Welcome to GaBi 4.4
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Transcript of Welcome to GaBi 4.4
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Welcome to GaBi 4.4!
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Congratulations for successfully updating to the newest version of GaBi
GaBi 4.4!
Wed like to introduce you to the newest features of GaBi 4.4 as well as update you
about some of the things that we have changed.
Weve been very busy over the last months putting together a whole lot of changes
in the software in response to changes within the LCA industry. Weve alsoresponded to your requests for new functionality. Of course, we also extendeddatabase content and the way database information can be used, f ixed bugs andworked on the performance of the software.
Lets take a quick look at the themes.
Perhaps the most obvious changes are related to the implementation of the ILCDFormat in GaBi 4.4. Most of these changes relate to the way you document yourmodelling within the software but weve also added new datasets.
Weve added Life Cycle Working Environment and Land Use information to thedatabase and split the existing carbon dioxide flows into CO2 from fossil resourcesand CO2 from renewable resources.
With increased pressure in the form of governmental regulations, EnvironmentalProduct Declarations or EPDshave become much more important and weve added
some features to GaBi 4.4 that will assist you to adhere to regulations and complywith certification systems.
Youll also notice that GaBi 4.4 looks a little different with additional fields here and
there. Ill explain these changes as well as a bunch of other updates in the other
changes section.
As with all GaBi updates this update includes a number ofdatabase improvementsincluding the addition of over 350 new datasets.
Finally, if you are an i-report user, we made a couple of small changes that shouldimprove the way you edit your i-reports.
Well start by taking a look at the implementation of the ILCD format in GaBi 4.4.
Your GaBi Team
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ILCD System Implementation
The International reference Life Cycle Data System, or ILCD, is a system designed
to increase the awareness and use of life cycle thinking and life cycle assessment
through scientific robustness, quality assurance and consensus building. The
system was developed by the European Unions Joint Research Centre in Ispra in
a consultation process that took into consideration the knowledge and
experience of the European Unions member countries, representatives from
global and regional industry associations and individuals and experts from
various database projects and academic institutions. In addition, an advisory
group of LCA software and database developers and an advisory group of LCIA
method developers were consulted.
Lets take a look at the DB manager. Youve probably noticed already that thecontent area looks a little different from 4.3. Weve modified the way objects
are displayed in the content area so that you can see more information as
documented according to the ILCD systems naming nomenclature. This new
format is now the standard display format in the DB Manager, project window,
search window and GPR export window. The advantage is that you can see the
differences between similar objects much more easily. Of course, if you decide
that you prefer the old way of viewing objects you can turn off this function by
selecting View and deselecting Details.
One aspect of the ILCD system has been the development of a standard method
for documenting process level meta data for your LCA project. In GaBi, process
documentation used to be stored in external files. Not anymore. When you work
in GaBi now, youll notice that when you click on the Documentation tab, things
look a little different.
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While were here, its worth pointing out that the Ecospold tab has been
removed. More about this later.
The Documentation tab allows you to record extensive information regarding
datasets including general information about the processes quantitative andtechnical representativeness, which LCI method principle and allocation were
used and data sources. You can also record validation information and
administration information including the dataset generator, dataset ownership
and publication information.
Most of the fields allow you to enter text. Just click in a box and start typing.
In a number of the fields youll notice a little pair of binoculars. Experienced GaBi
users will know that this activates the search function. Clicking on the binoculars
opens the search window where and you can search for the required object. For
example, under the Process Information section, in the Technological
representativeness field, you can click on the binoculars to search for processes
included in this dataset and document the link between them.
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You can also insert images into the documentation. For example, you can add a
pictogramme of the modelled technology by clicking on the image icon next to
pictogramme of Technology and locating the relevant file.
For a number of the fields, weve also implemented menus that allow you toselect the appropriate entry. For example in the LCI method approaches section
you can select which allocation method was used.
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With respect to validating your datasets you need to include a complete review
report. Youll notice in the Scope of Review section you can indicate which
review methods were used to review a series of important aspects of the
dataset. For example, the reviewer can indicate that a mass balance and energy
balance was conducted. The reviewer can also enter a response for variousquality indicators.
The reviewers name and institution can be entered by clicking on the binocularsand searching for the appropriate contact. In the Complete Review Reportsection, clicking on the book opens a new citation window where you can addthe necessary information for the citation and contact person. Alternatively youcan click on the binoculars to activate the search function to locate the relevantcitation.
By clicking on the Add Review button you can also add more reviews to your
documentation.
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For those who prefer the old way of adding documentation through external
files, youll be happy to know that this is still possible.
We realised that adding all of this documentation can be a long and tiring
process. So, we included the Adopt Info button. Clicking on the Adopt Infobutton activates the search function allowing you to search for a process whose
documentation completely or partially matches the current process. By selecting
and accepting a process, its documentation will be copied into the current
process where you can further modify and complete it.
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If we take a look back at the DB manager, youll notice that there are two new
menu items: Contacts and Reference, Citation.
The Contacts folder allows you to enter contact information in much the same
way that you enter other information in GaBi. With the Contact item selected,
you can right click in the content area and select New to enter a new Contact in
your database. In the new contact window you can enter the relevantinformation for the contact person and link this person to another organisation.
You can do this by clicking on the binoculars and searching for the organisation
to which this person belongs. Alternatively, if this organisation does not yet exist
in the database, you can click on the Contacts icon and enter another new
contact.
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The Reference, Citation folder stores all your literature references. In the same
way that you create other objects in GaBi, select this folder and right click in the
content area. Selecting New will open a new window where you can enter
citation information including the citation name, reference, publication type and
general comments. You can also indicate who this citation belongs to. Forexample if the citation belongs to PE INTERNATIONAL you can click on the
binoculars and search for PE INTERNATIONAL. Alternatively, you can enter a new
contact person directly by clicking on the contact icon.
To improve access to LCA data a number of leading tool developers agreed to
provide an import/export interface that allows ILCD format files to be imported
to and exported from the most widely used tools. GaBi 4.4 allows you to export
your database in ILCD format simply by clicking on Database, Export and
selecting ILCD. Please keep in mind, the ILCD export function only works for
processes. You cannot export plans in the ILCD format. Despite our best efforts,
due to methodological limitations, it is unfortunately not possible to import
ELCD databases (in ILD format) into GaBi. In order to be able to import ILCD
data we need to understand the way the flows should interact with other GaBi
datasets. At this stage, the ELCD flow list, containing impact assessment
characterisation factors have not yet been released meaning that we cannot
make the relevant calculations during the import.
We are, however, happy to announce that the entire
ELCD database is included in the GaBi 4.4 update so
you shouldnt need to do any importing anyway.
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Life Cycle Working Environment - LCWE
One of the big issues within the LCA field at the moment is how to integrate
social aspects in LCA. The Life Cycle Engineering Department at the University of
Stuttgart has been working on this issue extensively with the result that GaBi 4.4
includes the first database information that allows you to do exactly this. Weve
implemented the Life Cycle Working Environment method (or LCWE) into the
4.4 database. This method allows quantitative tracking of social aspects
throughout a products life cycle on the basis of seconds of labour per value
added.
In the process window you are now able to enter information regarding the
social aspects of the process. Clicking on the LCWE tab reveals a number of input
areas. The Qualified Working Time section allows you to enter the amount ofworking time for internal and external activities. Internal activities represent all
activities occurring within the established system boundary. External activities
include all activities outside the established system boundary. Youll notice that
the flows are divided into various GQLs. GQL stands for general qualification
level and refers to the skill level of the person undertaking the work. You can see
that it is possible to enter the amount of time according to various units such as
the seconds worked, hours, person days or person years.
Under the Health and Safety section you can enter the number of lethal
accidents and serious non-lethal accidents that occurred internally andexternally. You can also enter the amount of time classified as having unhealthy
labour conditions.
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In the Humanity of Working Conditions section, various humanitarian aspects of
the working environment can be recorded. For example you can specify how
much time is spent using childrens labour and forced labour.
When we take a look at the balance view you can see that there is nowinformation contained in the LCWE tab. This information allows you to analyse
an additional aspect of your product system and can be used to generate charts
in the same way as other balance information.
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Land Use
In addition to Life Cycle Working Environment, another major theme in LCA is
how to take into account the impacts of land use. Weve been working together
with the Life Cycle Engineering Department at the University of Stuttgart to
integrate site-specific impact flows for land use processes. In short, the Life
Cycle Engineering department has developed a too l called LANCA that calculates
site-specific characterisation factors and impacts. Weve integrated these results
into some of the aggregated processes within the GaBi 4.4 update. We are also
happy to report that this approach is generally compatible with the framework
set up by the UNEP-SETAC taskforce Operational Characterization factors for
land use impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the life-cycle impact
assessment.
When defining new processes you now have the possibility of entering a number
of new land use indicator value flows including erosion resistance and ground
water replenishment. You can enter these as inputs in your process.
The other place you will notice these new flows is in the quantities drop down
menu in the balance view. You can now choose to view the results for each of
the new land use indicator values.
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If you select the quantity view in the balance window youll notice a new row on
the input side called Land use quantities where you can view all of the different
land use indicator value results.
If youd like to learn more about calculating land use impacts there is anexcellent free publication which you can access by clicking on this link:
http://www.gabi-software.com/support/gabi-44/report-land-use/
http://www.gabi-software.com/support/gabi-44/report-land-use/http://www.gabi-software.com/support/gabi-44/report-land-use/ -
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Carbon Dioxide Flows
There has long been discussion regarding whether or not the carbon dioxide
flows within an LCA model should be split into two flows; CO2 from fossil
resources and CO2 from biotic or renewable resources. Weve come to the
conclusion that they should. In fact, by modelling the CO2 flows in this way, we
believe that you will be able to model CO2 according to the most relevant and
well-known CO2 modelling techniques such as PAS 2050 and the GHG Protocol.
It is important to point out that we have not split the CO2 flows to force you to
model them in a particular way or according to a particular method (we do not
give preferential treatment to one particular approach). On the contrary, this
change allows you to remain flexible in the way that you calculate and analyse
your results.
In GaBi there are now four CO2 flows; a carbon dioxide resource flow, a carbon
dioxide product flow, carbon dioxide as an emission to air and carbon dioxide
(biotic) as an emission to air. This level of differentiation between different
types of carbon dioxide is particularly useful when your assessment includes the
utilisation of renewable resources, where you would like to better understand
how much carbon dioxide is embedded in a product and the contribution of
natural CO2 emissions and fossil CO2 emissions.
When you look at your balance youll see that on the input side there is typically
only one CO2 flow. This makes sense since all carbon dioxide comes from theatmosphere. On the output side, apart from the carbon dioxide as chemical
product flow, you can see two carbon dioxide emission flows: carbon dioxide
emissions from fossil resources and carbon dioxide emissions from biotic or
renewable resources. One of the most important aspects to understand is that
the difference between the carbon dioxide input and the carbon dioxide (biotic)
flow represents the carbon dioxide embedded in the product. It was not easy to
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see this in the balance view in GaBi 4.3. It is also important to note that the fossil
carbon dioxide emission to air is in no way related to the carbon dioxide input
and typically gives a good indication how much CO2 arises from standard energy
generation.
If we look at the global warming potential view and aggregate the results, the
net carbon dioxide emission becomes clear.
These changes could be described in much more detail. For now, it suffices to
say that they should improve your ability to analyse the roles of carbon dioxide
emissions from fossil resources and from renewable resources according to
various approaches.
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Environmental Product Declarations - EPDs
Over the last year we have received an increasing number of enquiries regarding
how to use GaBi to support the development of EPDs. Weve seen increasing
participation of our clients in various EPD schemes too. We thought it wouldmake sense to provide additional support to those needing to produce EPD
information and reports.
An EPD dataset contains the documentation plus the selected indicators
required by EPD databases like the German kobau.dat and the European
Sustainable Construction database ESUCO. When you go to the ILCD
Documentation tab youll notice in the top right corner a button called Highlight
EPD Fields. Clicking this button highlights the fields most commonly required for
documentation of an EPD dataset. You should be aware that in order to make
this useful for the largest number of users the Highlight EPD fields function does
not provide the complete set of documentation for a specific EPD system but
rather, a generalised set that should fit most requirements.
You can export your EPD dataset as an xml file by selecting the object in your
database, clicking Database, Export, EPD... The created file can then be opened
in a web browser using a stylesheet where you can print it out if required.
In the same way that the Highlight EPD fields button works, you can click on the
Highlight Ecospold Fields button to highlight the fields necessary for completingecospold format documentation. As with the EPDs, you can export the
documentation as an xml file. Locate the object in the database, click on
Database, Export and ecospold. This will export an ecospold format document
that can be viewed and printed from a web browser.
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i-report
In response to your feedback weve added a couple of new functions to the i-
report software. When you are creating an i-report you often insert tables. In
the past the method for defining the number of digits shown in the table wasquite limited. You can now select which number format you would like to use in
much the same way as in other software tools like Excel. So, right click on a table
and select Properties. In the properties window click on the Formatting tab.
Here you see a new drop down menu called Format Pattern where you can
choose from a list of predefined formats. You can also select the position of the
comma and how many digits should appear after the comma.
If we take a look at the variables tab you could previously enter the name of the
variable, select the type and define a plan or process and quantity to be
displayed. This was ok for most users, but in response to your requests you now
have the freedom here to select a scenario and define formulas. Heres how.
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You can see that there is a new Scenario/Formula column. This column allows
you to select which scenario should be referenced in this variable. Simply choose
one of the scenarios form the currently active scenario group.
Youll notice that in the type column you can now choose Formula. By selectingthe formula type you can enter a formula into the scenario/formula column in
exactly the same way that you would enter formulas in the parameters section.
Be aware that you can also reference other variables within this variables table.
This variable can then be added into your i-report by right clicking, selecting
Insert and selecting the variable that you would like to insert. Just like before,
you can also select Insert, New Variable. This opens the variable window where
you can now define a formula as well.
Conclusion
So thats about it. We hope these changes will help you get even more out of
your GaBi software. If you have questions about any of these changes or about
any of the GaBi products please get in touch with your GaBi Team
representative. If you are not sure who that is, please go to the GaBi website formore information.
http://www.pe-international.com/index.php?id=1533&L=0Viel Spa!
http://www.pe-international.com/index.php?id=1533&L=0http://www.pe-international.com/index.php?id=1533&L=0