Green material benchmarks

Green material benchmarks

What does this feature do?

This feature is aimed at assisting you with making improved material choices. All the materials in the One Click LCA database are categorized based on their class and subclass (e.g. 'insulation', and 'Glass wool insulation'. Within these classes the materials are bench-marked against each other. This feature allows you to access that data in multiple different sections on the One Click LCA platform.

How do you use this feature?

This feature is available in multiple sections of the One Click LCA platform. Below we explain where you can access the data provided by this feature.

Using the emission level filter

Because all of the materials are bench-marked against each other we are able to categorize their emissions in five groups. The best performing materials (top 20%) in their benchmark will be marked with 'Very low' and get a dark green 'carbon cloud'. This gets worse in groups of 20%. The worst performing 20% of materials in the benchmark will be marked with 'Very High' and have a dark red carbon cloud.
Use the 'Emission level' filter to find the best performing materials

Understanding the Carbon clouds in the search results

If you search for materials you will be able to see the 'Carbon Clouds' behind the material descriptions as well. This quickly gives you an indication to which emission level group this particular material belongs and might help you avoid picking those materials where possible. In some cases the Carbon Cloud might be missing, this happens if the data-point has very unusual (usually very high) emissions compared to the other materials in the same emission level group. It will then not be displayed as a material having 'Very high' emissions, as its emissions might be 5 times higher than normally the worst performing material (emission wise) in that emission level group.
Visible carbon clouds in the search results section

Checking the detailed Green material benchmark information

If you click on the question mark behind any of the data-points you will be able to access the detailed information of the material. In the below example we have clicked on the green question mark from one of the float glass materials and scrolled down a bit. There we then have the performance ranking. In this case there are 35 different types of float glass in the database, and this particular material is ranked number 4, so it is marked in the 'Very Low' emission level group.
Detailed information showing the ranking
You are then also able to see the full ranking, which gives you an overview of all the materials in this particular sub class. Click on 'See full ranking' and a new tab will open displaying the data. In this display you can also de-select the countries you might not want to include the data from.
Benchmark data for Glass Panes
If you scroll down you will also get a list with all these materials, which allows you also to copy the material names so you might use them in your project.
Bench-marked results listed

Results section

On the results section, in the analysis part, you will be able to see the top 10 materials which contribute the most emission wise to your project. You can also change impact category if your used tool reports on different environmental indicators. In the example below we looked at the Global Warming Potential.
Top 10 contributing materials (GWP)
Now we see which materials are used, and we can quickly see some alternatives. Just click on 'Show sustainable alternatives' and a small window will open. In this example we looked at Gypsum plaster board alternatives, as the chosen resource is this project is in the 'Very high' emission level group.

It immediately displays some better performing material options you could choose from. You can press the green question mark icon to get more information on those resources, or choose to view the full ranking to perhaps exclude some countries by clicking the green graph icon after the 'see full ranking' message.
Quickly get some recommendations on better performing materials.

Is this feature available to me?

The green material benchmark feature is included in all Expert package licenses.

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