2005 Volume 1 Issue 2 Pages 102-111
The Swedish national LCA database was built to support industrial LCA needs. All experiences during the build-up and all data were documented so that the acquired knowledge should be useful in the future. This article describes many learnings and positive side-effects from ten years of establishing that database. The national co-operative form is presented, as well as the layout of the project. The data format and data quality approaches are described in terms of relevant choices and learnings. Learnings acquired in the project were put into use early, and integration of LCI data acquisition with industrial environmental information systems were tested in industries as early as 1997, and full-scale tests were proven successful in 2001. Integration with DfE methodologies has also been tested at industrial scales, as well as semi-automated environmental reporting.
In 2005 the database is still running and is actively maintained and is further developed. Companies start to want to update the database, and all key learnings from the ten years are available and can be utilised as competence for new projects, strategies and visions for more and better LCA data.
