We have moved our efforts into two concrete projects that builds upon the ideas stated here.
- LCAx - The goal for LCAx is to make an open, machine and human-readable data format for exchanging LCA results, EPD's and assemblies.
- EPDx - EPDx is a format and library for working with EPDs.
We are a group of specialists from Arkitema and Ramboll who come from different backgrounds in the building industry and work with digitalization and sustainability. Our common ground is making LCA calculations more accessible, transparent, and open.
The goal of the project is to make an open, machine and human readable data format for exchanging LCA results, EPD's and assemblies. We propose a simple three level data format with information on project, assembly and EPD level, written in an open data format and paired with a validator for a more robust and standardized format. We intend to create connection to existing tools and API’s.
We are doing this because we see that many new LCA tools are seeing the light of day recently, but there is no open data exchange format between different software. This makes it hard to collaborate in interdisciplinary teams, as they all need to use the same platform for calculations if multiple people are working on the same calculation. Furthermore, it makes it hard to quality assure an LCA calculation coming from another software than the one you or your company is using. Having an open data format will make it easier to check if an LCA calculation is compliant with the requirements for an individual project.
In the spirit of transparency and openness, we would like anyone with interest in the project to participate on which ever level you feel comfortable with. If that is as an LCA specialist that has input to what needs to be included in the format, or as a developer helping with writing code for the project, or simply spreading the word in your professional network, we will be thankful for your contribution. The more people are involved and aware of the project, the more likely it is to succeed. Feel free to reach out to us here on Github or contact us through our emails, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.