When I am looking at an ecoinvent dataset in an LCA software, e.g. openLCA, I can see all the necesarry inputs and outputs needed to create one unit (funtional unit) of that product. how can i get the same information (inputs & outputs and their quantities) from the LCI excel table from ecoinvent?
Dear Tim Lohse,
Thank you for your question. To see the inputs & outputs and their quantities for the unit processes, I would recommend you to look at the respective dataset in ecoQuery. You can log into ecoQuery under the following link: https://www.ecoinvent.org/login-databases.html
Best regards,
Lea Wollensack,
Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent
Dear Lea,
thank you for the answer. I am aware that ecoquery can give these infos, but I am wondering if the same can be achieved with the LCI table? I am looking for the cutoff model inputs and outputs.
With kind rgeards,
Tim Lohse
Dear Tim,
Thanks for the follow up. No this is unfortunately not possible. The LCI only contains the elementary flows (to/from environment) and aggregates them. Apart from ecoQuery, the only other file that contains all inputs and outputs are the universal matrix export files here (for example the “universal_matrix_export_3.7.1_cut-off.7z” for the cut-off model): https://v371.ecoquery.ecoinvent.org/File/Files
Kind regards,
Lea Wollensack
Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent
Dear Lea,
how do I work with the universal matrix? The files named, A, B, C, ie, and ee are not self-explanatory. Perhaps there are some guidance documents that explain how it works?
Dear Tim,
When you download the universal matrix files, there will also be a READ ME document in the 7-Zip folder. You can also find the technology (A), intervention (B) and characterization (C) matrices.
For the meaning of the row and column indexes, consult the following files:
- A_public, rows: ie_index.csv
- A_public, columns: ie_index.csv
- B_public, rows: ee_index.csv
- B_public, columns: ie_index.csv
- C, rows: LCIA_index.csv
- C, columns: ee_index.csv
If you would like to dig deeper into the topic, I can recommend the following book: The Computational Structure of Life Cycle Assessment by Heijungs, R. & Sangwon Suh (2002).
Kind regards,
Lea Wollensack
Junior Data Analyst, ecoinvent
Dear Lea,
how do I work with the universal matrix? The files named, A, B, C, ie, and ee are not self-explanatory. Perhaps there are some guidance documents that explain how it works?