Reference Data

Background LCIA Data

Building Material Emissions

C.Scale’s material database has been built from a collection of current North American Industry-Average EPDs. When no Industry-Average EPD is available, a generic material is developed based on either representative product EPDs or a published LCA dataset. C.Scale uses the following data sources for EPDs and LCIA data:

Source	Resource
Building Transparency. EC3 (Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator).	buildingtransparency.org
Ökobaudat (German Federal Ministry generic LCA database).	oekobaudat.de/en.html
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). (2025). US Life Cycle Inventory (USLCI) Database. Version 1.2025-06.0.	https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/National_Renewable_Energy_Laboratory/USLCI_Database_Public/datasets
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). (2026) U.S. Electricity Baseline. Version 1.2026-6.0.	https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/Federal_LCA_Commons/US_electricity_baseline/datasets
NIST. (2026) Construction Materials Database. Version 1.2026-07.0.	https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/NIST/construction_materials/datasets
Swiss Federal Office of the Environment. (2025). Database of the Swiss Federal Administration, BAFU:2025.	https://nexus.openlca.org/database/BAFU
Circular Ecology. (2024) ICE Database (Inventory of Carbon and Energy).	circularecology.com/embodied-carbon-footprint-database.html
Flux / Healthy Building Network / thinkstep / Google (2019). Quartz Database.
Carbon Conscience. (hardscape carbon intensities)	carbon-conscience.web.app
de Wild-Scholten, M. (2013). Energy payback time and carbon footprint of commercial photovoltaic systems. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.	doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2013.08.037

Transportation Emissions

Source	Resource
Federal LCA Commons. (2025). US Life Cycle Inventory (USLCI). Transportation process datasets, June 2025 (version 1.2025-06.0).	https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/National_Renewable_Energy_Laboratory/USLCI_Database_Public/datasets
US Census Bureau. (2017). 2017 US Commodity Flow Survey Tables.	https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/econ/cfs/aff-2017.html
ASHRAE/ICC. Standard 240P (Public Review draft, 2025), Table 6.5.2.1 — default per-mode transport emission factors

End-of-Life Emissions

End-of-Life values (C3/C4) from regionally appropriate industry-average EPDs are used in calculations when available and in accordance with a valid Product Category Rule (PCR). When not available emission factors have been sourced from the following datasets:

Source	Resource
US Environmental Protection Agency. (2025). US Environmental Protection Agency/Construction and Demolition Debris (CDD) Management Dataset.	https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/US_Environmental_Protection_Agency/Construction_and_demolition_2022_update_2/datasets
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). (2025). US Life Cycle Inventory (USLCI) Database. Version 1.2025-06.0.	https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/National_Renewable_Energy_Laboratory/USLCI_Database_Public/datasets
Niblick, B., D. Hage, S. Cashman, J. Smith, P. Jain, A. Edelen, T. Townsend, and W. Ingwersen. (2021) “Life Cycle Inventories of End-of-Life Pathways of Construction and Demolition Materials.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-21/162, 2021.	https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_Report.cfm?dirEntryId=354357
Swiss Federal Office of the Environment. (2025). Database of the Swiss Federal Administration, BAFU:2025.	https://nexus.openlca.org/database/BAFU

Operational / Electricity Emissions

Source	Resource
NREL. (2025) Cambium 2024 Dataset. .	https://www.nlr.gov/analysis/cambium
C.Scale internal extrapolation algorithm used to project scenarios outbound from (2051–2110).
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). (2026). Electricity Canada Provinces/Territories 2026 EN Annex 7 tables.	data-donnees.ec.gc.ca
European Environment Agency (EEA). (2026) Greenhouse gas emission intensity of electricity generation.	eea.europa.eu
UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. (2024) Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2023.	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2023

Refrigerants & Non-CO₂ Characterization

Source	Resource
CIBSE. (2021). TM65: An internationally-applicable methodology for the calculation of embodied carbon in building services engineering.	cibse.org
IPCC. (2021). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis — AR6 Working Group I (source of GWP100 characterization factors).	ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1

Carbon Storage & Sequestration Factors

Source	Resource
ACLCA (2019). Guidance to Calculating Non-LCIA Inventory Metrics in Accordance with ISO 21930:2017.	lcacenter.org/products/iso-21930-guidance
CEN (2014). EN-16449 — Wood and wood-based products: calculation of biogenic carbon content and conversion to CO₂.
Hoxha, E., Passer, A., Saade, M.R.M., Trigaux, D., Shuttleworth, A., Pittau, F., Allacker, K., & Habert, G. (2020). Biogenic carbon in buildings: a critical overview of LCA methods. Buildings and Cities, 1(1), 504–524.	doi.org/10.5334/bc.46
Carbon Conscience.	carbon-conscience.web.app
Pathfinder.	climatepositivedesign.com
McPherson, E.G. & Simpson, J.R. (1999). Carbon dioxide reduction through urban forestry. USDA Forest Service.	fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/6779
Ingram, D.L., Hall, C.R., & Knight, J. (2016). Carbon footprint and variable costs of production components for a container-grown evergreen shrub using life cycle assessment: An east coast US model. HortScience, 51(8), 989–994.	doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.51.8.989
Gu, C., Crane, J., Hornberger, G., & Carrico, A. (2015). The effects of household management practices on the global warming potential of urban lawns. Science of the Total Environment.	sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479715000092
Jones, K. (2010). Landscaping Carbon Footprint [PDF]. University of Florida IFAS.	buildgreen.ifas.ufl.edu
FAO. Global Soil Organic Carbon Map (GSOCmap).	fao.org

Material Quantity & Energy Use Estimates

Material Quantity Estimates

Source	Resource
Price & Myers. Climate Action Dataset.	pricemyers.com/climate-action
MIT Building Technology Program / ETH Zurich Circular Engineering for Architecture Lab. deQo — Database of Embodied Quantity Outputs.	carbondeqo.com
RASMI (2024). Harmonized building material intensity database. Scientific Data.	nature.com/articles/s41597-024-03190-7
Payette. (2021). Kaleidoscope Embodied Carbon Design Tool. (Reference cladding and roofing assemblies with typical quantity take-offs)	payette.com/kaleidoscope
Carbon Leadership Forum (2018). Interior Fit-Out (TI) Study and MEP Study.	carbonleadershipforum.org/office-buildings-lca
C.Scale internal structural-quantity assumptions — internal, info on request.

Refrigerant & Equipment Quantities

Source	Resource
Rodriguez, B. (2019). Embodied Carbon of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigerants (HVAC+R) Systems [dissertation]. University of Washington.	digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/44736

Baseline Energy Use & On-Site Generation Estimates

Source	Resource
Architecture 2030. Zero Tool. . (References CBECS 2003 / RECS 2003 baselines)	zerotool.org/zerotool
NREL. PVWatts Calculator, Version 8. . (solar resource and PV array generation estimates)	pvwatts.nrel.gov/version_8.php