Lifecycle Database

Lifecycle Database user guide explains how this data resource can be adapted to reliably estimate the environmental impact of specific timber products, to help you market your own products.

Alongside cost and performance, environmental impact assessment is an increasingly important customer driver in the UK construction sector. Our database brings together generic environmental performance information on wood products commonly used in the UK. It is designed to support the production of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and building-level Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) studies.

As such it includes Lifecycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) data covering the full life cycle of products from cradle-to-grave, in a format designed to mirror the approach and layout of EPDs. This covers the four main lifecycle stages of production, transport, end-of-life (EoL) and ‘benefits beyond the system boundary’ such as credits for recycling or energy recovery.

While the data we’ve compiled is generic it can be used as a base from which you can calculate an estimate for the lifecycle impact of your products and match the scope of LCA that you need – from cradle to gate (production only) through to cradle-to-grave. This includes LCIA for the full range of EoL options – landfill, energy recovery and recycling – allowing you to evaluate the best and worst case scenarios for the product if its end of life is uncertain.

The user guide explains how to do all of this, with a range of example calculations as demonstrations.