openLCA — The Complete Guide: Open-Source Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprints
openLCA from GreenDelta is professional software for life cycle assessment (LCA). You build a product system from processes and material and energy flows, link it to an environmental inventory database and calculate impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions. It is open source under MPL-2.0 and may also be used for commercial work.
openLCA
GreenDelta
Open-source software for life cycle assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint calculation of products, materials and processes.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Product system models — processes, material and energy flows and the links between them.
- Impact calculation — carbon footprint and other environmental impacts, depending on the database you use.
- Comparing alternatives — two materials or two design options side by side.
- Declarations — calculations behind environmental product declarations.
- Windows, macOS and Linux — installed locally on all three.
What is free and what is paid
The software itself is free for any use; you fill in a short form before downloading. Databases are separate products: some are free and some are paid, and GreenDelta also sells support and services. Because results depend on the database, check early which one fits your project and what it costs.
Related tools
For energy simulation of buildings — EnergyPlus and OpenStudio. For technical and economic analysis of renewable energy systems — SAM.
EnergyPlus
US Department of Energy
Annual building energy simulation — envelope, HVAC, thermal comfort and daylight. The US DOE engine.
Get it from the vendorOpenStudio
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Graphical workflow on top of EnergyPlus — geometry, systems and scenario comparison.
Get it from the vendor
SAM — System Advisor Model
NREL
Technical and financial modelling of renewable energy systems — annual yield and payback.
Get it from the vendor
City Energy Analyst
ETH Zurich (Architecture and Building Systems)
Urban energy modelling — hourly energy demand for many buildings, solar potential and district heating and cooling network design.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
openLCA gives engineers and sustainability consultants a complete LCA tool at no software cost. The real investment is choosing the database and understanding the method.