About the LCI Database Project

The U.S. Life-Cycle Inventory (LCI) Database is a publicly available database that allows users to objectively review and compare analysis results that are based on similar data collection and analysis methods.

Finding consistent and transparent LCI data for life-cycle assessments (LCAs) is difficult. NREL works with LCA experts to solve this problem by providing a central source of critically reviewed LCI data through its LCI Database Project. NREL's High-Performance Buildings research group and the Athena Institute are working closely with government and industry partners to develop and maintain the database.

This LCI Database Project was initiated on May 1, 2001, and gained national prominence at a meeting of interests hosted by the Ford Motor Company. Funding agencies and representatives of industrial, academic, and consulting communities voiced strong support for the project. As a result, an advisory group with 45 representatives from manufacturing, government, and nongovernment organizations, as well as LCA experts, worked together to create the U.S. LCI Database Project Development Guidelines (Word 414 KB).

Project supporters include the U.S. Department of Energy, the General Services Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Navy, the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, the U.S. Car Project (Ford, General Motors, and DaimlerChrysler), and the American Plastics Council.