The Infrastructure Sustainability Council (ISC) published their Materials Lifecycle Assessment Guideline in May 2021 – see the ISAP Resource Page of the ISCA website.
eToolLCD users can now use the power of our software to model materials of infrastructure projects using eToolLCD in lieu of using the IS Materials calculator and generate reports for the RSO-6 credit (or Mat-01 v1.2 if using the v2.0.08 calculator or later). eToolLCD’s LCA methodology (Default Dataset v18) has received official ISC Approval as ‘equivalent’ to the Infrastructure Sustainability Materials Calculator (ISMC v2.0.08) when configured in-line with the processes detailed in the ‘Equivalence Procedure’.
The LCA practitioner using eToolLCD on a IS rated project needs to comply with the minimum requirements from the ISCA LCA Guideline. eToolLCD complies with the required standards as well as the technical specifications including: Environmental Indicators, Cut off criteria, Allocation and Normalisation and Weighting. Independent review conducted by eTool meets the LCA Review Guidance requirements.
Instructions for ISCA Users
- Create an account at eToolLCD if you have not yet.
- Complete the official eToolLCD software training for Infrastructure projects. This will ensure users know how to create an aligned project.
- Create an infrastructure project as per training guidance, carefully consider the Structures and Designs of your project.
- Setup the project as you normally would with the following differences:
- Select the “eTool Default” LCI Group and the “Australasian ISCA Aligned LCI – V18 – ISCA / Life Cycle Strategies” LCI Source. If you don’t have the latest version, please submit a Support Request for access to ensure that your LCA has been aligned for ISCA reporting.
- According to EN 15978 standards, best practice LCA should include all life cycle modules A, B, C and D. However, for ISC RSO-6 reporting only Life Cycle modules A1 to A3, and a limited component of modules A4, A5 and B2 to B5 are required to be in scope. In order to align your LCA study with EN 15978 but also to customise reporting to meet ISC RSO-6 requirements, we have created a reporting template (see instructions below).
- Also select the “ISCA Enviropoint V2.0” indicator when setting up the project.
- Select the “eTool Default” LCI Group and the “Australasian ISCA Aligned LCI – V18 – ISCA / Life Cycle Strategies” LCI Source. If you don’t have the latest version, please submit a Support Request for access to ensure that your LCA has been aligned for ISCA reporting.
- You will need to create both a Base/Business As Usual Design (BAU) and later an Improved/Proposed Design for your project. Guidance for modelling the baseline design can be found in the Materials Lifecycle Assessment Guideline (copy may be downloaded here but please refer to the ISAP resources page for the most up to date version).
- Once your Base/BAU design is ready, you can submit your LCA for certification. The normal eTool certification process will apply to ISCA projects. The certification process will also satisfy the requirements of an EN 15978 and ISO 14044 independent review. Ensure you complete the review of your Base/BAU design first before creating the Proposed design with improvement initiatives. Specialist users have this cost included into their subscription. Users under other plans will need to pay an access fee to model their projects in eToolLCD and have them certified by our staff members.
- When creating a Proposed Design, ensure the project changes are tracked via the Scenarios feature. This will create an audit trial of changes made to the original design and will also inform the % impact savings for each design improvement.
- Reporting:
- Once your designs have been completed and certified, generate the ‘All Impact Details’ report for both designs (BAU & Proposed), extract the relevant tables from the “ISC” tab (copy) and enter (paste values) into this ISCA-Detailed-Results-Calculation-Sheet-V3 spreadsheet. Refer to the second video tutorial below for guidance on how to do this.
- We recommend including all life cycle modules in your reports for maximum transparency and continued alignment with EN 15978 up to the point that ISC results are delineated.
- Generate the LCA Report in eToolLCD both as evidence of the study for the reviewer and for the ISC Verifier who will require the transparency of the key inputs and assumptions used for the LCA.
- A Certifier Review Statement will be provided by eTool after the independent review is completed which will be a critical document for the ISCA Verifier.
Submission documentation for ISC Evidence
The ISC Materials Lifecycle Assessment Guideline outlines the required evidence to be submitted which includes:
- The completed ISCA-Detailed-Results-Calculation-Sheet-V3 spreadsheet
- ISC LCA Summary Report Template (Appendix B of the ISC Materials Life Cycle Assessment Guidance)
- LCA Report (As Built Rating) which will include the Component and Element Level quantities within the designs
- Certifier Review Statement
- ‘All Impact Details’ reports from both designs (BAU & Proposed) for greater transparency for stakeholders
- A copy of eTool’s Alignment Report
Video Tutorials
Modeling infrastructure projects for ISCA
Reporting from eToolLCD for ISCA
Module A5
Like the ISC Materials Calculator, eToolLCD currently reports product manufacturing impacts of materials waste during construction in Modules A1-3. This is technically in contradiction to EN15804 however eToolLCD is aligned with the IMPACT software specification method which requires that the product manufacturing impacts of materials waste during construction is reported in Modules A1-3 not A5. We are working with BRE to align the IMPACT standard better with EN15805 which defines that product manufacturing impacts of materials waste during construction should be reported in module A5. Once this update is complete this support document will be updated along with associated templates. All other aspects of Module A5 (i.e. energy use at the construction site, transport of equipment) are out of scope for ISCA so A5 is reported as “MNA” (Module Not Assessed” in the eToolLCD ISC Reporting Template.
Instructions for ISCA Verifiers
ISC Verifiers who are tasked with verifying a project using the LCA pathway and relying on eToolLCD should request and review the “Certifier Review Statement” report to check:
- The Author and Reviewer have adequate qualifications as detailed in the ISC Materials Lifecycle Assessment Guideline
- The LCA report provided as supporting evidence is that referenced in the certifier review statement
- No quality checks are left under question without reasonable explanation from the LCA study author/s
- The Reviewer has made a statement of opinion regarding the overall quality and reliability of the study that does not call into question the use of results for the ISC rating
The verifier should also check that the submission documents provided by the design team (eg results reporting template, LCA report etc) meet the relevant requirements of the ISC Materials Lifecycle Assessment Guideline.
