Unit Conversions

Understanding Unit Conversion in 2050-Materials Platform

What is Unit Conversion?

In the 2050-Materials platform, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data of construction products are expressed in various units like meters (m), square meters (m²), cubic meters (m³), kilograms (kg), or pieces. Unit conversion is a vital feature that allows us to transform these data into different units, such as converting cubic meters to kilograms using density or from imperial units to metric units.

Why is Unit Conversion Important?

Better Comparisons and More Data

Unit conversion is crucial for:

1. Enabling Comparisons: It allows for more accurate comparisons between products by standardizing units of measurement.

2. Increasing Data Availability: By converting units, we can increase the amount of comparable data, which is particularly important for rare materials or those with less available data.

Improved Statistics and Analysis

• More Accurate Statistics: Converting units helps in creating more comprehensive and accurate statistical analyses.

• Broader Analysis Scope: It enhances our ability to analyze and understand the environmental impact of construction products from different perspectives.

How Does It Work?

Conversion Process

Our platform's system uses specific properties such as mass, density, and grammage to perform these conversions accurately. This process ensures that the LCA data are consistently reliable and comparable across different measurement systems.

Example

For instance, if LCA data is available in cubic meters (m³) but a user needs it in kilograms (kg), our system uses the material's density to convert the data accurately, allowing the user to make better-informed decisions.

Unit Conversion Table

To ensure consistency across all data sources and enable accurate downstream calculations, all incoming values are converted to a standardised set of units.

Field	Original Unit	Required Unit	Conversion Factor
Linear Density	lb/ft	kg/m	Multiply by 1.488
Grammage	g/m²	kg/m²	Divide by 1000
Global Warming Potential (GWP)	lb CO₂eq	kg CO₂eq	Multiply by 0.4536
Net Fresh Water Use	m³	kg	Multiply by 1000
Acidification Potential (AP)	mol H⁺ eq.	kg SO₂ eq.	Multiply by 0.03125
Eutrophication Potential – Freshwater (EP-f)	kg P-eq.	kg PO₄-eq. (Phosphate)	Multiply by 3.07
Formation Potential of Tropospheric Ozone (POCP)	kg Ethene (C₂H₂) eq	kg NMVOC-equivalent	Multiply by 1.69

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Note: This document is intended for customers of the 2050-Materials platform to provide an easy-to-understand overview of the importance and function of unit conversion in our system.