Databases
The foundation Dutch Environmental Database manages the Dutch Environmental Database. But did you know we also manage a process database? And have you ever heard of the viewer?
Watch the video to the right explaining the different databases and viewer.
The Dutch Environmental Database
The Dutch National Environmental Database (the NMD) is filled with environmental declarations of a wide variety of building materials and building products. These environmental declarations contain environmental data as obtained from a life cycle assessment (or LCA).
An LCA calculates the effects of studied building materials on the environment and its results are stored in an environmental profile. This environmental profile is stored in our database under the heading environmental statement.
The environmental data contained in the database is used to calculate the environmental performance of construction works.
Different categories of data
In the National Environmental Database, we distinguish three categories of environmental declarations with environmental data: category 1, 2 and 3.
Category 1
These are verified, proprietary data. They are owned by the manufacturer.
Category 2
These are verified, industry/sector related data. They are owned by the industry.
Category 3
These are untested, generic data. These category 3 data represent a fallback option for when declarations for this product do not yet exist. These data are less sharp, which is why there is a 30% markup factor on them.
Process database
The process database constitutes a collection of national and international processes, which can be used as a source for performing the LCAs described earlier and thus preparing the environmental data (i.e., environmental declarations) in the NMD.
As an LCA issuer, you can use the processes database for your analyses. The database is available through a license that you can obtain from the National Environmental Database Foundation (NMD Foundation). The process database is compatible with the SimaPro software tool.
The Viewer
The viewer provides insight into the environmental declarations published in the NMD. The viewer is intended for anyone interested in these environmental declarations. It is freely accessible on our website.
The viewer is purely intended to give you an idea of how the data are in our system. The viewer is not intended for making environmental performance calculations. This is mainly due to the complexity of the database and the importance of a correct interpretation of the calculation rules behind the calculations.
For calculations we refer to validated calculation tools (online calculation software).
Read more about the viewer
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