Getting started with consumables
Think of electricity, water, detergent, or coatings. Anything that's consumed to support your product in the usage phase or facility.
Once created, consumables can be reused across different facilities and products, helping you build a structured, centralised database. Here’s how to get started:
1. Create a consumable for a facility
To add a consumable to a facility:
Go to the Facilities chapter
Select the facility you want to add a consumable to
Click “Add consumables”
You’ll be asked to provide:
A name for the consumable (e.g. paint for jeans or lacquer for table)
An impact reference (can be added now or later)
An end-of-life impact reference (can also be added now or later)
Your consumable is now stored in the database, so it’s easy to reuse across other facilities and products.
2. Create a consumable for the usage phase of a product
To add a consumable used during the usage phase of a product:
Go to the Products chapter
Navigate to the Usage tab
Toggle “Consumables used” to Yes
Just like for facilities, you’ll be asked to:
Provide a name (e.g. detergent for jeans)
Optionally assign an impact reference and end-of-life impact reference (these can also be added later)
Once created, your consumable is saved to the database and can be reused across other products or facilities.
3. Create a consumable directly in the Consumables chapter
You can also create consumables independently:
Go to the Consumables chapter
Click “Add” to create a new entry
Once created, you can link the consumable to a facility or product later:
Just go to the Facility or Product Usage chapter
Click on “Add consumables”
Select the existing consumable from the dropdown list.
Consumable detail page
After assigning a consumable to either a facility or product, you can review where it’s being used. Go to the Consumable detail page to see which facilities or products it’s linked to.
Unit conversion explained
Sometimes, your consumable and the selected impact reference use different units. For example, your consumable is in MJ, but the impact reference is expressed in kg.
In these cases, we need a unit conversion to accurately calculate the environmental impact. You’ll be prompted to add this conversion if needed.
Adding this conversion allows the system to calculate the correct impact.
FAQ
Why is my consumable status incomplete?
Your consumable status may be marked as incomplete when:
It hasn’t been matched to an impact reference from the impact databases, an EPD, or a custom reference
A unit conversion is missing between your consumable’s unit, end of life unit, and the impact reference unit
Once both are correctly set up, the consumable status will be marked as complete.