Dear eTool, we’re working on number of non-typical commercial projects, e.g. hospitals, industrial workshops and warehouses and the like, but there are a number of services equipment or materials used in these that are not available in eTool. For instance, hospitals contain pneumatic tube systems and medical gas systems. But these templates are not available.
Can you confirm if such templates are available or if they can be made available or alternatively, do we simply input a non-template item and create our own? For instance, pneumatic tube systems are nothing more than PVC pipes with a fan attached. Similar for medical gas, these are steel pipes and gas tanks.
We encourage users to create their own custom templates if they are unable to find a suitable existing template. This topic has been covered in our Beginner’s Training Course.
I note that you have not completed the course yet, which is free to all users registered with eTool regardless of subscription. I strongly recommend that you complete this before attempting to model your LCA to avoid a frustrating experience and mistakes down the line.
Another option is to use existing templates as a proxy/placeholder as an approximate estimate of the material impacts for those equipment items. This should be sufficient for the material side of things since the biggest impact area will probably be in the annual operational energy use for those items which will require more research or data from the product manufacturers.
Do note that module B6+ impacts are typically out of scope for most rating schemes and international standards though. Nonetheless, it will be very informative and beneficial if you’re able to include these impacts into your LCA.
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