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Output of the CASCADE project

CEN/STAR Trends Analysis Workshop Life Cycle Assessment and Product Data Technology The use of Industrial Standards for the exchange, the storing, the management and the quality control of environmental data September 15-16, 2005, Vico Equense, Naples, Italy. Output of the CASCADE project.

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Output of the CASCADE project

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  1. CEN/STAR Trends Analysis Workshop Life Cycle Assessment and Product Data Technology The use of Industrial Standards for the exchange, the storing, the management and the quality control of environmental data September 15-16, 2005, Vico Equense, Naples, Italy Output of the CASCADE project Ing. Paolo Masoni CASCADE Co-ordinator

  2. Outline • CASCADE background • ISO TS 14048 • PDT • CASCADE challenges • Achievements of CASCADE • Conclusions

  3. Project details • Project funded by the European Community under the ‘Competitive and Sustainable Growth’ Programme • Duration: from 1st January 2002 to 31 December 2004 • Partnership: ENEA, 2.-0 LCA CONSULTANTS, CAESAR SYSTEMS LIMITED, CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, ECOBILAN SA, ENVIRONMENT AGENCY, FERRODAY LIMITED, POSC/CAESAR ASSOCIATION, PRÈ CONSULTANTS BV, ROLLS-ROYCE PLC, APAT AGENZIA PROTEZIONE AMBIENTE E TERRITORIO, IFEU - INSTITUT FUER ENERGIE- UND UMWELTFORSCHUNG HEIDELBERG GMBH

  4. CASCADE background

  5. Project background: ISO 14048 (1) • ISO TS 14048, published in April 2002, “intends to support a transparent reporting, interpretation and review of data collection, data calculation, data quality and data reporting, as well as facilitating data exchange.” • Its goal is to “facilitate the reporting of LCI data and compliance with the requirements from ISO 14040 and ISO 14041 on data collection, data documentation and data quality. It also facilitates interpretation”.

  6. Project background: ISO 14048 (2) • The ISO14048 is also “intended to facilitate the exchange of LCI data without loss of transparency”. • BUT: “it does not provide specific requirements for implementation of data exchange. However, the specification allows the flexibility to design different data exchange and data communication formats, as well as”.

  7. Project background: Product Data Technology • Many LCA databases and software have been developed • Each LCA system has its own internal data representation, and, even if some data exchange and data communication formats have been developed, data could not be transferred for use in another system without extra effort and extra cost in order to convert it to the local system. • The problem is much more difficult when data have to be transferred from LCA to design support systems and vice versa.

  8. Project background: Product Data Technology (2) • A technical solution to the communication of product, property and process data has been developed in the ISO Committee TC184/SC4 over 20 years of global collaboration between more than 20 of the worlds largest industrial countries and some of the worlds largest industrial companies in aerospace, automotive, chemical processing, offshore oil and gas and shipbuilding. • However, the lessons and the benefits learned from that development of standardised models for data representation were not widely known and were not being applied to the developments of reference data for LCA • The basis of this technology – called product data technology (PDT) or information engineering - is that the communication of information requires: the data items that represent the information; an information model to provide an interpretable structure for the data items; a dictionary to define the meaning of the data items

  9. Project background: Product Data Technology (3) • It is essential that all the participants in a communication process use the same information model and the same dictionary to avoid misunderstanding. • For computer-to-computer communications the information model and the dictionary also have to be computer-processable. • The information models and dictionaries also need to be independent of any proprietary software

  10. Project background: ISO TC 104/SC4 standards • The ISO TC184/SC4 Committee has achieved these objectives with the development of three major International Standards: • ISO 10303 Product data representation and exchange (known as STEP) – provides entity- relationship information models to describe products, assemblies, their properties and processes of manufacture. • ISO15926 Integration of life-cycle data for process plants including oil and gas production facilities – provides an information model and dictionary for describing objects in a classification structure. • ISO 13584 Parts libraries – provides an information model for the description of families of products and their properties in a classification structure with a dictionary for the definition of the items in the classification. • In addition,other de facto standards exist for the description and classification of objects for communication on the World Wide Web with the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and the Resource Description Framework (RDF)

  11. CASCADE challenges: • To bring together experts from Product Data Technology and LCA to adapt the standards developed for the communication of product, process and property data in design and manufacturing to the requirements for LCA. • Major difficulties: • find a common language among the experts of two different domains, • understand the needs of the LCA users • understand the opportunities offered by the PDT • adapt the work plan to the progress in the related disciplines

  12. Achievements of CASCADE

  13. Work structure • Definition of User requirements • Information model design • Definition of a standard for the representation of LCA data • Software demo • Training packages • Web repository • Validation with round robin test • CASCADE Web site • Exploitation, Dissemination and IPR

  14. Definition of User requirements (1) • The CASCADE system, was divided into five major components: • information models: the structure of the data and the procedures to access the data (both defined following existing international standards, LCA best practice and accepted industry best practice). A full compliance of ISO TS 14048 was the fundamental criteria • software demonstration: the public software tool that should implement the information models, showing examples and allowing basic import/export operations • reference data library (RDL): the core set of data to be included in the software demonstration to work as an example and a reference for further developments of the database • web terminology repository: an explanation of the terminology used in the system • training packages: the training material that should be used to disseminate the knowledge of LCA concepts and of the new standard information models for LCA data

  15. Definition of User requirements (2) • The requirements for each component of the CASCADE system were developed with a view to the needs of all the different types of usersclassified in: • LCA practitioners: environmental consultants, LCA software developers, etc. • Data suppliers: research institutes, consulting companies, product manufacturers, etc. • Software developers and documenters: developers of any software that could use LCA data • LCA document standards developers: developers of the standards dealing with the electronic format of LCA documentation, including LCI data bases • Training personnel: people committed to the dissemination of LCA concepts and data • Newcomers to LCA: including product/process designers in SMEs

  16. Information model design • Definition of the scope of the information model • Identification of the industrial context for the use of the data • Identification of the data to be represented • Evaluation of the technologies and methodologies for the representation of the data. • Quality Assessment Criteria for LCA Data • A procedural guideline for collection, treatment and quality documentation of LCA data has been published. • Core RDL content • Concepts derived by ISO 14048 plus ISO 14040, ISO 14041, ISO 14042, ISO 14043 and ISO 14050 has been included as data elements of the Reference Data Library (RDL), Part 4, of ISO 15926, thus integrating this terminology with the multi industry dictionary already contained

  17. Definition of a standard for therepresentation of LCA data Goal has been to establish three compatible and related methods for the representation of LCA data in computer processable information models • Standard for the exchange of LCA data • ISO 10303-235 Materials information for product design and validation • Standard for Exchange of LCA data by the World Wide Web • The engineering concepts defined in ISO 14048 and other life-cycle standards are represented as an LCA ontology built on top of OWL; • RDF methodology gives an XML representation of LCA information defined by reference to the LCA ontology

  18. Software demo The management of information associated with life cycle assessment has two aspects: • maintenance of ontologies • exchange and archiving of an individual life cycle assessment The objectives of the software demonstration were as follows: • The provision of tools that enable a engineer to create and maintain ontologies referenced by an LCA, and to express them in a standard XML format (suitable not only for publication on the Internet but also for exchanging data through the network); • The provision of interfaces to existing LCA tools that will enable these tools to exchange individual life cycle assessments in standard format, and access ontologies in the standard format described above

  19. Training packages • Environmental policy (as downloadable document) • Life Cycle Assessment basic course (as downloadable document and as interactive web-pages) • Collection, treatment and quality documentation of Life Cycle Assessment data (as downloadable document and as interactive web-pages) • Life Cycle Assessment tool for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (as interactive web-pages) All freely available at www.pdt.enea.it

  20. Web repository • In the CASCADE project was demonstrated that LCA data can be integrated with the product design and exchanged in a consistent manner by the use of ISO 15926. • ISO 15926-4 defines a Reference Data Library (RDL) that can be periodically updated by a competent body, designated by ISO as a Maintenance Agency (MA), which has the requisite infrastructure to ensure the effective use of the reference data library. • The CASCADE ‘Web repository for terminology’ is a subset of this part of ISO 15926. An online version of this RDL is available at www.posccaesar.com.

  21. Validation with round robin test • Because of the limitations of existing software packages, it has not been possible to easily test the output of the CASCADE project. The biggest problem is the lack of appropriate interfaces, at the moment. Consequently the model has not been able to be fully validated as part of this project. • The RR Has proved that with the use of the neutral interface RDL it is possible to convert from TEAM software (Ecobilan) an LCA and transfer it into Sima-Pro (PRE Consultants) and vice versa.

  22. CASCADE Web site The main sections of the www.pdt.enea.it are: • Iconic Home Page; • Project information; • General Information and Project documentation; • News; • Virtual Meetings & Seminars; • Target Groups (Users Groups, FAQs, Forum); • Technical Services (FTP, DB Visual Interface, Audio/video communication, e-Learning); • Multimedia Information (Interviews, Trailers, Flash Demos); • Partners; • Links; • Round Robin web applications and repository.

  23. Conclusions

  24. Conclusions • CASCADE provided real innovation through the integration of competencies from two different domains: PDT and LCA • The results of CASCADE are in time with the policy development at European level, in particular Integrated Product Policy (IPP), and with the present R&D process, in particular in the field of Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS).

  25. Conclusions: IPP LCAs provide the best framework for assessing the potential environmental impacts of products currently available. They are therefore an important support tool for IPP.” (COM 2003:302) • Developing of the European platform for Life Cycle Assessment with the goals to: • Support IPP • Support European industry in LC-based product development To achieve that goals it is necessary to: • Make available LC data and information • Foster the integration of LCA into product development CASCADE output can help on both

  26. Conclusions • The simplest solution for the European reference LCI database, as adopting a data format specifically developed for LCI, may not be the best solution: this will affect the possibility of integration of LCA into product development. • The CASCADE solution, to be put in practice requires the development of software interfaces to make invisible to the final user the complexity of the Information Model

  27. After CASCADE • DOUTDES: Specific Support Action for the Call FP6-2004-IST-NMP-2. “Diffusion Of Useful Tools for the Development of Eco Services” The proposal has been evaluated over the thresholds but not financed. • DOUTDES has been re-presented with modifications for the Call: FP6-2005-INNOV-7. “Demonstration of Original Utilities for the Trans-national Development of Eco-Services”. Under evaluation. • DEPUIS: Co-ordination Actions for the priority Standards in support of innovative business solutions. Facilitate the integration of open standards into the design of new products and services and into business process. “Design of Environmental-friendly Products Using Information Standards”. Under evaluation. • Co-ordination action on LCA. Under preparation for the call FP6-2005-Global-4

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