This September the International Journal of LCA published a special issue on ecoinvent version 3 (Volume 21, Issue 9).
The special issue includes a total of thirteen articles. Whether you already are an ecoinvent user or would first like to get more insight about what ecoinvent version 3 is all about – we wanted to give everyone the possibility to access these very insightful articles. The articles explain the basics of ecoinvent version 3, showcase and explain some of the major differences between version 3 results and older versions of ecoinvent, and introduce features and data that were added to the database with version 3.
A list of all articles can be found here. The raw versions of the articles which have been published over a year ago are freely available on our website.
With the maintenance we are moving away from the concept of larger updates that have to be paid separately and we are planning to cover all update costs through the maintenance. Three years since the release of ecoinvent 3.0 the database has grown considerably to over 12,800 datasets. The three releases (ecoinvent 3.1, ecoinvent 3.2 and ecoinvent 3.3) have brought more data (for instance the first part of the WLFDB) and updated data (most notably a compete update of the electricity sector), an additional system model and new features (such as the pdf documentation).
Last year we saw ourselves forced to increase the price for new licences of ecoinvent. The decline of the Euro, in which we sell the database, has contributed to that. Unfortunately, we now see ourselves forced to also adjust our maintenance fees. The ecoinvent maintenance price will increase as of 1 December 2016 with a transition period.
We have decided to increase the price at a level which we hope is both acceptable for the users whilst also reflecting the increase in the price of full licences.
The yearly maintenance end user price will increase from EUR 500 to EUR 650 per year for commercial single-user and educational multi-user and from EUR 250 to EUR 325 for commercial multi-user and educational single-user licences. Prices for new licences and upgrades to version 3 will remain unchanged.
If you purchased your licence through one of our resellers the ecoinvent maintenance is included in your service contract. We are working with all the respective LCA software providers to help manage the process. If you purchased your license directly from ecoinvent and your current maintenance expires before this December or expired already, you can benefit from the old prices until the end of November.
With this change we want to ensure that you will receive regular, comprehensive and meaningful updates to your ecoinvent license through the updates we provide. We apologise for the inconvenience that increased prices always bring but promise to invest the revenue into more updates and data for you. As a not-for-profit association, ecoinvent income is reinvested into the database and our support for the users. More information on the price increase