Where can I find the German electricity mix in ecoinvent?

Question

I obtained following information from a literature source: 

The stainless steel production process in the LCA requires 52.4 MJ/kg of energy. This amount is considered for steel in general, including stainless steel. The energy source is the Swedish electricity mix from ecoinvent.

How can one determine the composition and source of the Swedish electricity mix for these calculations? In fact, I need the German energy mix. Where in ecoinvent can I find it?

Answer 1

Hello Deniz,

In the newest EcoInvent version, there are two types of electrical mixes:

1. Electrical market. The national production mix. This is the amount of electricity produced in the country, as well as the specific types.

2. Residual electrical mix. This is the produced electricity, where the electricity sold with RECs has been excluded, and substituted by the european residual mix.

If the source of the data is from before EcoInvent 3.9, then it is probably the market. I think most reporting schemes recommend the residual mix these days though.

Good luck.