After searching the ecoinvent version 2 database you may select one or more datasets to be downloaded. They will be added to the download basket, shown on this page ("Your download-basket"). The number of datasets in the download-basket is shown in the grey area at the top of the page.
The content of the download-basket can be viewed by clicking on the link "Show download-basket" in the navigation bar at the top of a page. The datasets included in the download-basket will be displayed grouped by the three types "processes", "elementary flows" and "impact assessment methods".
After generating the ecoSpold files the download basket will be empty. If this shouldn't be the case and old content is still displayed after clicking on the "back" button in your browser please try to reload the page.
Datasets can be excluded from the download selection (i.e. removed from the download basket) by unchecking the tick box in front of the dataset.
At this stage you can still view the process details of a dataset by clicking on one of the view options of the dataset. Before starting the download make sure you have selected the correct datasets (UPR, LCI, LCIA).
To start the download click on the button "Download marked datasets". Some additional options have to be set for the process datasets, before the files are actually generated and downloaded.
The EcoSpold files are saved in the XML format and can be viewed with the ecoSpold software or in your browser.
In the example the user has already chosen a number of datasets to be downloaded.
For datasets of the type "process", which were selected to be downloaded, you can additionally choose to choose from the following properties to be included or excluded:
- integration of infrastructure (with/without)
- type of LCI data (LCI Results/Unit Process Raw Data)
- impact assessment (with/without)
In the "Infrastructure" column, select, if you wish to include infrastructure ("With") or exclude infrastructure ("Without") or if "Both" variants should be included. Default setting: "With".
In the "LCI data" column, select, if you wish to receive the process data as "LCI results" or as "unit process raw data". Alternatively you can mark "Both" if you wish that the file includes both variants.
In the "Impact Assessment" column, select, if you want the process data in the file to include an impact assessment ("With") or excluding impact assessment ("Without"). Default setting is the option "Without".
For further information about these options please refer to the official documentation of the ecoSpold data format.
To actually download the files, right mouse-click on the item name ("Process" or "Elementary Flow" or "Impact Assessment Method").
From the context-menu select the command "Save Link As..." (Netscape Navigator) respectively "Save Target As..." (in your browser).
With the Netscape Navigator you can alternatively left mouse-click on the item name directly and confirm that you wish to save the downloaded file on the disk.
Now start the download of all (up to ten) files. The files will be saved with the extension XML to in the chosen directory. A one-click download of all listed EcoSpold files at once is not possible.
The name of the downloaded and saved file is composed as follows:
The first section of the file name is the login name. Separated by an underscore it is followed by the letter 'i' (=infrastructure), if the process contains infrastructure data, otherwise the letter 'o' (=without) can be found.
On the next position there is an 'r' (=results), if the file contains LCI results, or a 'u' (=unit process), if the file contains unit process raw data. If impact assessment is included in the file, the letter 'a' (=assessment) is set on the next position of the file name, files without impact assessment on the other hand show the letter 'i' (=inventory) here.
On the next position the suffix '_lcia' is added to the file name XML file contains an impact assessment method. The suffix '_proc' is used if the file contains process data or '_elem' if the file contains elementary flow data.
Finally date and time of the generation of the file are added.