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‘World’s largest’ life-cycle assessment database launches

Words:
Stephen Cousins

Online tool Materials Compass enables comparison of more than 250,000 construction products with AI-powered quality review

Map view — Materials Compass.
Map view — Materials Compass. Credit: One Click LCA

Architects can compare the carbon impact of more than 250,000 construction products side by side in what’s thought to be the world’s largest life-cycle assessment database.

The Materials Compass was developed by sustainability software platform One Click LCA to help designers, engineers and specifiers make more data-driven decisions when trying to reduce carbon emissions on construction projects.

The online tool brings together data from multiple sources, including verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), plus other product carbon footprints and generic life-cycle assessment data.

Architects can test-drive a free, public-access version of the tool at materials.oneclicklca.com, after thay users must pay a fee based on licence type and the number of users.

According to Jani Tierala, head of LCA data at One Click LCA, all data in the software undergoes a rigorous quality review by in-house experts, leveraging AI-based and proprietary tools.

‘Our goal is to integrate all qualifying construction material data, including EPD, CFP, TM65, and generic datasets, as soon as it's available worldwide,’ said Tierala, ‘Where industry data is lacking, we also produce high-quality generic LCA data for key materials like concrete, steel, wood, glass, plastics and textiles.’

Material compass.
Material compass. Credit: One Click LCA

A recent global survey of construction professionals, by One Click LCA, found a lack of manufacturer was the most significant factor limiting progress on life cycle assessments, with 88% of respondents saying it was a barrier.

Functionality in Materials Compass includes the ability to search and compare materials based on specific sustainability criteria relevant to projects and to highlight locally-available lower-carbon materials on a map.

Users can create custom lists of materials for projects, bookmark and share the details and specifications with colleagues via email, or export them into life cycle assessment projects. It’s also possible to create bills of materials for procurement.

Comparing data in product declarations can often be difficult due to manufacturers’ use of different rules, calculation methodologies and underlying data. According to Tierala, One Click LCA’s approach is to ‘make all the declarations and associated data easily available to the industry, highlight the differences, and then let the professionals looking for this information use their expertise to evaluate what the data means’. In addition, the system ‘automatically filters for data compatibility to ensure only acceptable datasets are used in regulatory or certification life-cycle assessment calculation tools’.

  • Compare materials.
    Compare materials. Credit: One Click LCA
  • Credit: One Click LCA
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The One Click LCA survey found that 71% of experts from the UK & Ireland believe a minimum 10% carbon reduction is possible by conducting an LCA or embodied carbon studies, up from 56% in 2021, when the previous report was published.

The platform claims carbon emissions can be cut by one third if people select the lowest-carbon materials over the highest-carbon choices.

Buildings are responsible for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions, 28% from operational emissions and 11% from materials and construction, according to figures from the World Green Building Council.

 

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