What methods can you use to validate LCA study results with real-world data?

1 Why validate LCA results?

Validating your LCA results is important for several reasons. First, it can help you identify and correct any errors, assumptions, or uncertainties in your LCA model or data. Second, it can help you communicate and justify your results to your stakeholders, such as customers, investors, regulators, or peers. Third, it can help you improve your LCA methodology and data quality for future studies. By validating your LCA results, you can increase the credibility, transparency, and relevance of your LCA study.

2 How to choose validation methods?

When selecting validation methods for your LCA study, there are several factors to consider. Relevance, representativeness, robustness, and reproducibility are all important criteria when choosing a method. The method should be tailored to the research question and impact categories of the LCA study. It should cover the most significant aspects of the system, such as the functional unit, system boundaries, processes, and inputs and outputs. Additionally, it should be robust to uncertainties, variations, and biases in the real-world data and the LCA data. Lastly, it should be reproducible by other LCA practitioners with clear and consistent procedures and documentation.

3 What types of validation methods are available?

When validating your LCA results with real-world data, you can use different types of methods. Measurement involves collecting or using existing data from direct measurements of the environmental impacts or the physical flows of your LCA system, such as emissions, energy use, or waste generation. Observation is another option, which involves collecting or using existing data from indirect observations of the environmental impacts or the physical flows. Additionally, surveys can be conducted to collect data from stakeholders or users of your LCA system, such as preferences, behaviors, or satisfaction. Lastly, you can review literature sources like scientific articles, reports, databases, or guidelines to collect data from other studies or sources.

4 How to apply validation methods?

To apply validation methods, you must first define the criteria that will be used to compare LCA results with real-world data, such as indicators, units, spatial and temporal scales, and uncertainty ranges. Then, select the validation data based on availability, quality, and compatibility with LCA data. After collecting, processing, and documenting the validation data according to principles of data quality assessment, perform the analysis that compares LCA results with validation data using statistical or graphical methods. Finally, interpret and report the validation results to highlight similarities, differences, and implications for your LCA study.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?