Being responsible for 38% of total carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, the building industry is in need of a tool to assess and reduce its impact on environment and human health. This article presents a prototype software for 3D analysis of life cycle assessment (LCA) of the whole process of construction. By considering the whole life cycle, this approach avoids shifting environmental problems from one phase to another. The accuracy of LCA substantially depends on the quality and availability of data from all phases of a building. To better manage and communicate data, presented prototype adopts industry foundation classes-based building information modeling, which also allows users to work with a 3D model of the building and analyze its environmental impact interactively.
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