Please note that energy and water consumption are reported separately, and operational impacts depend on technical choices made at design stage. This article covers only the modelling of material-related impacts of building technology and MEP systems.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are far less common for building technology than for construction materials. A structural concrete manufacturer typically publishes an EPD; a boiler or AHU manufacturer rarely does. This means that including MEP systems in your LCA will almost always require some estimation, and choosing the right approach depends on how much project information is available and how much precision the assessment requires.

One Click LCA offers three approaches, described below. Before choosing, check whether the specific product is already in the database — the library now holds a wide range of individual units across heating, ventilation, cooling, fire safety, electrical systems and more, described in detail further down this article.

Search the database by product name or category. If the exact product is present, use it directly. If not, check whether the manufacturer has published an EPD and if so, send it to support for inclusion. Where no EPD exists, proceed with one of the three options below.

If you can find the same type of system at a different capacity, scale it to match your specification. For example, if your project uses a 75 kW unit and only a 150 kW dataset is available, include 0.5 units. Alternatively, a system from a different manufacturer with broadly similar material composition and mass will give results that are still representative. The most important driver of a technical system's environmental impact is its material composition and total mass, not its brand or minor specification differences.

Remember that most unit datasets cover only the unit itself. Piping, cabling, ductwork and supports are typically not included and need to be added separately. Check the dataset description to confirm what is and is not included before finalising your quantities.

If the project is at an early stage and unit-level data is not yet available, use the whole-system datasets expressed per m² of floor area. These are modelled as complete installed systems including associated piping, cabling and distribution, and are accurate enough for good-quality early-stage LCA results.

The following whole-system datasets are available, all found under the material filter Construction > Building System Constructions:

Examples:

When using these datasets, check the service life assigned to each system. An incorrect service life can cause the replacement cycle (B4) to be applied too frequently, which inflates use-stage impacts disproportionately.

If no suitable unit dataset or whole-system dataset is available, estimate the system's environmental impact from its material composition. Identify the dominant materials by mass. For most MEP equipment this will be steel, copper, aluminium or a combination of plastics. Enter those materials directly using the relevant generic material datasets. This will give a rough but defensible estimate that ensures the system is not omitted from the assessment entirely.

The library holds a large and growing collection of individual MEP unit datasets. The sections below describe what is available by system category.

Electric boilers are available in 19 capacity variants: wall-mounted from 6 kW (22 kg) to 45 kW (57.4 kg), and floor-standing from 40 kW (65.4 kg) to 180 kW (199.6 kg). These cover the full range from single-apartment electric heating to medium commercial installations.

Gas boilers are available at 25 kW (28 kg) and 100 kW (104 kg).

Diesel-fuelled boilers are available at 15, 30 and 50 kW for residential applications and at 140, 300 and 1000 kW for industrial applications.

Biomass boilers are available at 15, 30 and 50 kW for residential applications and at 140, 300 and 1000 kW for industrial applications.

Solar water heaters cover four collector types: flat-plate thermosiphon (73 kg, 150 L tank, 2 m² collector), evacuated-tube thermosiphon (53 kg, 150 L tank, 15 tubes), integral collector-storage (63 kg, 150 L tank, 2 m² cover), and pumped flat-plate (153 kg, 300 L tank, 4 m² total collector area).

Reversible air/air heat pumps are available in monosplit (2.5 kW, 54 kg) and multisplit configurations at 5.3 kW (97 kg) and 8.3 kW (136 kg). Non-reversible air/air heat pumps cover monosplit at 2.4 kW (35 kg). Outdoor and indoor units are also available separately at 5.1, 17.4 and 33.6 kW (outdoor) and 3.8 and 17.4 kW (indoor), for projects where the split unit components need to be quantified independently.

Reversible air/water heat pumps cover 6 kW (154 kg) and 10 kW (206 kg) monosplit units. Non-reversible air/water heat pumps cover the same capacities. Ground-source heat pump systems are available at 10 kW in horizontal (475 kg) and vertical (380 kg) loop configurations. Water-source heat pump systems cover 10 kW in horizontal (510 kg) and vertical (380 kg) loop configurations.

Radiators

Water circulation radiators are available at 1 kW heating capacity (700×500×102 mm, 20 kg/unit). Electric radiators cover nine types: vertical bathroom radiator (600 W, 14 kg), horizontal oil radiator (1000 W, 12.4 kg), vertical radiant panel with towel hanger (733 W, 17 kg), horizontal convector (1000 W, 6.1 kg), horizontal radiant panel (1000 W, 11.2 kg), horizontal radiant panel ribbed (1000 W, 19 kg), vertical convector (1000 W, 7 kg), vertical radiant panel (1250 W, 21.4 kg) and vertical radiant panel ribbed (1250 W, 22.4 kg).

Air handling units are available at five grades: apartment (100–150 m³/h, 48 kg), single-family house (350 m³/h, 60.5 kg), large single-family house (1000 m³/h, 130 kg), commercial (3800 m³/h, 450 kg) and large commercial (16,000 m³/h, 2400 kg).

Heat recovery ventilation (HRV) units with counterflow heat exchangers are available in 13 variants across wall-mounted, ceiling-mounted, floor-standing and ducted commercial configurations, spanning 42 m³/h (3 kg) to 2500 m³/h (250 kg). Rotary wheel HRV units cover five larger capacities from 3000 m³/h (300 kg) to 15,000 m³/h (1100 kg), all at 90% or higher efficiency.

Enthalpy wheel energy recovery ventilation (ERV) units are available at seven capacities from 100 m³/h (8 kg) to 3000 m³/h (300 kg), covering both residential and commercial applications where moisture recovery is required alongside heat recovery.

Fan coil units are available at 1 kW cooling capacity (50 kg). Chilled beams are available at 1.2×0.6×0.2 m (35.6 kg). Liquid chillers are available at 400 kW (4507 kg) and 700 kW (6465 kg).

Stainless steel circulator pumps (single-head, 0.07 kW, 18 m³/h, 19 kg) and cast iron circulator pumps (single-head 0.2 kW/35 m³/h/27 kg, twin-head 0.18 kW/23 m³/h/32 kg) cover heating and cooling distribution circuits. Cast iron centrifugal pumps are available at six larger capacities: 5 kW/50 m³/h (120 kg), 15 kW/150 m³/h (220 kg), 30 kW/300 m³/h (350 kg), 55 kW/500 m³/h (600 kg), 90 kW/750 m³/h (900 kg) and 110 kW/900 m³/h (1150 kg), covering primary plant circulation in larger commercial and institutional buildings.

UPS units for critical loads are available across a wide range: single-phase tower units at 550 VA through 1700 VA, and three-phase units from 1 kVA line-interactive tower up to 40 kVA on-line modular. The 20 kVA and 40 kVA modular variants reflect the scalable UPS architectures common in commercial buildings and data centres.

Smoke detectors cover a full range of types: photoelectric (sealed battery for apartments, replaceable battery for houses, Wi-Fi for smart homes), addressable photoelectric (office complexes), addressable multi-sensor optical/heat (hospitals), duct-mounted for HVAC systems, projected beam for large open warehouses, wireless addressable for heritage buildings, addressable for hazardous areas, and small-capacity aspirating for server rooms. Manual fire alarms, autonomous alarms, and autonomous sound-and-flash alarms are also available.

Fire sprinklers are available across all major types: pendant and recessed pendant for large commercial and residential spaces (SREC, K-25.2); quick-response pendant with glass bulb or fusible link for high-occupancy areas; upright with fusible link or glass bulb for industrial facilities; ESFR pendant for warehouses; and pendant, upright, sidewall and concealed types for residential buildings.

Passenger elevator car with traction drive (630 kg/8 persons, 1.0 m/s, 1587.7 kg) is available and must be used together with the elevator hoistway with floor door per floor dataset (251.4 kg/floor). This paired approach reflects how elevator systems are typically specified and allows the assessment to scale correctly with building height.

Find the closest capacity available and scale by the ratio of your unit's capacity to the dataset capacity. If the material composition is likely to be broadly similar (same refrigerant circuit, similar casing), this will give a representative result. If you have access to the unit's technical datasheet with a bill of materials or mass breakdown, Option 3 gives a more precise estimate.

The per-m² floor area datasets are a reasonable proxy for early-stage commercial assessments, but bear in mind the note in the dataset descriptions: impacts for building types other than residential may exceed the average. Use them with awareness of this conservatism, and cross-check with unit-level estimates as the design develops.

Not usually. Most unit datasets cover only the equipment itself. Piping and ductwork should be added separately using the relevant pipe and duct material datasets. The dataset description for each unit confirms what is and is not included.

Yes, depending on scope of your assessment. Omitting MEP systems because exact data is unavailable understates the building's embodied impact, sometimes significantly. Even a rough estimate from material mass (Option 3) is better than no entry. One Click LCA's growing library of unit-level datasets means that for most common systems, a reasonable proxy is now available.