data — Life Cycle Thinking

Since its first release in 2006, the ELCD (European reference Life Cycle Database) comprises Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data from front-running EU-level business associations and other sources for key materials, energy carriers, transport, and waste management. The respective data sets are officially provided and approved by the named industry association.

Data are accessible from the following link: http://elcd.jrc.ec.europa.eu

What’s new in the ELCD 3.0?

Focus of the new release of ELCD is laid on data quality, consistency, and applicability.

Many ELCD 3.0 datasets have been reviewed against the ILCD Data Network entry-level data quality requirements in order to provide quality-assured LCI data. 36 ILCD Data Network Entry-Level compliant datasets can currently be found in the ELCD 3.0. Many other newly developed data sets on energy, transport and materials) are currently being reviewed against the ILCD Entry-Level requirements and they will be published in next batches of the ELCD 3.

The ILCD Data Network Entry-Level requirements review has been established to provide to the user useful information on data quality, guarantee minimum extent of documentation and methodological consistency among datasets. The establishment of ILCD Entry-Level requirements should enhance datasets quality improvement as well.

The ELCD 3.0 has been published using a newly developed IT infrastructure ready to be registered as the “JRC node” to the upcoming ILCD Data Network.

Please find further information on visit ELCD webpage or visit the JRC ILCD Data Network node.

Data access and use

This section allows to check/visualize and download the high quality Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) core data sets of the Commission's "European Reference Life Cycle Database" (ELCD core database), version 3.0. The data sets are accessible free of charge and without access and/or use restrictions for all LCA practitioners.

Disclaimer: JRC is currently taking actions to review datasets and increasing data quality, all process data sets are in line with ISO 14040 and 14044 as stated by their owners/providers. Datasets in the ELCD are not to be considered as official reference data sets of the European Commission or of JRC. Please also refer to the "Important legal notice" on top of this page .

Import into LCA software

Import/export interfaces to major LCA tools for data sets of the ILCD Data Network and in the ILCD format are expected to become widely available. They are already available in several LCA tools. Please contact your tool developer/distributor for more information about the import/export functionalities.

The first step in providing data for the ILCD Data Network is to develop ILCD entry level compliant LCI datasets.

The development, documentation and publication of LCI data sets (both unit process and LCI results) are supported by the ILCD data set format that also serves as common data exchange format for the ILCD Data Network. Currently the ELCD database is equally made available in the ILCD format.

A short course about the ILCD Handbook, that can be useful when developing ILCD entry levels compliant datasets is available for download

Here is a collection of review instructions and template, useful documents and IT tools and that must be used in order to develop a ILCD compliant datasets and to review the datasets against the ILCD entry level requirements.

Review of entry-level compliance

In order to be accepted in the ILCD Data Network, the developed dataset should meet some data quality requirements. In the establishment phase of the ILCD Data Network, there is the need to meet the ILCD Data Network entry-level requirements. Later on, when the Data Network is established, the quality requirements might move up to the full compliance to ILCD requirements.

The following documents will help the developer to handle the review requirements and workflow:

• The „ILCD-compliance and ILCD Data Network entry-level requirements“ document is an

overview of the ILCD-compliance requirements and the ILCD Data Network entry-level

requirements, both for LCI data sets for publication via the upcoming ILCD Data Network

• Review template

Documents

• The „ILCD Handbook - Nomenclature and other conventions“ document supports Life Cycle Inventory data collection, documentation and use in LCA studies by providing a common nomenclature and provisions on related topics. The document also forms the basis for a common reference elementary flow list for use in both LCI and LCIA work.

• The „ILCD Handbook - Documentation of LCA data sets; Beta 1.1, 2011" document provides the provisions for ILCD documentation-compliant LCA data sets under the ILCD Handbook and ILCD Data Network.

• The „ILCD-Data-Network Management of UUID and versionnumber of data sets" document provides the guidelines of how to create and change UUIDs and version numbers of data sets.

IT Tools supporting the ILCD Data Network

A series of IT tools supporting the ILCD Data Network have been developed to help database developer to meet

the ILCD format requirements:

• A set of elementary flows, flow properties, units and others have been derived from “Nomenclature and other conventions" document, see: ILCD Reference elementary flows as zipped ILCD Reference elementary flows as MS Excel file.

• A set of Characterization Factors (CF) recommended for Life Cycle Impact Assessment have been implemented as dataset and can be used as reference for the database developer. The CFs dataset, entailing metadata, can be downloaded as ILCD-formatted xml files.

• The ILCD editor is a Java application that works directly in any internet browser (Java Runtime 1.5 or later required

to start the application - if you get a message asking with which application you would like to open the link, this

means that you need to install Java Runtime on your computer). A thorough user help section is included.

• The ILCD format developer kit supports developers in implementing the format, import/export interface, and the documentation of data sets. This kit includes:

o XML Schema files and supporting files,
o XSLT Stylesheets (for HTML display, validation, conformity check),
o Sample data sets (illustrating the use of the documentation fields),
o CHANGES file,
o Copyright and license conditions for the ILCD format and editor.

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The recommended LCIA methods for use in the European context with associated characterization factors (CFs) have been developed following the recommendation of LCIA models within the ILCD Handbook and can be downloaded from this website.

It is possible to use the ILCD Editor to develop Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods with the ILCD format.
The same documents and IT tools must be used to develop ILCD compliant LCIA methods datasets (see above).

The ILCD Data Network soon to be launched is aimed at providing a globally usable infrastructure for consistent and quality assured LCA data (i.e. LCI and LCIA datasets) from different organizations. It should be launched in the second semester of 2012.

The ILCD Data Network will be a web-based infrastructure to ensure LCA data with easy access via searches, filtering, and sorting.

The data sets in the web-based, non-centralized network will come from any data developer/owner, e.g. industry, national LCA projects, research groups, and consultants. The data will be published by the developer/owner under its own conditions (e.g. for free, for fee, via registration).