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lca-analyzer skill

/plugins/babysitter/skills/babysit/process/specializations/domains/science/chemical-engineering/skills/lca-analyzer

This skill performs life cycle assessment to evaluate environmental impacts and guide sustainable process design decisions.

npx playbooks add skill a5c-ai/babysitter --skill lca-analyzer

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (1)
SKILL.md
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---
name: lca-analyzer
description: Life Cycle Assessment skill for environmental impact evaluation and sustainability analysis
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Write
  - Glob
  - Grep
  - Edit
  - Bash
metadata:
  specialization: chemical-engineering
  domain: science
  category: Sustainability
  skill-id: CE-SK-023
---

# LCA Analyzer Skill

## Purpose

The LCA Analyzer Skill performs Life Cycle Assessment to evaluate environmental impacts across process life cycles and support sustainable process design decisions.

## Capabilities

- Goal and scope definition
- Life cycle inventory (LCI) development
- Impact assessment (LCIA)
- Carbon footprint calculation
- Water footprint analysis
- Energy analysis
- Sensitivity analysis
- Comparative assessments
- Hot spot identification

## Usage Guidelines

### When to Use
- Evaluating process sustainability
- Comparing design alternatives
- Calculating carbon footprints
- Identifying improvement opportunities

### Prerequisites
- Process data available
- System boundaries defined
- Impact categories selected
- Inventory databases accessible

### Best Practices
- Follow ISO 14040/14044
- Document assumptions clearly
- Perform sensitivity analysis
- Use peer review for public claims

## Process Integration

This skill integrates with:
- Process Sustainability Assessment
- Green Chemistry Metrics Evaluation
- Energy Efficiency Optimization

## Configuration

```yaml
lca-analyzer:
  standards:
    - ISO-14040
    - ISO-14044
  impact-methods:
    - CML
    - ReCiPe
    - TRACI
  databases:
    - ecoinvent
    - US-LCI
    - GaBi
```

## Output Artifacts

- LCA reports
- Impact assessment results
- Comparative analyses
- Hot spot analysis
- Improvement recommendations

Overview

This skill performs Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate environmental impacts across product and process lifecycles and support sustainable decision making. It produces inventory datasets, impact assessments (LCIA), carbon and water footprints, and clear hot-spot and improvement recommendations. Outputs are designed for integration into process design, reporting, and comparative analyses.

How this skill works

The skill guides goal and scope definition, collects life cycle inventory (LCI) data, selects impact methods and databases, and runs LCIA calculations (e.g., CML, ReCiPe, TRACI). It computes carbon, water, and energy footprints, runs sensitivity analyses, and identifies hot spots where changes give the largest environmental benefit. Results are exported as LCA reports, comparative tables, and actionable improvement recommendations.

When to use it

  • Assess overall sustainability of a product, process, or service
  • Compare design or material alternatives for environmental impact
  • Calculate carbon footprint for reporting or compliance
  • Identify hot spots to prioritize improvement efforts
  • Support environmental claims with documented LCA results

Best practices

  • Define clear goal, scope, and system boundaries before analysis
  • Use reliable inventory databases (ecoinvent, US-LCI, GaBi) and document sources
  • Follow ISO 14040 / 14044 guidelines for method and reporting
  • Perform sensitivity and uncertainty analysis to test key assumptions
  • Peer-review results before making public or regulatory claims

Example use cases

  • Compare two manufacturing routes to select the lower-impact option
  • Estimate cradle-to-gate carbon footprint for a new product line
  • Identify process steps with highest energy or emissions intensity
  • Evaluate water footprint for supply chain sourcing decisions
  • Run scenario analyses to quantify benefits of material substitution

FAQ

What input data are required?

You need process-level inventory data, defined system boundaries, chosen impact categories, and access to an LCI database.

Which impact methods are supported?

Common methods such as CML, ReCiPe, and TRACI are supported; choose based on region and reporting needs.