Set up the weighting in th product system using PSILCA

Question

Hello everyone!

I have started to build my product system for a hotspot analysis with PSILCA V2 and I am not sure about using the "Amount" for each flow I have created. I have information about the difference process inputs for my investigated alloy ( Metal 1 -> 55%; Metal 2 -> 35%; Metal3 -> 10%).

My understanding is that I have to set the input in dollar for example in Metalflow1:5,5$+ Metalflow2:3,5$+Metalflow:1$ and the output to 10$ to rebuild the share of each metal flow on the alloy output. Is this a usable approach?

If I want to rate and evaluate every input flow with an equal weighting  I choose Input:1$:1$:1$; Output: 3$.

Which approach would you suggest in a hotspot analysis?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi, for your own model, you do not need to model in USD but you can also use mass or another physical unit (assuming you link from one of your processes to the next; if you link to PSILCA background processes, it is good to use price). Of course USD works as well, so if you want to reflect that you have a mix of 55%/35%/10%, then 5.5, 3.5, 1 USD is ok, you should make sure that the output of the process fits to the scale of the inputs (so, if the input sum is 10 USD, the output should not be 1 USD probably if you do not have terrible losses in your processes).

Hope this helps! Best wishes, Andreas

Comments

Thank you! That helps a lot