Brightcon 2026, hackathon and courses

Discussion Points
• Modeling needs in the electronics LCA community.
• Introduction of the open-source framework developed at UCLouvain.
• How does this framework facilitate data sharing and reuse?
• Demonstration with a dense printed circuit board with various integrated circuits.

Context
Electronic products are complex and heterogeneous. As a result, their LCA modeling is data- and time-intensive. Although modeling guidelines exist, they are hard for a single practitioner to apply because each component requires distinct expertise.

In the LCA community for electronics, practitioners would benefit from a framework that (1) facilitates applying existing modeling guidelines, (2) helps cope with granularity limitations of background databases, and (3) enables easy reuse of foreground data. Hence, we have developed a framework to address these needs while leveraging Brightway and LCA Algebraic's capabilities. Specifically, this framework introduces a complementary layer that provides:
(i) guidance to match foreground with background data through built-in functions,
(ii) a library of custom datasets for common electronic components, and
(iii) a versatile architecture for foreground data collection.

Functions in (i) implement guidelines and prediction models that map features of electronic components to one or more background datasets. The custom dataset library in (ii) gathers electronics components for which manufacturer data exist online in the form of full material declarations. Foreground data in (iii) is specified using YAML files, which provide structured data with human-readable syntax, support input validation schemas to prevent runtime errors, and enable efficient parsing.

Separating (i), (ii), and (iii) facilitates foreground data reuse and sharing because the data is not embedded within the functions.

Approach
The session will include a 15-minute presentation, followed by a 5-minute live demonstration using a Notebook.

The "Brightcon Spirit"
The framework was developed based on the needs of LCA practitioners. We position it as a structured approach to using Brightway, not as a replacement for existing tools. The functions described in point (ii) are based on established literature and designed for easy extension to other electronic components. The framework is open source, and we plan to create tutorials.