ecoinvent

Aufbau und Internationalisierung von
ecoinvent – die Referenz für
Hintergrunddaten von Ökobilanzen
Dübendorf
24 November 2014
Stefanie Hellweg
Präsidentin Vereinsvorstand ecoinvent
und ETH Zürich
Anwendungspallette der
Ökobilanz…
Quelle: Science 344,
1109-1112
Folie 2
Inventardatenbanken
• Vereinfachen die Sachbilanzierung wesentlich
Beruhig dich.
Ich mach das
schon…
…
Folie 3
Geschichte ecoinvent

Bereits in den 90er Jahren waren Schweizer Institute
führend bei der Erhebung von Sachbilanzdaten

Verschiedene Datenbanken mit nicht-kompatiblen
Datensätzen

Gemeinsame Datenbank mit konsistenten,
harmonisierten und transparenten Datenbanken


Anfangs ein nationales Netzwerk
Seit 2013: gemeinnützig orientierter Verein
(gegründet von Empa, ETH, ART, PSI, EPFL)
Folie 4
Geschichte ecoinvent

Versionen 1 und 2: Pionier- und Umsetzungsphase,
einheitliche Qualitätsrichtlinien, Datenfokus,…

Version 3: einige neue Daten, Fokus auf
methodischen Änderungen, z.B. mehrere
«Systemmodelle»
Production Process
Product A
Folie 5
Product B
Product C
My fleece jacket is
nearly burden free
because it is made
from recycled PET
fibers!
My PET bottle
is nearly free of
environmental
burdens as it
will be recycled
to a fleece
jacket!
ecoinvent heute

Used by more than 6000 users in more than 40 countries

Included in or available for the leading LCA and ecodesign software tools
 SimaPro, Umberto, Team, OpenLCA, CMLCA, GaBi, KCL-Eco,
Regis, Emis, ecobilan, Green-e, and others
Folie 6
ecoinvent Nutzerverteilung
Zugriff Webpage 2014
Folie 7
Switzerland
Germany
United States
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Spain
Brazil
Netherlands
Sweden
ecoinvent Lizenzverkäufe
Nutzerprofil (75% der Lizenzen)
Iran, Islamic Czech South Romania
Republic of Republic Africa Greece
Korea, Republic of
Malaysia Chile Serbia
Austria
Turkey
India Finland
Polan
Argentina
d
Mexico
Chinese Taipei
Portugal
Colombia
Norway
Indonesia Singapore other
countries
United States
France
Germany
Thailand
Italy
Denmark
Japan
Canada
Spain
Australia
Belgium
Sweden
China
Folie 8
Switzerland
Netherlands
Brazil
United Kingdom
ecoinvent in der Literatur


Anzahl «Hits» pro Jahr (google scholar, 17.11.2014)
Anzahl Zitationen im ISI Web of Science kleiner (aber
gleicher Trend)
1800
1600
1400
v2
1200
v3
1000
v1
800
600
400
200
0
1994
Folie 9
1999
2004
2009
2014
ecoinvent – Qualitätsmerkmale

Konsistent
 Vollständig verlinkte Datenbank

Zuverlässig
 Unabhängige Expertenreviews aller Daten

Transparent
 Alle Einheitsprozesse und Berechnungen sichtbar
 Dokumentation aller Datensätze
Folie 10
Wie geht es weiter?

Pendente «Hausaufgaben» erledigen

Daten, Daten, Daten…
 Datenaktualisierung
 neue Daten

Internationalität ausbauen
Slide 11
Herausforderung Wertschöpfungsketten
• Steigende Komplexität von internationalen
Wertschöpfungsketten mit globalen Umweltwirkungen
• Ziel LCA: Umweltwirkungen mit Systemperspektive bewerten
und Problemverlagerungen vermeiden
?
Use
Production
Disposal
Recycling
Reuse
Resources
Resource
Extraction
Emissions
 Regionalisierte Sach- und Wirkungsbilanz
Folie 12
?
?
ecoinvent als globale Datenbank
•
International supply chains demand international data
collection
•
ideally organized in a collaboration of regional data
collection networks
•
Local data collection efforts can rely on global
background data and grow organically into local process
systems
Folie 13
LCA in emerging economies

Fast-growing demand for LCA and related techniques in
emerging economies

International users will benefit greatly from global supply
chain data in several sectors

LCA-based regulations in developed countries may cause
international trade disputes
→ Strong demand for local LCI data and expertise
Folie 14
Problems of starting LCI networks

Local level of expertise in life cycle-based methods can
be low

Lack of local environmental studies compared to
developed countries, so less basis for background data

Local conditions can differ significantly (technology, scale,
emission control…)

Inventory databases need a certain “critical mass” to be
useful
 Gaps in process chains will introduce errors in the results
Slide 15
Cooperation with LCI initiatives


Project supported by the Swiss government (SECO)
Cooperation with several emerging economies to support
LCI networks in developing countries


Use existing expertise of ecoinvent
The goal is to:
 Build expertise on life cycle thinking and LCA
 Create capacity for LCI data collection
 Create background data for local (and global) studies
 Grow into self-sustaining regional LCI competence centres
Slide 16
Building capacity

Experts and experienced practitioners
 Workshops in India, Brazil, South Africa
 Regular communication and discussion of problems

Guidance for data creation
 Software tool with automatic pre-validation
 Documents and videos to guide beginning data creators

Informing and involving stakeholders
Slide 17
Case study: Coal power

Coal power constitutes ~ 70% of Indian generation
Germany
India
Calorific value of burned coal
27.7 MJ/kg
15.7 MJ/kg
Emission abatement
In most power plants only
Desulphurisation,
denitrification, and dedusting dedusting
operating in most power
plants
CO2
92 g/MJ coal
96 g/MJ coal
NOx
0.06 g/MJ coal
0.63 g/MJ coal
SO2
0.07 g/MJ coal
0.89 g/MJ coal
PM2.5
0.005 g/MJ coal
0.202 g/MJ coal
Net efficiency of power plant
36 %
32 %
Slide 18
Case study: Coal power
ReCiPe
points/kWh
Remaining substances
0.16
0.14
Nitrogen oxides
0.12
0.1
Sulfur dioxide
0.08
Particulates, < 2.5 um
0.06
0.04
Hard coal in ground
0.02
Carbon dioxide, fossil
0
India
Slide 19
Germany
Case study: Coal power

Similarities
 Dataset structure
 Some values (efficiency, CO2)

Differences

Existing datasets proved a helpful resource
 Mathematical relations & Child datasets simplify changes
Slide 20
LCI database creation

Without background data, life cycle-based assessments
are virtually impossible or highly flawed
 Several critical sectors occur in virtually all life cycles

Solution: Integrate into existing database
 Framework of an existing dataset simplifies data collection for
inexperienced users
 Local datasets can fall back on global background data with
higher uncertainty until local inputs become available
 Updates integrated into supply chains automatically
 Data collection results can be applied immediately for first
screening results
Slide 21
Conclusions

ecoinvent continues to publish useful and relevant life
cycle inventory data in a centrally organized form

Construction of a network of collaboration partners

Support of other LCI initiatives by offering structure and
experience

Integration with existing data helps to create datasets
and to reach critical mass for high quality database

Transparent unit-process inventory modeling facilitates
cooperation and data exchange
Slide 22
Thank you for your attention!
Questions and Discussion
www.ecoinvent.org