Does anybody know OpenLCA?

I was recently made aware of https://www.openlca.org/

It seems to be quite well established and powerful. Has anybody else used it?

Comments

  • edited August 2021

    @Moult said:
    I was recently made aware of https://www.openlca.org/

    It seems to be quite well established and powerful. Has anybody else used it?

    There are tutorials and demonstrations in Youtube. I just watched a short presentations and it is very friendly to use. Here for a plastic bag (Spanish)

  • Curious how reliable are these tools ?

  • @paullee said:
    Curious how reliable are these tools ?

    It is just a calculator. It all depends on the data base.

  • I see, thanks

  • Another tool that includes Life Cycle for buildings is http://designadvisor.mit.edu/design/

  • OpenLCA apparently acts as a reseller of databases from very well known sources like Gabi and Ecoinvent, and I hear through the grapevine of sustainability folks that OpenLCA is held to a very high regard in terms of data quality vetting, but this is only grapevine talk :) I've added it to the wiki software directly. It would be good to get more sustainability tools integrated.

    jchkochduncan
  • Not sure if this is the relevant thread on the forum to discuss or whether to start a new thread... but I recently became aware of a newer plugin to Rhino and Grasshopper (sadly it is not opensource) called https://caala.de/ that aims to be able to perform a full LCA analysis based on a input 3D Rhino/GH model. I was just wondering whether anyone here is aware of a opensource efforts for LCA using perhaps Sverchok?

  • Well, yesterday I built a small prototype for the BlenderBIM Add-on to connect to OpenLCA: https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/commit/d27d0acbc0096ed58dcfcb1175f680ce9de32425

    This allows you to enter process system inputs via the Blender interface, and run a calculation on a listening OpenLCA application. A Sverchok UI would also be fairly straightforward, perhaps something @kaiaurelienzh can tackle?

    To make this fully useful for BIM, proper grouping, search sets, and aggregated bill of quantities are required. The good news is we've already made significant progress on cost schedules so we are well on our way there.

    jchkochkaiaurelienzhbitacovirJohannes990
  • edited August 2021

    I've never heard of OpenLCA before either, I'll be available this Sunday again to hack in case you are available.

  • Yep, available anytime. Send a message over in IRC so that others interested can also join in with time/timezone :)

    kaiaurelienzh
  • I've added the software page: https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=OpenLCA
    Seems like a very important project. @Moult can you add something about how it connects to BBIM? Preferably a text that doesn't go quickly out of date ...

  • It is an incredibly important project and amazing how mature it is. The connection is very superficial at the moment. When you launch the OpenLCA desktop application, you have an option to enable an "IPC Server", basically makes your currently active app listen to commands on a port. They have a Python client to this, so any function available by the app can be run remotely via code. For now, we simply allow them to insert a quantity and press the "calculate" button for an already setup LCA model. It offers little to no tangible benefit other than a technical demo that a connection is possible.

    The actual value comes in linking BIM quantities directly to the LCA model, so that updates to the BIM model can automatically know how to rerun the LCA calculation. Unfortunately, the quality of BIM model geometry are often too poor to be reliable for this, so perhaps we need to link a cost schedule or a derivative of a cost schedule used purely for LCA quantity take-off. But this is uncharted territory and I need some help from LCA experts to make sure it is done correctly before I can start claiming any meaningful connection.

    paulleeJesusbilltobenz
  • I know a fair bit about this area - for building level LCAs I don't think you need to be connected to something like OpenLCA, you need something more like EC3, where the LCA of the materials have already been done and the results are available in an EPD (Environmental Product Display). https://www.buildingtransparency.org/ec3-resources/ec3-faq/
    There is an API but I don't know how to use it...

    I am responsible for developing a methodology for measuring whole life carbon of a building for the Irish market, and I think it should be done in an open source, transparent way. It would be good to have a conversation about this @Moult

  • https://www.buildingsmart.org/standards/bsi-standards/industry-foundation-classes/ BuildingSmart is another place for storing IFC data that could also be useful for storing generic environmental impacts...

  • If others have the programming knowledge, I am more than happy to contribute my knowledge of building LCA - it is a bit of a minefield and something the industry is BEGINNING to take seriously. I have a strong background in LCA standards (ISO14040-44), EPDs (EN15804) and Buildng level LCA (EN15978) but no programming skills at all. Could we team up? There are paid for services for doing LCA but they are all different and make comparing resultds difficult (and costly). There is legislation coming in the EU to require LCA in the future (probably 2027 as things stand but some are pushing for earlier (and later)... I work here by the way: https://www.igbc.ie/lca/

  • @StephenBarrett
    Meanwhile on the opposite side of the globe we at Kāinga Ora (social housing) are starting to measure carbon in our new builds, using a proprietary tool call RapdLCA. Initially we are just measuring to establish a baseline before moving on to a deliberate reduction strategy. I would like to understand the vision for a BlenderBIM measuring carbon workflow.

    StephenBarrett
  • @Nigel that's great...but you see there, the proprietary tool. Building level Whole Life Carbon assessment is a wild west at the moment with people claiming all kinds of figures based on all kinds of assumptions about the footprint of their materials, how long they last, the carbon intensity of the grid, replacement cycles and end of life disposal. The project I am working on aims to create a single methodology for use in Irish regulations that all builders will be compelled to use in the future (its currently in the draft text of the EU EPBD directive update). I have the methodology and it's compliant with Level(s) Indicator 1.2, the EU's framework for addressing sustainability in buildings.
    https://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/product-bureau/sites/default/files/2021-01/UM3_Indicator_1.2_v1.1_37pp.pdf (there are about 15 indicators altogether, lifecycle GWP is just one, but certainly the one getting the most attention).
    I would love to be able to get the methodology working with BlenderBIM - if BlenderBIM can spit out a Bill of Materials in Excel it should be doable, but I'm a novice here...
    There is massive potential here as the methodology I have is currently sitting in Excel, and its easily adaptable for other countries and scenarios (different countries have different electricity grids for example). If we could get a demo working I could also show it to the EU Joint Research Committee who have shown interest so far. Other countries are also showing interest but not sure where to start. The area is evolving rapidly both in terms of policies in different countries and AEC interest. Can anyone help me? I could sure do with it!
    - another thing; we need to bring ICMS3 into this too...

    CGRArv
  • @StephenBarrett said:
    @Nigel that's great...but you see there, the proprietary tool. Building level Whole Life Carbon assessment is a wild west at the moment with people claiming...

    My thoughts too, I would like to think a FOSS option could be on the horizon. In my imagineering (daydreaming) I saw a dashboard with BlenderBIM that at any stage of design could give the designer the 'numbers'. Too much design compliance is measured at the end of the design process and not actively monitored throughout. The latter gives the designer the ability to change while it is easy.

  • I think it is completely do-able. It exists in Revit https://choosetally.com/ and they have gifted a free version to https://www.buildingtransparency.org/ called TallyCAT https://www.buildingtransparency.org/tally/tallycat/. There are a couple of problems - most regular people don't use Revit and you need an agreed set of assumptions. I have that set for Ireland and it can easily be adapted to other places...

    NigelArv
  • @StephenBarrett maybe we should have a chat :) Especially for government requirements having everything in IFC means that there is one place for the data to be stored and the information like materials or lifecycle categories or carbon isn't stored in different locations with different technologies with different names.

    You're absolutely right that unfortunately everybody has a different way of determining the makeup of their materials and this leads to different numbers by different people. The department at my work seems to take a lot of pride and care in their work in ensuring that it is as accurate as possible but as you say ... it is still "their measurement" not something we can transparently inspect and compare apples to apples across other companies and projects.

    It's long overdue with many people requesting changes in the scheduling, smart groups, smart filters, and so on that maybe I can give you a tour of what is currently possible, and if you help explain to me your usecase, that will add to the list of requests and I can figure out how to prioritise it to satisfy as many usecases as soon as possible.

    Nigel
  • @Moult - great! I'd love to have a chat...the way I see it, and am promoting in Ireland and the EU, is that we need that common framework and free tools to do the analysis with. Let me know when is good for you - I'm in Ireland so on GMT.

    Nigel
  • While this thread has aged a bit, I am sorry to fresh up a bit on LCA and what I came accross looking for a way to integrate LCA in an early stage of planning. There is some standard for LCA set now in Germany when it comes to funded buildings. For now the bauteileditor (see below) as a free and open source solution was broadly used in the field. It is deprecated / won't be adapted to the QNG LCA standard, not to obstruct the commercial software developers. This fact made me start researching on that topic. So, @Moult, to my understanding:
    1.) Open LCA, as @StephenBarrett pointed out, is mainly to model EPDs. I know one can get ILCD formated EPD data into openLCA, but I won't use that for a whole building. It is just meant to model an EPD an provide that for EC3 or Ökobaudat after certification.
    2.) There is this IFC draft on LCA EPD data: https://www.lignum.ch/files/images/Downloads_deutsch/Industry_Report_on_Environmental_Impact_Indicators_221116.pdf
    3.) On the LCA EPD side, there is an OS project called SODA4LCA. It is a server providing EPDs in ILCD to an frontend and for download. It is a basis for the German https://www.oekobaudat.de/ providing the data for LCA in he building sector and has a rather simple API. https://bitbucket.org/okusche/soda4lca/src/7.x-branch/ See also https://www.iai.kit.edu/1266_1584.php and https://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/LCDN/howto.xhtml
    4.) A well established web based project hosted by the BBSR (governmental agency for the building sector) is the bauteileditor.de, which basically means building element editor. It is efficient in quickly quantifying LCA data based on the German cost and quantity standards, doing some LCC, multiproject functionality and user library, has different Ökobaudat data sets integrated , calculationg different LCA certification standards. It has some basic IFC import functionality (which did not work for me) and is a PHP OS Project: https://bitbucket.org/beibob/elca/src/master/
    5.) openepd is pretty helpful to quickly understand how to access EPD data in python https://github.com/cchangelabs/openepd/tree/dev/src/openepd
    6.) There is the initiative to have human readable exchange format for EPDs and full LCAs https://github.com/ocni-dtu/ from Christian.

    Arv
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