The Athena Databases

The Institute has developed a set of regional North American life cycle inventory (LCI) databases for key building products, covering 90-95% of the structural and envelope systems applicable to typical commercial, institutional, light industrial and residential buildings.

These building material databases include various wood, steel and concrete products used in structural applications, as well as cladding products and systems, insulation and roofing materials and systems, gypsum wallboard and related finishing materials and selected glazing and window framing options, which typically define the envelope of a building. Additional databases related to regional electricity grids, thermal fuel use, transportation by various modes are taken from the US LCI Database housed at the National Renewable Energy Lab (www.nrel.gov/lci).

These product and global fuel LCI databases are continually updated – the oldest of which is of a 1997 vintage.

To augment the above product and system LCIs, the Institute has also developed databases for energy use and process related emissions for on-site construction of a building’s assemblies; for maintenance, repair and replacement and transportation effects for discrete structural and envelope materials and assemblies applicable to a wide cross-section of building, occupancy types and geographical locations. The Institute has also developed building demolition and final product disposition life cycle effects for various materials.

The Institute developed databases are, where possible, regionally sensitive, taking into consideration manufacturing technology, transportation and electricity grid differences as well as recycled content differences for products produced in various regions. Our databases are built from the ground up using actual manufacturing surveys or engineered process models and are not reliant on trade or government data sources.

While the Product Specification section of this help file provides some basic information about the individual and product categories, the underlying LCI database reports (in PDF format) are available to those so inclined free of charge from our website (www.athenasmi.org).