Version 3.11 of the ecoinvent database brings a wealth of new and updated data across various sectors. This update is part of our ongoing commitment to provide comprehensive and current environmental data.
(ecoinvent statement)
Further information can be found on the ecoinvent website:
Three system models of ecoinvent 3.11 are available for openLCA: Cutoff (Allocation, cut-off by classification), APOS (Allocation at the point of substitution) and Consequential (Substitution, consequential, long-term). All databases are available as unit processes (highly recommended as the default) and system processes (fully aggregated inventories).
Please note that the latest version of openLCA or newer should be used with this database. On the release date of ecoinvent 3.11 in Nexus, the latest openLCA software version is 2.4.0. openLCA Download
ecoinvent Updates
Agriculture
136 new datasets for crops across different regions in Switzerland covering conventional and organic farming methods.
Batteries
New datasets for lithium-ion chemistries, including NMC532 and NMC622, new and updated datasets for natural graphite and synthetic graphite, and expanded coverage of salts and electrolytes for emerging technologies of sodium-ion batteries.
Building and Construction
New cement and clinker production data reflecting specific Canadian regional practices and updates covering a variety of building materials.
Chemicals and Plastics
Improved data coverage for key chemical precursors (e.g., carbon monoxide), polyvinyl chloride, unsaturated polyester/vinyl ester resins, and new composites manufacturing datasets.
Energy
Updated electricity market mixes for all countries with 2021 data and 2022 data for Brazil, China, and Switzerland.
Fuels
Revised natural gas data for 57 countries, updated estimates for pipeline and LNG transport, and improved data for coal and lignite production, with enhanced regional details.
Transport
Updates to the circulating fleet of passenger vehicles and new datasets on aircraft maintenance.
Waste Management and Recycling
Regionalized municipal waste treatment data for 27 EU countries, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and the United Kingdom, plus new datasets on mechanical and chemical recycling processes of waste plastic in Europe and China.
LCIA Methods
Revised and updated modeling of biogenic carbon flows to allow for extended climate change assessment including biogenic carbon dioxide.
ecoinvent Report of Changes
openLCA Implementation (beyond the ecoinvent changes)
Besides the database updates and changes by ecoinvent, we also improved the implementation for ecoinvent in openLCA and added new functionalities.
General
- All validation checks pass the test.
- All ecoinvent databases are available as zolca files and will be soon available as openLCA libraries
- All processes include unique sector tags like “Chemicals” or “Transport” allowing sector-specific results.
- All processes contain the link to the ecoQuery results at the top of the process description.
Life Cycle Costing
- All processes contain the price property of the quantitative reference for simple life cycle costing analysis.
- Prices by ecoinvent are given in Euro 2005.
- The conversion to Euro 2023 is implemented as an additional, optional exchange rate.
- The conversion from Euro 2005 to Euro 2023 is based on the Eurostat Producer Price Index.
- The reference currency is set to Euro and can be changed any time to other reference currencies.
- 11 exchange rates for the major global currencies are provided in the databases.
Recycling
- All empty recycled content cut-off processes in the Cutoff system model are sorted into a separate folder.
- All recyclables with empty provider processes in the Cutoff system model are sorted into a separate folder.
Flows
- All product and elementary flows contain the CAS number, formula, synonyms and the flow description.
- All product and elementary flows contain the CAS number as a tag for the quick search by CAS numbers.
- All existing elementary flows from ecoinvent are included in the databases.
- Some flows are adapted to the openLCA reference system by changing the unique identifier (UUID).
- The original UUID number is always written inside the flow description.
Methods
- All 24 impact methods from the ecoinvent implementation are included.
- All 17 impact methods copies that omit the long-term impacts (no LT) are included.
- Every impact method has its version, documentation and characterization factor links in the description.
- Every impact method has a link to the PDF file of the ecoinvent 3.11 LCIA report.
- The PDF file is directly stored inside the databases for easy access.
- Normalisation and weighting factors are added to the “EF v3.1” ecoinvent implementation.
Data Quality
- 2 data quality systems with uncertainty values are included in the databases to support the LCA modeller.
- 6 data quality systems without uncertainty values are included to support the LCA modeller.
Reference System
- The whole reference system for openLCA is updated, cleaned and harmonized in ecoinvent 3.11.
- Reference system harmonization includes flow properties, unit groups, currencies and locations.
Documentation
- Important ecoinvent manual and support PDF files are included inside the “Sources” of the databases.
- Links to different support topics in the ecoinvent knowledge base are included as well.
- Links to the openLCA support websites and openLCA manuals are included under “Sources”.
Locations
- All locations are sorted into folders and harmonized with the current openLCA reference locations.
- Location names inside “Country” or “Subdivisions” are corrected for their official ISO 3166 name.
- Location codes inside “Country” or “Subdivisions” are corrected for their official ISO 3166 two-letter code.
- All geometries of the locations are updated to the Natural Earth Data version 5.1.1 by ecoinvent.
- Additional geometries are added from the openLCA reference locations.
Uncertainties
- Most ecoinvent uncertainties with normal distributions show unreasonably high coefficients of variation.
- Uncertainty values for exchanges with Gaussian distributions (only ca. 1% in ecoinvent 3.11) are removed.
- Only log-normal distributions for uncertainty values of exchanges are kept inside the databases.
- Some log-normal uncertainties by ecoinvent show unrealistically high values for the geometric sigma.
- The threshold to cut off some erroneous, too high geometric sigma values is set to gsigma > 17.
Get ecoinvent 3.11 for openLCA
ecoinvent 3.11 for openLCA is available for download exclusively on Nexus. Please note that versions of ecoinvent 3.11 obtained elsewhere will not be compatible with openLCA. Users with a valid licence maintenance will be able to download this version of ecoinvent already.
In addition, users with an ecoinvent 3.11 license will also receive access to older versions of ecoinvent. All the different data packs can be used as independent databases in openLCA or combined together, if needed. However, special attention should be paid to integrating older versions of ecoinvent databases with the newest ecoinvent v3.11 database due to the modification of the UUID of some processes and flows.
Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods implementations by ecoinvent are included in the databases and are available via openLCA Nexus too. With this package it is possible to reproduce the LCIA results provided by the ecoinvent Association. The use of the openLCA LCIA methods package is also possible and recommended by GreenDelta for regionalization and to combine ecoinvent with compatible databases from Nexus.