FLCAC Resources

This page is the central hub for information, training, and tools related to the Federal Life Cycle Assessment Commons (FLCAC). Here you will find FAQs, common terms, and links to important resources such as the Federal Elementary Flow List and openLCA tools.

 

FEDERAL LCA COMMONS RESOURCES

Centralized guidance materials for Federal LCA Commons data users.

• Have questions? Visit our Frequently Asked Questions or send us an email in the contact form.
• Visit Common Terms and Acronyms for definitions of technical language and organizations associated with the Federal LCA Commons.

 

USLCI

The portal for industry Life Cycle Inventory data on the Federal LCA Commons.

• The USLCI GitHub Homepage hosts documentation on submitting data, repository change logs, metadata guidelines, and more.
• Visit the Metadata Guidance section of the data submission handbook for help developing or interpreting process metadata. 
• The Change Log documents changes made to the USLCI repository in each release version. 
• Video tutorials on using USLCI and submitting data can be found on the USLCI Quick Help Series YouTube playlist.

 

DATA SUBMISSION RESOURCES

Thinking of submitting data to the Federal LCA Commons? 

• Please fill out the data submission questionnaire. The Federal LCA Commons Data Curators will provide guidance and training on data submission. Industry data will be considered for incorporation in the USLCI.
• To familiarize yourself to the data submission process, visit the data submission toolkit. 
• The data submission handbook is a more detailed reference document supporting federal and industry data submission.

 

FEDERAL ELEMENTARY FLOW LIST (FEDEFL)

A standardized elementary flow list that supports harmonization of data on the Federal LCA Commons. Read more about the development of this list here.

• The FEDEFL GitHub Homepage hosts documentation and scripts used to develop and work with the FEDEFL. 
• Reference the Flow Mapping Instructions for guidance on how to harmonize third-party elementary flow lists (e.g. SimaPro, openLCA, Ecoinvent) with the FEDEFL.

 

OpenLCA RESOURCES 

A free-to-use and accessible LCA software. The Federal LCA Commons platform is based on the openLCA Collaboration Server. 

• To download openLCA or for more information, visit the OpenLCA Homepage.
• The OpenLCA Schema defines the structure of the data exchange format of openLCA.
• The openLCA Collaboration Server hosts data on the FLCAC. Visit the Collaboration Server Manual  for technical details on this tool.
• To participate in conversations with other practitioners, visit the OpenLCA Forum. This forum includes many openLCA questions and answers from users and developers.

 

VIDEO TUTORIALS

• The USLCI Database Quick Help Series on YouTube provides video tutorials on using Federal LCA Commons data and the data submission process.

 

FEDERAL AGENCY DATA & TOOLS

U.S. Department of Agriculture: 

• LCA Collection on Ag Data Commons

Environmental Protection Agency: 

• Environmental Dataset Gateway

National Energy Technology Laboratory: 

• Energy Data eXchange

U.S. Forest Service: 

• Research Data Archive

National Renewable Energy Laboratory: 

• Data Catalog

National Institute of Standards and Technology: 

• Science Data Catalog

Argonne National Laboratory, Greenhouse gasses, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies model (GREET):

• Well-to-Wheel (W2W) Calculator

 

 

Please report any issues with repositories on the Federal LCA Commons GitHub Issues page, the USLCI GitHub Issues page, or the Contact Us form.