Dear Ahmed,

Here are some benefits and drawbacks of these softwares:

Sima pro:

Pros

Being a highly used piece of life cycle assessment software, SimaPro is thoroughly tested and robust. As well, its popularity makes SimaPro's findings and reports easy to share with colleagues. The hardware and software requirements for running this program are also fairly light.

Cons

To run this life cycle assessment software, you have to use Windows. If you use SimaPro through an emulator on any other native operating system, the stability is potentially an issue and there is no support for any operating system other than Windows. Having 5 GB of hard drive space is also necessary for every device running SimaPro on a server. A wide monitor is strongly recommended for effective high resolution modeling.

Notable Features

SimaPro life cycle analysis software can calculate a carbon footprint of many kinds of products and systems. Using its customizable parameters and Monte Carlo analytical capabilities, SimaPro can even determine the potential environmental impact that a system or service produces with statistical accuracy. With its ability to determine key performance indicators and issue full Environmental Product Declaractions and GRI Environmental Reports, SimaPro presents a full view of the potential impact any design will have under realistic conditions.

Gabi:

Pros

Offering a full suite of software including iReport, GaBi's life cycle assessment software solutions are certain to be able to fulfill your needs. GaBi can also assist you in designing products with specifically more environmentally friendly components, such as lower emissions of greenhouse gases and reduced water use and waste. GaBi is also excellent for helping a company keep up with environmental regulations and creating value chains from research & development through the design, production, procurement and distribution networks. This piece of life cycle assessment software also allows sharing of reports and analysis internally within your company's different departments.

Cons

GaBi life cycle assessment software's tools, including iReport, often need to be downloaded and updated independently of the main program. The software is somewhat clunky and has a steep learning curve, appearing to still be on their original codebase, which is more than a decade old. Much of the background documentation for the included datasets is empty and lacks transparency, requiring reliance on their support staff.

Notable Features

GaBi allows you to sketch out your ideas in its interface. GaBi also eases the process of selecting the best dataset for the kind of data documentation you require, and uses its embedded database documentation to aid you in the design process. Using GaBi's process recording feature, you can collect data across every point of the design process and determine precisely where efficiencies occur. GaBi presents its database documentation in accordance with International Life Cycle Database formatting.

source: http://www.linkcycle.com/comparison-of-best-life-cycle-assessment-software/

In addition to what Benyamin said, I may say that the biggest problem to overcome in both tools is the database available for LC assessment. In most cases these information refers to generic processes in Europe mainly, that is the case of SimaPro, the one I know. In the best case, the two systems may be helpful for your purpose; however, not always the process under consideration is properly accounted into the databases and additional work may be required.

Can i put my database of Egypt of my building case in simapro or Gabi, or it are closed to only for Europe countries only?

As SimaPro concerns, you can add your own process data into the calculations (Technosphere) or you can construct your own case using default data and then replace them with your data, then save the session.

Dear Ahmed,

You can build your project in simapro. It is not important that data be gathered from which place. but be careful if you want to compare your results with the same project in other part of the world. As you know its database is usually based on data from European countries. It gives you the opportunity to approximate the environmental burdens in other part of the word but due to the fact that this approximation is not precise the comparison between your results and other researchers' result can not be so trustable

Regards

Dear all,

I do not need to compare Egypt case and another country in Europe, only i need my database of Egypt such as; fuel type, raw material type, transformation trucks and construction type of buildings.

Could i enter like these data in Simapro or not?

Thanks for your efforts,

Ahmed Monteleb

Yes,

you can enter your data and develop your model in it. It is so simple and easy.

Simapro is more flexible than Gabi in relation to the flexibility of building your own system, however, building your own system is not easy at all, which is the experience with students at our university. You must not only know how the software works, but you must also know a lot about LCA to avoid common mistakes (see the LCA handbook of the ILCD, which goes much deeper that the LCA hitchhikers book). So I would advice you not to go into this complexity, and use standard LCI databases and standard indicator methods.

The issue of the European data in Ecoinvent (note that Simapro is software to make calculations, Ecoinvent is a huge LCI database you will need to make the calculations) is important, but must not be overstressed. Most of the modern materials in the technosphere are traded globally, so is does make sence to take the global market mix data of Ecoinvent. The issue is data for energy: thesy differ in each country, and Egypt is not in the Ecoinvent database. So you should know the type of powerplants and their efficiencies in Egypt to calculate the country market mix (applying Ecoinvent data for power plant types).

Many thanks for your reply, i want to ask about:

1- What is the book of LCA handbook of the ILCD? Could you please send me the link of this book?

2- What are the standard LCI databases and standard indicator methods? Could you please send me examples of them?

Thanks,

ILCD handbook on LCA see http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pdf-directory/ILCD-Handbook-General-guide-for-LCA-DETAIL-online-12March2010.pdf

Might be a bit difficult. A "translation" to normal people who know not much yet (e.g. students), see http://www.amazon.com/Lca-practical-students-designers-business/dp/9065622535/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386171786&sr=1-3&keywords=vogtlander

In this last book you can see how to do calculation in an excel sheet (which is an answer on how to calculate CO2 emissions without Simapro or Gabi)

The biggest standard LCI database (9000 LCIs) see http://www.ecoinvent.ch/

A smaler standard database for the US see http://www.nrel.gov/lci/

A LCI database with data for alloys and all kinds of wood: Idemat (site currently onder construction).

By far the best (and the latest) toxity midpoints is UseTox , see http://www.usetox.org/

The CO2 equivalent list (Global Warming Potential 100) see IPPC 2007, 100 years, for greenhouse gasses, see http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch2s2-10-2.html

Leading single indicator systems are:

a damage based system: Recipe, see http://www.lcia-recipe.net/

a prevention based system: Eco-costs, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-costs