dynlca 0.1.0

Real-time Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment — connect live grid carbon data to full LCA calculations

🌍 DynLCA — Real-time Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment

Dynamic LCA that breathes with the real world.

Traditional LCA uses static, annual-average emission factors. But the carbon intensity of electricity changes every 15 minutes. A product manufactured on a windy Sunday has a very different footprint than one made on a coal-heavy Monday morning.

DynLCA connects live data streams — electricity grid carbon intensity, weather, transport — into full LCA calculations, updating your environmental impact in real time.

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✨ Key Features

Feature	DynLCA	EcoDynElec	Brightway2
Real-time data	✅	❌ (historical only)	❌
Full LCA (not just electricity)	✅	❌	✅
Global coverage (incl. China)	✅	❌ (Europe only)	✅
REST API	✅	❌	❌
Live dashboard	✅	❌	❌
Brightway2 integration	✅	❌	—
No API key needed (basic mode)	✅	✅	✅

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🚀 Quick Start

pip install dynlca

from dynlca import DynLCA

# Initialize with a process that uses electricity
lca = DynLCA(
    process="injection_molding",
    electricity_kwh=100,
    region="CN-EAST",   # China Eastern Grid
)

# Get current carbon footprint (uses real-time grid data)
result = lca.calculate()
print(f"Carbon footprint right now: {result.gwp:.2f} kg CO₂-eq")

# Compare: same process at different times
result_peak   = lca.calculate(at="2024-01-15 09:00")  # Peak coal hours
result_offpeak = lca.calculate(at="2024-01-15 03:00") # Low demand, more renewables
print(f"Peak vs off-peak: {result_peak.gwp:.1f} vs {result_offpeak.gwp:.1f} kg CO₂-eq")

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📡 Data Sources

DynLCA aggregates from multiple free and paid APIs:

Source	Coverage	API Key	Update Freq
Carbon Intensity UK	Great Britain	❌ Free	30 min
Electricity Maps	50+ countries	Optional	15 min
WattTime	USA + global	Free tier	5 min
ENTSO-E	Europe	Free	1 hour
Static fallback (ecoinvent avg)	Global	❌	—

For China specifically, DynLCA uses regional grid data from publicly available sources (CEPD/CATARC).

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🔬 Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    DynLCA Core                      │
│                                                     │
│  ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Data Sources│───▶│   Emission Factor Cache  │  │
│  │  (real-time) │    │   (TTL-based, 15min)     │  │
│  └──────────────┘    └────────────┬─────────────┘  │
│                                   │                 │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │            LCA Calculator                   │  │
│  │  - Midpoint indicators (GWP, AP, EP, ...)   │  │
│  │  - Endpoint (ReCiPe)                        │  │
│  │  - Temporal weighting                       │  │
│  │  - Uncertainty (Monte Carlo)                │  │
│  └──────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘  │
│                 │                                   │
│     ┌───────────┴──────────┐                       │
│     │                      │                       │
│  REST API              Dashboard                   │
│  (FastAPI)            (Plotly Dash)                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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📊 Dashboard

dynlca dashboard --region CN-EAST --process cement

Opens a live browser dashboard showing:

• Real-time carbon intensity heatmap
• LCA results for your process updated every 15 min
• Historical comparison (today vs. last week vs. annual average)
• Optimal manufacturing window prediction

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🔌 REST API

dynlca serve --port 8000

# Get current LCA for a process
GET /lca/now?process=injection_molding&kwh=100&region=CN-EAST

# Historical query
GET /lca/history?process=injection_molding&kwh=100&region=DE&from=2024-01-01&to=2024-01-31

# Best time to run energy-intensive process (next 24h)
GET /lca/optimal?process=aluminum_smelting&kwh=5000&region=GB

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🌏 Supported Regions

• Europe: DE, FR, GB, ES, IT, SE, NO, PL, ...
• USA: CAISO, ERCOT, PJM, MISO, ...
• China: CN-NORTH, CN-EAST, CN-SOUTH, CN-CENTRAL, CN-NORTHWEST, CN-NORTHEAST
• Global fallback: using ecoinvent world-average grid mix

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📦 Integration with Brightway2

import brightway2 as bw
from dynlca.brightway import DynLCAActivity

bw.projects.set_current("my_project")

# Wrap any brightway activity with dynamic electricity
activity = DynLCAActivity(
    bw.get_activity(("ecoinvent", "some_process_key")),
    electricity_input_kwh=500,
    region="DE"
)

# LCA with real-time electricity factor
result = activity.lca_now(method=("ReCiPe 2016", "Midpoint", "GWP100"))

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🗺️ Roadmap

• Core calculation engine
• UK Carbon Intensity API integration (no key needed)
• Electricity Maps integration
• Static fallback factors
• WattTime integration
• ENTSO-E integration
• China regional grid data
• FastAPI REST server
• Plotly Dash dashboard
• Brightway2 plugin
• PyPI release
• Docker image

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🤝 Contributing

PRs welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md.

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📄 License

MIT © 2024