LCA Software Centre for Design at RMIT is using SimaPro 4.0 as the main software tool to collect and save process data and to model product life cycles. In addition to SimaPro several other software programs are available on the market. They are all based on the same principle, contain a database, in most cases European and international data, and model options to analyse the life cycle of a product or process. In some programs process trees can be build. The price of the available software differs a lot, so if you want to buy LCA-software it can be very useful to look around carefully first.
Some suppliers deliver free demo versions of their program, which can be very helpful.
More information can be found in the LCA Software Buyers' Guide. 4.0 SimaPro 4.0 is the fourth generation of a program developed in 1989. It is a relatively cheap and user friendly program. Due to the open structure SimaPro can be used for different types of life cycle assessments. The production stage, the use stage and the end of life scenario can be specified in as much in detail as necessary by selecting processes from the database and by building process trees, which can be drawn by the program.