POD|LCA: Parametric Open Data for Life Cycle Assessment

About

In the spring of 2022, ARPA-E announced a cohort of material and building design teams for the “Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere” (HESTIA) Program.  Each team in the program is working on a project to develop a carbon-negative material or building design solution. CLF, along with a team of researchers at the University of Washington (the Center for International Trade in Forest Products and the Integrated Design Lab), was awarded $3.7 million over 4 years to lead the Parametric Open Data (POD) | LCA Project, during which we are working closely with each HESTIA material and building design team to develop custom, parametric LCA screening tools to evaluate their performance at a material and building scale. The CLF team is also working on a holistic framework for comparative LCA modeling of building materials that includes biogenic carbon, dynamic LCA and carbon storage over the full life of a building.

Problem Statement

There is a massive potential to use carbon-storing materials in building construction to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the environmental assessment data and methods for novel carbon-storing materials is currently limited. Read more about the research motivation here: ARPA-E $3.7M Grant to Fund Core LCA R&D.

This work is deeply collaborative, drawing from a team of UW researchers with expertise in climate modeling, forestry, dynamic LCA, material science, design, engineering, data science, and tool development. This grant supports CLF in growing its research team and continuing its commitment to accurate, trusted, rigorous, and open access LCA data and tools.

This page will continue to be updated as the project progresses.

For HESTIA Teams

Here is the Resource Page for HESTIA Teams where you can access resources for collaborating with the UW Team.  Email clfinfo@uw.edu for the password.