Citation:

Kuczenski, B., A. Marvuglia, M. Astudillo, W. Ingwersen, B. Satterfield, D. Evers, C. Koffler, T. Navarrete, B. Amor, AND L. Laurin. LCA capability roadmap--product system model description and revision. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT. Ecomed Verlagsgesellschaft AG, Landsberg, Germany, 23(8):1685-1692, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-018-1446-8

Impact/Purpose:

A product from a SETAC North America working group on LCA to create a road map for improved description and transfer of LCA product system models. The aim of this SETAC North America working group is to define a roadmap of the technical advances needed to achieve easier LCA model sharing and improve replicability of LCA results among different users in a way that is independent of the LCA software used to compute the results and does not infringe on any licensing restrictions or confidentiality requirements.

Description:

Life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners face many challenges in their efforts to describe, share, review, and revise their product system models, and to reproduce the models and results of others. Current life cycle inventory modeling techniques have weaknesses in the areas of describing model structure, documenting the use of proxy or non-ideal data, specifying allocation, and including modeler’s observations and assumptions—all affecting how the study is interpreted and limiting the reuse of models. Moreover, LCA software systems manage modeling information in different and sometimes non-compatible ways. Practitioners must also deal with licensing, privacy/confidentiality of data, and other issues around data access which impact how a model can be shared.

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