ILCD Reference Objects - bug-fix and servicing report of 31 January 2012

ILCD Reference Objects bug-fix and servicing report of 31

January 2012
Overview:
The following errors have been fixed and data set extension and servicing operations been
performed in the downloadable ILCD Reference Objects database zip file.

The errors (details see below) affect a few flows (as were accessible as zip package from 25
May 2010 until end of January 2012 via http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eplca/deliverables/international-
reference-life-cycle-data-system-ilcd-handbook and
http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/datasetArea.vm) and (too a larger extent) the newly added
flows. In particular:
For a number of complex organic substances as elementary flows it could not yet been
identified whether the CAS number refers to the base form or its sodium+, calcium++,
potassium+, chloride- etc. salt. The correction of this potential error source will require a
systematic check at IUPAC as the general usage of the CAS Numbers was found to be
inconsistent. These cases have been identified by adding a respective comment into the
data sets "General comment" field. Given that these cases affect larger organic molecules,
the relative error between mass of the substance with and without the cation or anion is
understood to be small. Also, these substances are rarely found in current LCI inventories.
The user is nevertheless advised to check for such cases and make sure the inventory is
correct.
Further issues (e.g. where several isomers exist with the same CAS number or the CAS
numbers have been corrected (very few cases) or flows that do not correctly follow the ILCD
Nomenclature and are therefore earmarked for removal or split into its ions during a future
update) have been equally documented in the "General comment" field of the affected
elementary flow data set.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The extension includes both a substantial extension of elementary flows (from about 20000 to
40000) and adding a large number of synonyms to the data sets, easing identification of
substances for LCA practitioners. In particular:
Elementary flows for water overuse and for land use (occupation and transformation /
conversion) have been added; the latter draw on the work of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle
Initiative's working group on land use.
Elementary flows for a large number of eco- or human-toxic substances have been added,
drawing on all substances covered by UseTox that were previously not covered in the ILCD
reference elementary flows set.
The special flows that can be used to model temporary carbon storage and delayed GHG
emissions (as detailed in the first edition of the "ILCD Handbook - General guide for LCA",
chapter 7.4.3.7) have been extended to N2O and Methane. Note that the ILCD Handbook
foresees by default to NOT account for temporary carbon storage and delayed emissions.
Synonyms of both alternative chemical names, trivial names and brand names have been
inserted for the vast majority of elementary flows.
For a limited number of elementary flows a few synonyms are provided in other languages
than English (Note: to see these synonyms, please check with your software provider how
to switch data set content languages. Users experienced in IT may also change the settings
in the stylesheet file "display-common.xsl" found in the folder "stylesheets" of the data sets
package by changing the entry " <xsl:param name="showAllLanguages" in line 16 from
"false" to "true". This setting can be changed either with dedicated XML editing software or
using a plain text Text editor).

Contact: lca@jrc.ec.europa.eu. Version: final 1 of 2

ILCD Reference Objects - bug-fix and servicing report of 31 January 2012

The technical servicing affects ALL data sets in the entire database, as the file name
conventions have been adjusted (see document "Management of UUIDs and version numbers"
(changing the pattern "UUID_version.xml" to "UUID.xml") and therefore the database internal
cross-references among all data sets. Consequently, the "version number" and "Permanent URI"
of all data sets have been counted up (e.g. from version 02.01.000 to 03.00.000), easing
identification of the new set of consistent data sets.

Note that the data set field "Preceding data set version" in each of the changed data sets points
to the preceding data set or sets that has/ve been replaced by the now released data set.

Contact: lca@jrc.ec.europa.eu. Version: final 2 of 2