Unlocking Powerful Scenario Analysis with Selector Cards in CarbonGraph

In today’s fast-paced manufacturing world, companies need product insights to drive reduction roadmap success. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modeling lies at the heart of these efforts—offering valuable insights into how design and process changes impact a product’s environmental footprint. However, the true power of an LCA emerges when you can quickly iterate through different scenarios to find the best path forward. That’s where selector cards (also known as “switches”) and parameters come in.

In our latest video, we demonstrate how even a simple parameter—such as the percentage of recycled content in a plastic bottle—can open the door to rich scenario analysis. While the example is straightforward, the same approach applies to far more complex formulations, production techniques, or energy strategies. Below, we’ll explore why selector cards are so critical to an effective LCA workflow and how they empower analysts to make data-driven decisions that drive progress toward sustainability goals.

1. What are Selector Cards and Why Do They Matter?

Selector cards are dynamic controls you build into your CarbonGraph model. They link to key parameters—variables like material composition, energy mix, or process efficiency—that influence the overall impact of your product. By adjusting these parameters on the fly:

  • Analysts (like operations managers, environmental engineers, or sustainability professionals) can explore “what-if” questions without editing the core model.
  • Modelers (the folks building LCA models) ensure consistent, accurate, and comprehensive scenario analyses for the entire team.

This setup means stakeholders across your organization can easily evaluate trade-offs, try out alternatives, and share findings in a standardized format.

2. A Simple Example: Recycled Content in a Plastic Bottle

In the video, we focus on a basic scenario: a single plastic bottle made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate). We introduce a parameter called “Percent_Recycled_PET” that lets us adjust the blend of virgin and recycled granulate. This parameter is crucial for understanding how higher recycled content might reduce the carbon footprint (and numerous other impact dimensions) of the bottle.

Defining the Parameter
We right-click in the CarbonGraph interface, choose Add Parameter, and create a variable for the percent of recycled PET in our blend.

Complementary Percentage
Once we set the percentage of recycled PET, we also define the virgin portion (1 – percent_recycled_PET) through a simple expression. This ensures our blend always totals 100% of the plastic input.

Scenario Analysis

  • Baseline scenario: The default blend with 10% recycled content.
  • High recycled content: Increasing recycled PET to 60%.
  • Lightweighting: Another scenario that reduces the total weight of the bottle (in this case from 9.25g to 7g).

With just a few clicks, we calculate each scenario simultaneously and compare their environmental impacts through charts and data tables. This quick “A/B” (or rather, “A/B/C”) test helps us ask meaningful questions:

  • How does increasing recycled content affect overall emissions?
  • What are the trade-offs between using less material (lightweighting) and using more recycled content?
  • How do these choices influence resource consumption and production costs?

3. Extending to Real-World Complexity

While the example of a single bottle is easy to grasp, industrial manufacturers often grapple with much more intricate supply chains. A few real-world ways selector cards get used include:

  • Material Substitution: Quickly swap materials to find the most sustainable or cost-effective option.
  • Production Pathways: Experiment with different plant configurations, transport routes, or processing methods.
  • Energy Use Planning: Assess how shifting from fossil-based power to renewables changes your carbon footprint.
  • Demand Forecasting: Model scenarios where product volumes increase or decrease, making it easier to plan for capacity and emissions mitigation strategies.
  • Multi-Step Supply Chains: Evaluate upstream and downstream impacts by linking parameters across multiple facilities, regions, or time frames.

With selector cards, each of these variables becomes a knob you can turn to see immediate results, enabling robust scenario planning that spares you from re-building or duplicating your model for every new question.

4. Meeting Reduction Roadmap Goals

Selector cards and parameter-driven LCA models are essential for companies on an emissions reduction or sustainability roadmap. They offer:

  • Actionable Insights: Rather than static reports, you get dynamic tools to explore potential futures.
  • Speed & Agility: Stakeholders across multiple departments can collaborate, iterate, and refine models in real-time.
  • Better Decision-Making: With transparent, data-backed insights, leadership can commit to strategies that best align with sustainability and financial goals.

5. Getting Started

If you’re ready to supercharge your LCA with scenario analysis, here are a few steps you can take:

Check Out the Video: Learn the basics of setting up a selector card for recycled content (a helpful stepping stone to more advanced scenarios).

Practice on Simple Models: Start by creating parameters in a smaller model, then move on to more complex workflows.

Experiment with Real Data: Bring in actual plant data, production routes, or energy grids to see the impact of changes in real-world contexts.

Share & Collaborate: Invite team members from operations, finance, engineering, and sustainability to test different assumptions and weigh outcomes together.

Final Thoughts

Selector cards may seem like a small feature, but they are foundational to conducting effective scenario analysis. By allowing analysts to toggle parameters for material blends, manufacturing pathways, energy mixes, and beyond, CarbonGraph ensures that sustainability modeling is more than just a static exercise—it becomes a dynamic decision-making powerhouse.

As you refine your sustainability strategies, these tools will help you identify opportunities, measure trade-offs, and ultimately craft products and processes aligned with both business and environmental goals.

Ready to learn more? Check out our resources page for the latest tutorials and deep dives into advanced scenario planning features. We hope this blog post inspires you to experiment with selector cards and parameters in your own LCA models—and we can’t wait to see the innovative ways you’ll use them.

Stay tuned for future videos and articles on advanced use cases—ranging from complex material substitutions to multi-facility production simulations. If you have any specific requests, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments or contact us directly.

Share

Get Started Today

Wherever you are in your sustainability journey, we're here to help you build better products and a brighter future, today.