A protocol for programmatic LCA

This first protocol draft is strongly based and inspired by guidelines and protocols that were proposed to enhance the reproducibility of studies in other research fields (i.e., data science and agent-based modelling.). We leveraged on the recommendations provided by two main sources: The Touring Way handbook [1] and the ODD protocol [2]. We identified the pertinent topics of the existing protocols, and we matched them with fundamental aspects commonly addressed in recent state-of-the-art LCA practice. We divided the protocol in six sections: Project organization, project description, reproducible modelling, reproducible analysis, code style and linting, and licensing. To facilitate the understanding, the following sections provide situations that exemplify the interactions between a PRACTITIONER who is the one conducting and reporting the study, and a REVIEWER, who aims to reproduce the study.

Protocol sections and the promised benefits.

[1]

Turing Way Community. The turing way: a handbook for reproducible, ethical and collaborative research. Zenodo, 2021.

[2]

Volker Grimm, Steven F Railsback, Christian E Vincenot, Uta Berger, Cara Gallagher, Donald L DeAngelis, Bruce Edmonds, Jiaqi Ge, Jarl Giske, Juergen Groeneveld, and others. The odd protocol for describing agent-based and other simulation models: a second update to improve clarity, replication, and structural realism. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2020.

• 1. Project organization
  • 1.1. Folder structure
  • 1.2. Version control
  • 1.3. Naming conventions
• 2. Project description
  • 2.1. Purpose
  • 2.2. Inputs metadata
  • 2.3. Life Cycle Inventory model overview
  • 2.4. Submodels overview
• 3. Reproducible modelling
  • 3.1. Computational environments
  • 3.2. Computation workflow
  • 3.3. LCI building scripts
  • 3.4. Submodels scripts
• 4. Reproducible analysis
  • 4.1. Analysis workflow
  • 4.2. Visualization scripts
  • 4.3. Notebooks and interactive visualization
• 5. Code style and linting
  • 5.1. Code quality
  • 5.2. Code testing
• 6. Licensing