ORLCA: A concept for an open-source Life Cycle Assessment repository built for research
Published: Sep 10, 2025
Last Updated: Sep 10, 2025
Authors:Hannah Wakeling, Kristin Lohwasser, Peter Millington
Abstract
Comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool to account for the full range of environmental impacts of resource use in commodities or services is a first step in reducing these impacts. There is an increasing necessity to account for these aspects in the planning, running and end-of-life of scientific experiments and research infrastructure. In the following, the concept for an Open Research Life Cycle Assessment (ORLCA) repository is presented to support this endeavour. It is designed to comply fully with the principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability (FAIR).