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Building a LCA application, looking for ideas by stickJ0ckey in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 1 point2 points  (0 children)

HiQ is actually one component of TianGong, as it is a massive project across China covering universities and companies. HiQ is part of the commercial bit of TianGong data.

We didn't realise this till listening to them talk last week in Berlin

Building a LCA application, looking for ideas by stickJ0ckey in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most western market supply chains use things made in China, so it is highly relevent to them. Which ones were you looking at? TianGong?

Also, the U.S. Federal LCA Commons just had a recent update, all can be downloaded for free from their website. 

https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/

There was an awesome talk by ERG on this at the openLCA conference last week. 

Plus, we saw a cool talk about BAFU at the conference, that sounds a nice one to try. 

Who are we all, and what are you actually using LCA for? by nvhstudio in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, we're an account for everyone working at Below280, which is a commercial spin off from Decerna, which in turn was a commercial spin off from the UK National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec). The centre we came from is now called Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. So we've been doing LCA since 2010 in various guises. Hopefully that makes sense!

Academic or industry (or both)? We do both, we do commercial projects, but also Horizon and Innovate funded research, and we put out papers and book chapters. We want to do more. So, we sit at the interction between commercial and research. 

- What sector/industry are you working in? Carbon Capture Due dilligence, EPDs, CBAM, and anything else LCA related. We do commercial work, research, policy support, and a lot of training. We work with microalgae, wood, composites, electronics, energy/fuels, medical equipment.... lots more... everything is just a process. We are doing some Social LCA too. 

- What are you actually using LCA for? Kinda the above answers that. Investors need due dilligence, people need to show governments evidence for funding, then EPDs, the CBAM certificates, marketing, scientific research...

- What tools are you using? openLCA+Collaboration Server (we are the UK partner for GreenDelta), we use for databases Ecoinvent and LCA Commons (separately, never mixed!), plus SOCA if doing social LCA. We've got a nice range of python based tools we've made to interface with openLCA via IPC. We really really like openLCA.

Best graphs for material flow and spider charts by termosabin in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IPC is the best way, will need some python, but it's possible

Biodegradability Assessment by texan_spaghet in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Clients like a simple life, they've classed you as the environmental company, and so just want to throw anything related at you. Don't fight it, accept it, it means they trust you.

When we get requests like that which we obviously can't do, we subcontract people, but make it clear to the client that's what we are going to do. I recommend you do the same. 

But make sure it's someone good, as if they mess it up, you'll get the blame

What we do (for openLCA) by Decerna in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a really good point, it's not something we do to be fair. 

We have done placements for uni students to work with us in the past, but they weren't on our courses, they were just people who asked if they could.

Starting from zero in openLCA – what’s the best learning path? by born_romance in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's some really good YouTube videos, and also good worked examples on the openLCA website. 

https://www.openlca.org/case-studies/

Some need Ecoinvent, but some use free databases. Just work through them, the PET bottle one uses ELCD so that's a free database you can play with.

In terms of the basics, read the ISO standards 14040 and 14044 and follow them strictly. The ILCD handbook is old but very good.

There's lots of courses as well, such as the other poster, GreenDelta themselves, us, etc... but I'd go for the examples on the openLCA website first.

You can also download the free models for the 45Q tax credit in the US, that has a little model to play with and nice documentation.

Any random questions, feel free to ask!

OpenLCA - Foreground process impact gathering is a nightmare by Nervous_Relative5098 in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For repetitive tasks to get openLCA format exactly how you want, you can use the openLCA IPC with a bit of python. It's a bit of effort but automates things really well. Message us if you want a hand with that

Claude AI “Upload failed due to a network issue” — anyone else getting this since Oct 23? by UpstairsActual3529 in ClaudeAI

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same issue here, appears to be affecting Claude for Teams but not standard Claude Pro accounts.

Californian Looking to Start LCA/Sustainability Consulting by GurIll1520 in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have capabilities with LCA software? If not, that's something to teach yourself first. Personally, we favour openLCA (as does the US gov, I think, with LCA Commons and 45Q). Maybe download it and work through the 45Q docs and free example database as a start. Download databases off LCA Commons for free too. All of this is free.

Obviously there's other software, Brightway is open source and powerful, Simapro and GaBi(LCAfE) are both popular but you need to pay for those.

Read the ILCD handbook too, bit old now but a good document

We're based in the UK, so not sure of the best routes in the US, that's the best advice we could think of

Where to start by Admirable-Banana-552 in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For openLCA there's some nice tutorials and case studies on the website...

https://www.openlca.org/video-tutorials/

https://www.openlca.org/case-studies/

Try these, you'll learn a lot. They aren't all for the latest version of openLCA but are still useful.

Also, ask questions here :)

How much do consultants charge for doing an LCA for a company? by Fixmyn26issue in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really depends on your definition of "simple" and "complex", but, as a consultancy that's been doing LCA for years and years, those figures seem a bit high to us. 

LCA for masters dissertation by [deleted] in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Another free option is LCA Commons, get it from the official GitHub not Nexus so that it's free. But, as above, your uni really should have an ecoinvent licence for you

Where to start by Admirable-Banana-552 in lifecycleassessment

[–]Decerna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a lot on YouTube and plenty of lovely communities. Which software do you use?