Development of IDEA regionalized type

Since IDEA mainly calculates the environmental impact of products and services in Japan, it is not suitable for calculating the environmental impact outside Japan. Even if the same product, the environmental impact of energy and raw materials used in the manufacturing, use and disposal stages of the product differ depending on the country, and it may cause a large difference in the environmental impact of each country’s life cycle. To study LCA of products in detail, it is essential to build a background database for each country. Following is the comparison of　Japan and China. CO2 emission intensity of electricity, water supply, and industrial water, which are commonly used in LCA are different in two countries.

Overseas inventory databases have been established in developed and emerging countries. However, since some developing countries do not have sufficient databases, it still needs time to make a complete database. In addition, even in developed countries, there are hardly any example like IDEA which all products and services are comprehensively equipped.

Therefore, we developed the regionalized type of IDEA with the highest possible accuracy from the inventory data IDEA of Japan which had been released. IDEA regionalized type is based on statistical data published in each country to reflect the factors of the country (1) Electricity data, (2) Composition ratio of fuel for combustion, and (3) Combustion efficiency.

IDEA regionalized type can calculate the environmental impact of importing raw materials and products from the target countries or manufacturing sites in the target countries, reflecting the actual conditions of the target countries. It also helps companies to make decisions on environmental issues when considering future overseas expansion.

In IDEA Ver.2 regionalized type, following countries are provided based on the above method; China (CHN), Indonesia (IDN), Korea (KOR), Malaysia (MYS), Thailand (THA), Taiwan (TWN), Vietnam (VNM), United States (USA), United Kingdom (GBR), France (FRA), Turkey (TUR), and Brazil (BRA)

And in IDEA Ver.3.2 regionalized type, following countries are provided; China (CHN), Indonesia (IDN), and global average (GLO)