Material : MW Batt R50

 

 
 
 
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