This course will help you understand how to use the database and to assess the environmental impacts of human activities. The course consists of four modules.
The aim of this e-learning course is to provide training to support users with Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and to empower users to leverage the ecoinvent database to the fullest in order to perform robust LCA studies. The modules are designed to be completed sequentially.
Basic knowledge of LCA is required for this course. Both ecoinvent database license holders and users with guest accounts can participate.
Module 1
is an introduction to the ecoinvent database: Basic concepts, an explanation of the activities in the database, a virtual tour of the webpage and ecoQuery, and an overview of the information in a dataset.
Introduction (2 min.)
Fundamentals of the Database (Module 1A, 6 min.)
Activities in ecoinvent (Module 1B, 11 min.)
Navigate ecoinvent Webpage (Module 1C, 8 min.)
Demo: Reading an ecoinvent Dataset (Module 1D, 2 min.)
Module 2
focuses on different activity types and on properties, parameters and uncertainty, which are advanced dataset features.
Activity types (Module 2A, 14 min.)
Advanced dataset features: Properties (Module 2B, 6 min.)
Advanced dataset features: Parameters and mathematical relations
(module 2C, 8 min.)
Advanced dataset features: Uncertainty (Module 2D, 6 min.)
Choose the right datasets (Module 2E, 6 min.)
is an introduction to the system models and presents an in-depth overview of the topic of allocation.
System models (Module 3A, 9 min.)
Allocation (Module 3B, 3 min.)
Allocation, cut off by classification system model (Module 3C, 9 min.)
Waste vs recyclable product (Module 3D, 3 min.)
Module 4
covers the other 3 system models: APOS, Consequential and EN15804.
Allocation at the point of substitution system model (Module 4A, 9 min.)
Substitution, consequential, long-term system model (Module 4B, 13 min.)
Allocation, cut-off, EN15804 system model (Module 4C, 11 min.)