Product Category Templates (PCTs) for upscaling life cycle models of the same product group

Main Presenter:    Conrad Spindler 

Co-Authors:   Andreas Ciroth                                               

In order to upscale LCA (life cycle assessment) studies for products from the same product category, having common standards like the Product Category Rules (PCRs) for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) for Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) studies or LCA guidelines are crucial. However, complementary data modeling templates to support the practitioners in the LCA software hardly exist today or they are contained in black box tools and often require subscriptions.

We will show that so-called Product Category Templates (PCTs) are a useful addition to PCRs or guidelines by providing open-source templates in OLCA [1] or ILCD format [2]. We will further explain how these PCT data sets are structured with modular, pre-defined unit processes and parameters for modeling and how they can be initially created, using product flows with multiple providers.

Each PCT contains a rigid base-structure that is similar to the EPD modules (A1 to D) and common for all different product categories. On top of this, pre-defined sub-structures exist that depend on the product category of interest, e.g., photovoltaic systems or hydrogen storage systems. All these modules are pre-filled with mandatory inputs, outputs and reference flows, with compliant calculations of the functional unit, as well as easy-to-use parameter sets.

Apart from the technical details, this presentation will primarily focus on highlighting the benefits of utilizing such PCTs in daily workflows, which include:
– increased comparability of LCA studies
– better compliance to defined standards
– easier review process and understanding of LCA models
– harmonized hotspot analysis and result presentation
– faster upscaling for products of the same product group

New developments for open-source background databases like BAFU:2025 [3] can further improve the PCTs by providing the necessary supply chains at no additional costs. It will be possible that PCTs are made compliant to different databases, so that practitioners only need to import the PCT into the respective database and all known supply chains will be automatically connected, but can be modified and updated at any time if needed.

The present concept is based on a PCT for photovoltaic (PV) modules that was developed within the framework of the Horizon Europe project “Hi-BITS – High efficiency bifacial thin film chalcogenide solar cells” (Grant Agreement ID 101122203).

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