Data Quality in Life Cycle Inventories

Abstract

Life cycle inventory (LCI) databases are commonly used in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. They enable modern, larger case studies, make data collection more efficient, and help to establish comparability across different case studies. A database typically tries to provide one coherent and consistent modeling space, thereby allowing users to take different datasets in the appropriate database, which implies that the goal and scope of datasets in the database match the goal and scope of case studies done with the database. This chapter explains the principal elements of LCI data, different types of databases in LCA, and explores common issues in modern LCA databases: starting a database, maintaining it, providing quality assurance, and not the least, making the database available to users. The second part of the chapter deals with data exchange and data exchange formats, as well as with interoperability concepts to allow the use of datasets from different databases in one study.