Harnessing Semantic Web Technologies for the Environmental Sustainability of Production Systems

Abstract

The modern world is dependent on complex evolving networks of production chains that convert raw resources into the products and services required for the functioning of society. Dealing with issues of the environmental sustainability of these systems can be difficult due to their large scale and dynamic nature. Understanding these systems requires large amounts of diverse data and proper information management techniques to help make sense of them. We propose a way forward based on Semantic Web standards, and illustrate the use of Semantic Wiki software to help facilitate a collaborative community process of gathering and managing this data, and enablingtransparent peer review of it. This type of system could greatly enablethe use of tools such as Life Cycle Analysis, which have very large data demands and have struggled to build larger databases, yet still maintain quality of the data.