What is a 'market' process in ecoinvent?

Question

Hi, I am very new to conducting LCAs and I would very much appreciate your help! My study looks into biowaste management options, and I am using the latest Ecoinvent (v 3.4) dataset in openLCA 

I have a question regarding the data provider. For instance, looking at the input of electricity in an incineration process, why is the provider for electricity 'market for electricity', and how does the result change if i select 'electricity production'? In wht circumstances is the latter chosen? Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi Natalie, markets are introduced by ecoinvent and explained quite in detail on the ecoinvent website:

"A market dataset collects all activities with the same reference product in a certain geographical region. Furthermore, it includes average transports of that product within the geography, as well as inputs of the product itself to cover losses in trade and transport. In other words, they are consumption mixes of a certain product in a certain geographical region. There are either global or local markets, depending on real-life conditions and on the availability of local transforming activities for specific products."

https://www.ecoinvent.org/support/faqs/methodology-of-ecoinvent-3/what-is-a-market-and-how-is-it-created.html

I hope this helps

Comments

Hello,
I have essentially the same question. I understand the explanation from the ecoinvent website, but I am a bit confused how for example "market for sugarcane| sugarcane| APOS,S - RoW" and "sugarcane production | sugarcane| APOS,S - RoW" differ. It is my understanding that a market would include what is in production plus activities like average transports involved. Is this understanding correct or is there more to it? Thank you!