ecoinvent v3.0 was released in May 2013. ecoinvent v3.0 is the third major release of the ecoinvent database. The third version of the database offers several exciting new features as well as new and updated datasets.
Oct 16th, 2023
ecoinvent released a bug-fix version 3.01 on 4th September 2013. ecoinvent v3.01 corrects some errors present in the 3.0 version and substitutes that version. The changes made optimise the use and accuracy of the ecoinvent database.
As we wish to ensure clarity and transparency, we openly document the changes made between the latest update and the previous version of the database. Therefore, we offer various files that document and clarify the changes that have been made with each version of the database. These include detailed the report of changes, correspondence files, as well as files that include all activities of each version. Futrher, we document all known issues of each version to alert database users and to support their understanding and use of the database.
Relevant files for ecoinvent 3.0
Report of Changes
To ensure clarity and transparency, it is important to openly document the changes made between the latest update and the previous version of the database. This report covers all changes made in the ecoinvent database between version 2.2 and version 3.0 (2013). It reflects both the database-wide changes, as well as the sector-specific changes.
See Correspondence File for Elementary Exchanges
The correspondence file for elementary exchanges is a spreadsheet that provides with a detailed overview of all elementary exchanges, compartments and sub-compartments in version 2.2 and to which term and function they correspond to in version 3.0. It also lists the new version 3 exchanges allowing you to draw a direct comparison between ecoinvent 2.2 and v3.0.
Correspondence File for Intermediate Exchanges
This file draws up a comparison between the “process” names in version 2.2 and the “activity” and “product” names you can find in version 3.0 thereby giving a complete picture of all changes which have taken place between ecoinvent 2.2 and v3.0.
Activity Overview for ecoinvent v3.01
An excel file which lists all the activities present in the database
Known Issues
This section lists all known data errors in version 3.1 of the ecoinvent database. While the ecoinvent team focuses on eliminating such errors for upcoming updates, this section of known issues exists to alert database users and to support their understanding and use of the database.
Data issues
- The reintroduction and correction of all by-products that have been systematically cut-off or ignored during previous versions of the database is not complete. Several transport vehicle datasets are missing a full set of by-products. This affects the allocation result and the impacts of these vehicles are therefore overestimated. Similarly, several products have a by-product of pure metal, instead of scrap which affects the impacts associated to those products.
- There are a few exchanges that are not correctly linked (for several reasons), and disappear as inputs in the linked version. They are: “waste packaging glass, unsorted” (in APOS SM); “heat, future” (in Substitution, consequential, long-term SM); “heat, central or small-scale, other than natural gas” (in Substitution, consequential, long-term SM); “natural gas, low pressure” (APOS SM; Substitution, consequential, long-term SM); “roundwood, azobe from sustainable forest management, CM, debarked” (APOS; Substitution, consequential, long-term SM). This can slightly distort the results of the datasets that have one of those inputs.
- In the metal sector some datasets are missing (i.e. “steel production, electric, unalloyed”; constrained market for tellurium), and some markets have inaccurate compositions (i.e. market for gold and silver). These problems might deliver strange results for some metals.
- The activity “processing of anode slime, primary copper production” has copper telluride as its reference product and silver as by-product, which follows from the fact that anode slime is the principal source of tellurium. However, due to the by-product, tellurium receives very little burden, and in the consequential system model even overall negative values. This dataset should be changed into a treatment activity with silver and sodium tellurite as by-products, and with a constrained market for sodium tellurite. This known error affects all datasets that use tellurium in significant amounts.
- Characterization factors of water/ground-, long-term exchanges have erroneously been included in the w/o LT impact methods
- Naming convention. British English is used as the default language for all names and text fields in the ecoinvent database. Incorrect naming (such as sulfur dioxide/ sulphur dioxide) will be corrected for the ecoinvent v3.1. database
ecoinvent 3.01
ecoinvent released a bug-fix version 3.01 on 4th September 2013. This version corrects some errors present in the 3.0 version and substitutes that version. The changes made will optimise the use and accuracy of the ecoinvent database.
Corrected Prices
Some products had poor price data which affected the results in the allocation system model. The prices have now been corrected with a more accurate value.
This update affects the price for the following products:
aluminium, wrought alloy; battery, Li-ion, rechargeable, prismatic; charger, electric passenger car; charger, for electric scooter; controller, for electric scooter; converter, for electric passenger car; cryolite; door, inner, glass-wood; door, inner, wood; door, outer, wood-aluminium; door, outer, wood-glass; electric bicycle; electric motor, electric passenger car; electric motor, for electric scooter; electric scooter, without battery; glass cullet, sorted; glider, for electric scooter; hydrogen fluoride; inverter, for electric passenger car; lorry production, 40 ton; lorry, 16 metric ton; lorry, 28 metric ton; passenger car, electric, without battery; phosphoric acid, industrial grade, without water, in 85% solution state; potassium hydroxide; power distribution unit, for electric passenger car; powertrain, for electric passenger car; powertrain, for electric scooter; single-Si wafer, for electronics; solar collector glass tube, with silver mirror; tetrafluoroethylene; tissue paper; titanium dioxide; transport, passenger car, electric; transport, passenger, electric bicycle; transport, passenger, electric bicycle, label-certified electricity; transport, passenger, with electric scooter; waste packaging glass, unsorted; window frame, aluminium, U=1.6 W/m2K; window frame, wood, U=1.5 W/m2K; window frame, wood-metal, U=1.6 W/m2K; zinc oxide; zinc sulfide.
Corrected Data
Errors were found in some datasets (originating from v2.2 as well as from changes made for v3.0) by our users or by ourselves.
The Following Errors Have Been Addressed:
- The “glass cullet, sorted” supply chain has been restructured, and now “glass cullet, sorted” has a constrained market, instead of being classified as material for treatment. How this affected the datasets converted from version 2.2 is described in Chapter 17 of the updated Change Report. This change affected as well some datasets new in version 3.0, that are not treatment activities anymore in version 3.01, but ordinary transforming activities, like: “glass cullet supply, for Saint-Gobain ISOVER SA” and “glass wool mat production, Saint-Gobain ISOVER SA”.
- Data errors found in “dimethylamine production” have been corrected.
- Particulate emissions in “basalt quarry operation” have been corrected.
- The brake wear emissions in “transport, passenger car, electric” and “transport, passenger, electric scooter” have been edited to be consistent with other transport datasets.
- The activity “manganese sulfate production” has been modified; it now receives an input of “manganese concentrate”.
Markets Added or Corrected
Some regional markets have been added for different products. This allows to better reflect the existing supply chains and to improve the quality of the results.
The Added Local Markets During Version 3.01 Update are:
- “market for heat, central or small-scale, natural gas”, in CH, and Europe without Switzerland
- “market for heat, central or small-scale, other than natural gas”, in CH, and Europe without Switzerland
- “market for heat, district or industrial, natural gas”, in CH, and Europe without Switzerland
- “market for heat, district or industrial, other than natural gas”, in CH, and Europe without Switzerland
- “market for linerboard”, in RER
- “market for fluting medium”, in RER
Some other markets have been corrected in different ways.
The markets for “market for waste emulsion paint, separated”; “market for waste bitumen sheet”; “market for waste vapour barrier, flame-retarded”; and “market for waste vapour barrier, flame-retarded” got their default transport distances adjusted, and were added to the exception list in the “Default transport assumptions” document.
Corrected Production Volumes
The production volumes of several products have been adjusted; some of those changes are addressed in the Change Report. Heat products have had their production volumes adjusted to better fit to the new local markets created.
Uncertainties Repaired
Due to a software issue in the export of the files from our database, the uncertainty factors were wrong in some datasets. The mean value and variance in the uncertainty fields is now presented correctly in all datasets.
True Value
The true value relations are now calculated correctly, removing a few calculation errors from the allocation system model.
Format of LCIA Matrices Improved
The LCIA matrices have been formatted in a more user-friendly way. The names of the products are clearer, and the general arrangement has changed to become more useful: activities and products are now listed in rows and the methods can be found in columns.