Further Working Aids and Information Resources

The information from the Service Life BBSR-Table is used for the calculation of life cycle costs (LCC) and eco-balancing (LCA) of buildings in the context of the application of the BNB. The information can also be used in the planning phase to make estimates for the 50-year period under consideration. Since the service lives are based on empirical values and not on measurable tests, among other things, no binding statements (warranties, construction contracts, expert opinions, etc.) can be derived from the information.

The WECOBIS portal supports a holistic building product selection by providing product-neutral environmental and health relevant data. The description of the ecological quality of building products and basic material groups over the life cycle is supplemented by general planning and tendering aids as well as text modules on material-ecological requirements. The contents refer directly to building material requirements from the BNB and simplify the objective and realisation of qualities with regard to product selection.

An essential basis for eco-balancing is knowledge of the environmental impact of products and materials as well as the respective period of use and frequency of replacement during the period under review. In ÖKOBAUDAT, the Federal Building Ministry provides standardised and quality-tested characteristic values for the essential building product groups as well as for the ways of use and recycling. These form the data basis for eco-balancing and evaluation of buildings with regard to energy consumption, use of resources and global ecological effects which cause, among other things, the greenhouse effect, acid rain, smog or over-fertilisation. The high quality of the data allows reliable statements to be made on the specific environmental impacts and thus on the ecological quality of a building.

The electronic life cycle analysis (eLCA) was developed by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) as a free Internet-based software solution for the preparation of eco-balancing and the estimation of life cycle costs. The basis for this is the creation of a catalogue of building components for the building as well as a direct link to the national online building materials database ÖKOBAUDAT. By means of the dynamic component editor and supported by a graphical user interface single components up to whole buildings can be modelled in a user-friendly way. The determined environmental impacts are compared to the BNB benchmarks by means of additional data on the utilisation phase. In addition, there are various export functions, e.g. to EnEV software solutions and to the eBNB.

The eBNB was developed as an Internet-based project management system for the implementation of the BNB for federal buildings. It serves the BNB sustainability coordinators of the federal building administrations as a processing aid and for the systematic documentation of the qualities achieved. It also enables the scientific evaluation of construction measures and simplifies the basic principles and research work in the field of sustainable building and the further development of the BNB.