LCA Fundamentals: Scope, Inventory, Impact

Aim

Workshop Structure

📅 Day 1 — The Foundation & System Boundary Mastery

• Focus: Goal and Scope Definition (LCIA Phase 1)
• Key Topics:
  • Defining functional units and reference flows
  • Allocation methods: mass vs economic vs system expansion
  • Data quality requirements and uncertainty types
• Hands-on (Google Colab):
  • Notebook Title: LCA Setup & Functional Unit Calculator
  • Task: Use Python to calculate and normalize reference flows for a multi-output chemical process

📅 Day 2 — Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) & Data Engineering

• Focus: Managing the “Heavy Lifting” of Data (LCIA Phase 2)
• Key Topics:
  • Building the inventory: direct emissions vs supply chain inputs
  • Sourcing data: primary sensing vs secondary literature
  • Handling missing data through proxy modeling
• Hands-on (Google Colab):
  • Notebook Title: Automated Inventory Modeling
  • Task: Import a CSV of raw material inputs and map them to emission factors using a Python dictionary to generate a complete LCI table automatically

📅 Day 3 — Impact Assessment & Interpretation

• Focus: Converting mass into “Planet Impact” (LCIA Phase 3 & 4)
• Key Topics:
  • Characterization, normalization, and weighting
  • Sensitivity analysis: identifying the key hotspots
  • Communicating results: Sankey diagrams and pedigree matrices
• Hands-on (Google Colab):
  • Notebook Title: Impact Hotspot Visualizer
  • Task: Feed the Day 2 inventory into a characterization script to produce a GWP bar chart and generate a Sankey diagram showing the biggest polluting stage

Who Should Enrol?

Important Dates

Workshop Outcomes