A joint initiative of

the ETH domain and

Swiss Federal Offices

2nd International ecoinvent Meeting, March 14, 2008 Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
ETH Lausanne / Plenary session Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

The ecoinvent Database:

a success story
Rolf Frischknecht, ecoinvent manager

Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories

frischknecht@ecoinvent.org
Contents

• ecoinvent philosophy spreads out Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• new contents in ecoinvent data v2.01 A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• new methodological aspects

• scientific findings:
the importance of capital equipment
• personal notes

... or in other words

• promotion Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• information A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• reflection
ecoinvent data spreads out

• more than 1200 customers use ecoinvent data in more than Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
40 countries Inventories
A joint initiative of the
• ecoinvent data are embedded or importable in all major ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

LCA software tools

- SimaPro
- Umberto
- Team
- CMLCA
- GaBi
- KCL-Eco
KCL-ECO
- Regis
- Emis
- Green-e

ecoinvent data at your fingertips

• Waste management policy in communities: Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
Wrate A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss

Environment Agency, United Kingdom Federal Offices

• Environmental assessment of products:

BilanProduit
ADEME, France
• Environmental assessment of buildings
LEGEP, Germany
OGIP, Germany
VITRUVIUS, Switzerland
 CO2 labelling of consumer products

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

ecoinvent data used in EC research projects:

The NEEDS project
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle

The advantage of unit process databases: Inventories

A joint initiative of the

Interdependency & Feedback-Loops ETH domain and Swiss

Federal Offices

Tower Wind power

Remaining network of

Remaining network of
about 1500 processes

about 1500 processes

Steel Tubes Hydro El. mix

Rails Railway track Rail transport

P 22 i h
 ecoinvent data used as LCA backbone

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories

Work flow and products A joint initiative of the

ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

EcoSpold Excel Tables

System process
LCI Unit data from calculation
process data
2050 RS1a Project Reports /
1 2025
C 3
2005
Partners Sci. papers
RS1a Project Central
Partners Database
2 4 Public LCI
Database
Feedback based on
5 LCI system process 6
EcoSpold
data

RS1b RS2a Reports /

external costs energy modelling Sci. papers

P 26 i h

Technology assessment with ecoinvent

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories

120.0%
Single cristalline photovoltaics A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

64 g CO2 160 mg NOX 0.4 Bq C-14 23 mg Oils = 100 %

100.0%

80.0%

Carbon dioxide, fossil

Nitrogen oxides
60.0%
Carbon-14
Oils, unspecified

40.0%

20.0%

0.0%
Today 2025 RO 2050 RO 2050 RO 2050 RO Mix
440ppm 440ppm Renewables today
P 30 i h
New contents in ecoinvent data v2.0

• new economic sectors Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• updated inventory data A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• new elementary flows

• new impact assessment methods
• new features in online access to database

New economic sectors

• electronics Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• precious and rare earth metals A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• petrochemical solvents and specialty chemicals

• energy supply US, BR, JP, CN, new member states
• ventilation systems and small scale energy generation
• mechanical engineering and compressed air supply
• fuels and fibres from renewable sources
• agricultural products in US and EU countries
Updated inventory data

• Plastics and cardboard Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• agricultural processes A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• EU countries’ electricity mixes

• power plant performance Eastern European countries
• photovoltaics (including additional technologies)
• road and railway transport

Data maintenance

• errors cannot be avoided Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• quarterly update of the list of discovered errors A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• download in the “Files” section of the online

database
• yearly update of the current version 2.01
• First list expected later this month
New elementary flows

• land occupation/transformation, tropical rain forest Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• Carbon, in organic matter, in soil A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• Carbon dioxide, land transformation

• quite a few new pesticide emissions
• a few new metals resources and chemical pollutants

New impact assessment methods

• EDIP 2003 Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• EDP (Ecological damage potential; land use) A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• Ecological footprint
• Cumulative Exergy Demand
• TRACI

• Available in EcoSpold and SimaPro format:

ecological scarcity 2006
New online access to LCI results

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

New online access to LCIA results

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
New online access to documents

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

methodological approaches kept

• transparent unit process modelling Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
• no system expansion A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
• attributional modelling
unit process level facilitates
- consequential or decisional modelling, and/or
- system expansion
• land use modelling
• categorisation of emissions (e.g. high/low pop density)
• default distances and waste management paths
• LCI data format EcoSpold
Main new methodological approaches

• CO2 emissions from land transformation Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
Inventories
- effects of clear cutting primary forest A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• Renewable energy resource input

change in concept of inventory:
- from energy offered by nature
- to energy harvested
• refinement of heavy metals and nitrate emission
models in agriculture

Renewable energy input

Problem setting and thesis
• Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) lacks sound and consistent Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
foundation. Different concepts exist: Inventories
A joint initiative of the
- resource conservation: only non renewable energy ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

- climate change oriented: only fossil energy

- proxy indicator: non renewable plus hydro energy
- "total energy demand": all energy sources
• CED sometimes even considered as part of LCI!
• How to account for renewable energy sources?
Thesis:
Renewable energy harvested is the key information from a total
energy demand perspective leading to best achievable
consistency.
Harvesting efficiencies

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories

solar energy A joint initiative of the

ETH domain and Swiss

wind energy
Federal Offices

η = 15 % η = 25 %

electricity

Harvesting efficiencies

• Conversion efficiency were applied inconsistently: Swiss Centre

For Life Cycle
- solar energy to electricity via photovoltaics Inventories
A joint initiative of the
- kinetic energy in wind to electricity from wind power ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

- oil extracted from the ground

• consistency with photovoltaics would imply:
- solar energy required to "produce" kinetic energy
- solar energy to produce fossil fuels
• neither sensible
from a resource protection perspective
(sun energy is unlimited in a human time scale)
• nor practical
 New consistent concept: energy harvested
Examples: non renewable resources
Lignite Uranium
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

IN: energy in lignite extracted IN: energy in Uranium extracted

and finally burnt-up in LWR
OUT: lignite fuel OUT: nuclear fuel
Harvesting efficiency: 100 % Harvesting efficiency: 100 %

Examples: renewable resources

Wood Wind
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

IN: energy in wood felled IN: rotation energy transmitted to

OUT: round, industrial and gearbox
residual wood OUT: electricity
Harvesting efficiency: 100 % Harvesting efficiency: 93 %
 Scientific findings:
Importance of capital equipment
Swiss Centre
Inclusion or exclusion of capital goods in LCA is disputed: For Life Cycle
Inventories

• Capital equipment shall be part of any LCA in any case! A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
But, this makes my product system explode!
• Capital equipment shall be excluded per se!
But then we risk to miss significant parts of the environmental
impacts!
Thesis:
• Capital equipment must be included in cases where relevant!
Criteria need to be defined!

Published in Int J LCA, Vol. 12, Special Issue 1, pp 7-17

Operation versus
capital goods manufacture
Swiss Centre
oil, at construction electricity, network electricity, steel sheet,
For Life Cycle
pipeline pipeline at busbar construction at plug Inventories
at plant
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

fuel, at construction electricity, plant diesel, in excavator

refinery filling station at plug construction machines manufacture

fuel, at car road

filling station manufacture construction

transport,
private car
 Share of capital goods on
total impacts: Climate change
90
% % Swiss Centre
80 For Life Cycle
Inventories
70 A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
60

50

40

30

20

10

wastewater
power plants

incineration
agricultural
construction
nuclear

transport
metals
natural gas

treatment
municipal
products

freight
materials

Synthesis
climate change
non renewable

eutrophication
acidification /

toxicity and
ecotoxicity
resources
land use

mineral

Swiss Centre
CED

For Life Cycle

Inventories
A joint initiative of the
fossil energy major major minor minor minor substantial
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

nuclear energy major substantial minor substantial substantial substantial

biomass energy minor major substantial substantial minor substantial
renewable energy, nec major major major major major major
metals substantial minor minor minor minor minor
mineral construction materials substantial major minor minor minor substantial
wood products minor major substantial minor minor substantial
agricultural products minor major substantial minor minor substantial
transport services major major substantial substantial substantial substantial
waste incineration substantial major substantial minor minor minor
land filling substantial major substantial substantial substantial minor
waste water treatment major major major major substantial substantial
Personal notes
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle

Managing an LCA database is ... Inventories

A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

... like driving a tramway

You have to decide on the

appropriate course
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
... and on an appropriate design
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

you cannot always avoid conflicts...

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
... even within your organisation
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

you face competition with private

transportation ...
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
... and with other public transport
organisations
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

you have to counter nasty conditions …

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
and you can join forces
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

One main difference: getting access …

coop x Swiss Centre
konsum
Tram tickets in For Life Cycle
Inventories
Göteborg A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
ƒ With Swedish coins or Swedish mobile phone:
Buy single ticket on tram (SEK 20)

ƒ With Swedish notes:

Buy 100-card (six rides+) at Chalmers kiosk

ƒ With credit card or Euro notes:

Buy 100-card at kiosk inside coop konsum

ƒ With ruthless guts:

Go without ticket

To use 100-card: we are

ƒ Put it in green machine on bus or tram here
ƒ Press "2"

Avdelningen för energisystemteknik

… much easier with ecoinvent data
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

from the early beginnings ...

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
... to the most powerful equipment ...
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

... the mission is still the same:

help people to reach their goal ...
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices
with easy access, comfort, and ...
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

transparency !

My apologies to all of you, who

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
• did not always feel comfortable on board Inventories

• did not always arrive where expected

A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• did not always arrive in time

• were not always happy with the course chosen
My deep thanks to all of you, who
Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
• made and make use of the services offered Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

• provided professional equipment and support

• contributed your brain power and passion
• cared for marketing and “ticket” sales
• organised and provided funding
• performed successful national and international political lobbying

• contributed good spirit and fun

One small step for a professor ...

Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
• In 1990, a mechanical engineering’s professor Inventories

dared to employ a civil engineer to work on A joint initiative of the

ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

environmental Life Cycle Assessment

• It turned out to be the flutter of a butterfly wing

creating a marvellous personal opportunity and a
happy life

• Thank you so much, Peter Suter!

 Swiss Centre
For Life Cycle
Inventories
A joint initiative of the
ETH domain and Swiss
Federal Offices

Thank you very much for your attention!

Rolf Frischknecht