Use this skill when the user provides a URL to an LCA study, a published environmental report, or a product sustainability page and wants to turn it into a product_graph.yaml they can run and explore. Also triggers when the user names a well-known LCA study by title (e.g. "Cotton Inc. cotton fiber LCA", "IWTO wool LCA", "thredUP secondhand clothing study") and wants to recreate or remix it. Builds a base-case product graph plus 3–5 scenario variants (just like the Levi's jeans folder), then offers to run the analysis. Trigger phrases: "turn this into an LCA", "build a product graph from", "recreate this LCA", "make scenarios for", "use this study", "remix this LCA".
Teaching skill for the LCA concept of damage characterization — the step that goes beyond midpoint impact scores (kg CO2-eq, kg SO2-eq, PM 2.5-eq) to ask what those scores actually do to the world, in terms of three areas of protection: human health, ecosystem quality, and resource availability. Invoke as /damage-characterization followed by a case study name, for example /damage-characterization wool_yarn or /damage-characterization cotton_fiber. The skill reads the product graph and lca_results.md for that case study and reasons qualitatively about which midpoint scores feed into which damage area, using a leading-indicator-vs-revenue retail analogy. Designed for FIT students with no science or coding background. Builds directly on the impact-characterization skill. Four to five exchanges to complete.
Teaching skill for the LCA concept of functional unit — the precise definition of what is being measured in a life cycle study. Invoke as /functional-unit followed by a case study name, for example /functional-unit wool_yarn or /functional-unit polyester_tshirt. The skill reads the product graph for that case study and teaches the concept using real data, Socratic questions, and fashion or retail business context. Designed for FIT students with no science or coding background.
Teaching skill for the LCA concept of goal and scope — the opening decisions in a life cycle study that define why it is being done, who it is for, and what is included or excluded. Invoke as /goal-and-scope followed by a case study name, for example /goal-and-scope wool_yarn or /goal-and-scope polyester_tshirt. The skill reads the product graph for that case study and teaches the concept using real data, Socratic questions, and fashion or retail business context. Designed for FIT students with no science or coding background.
Teaching skill for the LCA concept of impact characterization — the exact maths behind life cycle impact assessment, where every emission in the inventory is multiplied by a characterization factor (a published number that can be different for every impact category) and then summed within each category. Invoke as /impact-characterization followed by a case study name, for example /impact-characterization wool_yarn or /impact-characterization cotton_fiber. The skill reads the product graph and lca_results.md for that case study and has students build the full characterization table themselves, by hand, using a shipping rate-card analogy and fashion or retail business context. Designed for FIT students with no science or coding background. Builds directly on the what-is-impact-assessment skill — use that skill first if the student has not yet met characterization factors. Five to six exchanges to complete.
Teaching skill for the LCA concept of life cycle inventory — the step where all emissions and resource uses from every process in the supply chain are collected, scaled to reflect one functional unit, and totalled into a single complete table. Invoke as /life-cycle-inventory followed by a case study name, for example /life-cycle-inventory wool_yarn or /life-cycle-inventory cotton_fiber. The skill reads the product graph for that case study and teaches the concept by walking through the inventory table step by step, using everyday analogies and fashion or retail business context. Designed for FIT students with no science or coding background. Builds directly on the technosphere-and-ecosphere skill. Four to five exchanges to complete.
Teaching skill for the LCA concept of life cycle stages — the four named boundary types used in fashion and retail LCA studies: cradle to gate, cradle to grave, cradle to cradle, and gate to grave. Invoke as /life-cycle-stages case-study, for example /life-cycle-stages wool_yarn or /life-cycle-stages polyester_tshirt. The skill reads the product graph for that case study and teaches the concept using real data, everyday analogies, and fashion or retail business context. Designed for FIT students with no science or coding background. Builds directly on the system-boundary skill.
Use this skill whenever the user wants to perform a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using openLCA. Triggers include: "carbon footprint of", "compare environmental impact", "LCA for", "which material has lower impact", "run an LCA", "ecoinvent dataset for", "GWP of", "calculate impact", "environmental footprint", "lifecycle analysis", "hotspot analysis", "sensitivity analysis", "scenario analysis", "cradle to gate". Also triggers when the user asks to make a spreadsheet, slides, or report FROM an LCA result.