Reference Data
This page lists the data sources behind C.Scale's calculations, starting with the EPDs and LCA databases used for building material emissions. It also cites the sources for transportation, end-of-life, electricity grid, refrigerant and carbon storage factors, and for material quantity and energy use estimates.
Background LCIA Data
Section titled “Background LCIA Data”Building Material Emissions
Section titled “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
Section titled “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
Section titled “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
Section titled “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
Section titled “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
Section titled “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
Section titled “Material Quantity & Energy Use Estimates”Material Quantity Estimates
Section titled “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
Section titled “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
Section titled “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 |