# Brightway LCA Software Framework

## What is Brightway?
Brightway is an open-source software package for life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental impact assessment written in the Python programming language. LCA is a method for evaluating the environmental impacts of a product, process, or service. It involves analyzing all of the inputs and outputs of a system, including raw materials, energy use, and waste products, and quantifying the environmental impacts of these inputs and outputs over the entire lifecycle of the system.

Brightway is designed to make it easy to work with large datasets and perform LCA calculations quickly and accurately. It thus provides a powerful tool for anyone interested in performing LCA or evaluating the environmental impacts of products and processes. Brightway is not intended to replace software like _SimaPro_ or _OpenLCA_, but instead offers possibilities to break the limits of conventional LCA. Brightway is especially attractive for researchers, especially when used with [Jupyter notebooks](https://jupyter.org/).

## How can I learn Brightway?

::::{grid} 1 1 3 3
:gutter: 3

:::{grid-item-card} 📚 Read the Docs!

Brightway has extensive documentation. This includes the theory of life-cycle assessment the the Brightway software framework.
+++
You are here!
:::

:::{grid-item-card} 👨‍🏫 Learn it!
:link: https://learn.brightway.dev/
:link-type: url

Brightway has step-by-step tutorials for beginners and experts alike. Learn how to use Brightway to do life-cycle assessment.
+++
Learn more {fas}`arrow-right`
:::

:::{grid-item-card} 💻 Try it!
:link: https://docs.brightway.dev/projects/live
:link-type: url

Brightway has a live demo in a JupyterLite development environment where you can try out Brightway without installing anything.
+++
Learn more {fas}`arrow-right`
:::

::::

## What's New?

__May 2024__: New section [Getting Started](./content/gettingstarted/index.md) added to the documentation. This section will help you kickstart your first Brightway project. Thank you, @[KatrinTreyer](https://github.com/KarinTreyer) and @[michaelweinold](https://github.com/michaelweinold)! \
__April 2024__: New section [Terminology](./content/theory/terminology.md) added to the documentation. This section explains the most important terms used in the Brightway documentation. Thank you, @[marc-vdm](https://github.com/marc-vdm)! \
__April 2024__: New sub-section [Teaching Materials](./content/examples/index.md) added to the documentation. This section collects materials used to teach Brightway. Thank you, @[KatrinTreyer](https://github.com/KarinTreyer)!


```{toctree}
---
hidden:
maxdepth: 1
---
content/installation/index
content/gettingstarted/index
content/theory/index
content/examples/index
content/faq/index
content/contributing/index
content/contact/contact
api/index

content/other/framework
content/other/support
content/other/credits
content/changelog/index
```