LCA Technology study guide
LCA Technology · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The LCA Technology exam is an independent, vendor-neutral credential for professionals who build and interpret life cycle assessment models. It suits LCA practitioners, sustainability analysts, product stewards, and consultants who already know the ISO 14040/14044 framework and now need to prove technical fluency in data, software, and exchange formats. The LCA Technology study guide has 8 sections and about 2,565 words.
01LCA Methodology Foundations: Goal, Scope, Functional Unit, Boundary and Allocation
This domain checks whether you can structure a study the way ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006 (with its amendments) require: four iterative phases - goal and scope, inventory, impact assessment, interpretation - where findings in a later phase force revisions of earlier decisions. Goal fixes the intended application, reasons, audience, and whether results are disclosed publicly.
328 words, about 2 min02Life Cycle Inventory Data: Foreground, Background, Datasets and Uncertainty
Foreground data are the processes you control and model specifically - your recipe, your plant's energy use, your transport legs. Background data come from databases covering generic upstream chains: ecoinvent, Sphera MLC, Agribalyse, USLCI, ELCD, and EXIOBASE for input-output screening.
293 words, about 1 min03LCIA: Midpoint, Endpoint, Characterization Factors and Method Choice
Midpoint indicators sit close to the emission - kg CO2e, kg SO2e, kg N eq, CTUh - and carry lower model uncertainty. Endpoint indicators aggregate midpoints into areas of protection: human health (DALY), ecosystem quality (species·yr), resources (USD).
335 words, about 2 min04LCA Software and Modelling Tools: Flows, Parameters, Scenarios and Versioning
Every tool represents the same primitives: unit processes containing exchanges, product flows linked to a provider process, elementary flows to the environment, and a product system that resolves those links. openLCA works natively in JSON-LD and is free; SimaPro and Sphera LCA for Experts are commercial; Brightway is a Python library used through the Activity Browser or scripts.
327 words, about 2 min05Interpretation, Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis
ISO 14044 §4.5 requires three steps: identify significant issues (contribution, dominance and influence analysis), evaluate completeness, consistency and sensitivity, then draw conclusions, limitations and recommendations. Contribution analysis ranks processes or flows by their share of an indicator; a 60% share for one process is a significant issue that must be discussed, not merely tabulated.
306 words, about 2 min06Data Interoperability: ecoSpold, ILCD, JSON-LD and EPD Formats
ecoSpold2 - ecoinvent's XML schema: activity datasets plus exchange datasets, with master data for elementary flows, compartments, units and flow properties. ILCD - XML datasets (process, flow, flow property, unit group, LCIA method, contact, source) validated against a compliance system; used by the EU EF node and many EPD tools.
338 words, about 2 min07Critical Review, Verification and Quality Assurance
Internal expert review - a reviewer inside the commissioning organisation, independent of the study author. External expert review - an independent expert from outside the organisation.
316 words, about 2 min08Application Contexts and Emerging Practice: EPD, PCF, Circularity, DPP and Automation
EPD - Type III declarations under ISO 14025 with sector PCRs; EN 15804+A2 for construction, reporting modules A1–A3, A4–A5, B, C and D separately. Product carbon footprint - ISO 14067 or the GHG Protocol Product Standard; fossil, biogenic and land-use-change emissions reported separately under a stated GWP version.
322 words, about 2 min