Welcome to Soton Blogs. This site is on life cycle analysis using the ILCD data format and has been started under the EU funded Valorgas Project at the University of Southampton. Life cycle analysis is an environmental science discipline that attempts to quantify the environmental impact of products and services.
ILCD is short for International Reference Life Cycle Data System and it is a data standard developed for an environmental technique called LCA (life cycle analysis). Due to EU support the ILCD format gains momentum. So what is LCA trying to do? In simple terms, LCA is attaching a number to products that indicates their sustainability. Hard to do in practice. A simple concept video illustrating LCA is http://youtu.be/7u5mQwREN6Y and the wikipedia page is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Cycle_Assessment
The video is produced by www.cascades.com, a company that produces tissue papers from recycled fibres. The example in the video illustrates the life of product, in this case tissue paper, in several stages as follows:
- Extraction of raw materials
- Transport to plant
- Manufacturing of product
- Distribution of product
- End of life (i.e. recycling)
Each stage will be represented by either one or a number of data sets in ILCD format. The ILCD format builds on both xml technology and ISO/TS 14048 but goes beyond the ISO 14048 and adds more functionality that is deemed necessary for a LCA data format with global reach. LCA may be made part of the environmental and economic decision making process in the EU and harmonisation of data and datasets is considered a key necessity. The European ELCD datasets are all in ILCD format and it is envisaged that national LCA databases will make arrangements to provide their data in the international ILCD format some time in the future. Establishment of an ILCD data network or data hub will accelerate the adoption of the ILCD format.
Life cycle analysis is highly computerised and databases are the norm. Also, software can be expensive which inhibits self-starters. One excellent open source project is openLCA and here are a few video tutorials to get going with life cycle analysis.
1) Installing openLCA on Linux:
2) Inserting the ELCD database into openLCA:
coming soon:-)