TRACI 2.0: the tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts 2.0

Abstract

TRACI 2.0, the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts 2.0, has been expanded and developed for sustainability metrics, life cycle impact assessment, industrial ecology, and process design impact assessment for developing increasingly sustainable products, processes, facilities, companies, and communities. TRACI 2.0 allows the quantification of stressors that have potential effects, including ozone depletion, global warming, acidification, eutrophication, tropospheric ozone (smog) formation, human health criteria-related effects, human health cancer, human health noncancer, ecotoxicity, and fossil fuel depletion effects. Research is going on to quantify the use of land and water in a future version of TRACI. The original version of TRACI released in August 2002 (Bare et al. J Ind Ecol 6:49–78, 2003) has been used in many prestigious applications including: the US Green Building Council’s LEED Certification (US Green Building Council, Welcome to US Green Building Council, 2008), the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s BEES (Building for Environment and Economic Sustainability) (Lippiatt, BEES 4.0: building for environmental and economic sustainability technical manual and user guide, 2007) which is used by US EPA for Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP), 2008d), the US Marine Corps’ EKAT (Environmental Knowledge and Assessment Tool) for military and nonmilitary uses (US Marine Corps, Environmental knowledge and assessment tool (EKAT): first time user’s guide, 2007), and within numerous college curriculums in engineering and design departments.