Blog
Field notes on LCA, AI, and the slow answer.
Field notes from the intersection of LCA data and AI tooling.
- 2026-06-14
When Your LCA Tool Won't Answer: Why Pause Beats Silent Auto-Fill
An LCA practitioner's case for transparent decision-making over hidden automation. When an auditor asks where your carbon footprint number came from, the tool must let you show your work.
- 2026-06-14
Beyond the Number: Understanding DQI's Five Dimensions in Your Data Choices
LCA practitioners often see a DQI score but struggle to explain what each dimension measures. This guide walks through Cortex's breakdown of the five Pedigree-Matrix dimensions—Temporal, Geographic, Technology, Completeness, and Reliability—and shows how the platform surfaces the scoring rationale so you can defend your data choices.
- 2026-06-11
The AI Comes to Your Data: Local Execution in Enterprise LCA
Enterprise LCA teams handle BOM and supply-chain data that cannot leave the building. Cortex operates on a local execution model — the AI comes to your data, not the other way around — so sensitive inputs stay inside your environment at every step.
- 2026-06-04
The 176% Gap: Ecoinvent vs Local Data on China Solar and Wind
Ecoinvent and HiQLCD disagree on China solar GWP100 by 176%, on wind by 244%. Which gaps are representativeness, which are boundary choices, and what your tooling should do with a spread that wide.
- 2026-06-01
China Provincial Grid vs National Average: The Factor Your Auditor Will Question
A national-average China grid factor looks defensible until the province is known. Fix province and year first, then score the DQI Geographic dimension before you file.
- 2026-05-29
The Impossible Electricity Figure Your Steel BOM Will Hide From You
A crude-steel BOM listed coking electricity at 70x the whole plant — a magnitude error no format or eyeball check catches. How Cortex Cowork back-calculates the true value and flags the slip.
- 2026-05-26
The BOM Row That Just Said "Resin"
A BOM row labeled only 高分子/树脂 — no grade, no CAS, no datasheet. How Cortex turns one word into a checkable hypothesis, catches its own broken search, and hands the proxy decision back to you.
- 2026-05-23
Match Your BOM to Emission Factors Without Averaging
A 100-row BOM is 100 claims an auditor can question. How to match it to Scope 3 Category 1 emission factors across fourteen databases — no averaging, no single fabricated number, no lost trail.
- 2026-05-20
The flow match is the work: driving openLCA without replacing it
openLCA models fine. The bottleneck is matching a BOM row to a database entry. How Cortex drives openLCA, returns DQI-scored candidates, and leaves a trail.
- 2026-05-17
Cut-off, APOS, or consequential: which Ecoinvent system model your study needs
Ecoinvent ships the same datasets under cut-off, APOS, and consequential. They answer different questions. Pick the wrong one and your number changes in silence.
- 2026-05-14
ISO 14067 vs EN 15804: Which Standard Governs Your PCF or EPD
A product carbon footprint answers to ISO 14067; a construction-product EPD answers to EN 15804. The standard sets your boundary, your modules, and your claim.
- 2026-05-11
Your BOM Is Not the Price of Admission
Most LCA tools make you upload your BOM and cost sheet to get an answer. Cortex Cowork keeps the file on your machine and sends the reasoning to it instead.
- 2026-05-08
A Tool That Asks Before It Guesses
An LCA number you can defend needs a tool that stops where automation would break an audit — and hands the decision back to you.
- 2026-04-26
What DQI actually measures (and what it doesn't)
DQI is five named, independently scored dimensions from the Pedigree Matrix — not a single confidence score, not a data-fill percentage. Here's what each dimension means and how Cortex surfaces them.
- 2026-04-25
China manufacturing data, mapped to LCA datasets
HiQLCD carries tens of thousands of China-specific LCI records spanning every Chinese provincial grid. Thousands of expert-curated factory term mappings. Why a baseline mismatch in CBAM filings is not a rounding error.
- 2026-04-25
Why your LCA tool gave you a number it can't explain
The category produces carbon numbers fast. Auditors ask for reasoning. Here's the gap between those two deliverables, and why it matters before your next CBAM filing.