Using the output in openLCA software

Using the output in openLCA software

openLCA is freely available software for performing life cycle assessment. The JSON-LD zip output files for a model can be used in openLCA versions >=1.6.

We recommend that you start with the Federal Commons core database which can be obtained from Federal LCA Commons. The user should then download the full elementary flow list repository as a single JSON-LD file and import that into the Federal Commons core database by right clicking on the database, selecting import, selecting openLCA JSON-LD as the type (could also be identifed as openLCA schema depending on openLCA version), and selecting that downloaded json-ld file and 'OK' to import.

The output file containing the electricity LCI model from running ElectricityLCI can then be imported into this database using the same manner as described for the elementary flow list JSON-LD file.

The user may then select life cycle impact methods that are compatible with the Federal LCA Commons to also import into the database in order to calculate life cycle impact results. And LCIA methods that are compatible, including TRACI 2.1 and ReCiPe 2016, can also be downloaded from the Federal LCA Commons and imported as described for the electricitylci output dataset above.