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Hello, everyone. I have doubts about the approach for land occupation and transformation in ecoinvent 3.

As I understood from the guidelines, here is how we calculate them:

Land Occupation [m2*year] = Duration of crop cycle (from cultivation to harvesting) x Area required to produce a unit of product (i.e., 1/yield)

Land Transformation [m2] = Land Occupation / Lifetime of the crop

Thus, for the annual crop (Duration of crop cycle = Lifetime of the crop), 

Land Transformation = 1/yield, 

Land Occupation  = Duration of crop cycle x 1/yield. 

If Duration of crop cycle < 1year, Land Occupation < Land Transformation (only compare values here); 

If Duration of crop cycle = 1, Land Occupation = Land Transformation ; 

If Duration of crop cycle > 1, Land Occupation > Land Transformation.

In dataset for 'sunflower production' [RoW] producing sunflower seeds, yield = 1032 kg/ha. Sunflower is an annual crop, and it lives for 125days.

Based on the above formulas, Land Transformation = 1kg/1032kg/ha = 9.69m2. Land Occupation = 125/365year*9.69m2=3.32m2*year. However, the dataset shows land occupation=12.112m2*year.

The dataset for 'onion production' [RoW] is also confusing. Yield =60t/ha but Land Transformation =0.307m2, lLand Occupation  = 0.204m2*year.

Are there any mistakes in my formulas?

Thanks for any help and best regards.

Dear Bernhard, 

In the case of the process mentioned in this thread 'polystyrene production, expandable, RER', as Daria explained, the differences simply stem from the comparison of an old vs a new ecoProfile. In fact, the values in ecoinvent are very close to the ones reported in the old ecoProfile. The dataset in ecoinvent is mostly an aggregated dataset apart for the waste by-products, those explain the small variation with the old report.

In the case of PET granulate, the data comes directly from PlasticsEurope (introduced in version 3.6 of the database). In this case, the reasons for the differences is indeed the background data. If I remember correctly the main differences do not stem from the electricity mix but from the material inputs supply chain. 

In general when comparing ecoinvent to ecoProfiles, the following shall be kept in mind: 

• The data in ecoinvent is included at the unit process level and therefore linked to ecoinvent as a background.
• The used version of a background database can also cause differences in scores.
• Not all the data from PlasticsEurope is included in ecoinvent, which means that we do not have the full supply chain from PlasticsEurope. We are working with PlasticsEurope to improve and update data.
• the choice of allocation/sub-division applied might not be the same in ecoinvent as the ones made in the eco-profiles.

Best regards, 

Lucia

Hello,

thank you for the kind answer, the tip to check the undefined UPR already helped a lot and I think I can work from there on.

However, this brought up a follow-up-question: I realized that in the UPRs for the cogeneration processes of natural gas, biogas and oil I can find information on the heating values (e.g. natural gas: 39 MJ/m³). In the processes for energy cogeneration using lignite or hard coal  I can't find this information.

Is this information missing or can I find these assumptions in some sort of report? Do you have a standarized number for these two fuels (lignite and hard coal), which was used by ecoinvent as the heating value?

Thank you and best regards

Dear User,

You can access the heat and power cogeneration data in the “undefined” form, i.e. before linking and allocation. You can do so by accessing ecoQuery, if you never accessed before please see here https://www.ecoinvent.org/database/how-to-use-ecoinvent-3-online/first-login-to-ecoinvent-3/first-login-to-ecoinvent-3.html. When you look for a dataset, make sure you have selected “undefined”. There you will be able to see how much fuel is used to produce the relative amounts of heat and electricity.

If you are looking at the dataset using an attributional system model (cut-off or APOS), remember that the allocation for energy is done based on exergy. You can see the allocation information by looking at the true value property recorded in the dataset (when you search in ecoQuery with the system model selected).

For more information on how to consult ecoinvent online please see our website (https://www.ecoinvent.org/database/how-to-use-ecoinvent-3-online/how-to-use-ecoinvent-3-online.html) and training webinars (https://www.ecoinvent.org/support/webinars/webinars-and-tutorials.html). This webinar in particular (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXdS4ohbvIk) shows you how to navigate ecoQuery.

I hope this is of help to you.

Best regards,

Johannes Müller, Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

I guess the large differences (yes, they are large, e.g. for the PET granulate production) are stemming from the different background system. For example, the granulate production has an input of electricity with the average European grid mix as a provider. In contrast, the original eco profile used the actual grid mixes of the producers which probably have lower footprints. 

Thanks Lea for the reply and useful help!

Dear Bernhard, 

We collaborate with the International Aluminium Institute to include updated data for aluminium production across all regions. The latest survey was conducted in 2016 for 2015 data. A new update should be coming soon. We are of course also in cotact with the European Association, that contributed also to the different updates of the aluminium supply chain done after the latest overall data update.

Best regards, 

Lucia Valsasina, Project Manager, ecoinvent Association

Thank you Lucia!

it would also be great to have an update for the production of primary aluminium, according the most recent LCA report by the EAA

Hi Stefano,

Thanks for your question. The relevant PlasticsEurope report is either mentioned in the documentation or in the corresponding version 2 report. You can access the version 2 reports in ecoQuery (ecoinvent online). For EPS, the ecoinvent dataset ‘polystyrene production, expandable, RER’ is based on the 2005 Eco-Profile from Boustead (you can still find the paper e.g. here). The published GWP is this report is 3.3 kg CO2 eq, whereas the ecoinvent GWP in the cut-off system model is within few percent. Small deviations as these can be explained with the different background data and – if applicable – different allocation strategies.

I would like to remind you not to publish scores in the forum, since these scores are only visible for users with a license. If you need to mention scores to clarify your question, please send us an email to support@ecoinvent.org.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind Regards,

Daria Dellenbach, Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Hi everybody,In the ecoinvent database, there are many processes for generating electricity and heat by using different energy sources. What i want to do is create a process that represents the fuel mix of a factory under study which generates electricity and heat on its own by burning different kind of fuels. The factory uses lignite, natural gas and light fuel oil.The problem is that i have data on the total amount of fuel used, but not on what part of it is converted to electricity and what part is converted to heat. If I understand the processes in the ecoinvent database correctly (e.g. "high voltage electricity, heat and power co-generation, lignite, DE" with the unit [MJ] ), then I am not getting anywhere here with the pure fuel quantity, right? I need the electrical efficiency of the plant in order to then calculate from my fuel quantity the amount of energy generated in form of heat and the amound generated in form of electricity, which allows me to use the different processes for heat or electricity generation for the respective fuel.Or is there a simpler way to model this on the basis of the fuel quantities only without any kind of efficiency information (by the way, I have data on the total fuel quantity used both in the unit t or m³ and in the unit MJ)?Thanks for any help and best regards

Dear user,

Thank you for your question.

Please check if the software you are using offers training. As far as I know openLCA maintains a forum where you can post this kind of questions and learn from other people’s experience.

 Ecoinvent also offers ample information on how to use the database:

• If you want to learn more about how to use ecoinvent online, please take a look here
• If you want to read more about the different system models, please read here
• We offer several webinar recordings and tutorials. Please take a look here for further information
• If you want to find out for which processes and products the ecoinvent database contains data, I invite you to download our activity overview file. It contains a complete list of all activities (processes) and products (column “Name”) contained in the database; you can filter them e.g. by geography, ISIC or CPC classification etc. You will for example see, that the ecoinvent database contains several datasets on beef production.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards

Nora Minas, Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear user,

Thank you for your question. We do not offer a demo session for the ecoinvent database. However, we provide ample information on our website, to facilitate your purchase decision:

•  you can create a free guest user account here.With this account you can access all datasets in their raw form, i.e. gate-to-gate input output tables. This would for example allow you to see the direct CO2 emissions from a combustion process but does not include the cumulative upstream emissions related to fuel supply. The cumulative emissions and life cycle impacts are accessible only to licence holders. Nonetheless, the guest account allows you to get a good idea of the ecoinvent data quality, transparency, documentation and how you access the data.
• to find out for which processes and products the ecoinvent database contains data, I invite you to download our activity overview file. It contains a complete list of all activities (processes) and products (column “Name”) contained in the database; you can filter them e.g. by geography, ISIC or CPC classification etc.
• We also provide 2 example datasets which allow you to see what information is provided after linking, i.e. after applying one of the system models.
• Data format: In addition to the access in the browser, licence holders can also download brief pdf. reports for each dataset as well as the input-output tables and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results in machine-readable spreadsheet format.
• Alternatively to purchasing your licence directly from ecoinvent, you have the option to buy a licence through an LCA software provider in case you require to use the data within such a software tool.
• Please find information about the licence types and our price list here.

I hope this answers your question.

Kind regards,

Nora Minas, Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

Dear User,

For the product “natural gas, high pressure” we assume a default heating value of 39MJ/Nm3 (based on International Recommendations of Energy statistics (IRES), Chapter 4.C.2). You can also find additional information on the composition of natural gas in the ecoinvent v2 report (06_V_Erdgas.pdf). The version 2 reports can be downloaded after logging into Version 1+2 of ecoQuery and clicking on the “Reports” section.

For biogas a LHV of 22.73 MJ/Nm3 is assumed. More information on biogas is also available in a version 2 report, namely 17_Bioenergy.pdf.

In many cases the LHV of products is recorded as a property of the product in the dataset. For the upcoming version v3.8 we are harmonizing these properties and all products that require an LHV will have it as a property.

I hope this answers your question.

Best regards,

Johannes Müller, Data Analyst, ecoinvent association

I would like to sign up to use the database. I would like to do a demo session and understand whether I need accompanying software to use it (like Sima Pro).

I am a student who is just starting to learn about life cycle carbon emissions and want to use openLCA to calculate the carbon emissions produced by producing 1kg of beef. I have read the user manual of openLCA. I would like to know, if I import 100 tons of beef from A to B, what data I need to get and how to model it.  Where do I learn these things, especially how to model cattle breeding and how to model cattle into beef.  Can you give me some suggestions, such as teaching website or others.

Thanks in advance for your help！