Denise, sorry to hear that you are having trouble. Maybe you accept that it is not our fault that your computer crashed and that you
lost everything
(and probably did not have backups?).
Of course we are concerned to give good advice here on the forum where we can. We are of course also concerned about statements such as
EVERYTHING fails
linked to what we provide. openLCA is still a technical tool, we put effort into making it easier to use, and convenient to use, but it is stull somewhat technical, and it is good to understand what you do when working with it.
So I will try to summarise:
- the EPD plugin has been superseded by the EPD editor, which is now relased in version 2.0.2., here: https://github.com/GreenDelta/epd-editor/releases. A new version is about to come.
There is a handbook available for the editor, only in German so far: https://www.oekobaudat.de/fileadmin/downloads/Einreichung/Handbuch_EPD-Editor_2.0.pdf.
Main idea for this editor is to "put together" EPDs that are already calculated, e.g. in openLCA, and publish and share these EPDs electronically. It is e.g. used to submit datasets to the Ökobaudat database, by several institutes in Germany. It is not meant for calculating EPDs, these are meant to be modeled and calculated in LCA tools like openLCA, from where they can be exported in ILCD format and exported into the EPD editor, or they can be imported using excel.
To calculate EPDs in openLCA according to EN 15804, you need either the GaBi database (professional) or a modified ecoinvent database as background database, which reflects the various indicators on waste and energy. We are providing this as EuGeos EN 15804 add-on to ecoinvent (https://nexus.openlca.org/database/EuGeos'%2015804-IA), created by our UK partner for openLCA, EuGeos.
Back to your case, it seems you used ecoinvent (without EN15804 add-on), and the EPD methods as zolca file.
I imported this file as entire database into the ecoinvent 3.4 cutoff database (I used the latest, countrified version, since you have this too, but it would work better with the non-countrified version).
and then calculated a product system:
This gives results, but you should use:
- the EuGeos database with the LCIA method, or
- the non-countrified ecoinvent 3.4 cut-off database, which you modify yourself so that waste and energy indicators are provided, with the EPD LCIA method.
So, maybe this shows you how to proceed. You do not exactly write what you want to do, and also not your IT environment, an from the comments and your points I mainly see that for you "everything fails". Hopefully this is thus a guidance to succeed for you. And final remark: I also like doing business and work in science and consultancy since this shows you how people are. And some are quickly stressed and feel they need to insult others or work of others, but this typically backfires.
