What’s New?
Changes between versions 5.5 and 5.4 include:
- Biogenic GWP and Calcination GWP included in GWP total and reported separately in LCA Results tables.
- Biogenic GWP calculations removed from Module and reported in A1-A3, A5 and C3-C4 as per ISO 21930.
- LCI tables (Energy Consumption, Air Emissions, Water Emissions, Land Emissions, Resource Use) are no longer available to view or export.
- A new Bill of Materials by Assembly is available. This is meant as helper in the upcoming IE4B web application BOM import.
- Doors can now be modeled with variable heights and widths.
- Electricity grids
- North American Steel products
- North American Wood products
- Concrete Masonry Units
- Mortar and Grout
- Precast Concrete
- Portland Cement
- Portland Lime Cement
- Slag Cement
- Concrete Ready Mix A3 profiles
- 1/2" and 5/8" Glass Mat Gypsum Panel
- 1/2" Lightweight Gypsum Board
- 5/8" Fire-Rated Type X Gypsum Board
- PVC Membrane 48 mil
- Metal Building Systems-Frames, Cladding and Roofing
- Extruded Polystyrene (XPS)
- Polyisocyanurate Foam Board
- Mineral Wool Batt
- Fiberglass Batt
- Fiberglass Loose Fill
- Cellulose
- Spray Polyurethane Foam-added
- EPDM Membrane
- TPO Membrane-added
Changes between versions 5.4 and 5.3 include:
- New! Export all results to Microsoft Excel
- New! Assembly algorithms for CLT walls, floors, and roofs
- New! Client-ready full project report
- New! Bulk import all CRMCA EPD concrete mixes into a project library
- Updated regional N. America electricity profiles
- Updated Canadian wood product profiles
- Updated CMU wall take-offs for various regional and seismic locations
- Updated cradle-to-grave Sika Sarnafil roofing product profiles
- Miscellanous LCI data updates
- Miscellaneous bug fixes
Changes between versions 5.3 and 5.2 include:
- TRACI measure characterization factors for Global Warming Potential and Acidification Potential were updated
- Concrete Footing Foundation assembly was updated
- Concrete Block Wall assembly was updated
- Miscellanous LCI data updates
- Miscellaneous bug fixes
Changes between versions 5.2 and 5.1 include:
- Application performance improvements: Application launch time has been improved and the calculation engine has been recoded to improve performance.
- LEED v4 Whole Building LCA Report: This new feature is now available on the Rating System Reports form that automatically pre-fills and exports a LEED v4 template file with information from the IE for Buildings. After generating the report file, you only need to add the missing project specifics before submitting the completed file for the LEED v4 Whole Building LCA credit.
- Extra Materials by Assembly Group: This new feature provides you with the ability to specify extra materials by assembly group (Foundations, Floors, Roofs, Walls, Columns & Beams, and project level)
- BOM Import Utility: To take advantage of the new Extra Materials by Assembly Group feature, the BOM Import Utility has been updated to permit mapping of imported material take-off rows directly to one of the extra material assembly groups
- Updated life cycle data for cement, concrete block, and precast and ready mixed concrete
- New products: Duro-Last®, Duro-Fleece®, Duro-Tuff® and Sika Sarnafil roofing products, glass mat gypsum panels, normal weight and lightweight concrete blocks.
Changes between versions 5.1 and 5.0 include:
- NRMCA benchmark concrete mix designs were added to the database Product Library for 2500 psi, 3000 psi, 4000 psi, 5000 psi, 6000 psi and 8000 psi compressive strengths. These benchmark mixes, and their SI equivalents, are now the base or reference mix designs supported in the software’s concrete assemblies.
- The US Portland cement profile has also been updated based on work at the Concrete Sustainability Hub at MIT.
- The ready-mixed plant process was updated according to the NRMCA industry wide LCA and EPD. Similarly, regional coarse and fine aggregate transportation distances were updated.
- Based on the 2015 N.A. industry wide LCA and EPD for Slag Cement and with the support of the Slag Cement Association, the previous Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag profile has been retired and replaced with the latest industry average EPD profile and renamed Slag Cement.
- With the support of the Aluminum Association we were able to replace our previous Aluminum profiles with the latest 2014 N.A. LCI data for primary and secondary ingot, cold and hot rolled sheet, extruded and cast products. These data have been mapped accordingly to the various aluminum products supported in the software and have been modeled on a similar basis as was done for N.A. steel products in version 5.0.
Changes between versions 5.0 and 4.5 included:
- New green roof components available in roof envelope choices
- New insulated metal panel options for both roofing materials and wall claddings
- New concrete block size options available in extra basic materials
- New location – Portland, Oregon – selectable from among 17 North American locations/regions
- New tables and graphs reporting in accordance with the latest whole building LCA standards
- New Green Globes and LEED v4 project level and comparison reports
- New Bill of Materials by Assembly Group report
- Updated wide flange section beam algorithms
- Updated purchased electricity profiles on a regional, national and North American inter-tie level
- Updated transportation by truck profiles
Changes between versions 4.5 and 4.2 included:
- New and updated cradle-to-grave North American steel product data;
- New GAF TPO roofing membrane data;
- Supports new user defined concrete mix designs and blended cements;
- Includes latest CORRIM US regional wood product data;
- New Canadian wood products data (LVL, I-joists and CLT);
- Updated end-of-life landfill process data;
- New bio-products carbon accounting scenarios including end-of-life effects;
- Updated metal building systems LCI data and assembly quantity take-offs;
- Full compatibility with US EPA’s TRACI v2.1 characterization method; and
- New software “Auto Update” capability.
Changes between versions 4.2 and 4.1 included:
- The tool is now free of charge, no product registration key is needed.
- The Bill of Materials File Import and Unit of Measure Mapping tools have been added, allowing the user to export a bill of materials from a CAD program, and import it into the Impact Estimator for Buildings. Material names and units of measure can be mapped (and saved in libraries) to resolve any nomenclature differences between different programs and the tool.
- Composite metal floors/roofs have been added as new assemblies.
- Precast concrete columns and beams have been added as new column and beam types.
- The Weighted Resource Unit LCA measure has been removed. It was a proprietary measure and not based on an accepted life cycle impact assessment method, so it has been removed pending the development of an accepted method.
- All TRACI characterization factors have been updated to the latest US EPA TRACI characterization factors. Smog potential and HH criteria also both are based on new equivalent factors, kg O3 eq. for smog (from kg NOx eq.), and PM10 for HH Criteria (from PM2.5)
- The following new materials have been added:
- Precast concrete
- Precast Panels
- Insulated Precast Panels
- Insulated Precast Panels with Stone Veneer
- Polyisocyanurate Foam Board with Glass Reinforced Facer
- Polyisocyanurate Foam Board with Foil Facer
- LCA data has been updated on the following materials:
- PVC 48mil roofing membrane
- Regular and Type X, 1/2" and 5/8" gypsum board
- Polyisocyanurate Foam Board
Changes between versions 4.1 and 4.0 included:
- Two new locations have been added to the Impact Estimator, Los Angeles and Seattle.
- With the addition of Los Angeles and Seattle, seismic effects have been added to the structural calculations for these two locations. The seismic effects for Seattle have been applied to Vancouver.
- Envelopes can be defined once and reused over and over again across multiple assemblies and projects. Assembly Envelopes can be saved to a library of "Predefined Envelope Systems". This feature was originally introduced in the initial release of version 4.0 as "Envelope Configurations" it was disabled due to some usability issues, and has been completely recoded.
- Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) has been added as a new Wall Type to the "Custom Wall" assembly.
- New Materials have been added including the following:
- Air Barrier
- EPDM membrane (white, 60 mil). Note: The previously existing material named "EPDM membrane" has been renamed "EPDM membrane (black, 60 mil)"
- Fiber Cement
- MDI Resin
- Natural Stone
- PVC
- Added "Load Bearing" and "Non Load Bearing" options to the "Steel Stud Wall" assembly. Previously all "Steel Stud Walls" were assumed to be interior non load bearing walls. All existing "Steel Stud Walls" are automatically assumed to be "Load Bearing" and will be set as such when pre-existing projects are opened in 4.1.10. The only difference between "Load Bearing" and "Non Load Bearing" is that seismic effects are applied to "Load Bearing" walls only. Therefore, only "Steel Stud Walls" in existing Vancouver projects will have their Bills of Materials changed when opened in 4.1.10, or pre-existing projects that are changed to either new location, Los Angeles or Seattle. If you do not wish to have the seismic effects added to existing projects, the user needs to modify each "Steel Stud Wall" assembly by changing the wall type to "Non Load Bearing".
- "Wood Stud Wall" type label has changed from "Exterior" or "Interior" to "Load Bearing" or "Non Load Bearing".
- Reintroduced Project Baseline Comparison Graphs.
Changes between versions 4.0 and 3 included:
- Version 4.0 has greatly increased functionality and flexibility. An example of improved functionality is the ability to define complete envelope systems, save them, and then reuse them on any project.
- With the introduction of the “Custom Wall Assembly”, version 4 users can now specify multiple structural (e.g., double stud wall) and envelope materials (e.g. two or more types of insulation plus other envelope components) for each individual wall that makes up a building.
- In version 4, you now specify the number of columns and the number of beams in a grid system. The grid can either be a complete column and beam system employing non-load bearing infill walls, or a modified grid using an exterior load bearing wall with interior columns and beams.
- The Impact Estimator now supports New York City as a selectable location. In early 2009 we expect to support Seattle, Los Angeles and Phoenix as new building locations. The Athena Institute would like to acknowledge the support of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) in the development of LCI data for the New York City region.
- As output, the Impact Estimator generates both a detailed life cycle inventory for an entered design and a set of summary impact indicator reports in either graphical or tabular form. The software supports the following characterization measures based on mid-point impact estimation methods developed by the US EPA and reported in their "Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts" (TRACI, 2007 version).
- embodied primary energy
- acidification potential
- aquatic eutrophication potential
- global warming potential
- human health criteria
- ozone depletion potential
- weighted raw resource use (the weights reflect a valuation of ecological carrying capacity effects)
- photochemical smog potential
- The additional mid-point impact measures reflects a greater capability to handle inventory flows from and to nature – flows that are now becoming common in life cycle inventory data sets compared to when the Impact Estimator was first developed.
- The software now includes wood, steel and aluminum exterior and interior doors – seven different configurations in all with and without glazing.
- In preparation for future exporting of envelope data to energy simulation tools, a new feature has been added that allows for flexible layering of envelope components to meet the needs of energy simulation tools that may have different results depending on the specific envelope component layering order.
- A number of the underlying life cycle inventory profiles for common fuels, electricity and transportation energy have been updated using the more robust USLCI Database Project.
- The software still has its familiar feel but there have been changes to the colour scheme, input boxes, text styles, graphing, and graphics appearance. A new toolbar has been added, providing users with a short list of commands to further improve functionality.
- The output tables can now be directly exported to Excel or PDF instead of having to first export as a text file and then import into Excel.
- The software will be available as a download and will anticipate providing periodic updates to the software, its databases and supporting documentation through the web.
- There has been a change in terminology from “Concrete Flat Plate with Drop Panels” to “Concrete Parking Garage”.
- There has been a change in terminology from “Concrete Flat Plate Slab on Columns” to “Concrete Suspended Slab”.