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TotalView API

LCIA Results

Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) quantifies the environmental impact of energy generation across the entire lifecycle — raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, operation, and end-of-life — using the ReCiPe 2016 methodology.

This page explains the result structure returned by GET /projects/{id}/results and the time-series impact endpoints.

How the analysis works

Section titled “How the analysis works”

Every model run is a three-step analysis:

  1. Generation changes — simulates how your project changes the regional grid’s fuel mix.
  2. Lifecycle emissions inventory — computes changes to emissions to air, soil, water, and resource use.
  3. Impact assessment — traces emissions through impact pathways to public-health, ecosystem, and economic effects.

Result structure

Section titled “Result structure”

Generation

Section titled “Generation”

Shows how the project shifts the regional grid mix (GWh):

"Generation": {
  "Solar": { "Historical": 2985.0, "Projected": 4629.0, "Difference": 1644.0 },
  "Coal":  { "Historical": 7763.0, "Projected": 6969.0, "Difference": -794.0 },
  "Natural Gas": { "Historical": 8905.0, "Projected": 8055.0, "Difference": -850.0 }
}
  • Historical — grid generation without your project (baseline)
  • Projected — grid generation with your project added
  • Difference — your project’s contribution (positive = added, negative = displaced)

Impacts

Section titled “Impacts”

The Impacts block contains two analysis scopes:

"Impacts": {
  "Cradle_to_Grave_Analysis": {
    "Total": { "DALYs": 1700.0, "PDFs": 3.9, "USD": 450000000.0 },
    "Public_Health": [ { "Impact_Category": "Carbon", "Unit": "DALYs", "Total_Impact": 1100.0, "USD": 194744627.0 } ],
    "Biodiversity": [ { "Impact_Category": "Carbon", "Unit": "PDFs", "Total_Impact": 3.3, "USD": 59162198.0 } ],
    "Economic": [ { "Impact_Category": "Energy Resources: Non-Renewable, Fossil", "Unit": "USD 2013", "USD": 76000000.0 } ]
  },
  "Operational_Analysis": { "Total": { "DALYs": 1850.0, "PDFs": 4.1, "USD": 470000000.0 } }
}
ScopeWhat it measuresUse
Cradle_to_Grave_AnalysisFull lifecycle net benefit — operations minus the project’s own manufacturing/disposal burdenRecommended headline value for most reporting
Operational_AnalysisOperating-phase benefit only — excludes the project’s infrastructure burdenAn “operating changes” lens

Emissions

Section titled “Emissions”

Avoided emissions organized by environmental compartment (air, soil, water, resource):

"Emissions": {
  "Cradle_to_Grave_Analysis": {
    "air": [
      { "Name": "Carbon", "Unit": "Tonnes CO2-Eq", "Value": 1200000.0 },
      { "Name": "Particulate Matter", "Unit": "Tonnes PM2.5-Eq", "Value": 410.0 }
    ],
    "water": [ { "Name": "Freshwater Eutrophication", "Unit": "Tonnes P-Eq", "Value": 440.0 } ]
  }
}

Impact metrics

Section titled “Impact metrics”
  • DALYs (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) — WHO measure of disease burden; one DALY = one year of healthy life lost. Positive = health benefit (healthy years saved by avoiding fossil combustion).
  • PDFs (Potentially Disappeared Fraction of species) — ecosystem-quality unit. Positive = biodiversity protected.
  • USD — monetized environmental externalities (damages avoided). Distinct from direct economic benefits like jobs or local spending.

For the full ReCiPe 2016 framework — all ~18 midpoint categories that roll up into these three endpoints, with one-line definitions — see ReCiPe Impact Categories.

Sign convention

Section titled “Sign convention”

Model boundaries

Section titled “Model boundaries”

The lifecycle inventory includes raw-material extraction, manufacturing (panels, turbines, inverters, batteries), transport, operation/maintenance, and end-of-life. Annual results × project lifespan (typically 25–30 years) gives lifetime impact — see Impacts & Time Series.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”