LCA and Carbon Footprint Calculators

What

The development of a carbon footprint or a life cycle assessment (LCA) often leads to the realization that there are key aspects of the life cycle that can be significantly impacted by changes. This situation suggests the need for a tool that can be made by extracting a part of the impact calculation (especially if it is done in a LCA model) so that "what if" calculations can be made for possible changes.

The most useful approach to this tool's construction is to build it using Microsoft Excel and make it both transparent and user-friendly so that someone who is not a an LCA expert can still use it to get meaningful results.

Why

One of the most common situations where a subset of the calculations housed in a model can be most helpful is informing the design phase for issues like:

• raw material alternatives (including their manufacturing processes)

• packaging alternatives

• varied recycling scenarios

These tools avoid the time and expense associated with conducting a full LCA to get the desired results.

How

JBE's tool design process is backed up by nearly 100 collective years of doing just this for industry in order to comply with environmental compliance obligations.

This has led JBE to establish design guidance as well as to create a library of best practices. We also have developed training for our team, for clients and even for other consultants with whom we collaborate.

Several key aspects of the tool development approach include:

• Avoiding or limiting the use of macros,

• Collecting together inputs and outputs so that users can experiment much more quickly,

• Using color schemes to make clear where inputs are required, and

Providing a tabular "how to" process description that that walks users through the main functionality for each tab in the workbook.