Explainers
Each explainer is a short animated lesson. Press Play to watch it, or step through it with Previous and Next. Every scene has a written caption, so you can also simply read it.
Unit cost vs carbon cost
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One painted steel panel
Start with the bill of materials.
InputQuantitySteel4 kgPaint0.25 kgElectricity (assembly)3 kWhThe same list you already use for costing.
The bill of materials for one painted steel panel: 4 kg of steel, 0.25 kg of paint and 3 kWh of electricity for assembly. It is the same list a costing team already uses.
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Price every line
quantity × price = cost
InputQuantity€Steel4 kg€3.20Paint0.25 kg€2.00Electricity3 kWh€0.45Per panel€5.65Unit costing: multiply each quantity by its price. Steel costs €3.20, paint €2.00 and electricity €0.45, so one panel costs €5.65.
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Give every line an emission factor
quantity × emission factor = carbon
Input€kg CO₂-eqSteel€3.207.942Paint€2.000.645Electricity€0.451.130Per panel€5.659.717Life cycle assessment uses the same list and the same maths, with an emission factor in place of the price. Steel gives 7.942 kg CO₂-eq, paint 0.645 and electricity 1.130, so one panel carries 9.717 kg CO₂-eq.
Scene 4 of 6
Already inside the number
The steel price already includes the mill’s energy bill.
The steel emission factor already includes the mill’s emissions.
A sketch of a steel mill sending 4 kg of steel to the panel. You do not add the mill’s energy bill to the price of steel, because the price already includes it. In the same way, the steel emission factor already includes the mill’s emissions. That is what cradle-to-gate means.
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Same list, different hotspot
Steel is 57% of the panel’s cost but 82% of its carbon. Paint is 35% of the cost but only 7% of the carbon. The cost view and the carbon view point at different priorities.
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Unit costing for the environment
Σ quantity × price = cost per unit
Σ quantity × emission factor = impact per unit
Same bill of materials. Same maths.
Check every number by hand in LCA 101, lesson 8.
Summary: the sum of quantity times price gives cost per unit; the sum of quantity times emission factor gives impact per unit. If you can cost a product, you can learn to assess it. Lesson 7 of LCA 101 works through these numbers by hand.
Suggested for: Why learn LCA?, LCA 101 lesson 8 (worked example). Embed it with <Chalkboard explainer="unit-cost" />.
Every LCA needs three things
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Three ingredients
A bill of materials, a standard and a database.
Three boxes on the board: 1, the bill of materials; 2, a standard; 3, a database. Every life cycle assessment needs all three.
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1. The bill of materials
What goes into the product, how much, and how it is made.
The same list you use for costing.
- You probably have it already
The first ingredient is the bill of materials: what goes into the product, how much, and how it is made. Most companies already have it for costing and production.
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2. A standard
The rulebook: what to include, how to allocate, how to report.
ISO 14044ISO 14067EN 15804a PCR
The right one depends on what the result is for.
This is where most people get stuck. Verdatir helps you choose.
The second ingredient is a standard, the rulebook the analysis follows, such as ISO 14044, ISO 14067, EN 15804 or a product category rule (PCR). The right one depends on what the result will be used for. This is where most people get stuck, and Verdatir helps companies choose.
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3. A database
Emission factors for materials, energy, transport and waste.
The “price list” for carbon.
Licensed databases cost money. Good free ones exist.
The third ingredient is a database of emission factors for materials, energy, transport and waste: the price list for environmental cost. Licensed databases are costly, but good free ones exist.
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Before LLMs
BOMStandardDatabaseLCA softwareSpecialist
Software brought the three together, and someone trained had to drive it.
Before large language models, you also needed dedicated LCA software and a specialist trained to drive it. They were what brought the three ingredients together, and a large part of the cost.
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Now
BOMStandardDatabaseAI assistant + learnLCA skills
In Claude, Claude Cowork or ChatGPT.
No programming. No Python.
You still need to understand the method. That is why the school comes first.
Now an AI assistant with learnLCA skills, installed in Claude, Claude Cowork or ChatGPT, can bring the three ingredients together, with no programming. You still need to understand the method to name the right standard and check the result, which is why the school comes first.
Suggested for: Why learn LCA?, LCA 202 (data). Embed it with <Chalkboard explainer="three-ingredients" />.
Check, don’t write
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The old way: write it yourself
One specialist. One spreadsheet. Every number typed by hand.
RequestWeeks of workOne report
More requests means a longer queue.
The old way: a specialist writes the whole analysis by hand, one request at a time. When more requests arrive, the queue just gets longer.
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The assistant drafts
BOMStandardDatabaseDraft analysis
An AI assistant with learnLCA skills does the first draft.
Methodological choices are confirmed with you, not decided silently.
The new way: you give an AI assistant with learnLCA skills the bill of materials, the standard and a database, and it drafts the analysis. Choices such as the standard, functional unit and boundary are confirmed with you, not made silently.
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Every number cites its evidence
Steel, 4 kg[BOM line 1]
Steel: 7.942 kg CO₂-eq[dataset name and version]
Paint: supplier value[EPD reg. no., page]
Packaging weight[missing: flagged]
In the draft, every number points to where it came from: a line of the bill of materials, a page of an EPD, or a named dataset and version. Anything missing is flagged as missing, never filled with a plausible guess.
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You check
The checker’s list
- Right standard and functional unit?
- Every BOM line included?
- Each factor matches its source?
- Arithmetic tool-checked?
- Flags resolved?
The human checks rather than writes, working through a checker’s list: the right standard and functional unit, every bill of materials line included, each factor matching its cited source, the arithmetic checked, and every flag resolved.
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Scale without dropping quality
Drafting is fast. Checking is where the judgement goes.
Drafts for several drivers, EPDs, the Construction Products Regulation, CBAM and product carbon footprints, flow to one checker who applies the same evidence rules to each. Drafting becomes fast, and the human judgement goes into checking, so a team can take on more work without lowering quality.
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Check, don’t write
The assistant writes the draft.
The evidence travels with every number.
You check it, and you sign it off.
Summary: the assistant writes the draft, the evidence travels with every number, and a person who understands the method checks it and signs it off.
Suggested for: Skills class, checking AI output. Embed it with <Chalkboard explainer="check-dont-write" />.
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