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flows of materials. Energy consumption, air emissions, water emissions, land emissions, and resource use are all broken down into individual components, and their
total flows are calculated and tabulated. These results, which come directly from the
LCI data, are presented by discrete life cycle stages, but the sum of flows for all
materials is presented together, not separated by individual material. However, this
can only be viewed after all of the material quantities and assemblies have been
entered and is not readily available from within the interface. Furthermore, it does
not give any information on when or how the data was collected. Overall, Athena
provides extremely limited insight into the LCI data.
7.3.2 BEES
The LCI data for the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability
(BEES) tool, an LCIA and LCC tool at the level of building products, is derived
from both generic averages and manufacturer-specific products (Kneifel and O’Rear
2018). This comes from US average data, unit process and facility-specific information, and published EPDs (Kneifel et al. 2018a). Transparent information on the
specific datasets used in BEES can be found online but not in the tool. The products
section of the online documentation of BEES provides a list of all of the products
that BEES currently has information on. For each of these products, there exists a
document containing information on the manufacturer, if the data is about a specific
product, as well as the system boundaries, raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, use, end of life, and sources for the data. This is all accessible for the user to
evaluate the applicability of specific datasets to a study, just not integrated into the
tool itself.
7.3.3 BIRDS
While the source of the LCI data used in the BEES framework is reported online,
the LCI data used in BIRDS lacks transparency. Little information about the databases themselves, discussed in Sect. 7.2.5, is published, and the user has no information on what the LCI data encompass nor any of the metadata surrounding it.
7.3.4 Tally
Tally LCI data is sourced from the GaBi database, discussed in Sect. 7.2.3. In the
Tally dashboard itself, minimal information about the data is displayed, but more
information can be found in the generated report. A box on the side of the interface
provides quick insight into the manufacturing processes and material quantities that
7 LCI Data and Design
flows of materials. Energy consumption, air emissions, water emissions, land emissions, and resource use are all broken down into individual components, and their
total flows are calculated and tabulated. These results, which come directly from the
LCI data, are presented by discrete life cycle stages, but the sum of flows for all
materials is presented together, not separated by individual material. However, this
can only be viewed after all of the material quantities and assemblies have been
entered and is not readily available from within the interface. Furthermore, it does
not give any information on when or how the data was collected. Overall, Athena
provides extremely limited insight into the LCI data.
7.3.2 BEES
The LCI data for the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability
(BEES) tool, an LCIA and LCC tool at the level of building products, is derived
from both generic averages and manufacturer-specific products (Kneifel and O’Rear
2018). This comes from US average data, unit process and facility-specific information, and published EPDs (Kneifel et al. 2018a). Transparent information on the
specific datasets used in BEES can be found online but not in the tool. The products
section of the online documentation of BEES provides a list of all of the products
that BEES currently has information on. For each of these products, there exists a
document containing information on the manufacturer, if the data is about a specific
product, as well as the system boundaries, raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, use, end of life, and sources for the data. This is all accessible for the user to
evaluate the applicability of specific datasets to a study, just not integrated into the
tool itself.
7.3.3 BIRDS
While the source of the LCI data used in the BEES framework is reported online,
the LCI data used in BIRDS lacks transparency. Little information about the databases themselves, discussed in Sect. 7.2.5, is published, and the user has no information on what the LCI data encompass nor any of the metadata surrounding it.
7.3.4 Tally
Tally LCI data is sourced from the GaBi database, discussed in Sect. 7.2.3. In the
Tally dashboard itself, minimal information about the data is displayed, but more
information can be found in the generated report. A box on the side of the interface
provides quick insight into the manufacturing processes and material quantities that
7 LCI Data and Design