ecoinvent data

: The certification scheme for green electricity "naturemade star", represented here by the biogas plant of Bio Energina AG in Silvaplana-Surlej, Switzerland, is partly based on ecoinvent data; Picture: Raetia Energie.

The international ecoinvent database is currently the world leading life cycle inventory data source with more than 2500 users in more than 40 countries. The ecoinvent data are used in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), Carbon footprinting (CF), Integrated Product Policy (IPP), Life Cycle Management (LCM), Design for Environment (DfE), ecolabelling and other applications.

The ecoinvent data contain life cycle inventory data of energy (electricity, oil, coal, natural gas, biomass, biofuels, bioenergy, hydro power, nuclear power, photovoltaics, wind power, biogas), materials (chemicals, metals, minerals, plastics, paper, biomass, biomaterials), waste management (incineration, landfill, waste water treatment), transports (road, rail, air, ship), agricultural products and processes, electronics, metals processing, and building ventilation.

The data are available in several formats as XML or Excel. The best option for working with ecoinvent data is to use them in the specialized LCA software SimaPro. This allows for using all features of the data format and documentation.

Rolf Frischknecht has over the past ten years and until March 2008 managed and led the conception and creation of the database system, its development and the introduction of Version 1.0, followed by the expansion and update work culminating in the recent release of Version 2.2. The Swiss TS certified the validation of ecoinvent data v2. Swiss TS approves that the working processes are reliable, the data are correct and the database operation is secure and reliable. ESU-services elaborated about 900 out of 4'000 life cycle inventory datasets of ecoinvent data v2.2. With this contribution ESU-services is the largest privately owned partner of the ecoinvent Centre.

Listen to a half hour interview (in German) on the ecoinvent database broadcasted on April 9, 2008. Download the MP3 file here.

The ecoinvent reports that are prepared by ESU-services and implemented in the ecoinvent data v2.2 (2010) and subsequent versions can be downloaded here.

Contact: Rolf Frischknecht

ecoinvent reports

Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Hellweg S., Hischier R., Nemecek T., Rebitzer G. and Spielmann M., 2007. Overview and Methodology. ecoinvent report No. 1.
Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Dones R., Hellweg S., Hischier R., Nemecek T., Rebitzer G. and Spielmann M., 2007. Code of Practice. ecoinvent report No. 2.
Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Dones R., Hirschier R., Hellweg S., Humbert S., Margni M., Nemecek T. and Spielmann M., 2007. Implementation of Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods. ecoinvent report No. 3.

ecoinvent data

ecoinvent reports

Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Hellweg S., Hischier R., Nemecek T., Rebitzer G. and Spielmann M., 2007. Overview and Methodology. ecoinvent report No. 1.

Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Dones R., Hellweg S., Hischier R., Nemecek T., Rebitzer G. and Spielmann M., 2007. Code of Practice. ecoinvent report No. 2.

Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Dones R., Hirschier R., Hellweg S., Humbert S., Margni M., Nemecek T. and Spielmann M., 2007. Implementation of Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods. ecoinvent report No. 3.