Hello everyone,
I know such a question is more related to ecoinvent’s structure, but anyway I hope someone more experienced than me could help me figuring this out.
Let’s consider for example the process “market for natural gas, high pressure | natural gas, high pressure | Cutoff, U - CH”
Among the inputs we have different sources for natural gas at high pressure (which cover all the emissions for extraction and transport to the national borders from different countries of origin).
In addition, we have the heat and electricity needed to operate the national pipelines, and the emissions related to their construction.
So far, if I’m interpretating it correctly, everything makes sense; but I can’t understand why in the process there’s an extra flow for transport through pipeline (t*km), with an associated provider “market for transport, pipeline, long distance, natural gas | transport, pipeline, long distance, natural gas | Cutoff, U – RER”.
What’s the reason for this flow? Emissions for construction and operation of national pipelines should be already considered apart, while those related to imports are already embedded in the providers of origin.
Is it a way for eco-invent to adapt to different countries the same dataset of origin? Is it actually a double counting? Am I misunderstanding something?
Thank you kindly for your help!
Gabriele