Life Cycle Inventory Availability: Status and Prospects for Leveraging New Technologies

The demand for life cycle assessments (LCA) is growing
rapidly,
which leads to an increasing demand of life cycle inventory (LCI)
data. While the LCA community has made significant progress in developing
LCI databases for diverse applications, challenges still need to be
addressed. This perspective summarizes the current data gaps, transparency,
and uncertainty aspects of existing LCI databases. Additionally, we
survey and discuss novel techniques for LCI data generation, dissemination,
and validation. We propose key future directions for LCI development
efforts to address these challenges, including leveraging scientific
and technical advances such as the Internet of Things (IoT), machine
learning, and blockchain/cloud platforms. Adopting these advanced
technologies can significantly improve the quality and accessibility
of LCI data, thereby facilitating more accurate and reliable LCA studies.