Sources: Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, Ottawa; CP staff
The Athena Institute includes updates for concrete masonry and ready mixed concrete in the just-released version 5.4 whole-building life cycle assessment (LCA) software tool, Impact Estimator for Buildings. The software models any building type at any point in the design stage and eases side by side comparison of material specifications and methods. It also helps users reduce projects’ environmental impact, earn the LCA credit in LEED green building rating system, or report embodied carbon.
The latest Impact Estimator features new concrete masonry unit wall take-offs for various regional and seismic locations, and enables bulk import of all Canadian Ready Mixed Concrete Association environmental product declaration mixes into a library. Users can produce client-ready full project reports and export all Estimator results into Microsoft Excel. The software, transparency documents and video tutorials are posted here.
Athena Institute clients and members supporting the Impact Estimator update include Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association, Canadian Precast/ Prestressed Concrete Institute, Canadian Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Cement Association of Canada, plus the American Institute of Steel Construction and American Iron and Steel Institute.