The purpose is to explain the critical path of doing LCA modelling and doing your first report. There are a multitude of advanced functionalities in Earthster LCA Software, but in this guide we will focus on taking you through the most basic functionalities for LCA modelling. Let’s get started.
1. Log in to Earthster LCA Software
Go to app.earthster.org
Click Log in at the top right
If you already have an Earthster account, input your email and password to log in
If you don’t have an account yet, select “Don’t have an account? Register instead” and sign up for the free trial. Fill in the relevant information. Make sure you use the correct email address, as you will receive a verification email.
You will get a verification email from [email protected], check your spam folder if you cannot find it in your inbox.
After creating your account and verifying your email you should now be able to log in.
2. Creating your first Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model
You have logged in, great! Now you will be able to see your first Workspace. Workspaces are where your LCA models are stored. This workspace is empty to start with.
Now let’s create your first LCA model. LCA models are called “Cycles” in Earthster LCA Software.
In your Workspace, click on “create new cycle”. This can be found top right of your workspace.
Now let’s give your first cycle a name and a scope
How should you name the cycle? Give it the name of the product, manufacturing site, or company you are trying to model.
Which Scope should you choose? Just choose production for now, we can go to extend the scope later. Click on the “production” circle or text.
Turn the Templates tab off for now, if it is not off already. We will look at templates later.
Click “Next” at the bottom of the page
Next we will set the production unit. This is the unit you measure your product, manufacturing site or company in.
If it is a product, you could measure it in terms of one product, one kilo or pound, one tonne, one cubic meter or another unit of measurement. Choose the one measure that most applies to your product.
If it is a manufacturing site or company, the measurement unit is e.g. “year of operation”
Click on where it says “unit” and write the measurement unit there.
For now, let’s not add multiple functional units, so click on the “X” next to where it says “uses (example)” to delete it. We will be able to add these later.
Click “Create Cycle” at the bottom of the page.
Great, we have now created your first cycle in Earthster. This cycle is empty, and ready for us to get to work.
Now let’s add data from an LCA database to approximate a raw material in your product. LCA Datasets are called “Processes”. They model e.g. raw materials.
Move your mouse over the “Production” text and click on it once, wait one second, and then click on it once again. You should see “the drawer” appear on the right side of your screen.
To add LCA database data, click on “Add New”.
You should now see the LCA database search open with the header “Add new Process”
In this search you can find LCA database data. This data is used to model your product’s raw materials, production processes, logistics, use and end of life scenarios. Let’s not worry about the full scope of a life cycle for now, we will look at it later.
Write in the “Type to search” field the name of the raw material, for example “Steel” or “Polypropylene” to find a raw material
The search gives you a lot of information and options for filtering your search. We will look at those later. For now, just choose one of the Processes and click “Add Process”
You can choose any process at this point, we will look at how to choose the appropriate processes later.
Now we can see that the process you selected has been added to our cycle.
To change the amount of this raw material, find the field below the raw material name
Input the correct amount of raw material for your product. Click the field and type in the correct amount. For the purposes of this example, you can input any amount you want.
Once you have imputed the amount of raw material in the field, you can see the CO2eq number change. Earthster LCA Software calculates the environmental impacts in real time. The CO2eq number can be found on the right side of the raw material amount field. Earthster LCA Software does calculate all the other impact categories also, but we will look at them later.
Now let’s create a report that shows our product’s environmental impact. This example cycle only has one raw material in it, but we can add more later.
Find the “Options” button at the top left corner of your screen, right below the “Back” button and click on it.
A drop down menu will pop up. Select “Export” to get access to Reports.
You can now see the report options available. For the purposes of this example, let’s use the simplest report for CO2eq. Earthster LCA Software calculates all the other impact categories also, but we can look at that later.
Click on the “Report Type” Drop down arrow and select “Simple”. There are a whole host of different reports and exports available, but we will look at those later.
Click on the “Format” Drop down arrow and choose “PDF”. There are always multiple formats available for each report.
Lastly, find the “Generate Report” button at the bottom of the page, and click on it. The report will start downloading. To find the report, go to your browser's "Downloads" section and click to open the report.
Congratulations, you have successfully made your first Life Cycle Assessment model and report!
Although this model has only one raw material, it is the simplest possible Life Cycle Assessment model. You can now go to add more processes to better approximate your product.
In the next section we will go into more detail about LCA modelling and the more advanced features of Earthster LCA Software.