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Data for every use case — construction LCA

One Click LCA aggregates all the world’s LCA data for every use case in the built environment and provides you with data solutions for every project stage and type.

Data for every use case — construction LCA

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You need different data for different purposes. This article explains the data solutions One Click LCA powers you with, and what problems you can solve with this data.

 

Our data allows you to assess the environmental impacts of any project, anywhere in the world.

Our database aggregates all the world’s LCA data for the built environment. We also create high quality datasets to cover the gaps left by the available data to ensure you have the data you need to assess anything:

  • From renovations to new build, from railroads to fit-outs and mechanical systems.
  • From generic data to manufacturer specific EPDs and EPDs on demand.
  • From materials and assemblies to processes, transport, utilities and recycling.
  • From solutions for data centers and logistics through retail to row houses.
  • For anywhere in the world you need it.

 

This article outlines our database from four different points of view. 

  1. Data solutions from all project stages
  2. Data for all the different design disciplines
  3. All types of data granularity
  4. Time-saving data features available in One Click LCA

 

One Click LCA’s data pledges

You can count on One Click LCA’s database for comprehensiveness, quality and consistency. We make the following data commitments:

  1. We always integrate all the latest available and qualifying LCA data worldwide.
  2. We inspect all data using our comprehensive quality assurance process, and blacklist or warn of any data with quality issues.
  3. We add metadata to the datasets to make the information as transparent and user-friendly as possible.
  4. We enable you to add your own private data, and we produce new data as agreed.
 
 
 

1. Data solutions for all project stages

From early phase, high level decisions to detailed component assessments

One Click LCA provides data for different types and levels of assessments. Here’s a summary and below we drill down to show the value that each one bring.

Type of data Description Quantity Private data
Carbon Heroes Benchmarks for whole buildings Building carbon intensity ratings 100+ local benchmarks for 15 global regions
Carbon Designer 3D regions & templates for buildings Local building and construction practise archetypes 15 global regions and 14 building types with additional templates Private templates
Assemblies for MEP, infrastructure and construction systems All you need to model and size a complex system for LCA > 2  500 assemblies for all design disciplines Yes
Products Product or material brought to the site and installed in the building > 80 000 datasets Yes
Processes Utility or other process > 3 000 datasets Yes
Raw materials Ingredient materials and components used only in a factory setting ~ 20 000 datasets Yes

 

Carbon Heroes benchmarks

These are A-G carbon intensity ratings by building type and country/region. They allow building performance to be compared against typical buildings on the market on a scale of A-G with the kg CO2e per each rating level.

Carbon Designer 3D regions

With these regionalized building archetypes and associated construction practises you can generate a baseline building of any type for any country or region. This uses the Carbon Designer 3D module.

We also support construction practise templates to compare materials. They contain all the elements and systems needed for a building of a given type, and are applied using a building sizing engine. They allow you to compare the different baseline carbon impacts for specific scenarios, for example, comparing  a five storey apartment building in Portland, whether made with ready mix concrete or mass timber. Our local archetypes have been developed in cooperation with local designers and engineers.

You can also create your own material templates to automatically apply your own construction methodologies.

Construction Assemblies or all-in-one construction elements

Assemblies in One Click LCA are all-in-one systems or construction elements that you can use to speed up your assessments and reduce the risk of errors. Assemblies contain all the materials, layers, components and sizing rules neededto calculate scenarios such as: the electrification of a data center per m2 floor area;  one meter of road barrier; or one square meter of insulated brick wall in one single choice. Almost all assemblies use generic data only. You can substitute the generic materials for ones from your preferred suppliers, and you can also create your own assemblies.

Products

Products in One Click LCA are products purchasable and installable from a specific supplier, or in case of generic data, from a typical supplier (if no supplier is yet retained). These range from paints and furniture to bricks, concrete connectors and innovative materials. This category of data is the largest by volume. You can also add your own private product data.

Processes

Processes in One Click LCA are processes such as heat supply, transportation, operating a machine, or recycling a material. Processes are used to make an assessment complete and to include all required activities to deliver and operate the asset. You can also add your own private processes.

Raw materials

Raw materials in One Click LCA are raw materials or components used to manufacture products, such as nitric acid or LCD display. Raw materials are required for performing assessments of products, for example for creating new Environmental Product Declarations or new generic datasets.

You can also add your own data. This type of data is not suited for construction project level assessments and hence is not available in construction project LCA tools.

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2. Data for different design disciplines

From mechanical design to civil engineering

One Click LCA is committed to providing high quality data for every design discipline. The below summarizes the main types of data you can find in One Click LCA. Almost all of our data can be accessed in the global tools, including Net Zero Carbon tool and Life-Cycle Carbon Global tool.

Architecture

Our database of architecturally relevant datasets is in the tens of thousands. We provide data for all types of materials and construction systems used and specified by architects for any building type.

Civil engineering

In addition to tens of thousands of concrete datasets and thousands of steel and cement datasets, our civil engineering relevant database includes also several thousands of additional datasets for infrastructure-specific needs such as soil stabilisation, infrastructure, road, rail, bridge and geotechnical systems, pavings, soils and aggregates as well as various types of piping and infrastructure solutions. This database is available, among others, in our PAS 2080 tools.

Energy/facade design

Our energy and façade relevant database consists of several thousands of glazing, façade, cladding, window and door datasets, insulation datasets and all envelope related datasets.

Interior design

Our interior design relevant global database consists of several thousands of datasets, covering floor, wall and ceiling finishes, internal walls and partitions, furniture and flooring for all different types of buildings.

Mechanical and electrical design

Our MEP relevant global database consists of several thousands of datasets, covering cabling, lighting, water handling and piping, ventilation and air conditioning, heating and reneweable energy generation, elevators and communication systems.

Landscape design

Our landscape-relevant global database consists of several thousands of datasets, comprising datasets for modelling the impacts of vegetation, as well as soils, masses, pavements and external constructions.

Structural design

Our structural engineering database consists of tens of thousands of datasets for all types of structural solutions from bio-based to concrete, steel and lightweight construction.

If we miss any qualifying, available data that exists, customers can request it to be intergated for free.

Where a certain region is not well served with specific data for, say, electrification, One Click LCA’s manufacturing localisation process enables users who so wish to adjust the datasets’ environmental performance to reflect local manufacturing more accurately.

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3. All levels of data granularity

From worldwide generics to manufacturer and product specific EPDs

One Click LCA covers all levels of data granularity to support you with the accurate information you need in the various project phases.

When you select a product with an EPD, you can be confident that you will find the EPD in One Click LCA. But when your supplier or product does not have an EPD, or if you did not choose a supplier yet, you have an extensive library of high quality generic data at your disposal.

Type of data Use cases Quantity
Governmental databases To comply with regulations requiring the use of a specific database, e.g. INIES, Boverket and others ~10
Market-based generic databases When you want or have to use a specific source e.g. OKOBAU.DAT or World Steel ~10
One Click LCA generic data When you need generic materials anywhere, e.g. for steel from China, or data for innovative materials with no EPDs, or local data for a location that has none. Incidentally, ours is the world’s largest and most comprehensive generic construction LCA database. ~500
One Click LCA assemblies When you need to assess a building quickly using ready-made systems leveraging generic datasets > 2 500
EPDs from any EPD program worldwide When you want to compare different products, or are using a product with EPD > 50 000
Your private data uploaded by you When public data does not cover what you need, you can add your private data to One Click LCA
Private data sent to you One Click LCA allows manufacturers to create and send private LCAs for their products directly
Data on demand One Click LCA also creates new data on agreement

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4. Time-saving data features available in One Click LCA

Our database is designed to help you save time and you find everything in one place

All of the data is pre-checked for you. We run an extensive checking process against every datapoint we integrate, and if anything is amiss, we either add a warning to the datasets or blacklist them. We also add  high value metadata to the datapoints, such as the type of third party verification performed to the dataset before publishing. This ensures you know what you get. 

We incorporate a broad set of metadata in every EPD, in addition to information incorporated in the EPD itself. This includes information such as the typical product service life, typical end of life processing, and the carbon benchmark of the product relative to others in its category, and background information. All of this information is made available to users via data cards.

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And that’s not all

One Click LCA also allows you to do the following:

  • Choose datasets as organisation favourites to make them come up at the top of every search
  • Find branded data and solutions from leading manufacturers
  • Benchmark products for carbon performance against all other products of same type, and against alternative solutions for the same problem
  • Add private data, including private EPDs generated by the manufacturers for your purposes only
  • Use One Click LCA’s manufacturing localisation method to ensure that data sourced from a location that has no valid local data can be adapted automatically to be more representative
  • Generate your own EPDs, including as private EPDs, leveraging One Click LCA EPD Generator

This article discusses a range of One Click LCA features. Quantities for datapoints are global figures; the entire global dataset is not available in most modules. Please note that some features are only available in Expert licenses and Carbon Designer 3D add-on, and specific modules.

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