There are many possible sources for life cycle assessment (LCA) data. This page lists useful direct sources of data, as well as some lists of databases, that may be helpful to those conducting LCA.
The list is not comprehensive as there are many possible sources of the kind of data necessary to conduct LCA, but it should be helpful for getting started. If you would like to recommend a source to be added to this page, please contact us.
Emissions and Energy Data
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID)
- Electricity emissions and power generation mix for various regions and states in the U.S. There is also an interactive graphical interface from the EPA that presents eGRID data. Data in these resources only represents emissions from power plants in the regions and not from upstream fuel or material extraction and processing
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Waste Reduction Model (WARM)
- Emissions from end-of-life pathways for various materials
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency GHG Emission Factors Hub
- Annually updated document with emissions factors for various energy sources and waste products (pulls data from eGRID and WARM)
- U.S. Argonne National Laboratory Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies Model (GREET)
- Energy use and emissions from various vehicle, fuel, and material combinations. Offers both Excel and graphical interface options along with related tools and models. See sidebar for related offerings such as AFLEET, which covers light- and heavy-duty vehicles, and the GREET Aviation Module, which covers conventional and sustainable aviation
- U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory Grid Mix Explorer
- Life cycle inventory data for various regional electricity mixes
- GHGenius
- LCA model and data for processes related to various transportation fuels in Canada. Features data on greenhouse gas emissions, air contaminants, and energy use
- Industrial Design & Engineering Materials Database (IDEMAT)
- Energy and greenhouse gas impacts associated with a variety of materials and processes
- U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory LCA for Energy Technology and Pathways
- LCA resources and data for various energy technologies
- U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory LCA Unit Processes
- Spreadsheets and summaries containing input and output data for wide variety of industrial processes
- U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory Materials Flows through Industry (MFI)
- Energy and carbon impacts of various industrial commodities with downloadable graphics and data tables (need to register for free access; also may need to download Excel file for scenario to see full list of results)
- U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory Sustainability Analysis
- Emissions data for various energy technologies
- Open Grid Emissions by Singularity
- Datasets containing high-resolution emissions data for the U.S. electrical grid (including by hour and by plant)
- Electricity Maps Climate Impact by Area
- Online map with real-time estimates of emissions intensity of electrical grids around the world
- IPCC Emissions Factor Database
- Database from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change containing emissions factors for a variety of products and processes (note that much of the data is pretty dated)
Specific Materials
- Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES)
- Tool to calculate sustainability impacts of different building materials
- PlasticsEurope Eco-profiles
- Life cycle inventory data for a variety of plastics
- World Steel Association Steel Life Cycle Inventory
- Life cycle inventory data for steel and related materials
- Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative
- Open-access tool for rapid characterization of life cycle impacts for various chemicals
- ecoinvent Life Cycle Inventory Reports for Various Products
- Older ecoinvent database reports with life cycle inventory data and methods for various materials and processes (must register for free “Version 1+2” access)
- Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Library
- Searchable database of public EPDs that contain transparent LCA data for various materials and products
Lists of Databases
- Life Cycle Initiative Global LCA Databases
- List of LCA databases for each country
- Greenhouse Gas Protocol Database List
- List of databases with emissions and LCA data
License-Based Databases
- ecoinvent
- Largest life cycle inventory database with thousands of individual datasets
- Google Scholar
- Source for academic and grey literature that may contain useful LCA parameters
- openLCA Nexus with tutorial
- Massive online repository of various free and premium LCA datasets from many different providers that can be integrated into openLCA
- SimaPro Databases with tutorial
- SimaPro is a premium LCA software and features a wide variety of life cycle inventory databases
- GaBi Databases with tutorial
- GaBi is a premium LCA software and features many of its own datasets along with some external ones
- cm.chemicals
- Life cycle inventory data for various common chemicals and plastics
Other
- U.S. Federal LCA Commons
- Searchable repository of LCA data from various agencies and other sources. Many entries must be used in conjunction with LCA software, such as openLCA, while others have information within the entry on the site. Includes USLCI database from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Global LCA Data Access (GLAD)
- Searchable repository of LCA data with format conversion functionality
- CPM LCA Database
- Database from the Swedish Life Cycle Center containing life cycle inventory data for a wide variety of products and processes
- LiveLCA
- Platform listing emissions attributable to various foods and associated LCA studies
- CarbonCloud Climate Hub
- Database with emissions from various food products
- SU-EATABLE LIFE
- Comprehensive database of carbon and water footprints of food commodities
- Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA)
- Tool from Carnegie Mellon University that estimates energy and material needs and emissions based on economic activity within various sectors
- U.S. Environmentally-Extended Input-Output (USEEIO) Models
- Calculations of emissions for commodities and sectors based on associated economic activity