What is linking and what happens during the linking process? Consequential System Model
The "linking" is the process that produces a linked database, out of the unlinked multi-output Unit Process of the ecoinvent database. The linking follows a series of steps; some of them are common for all system models, while others are specific to each system model. You can read more about the linking rules in the Chapter 14 of the Data Quality Guidelines.
In the consequential system model, all by-products, also not material for treatment by-products, are moved to the input side, with a negative sign. Then, all inputs and outputs will be linked to the corresponding market activities (unless an Activity Link has been specified for the exchange). In the case of the consequential system model, the level of technology of the suppliers as well as other constraints on suppliers will be taken into account at the moment of the linking.
Video Consequential System Model
This video explains in a simplified way how the linking of the ecoinvent version 3 database is applied in the system model "substitution, consequential, long-term".
What does the version number of the database mean?
What is an activity in ecoinvent version 3?
What are global background activities and where do they come from?
What is a market and how is it created?
In which situations are direct activity links used?
Why is the reference product of the treatment activities negative?
Why is the amount of the reference product changing?
What is linking and what happens during the linking process? Attributional System Model
What is allocation at the point of substitution (APOS)?
What do the shortcuts, such as CH, RER, RoW and GLO mean?
The ecoinvent database in Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
What does it mean, when the production volume of an activity is zero?
Why is the “Allocation, default” system model not available in the ecoquery anymore?
How do I calculate the amount of transport in the market?
What is the Rest-of-the-World (RoW) and how is it calculated?
Why is the LCIA score of a certain product negative?
What are the UUID numbers and how do they work?
How to interpret the uncertainty fields in ecoinvent?
What are the LCIA methods ecoinvent is publishing the impact assessment results for?
APOS: why do I have carrots on my recycled aluminium?