Should I use EF v3.1 oder EF v3.1 Method (adapted)?

Question

Since EF v3.1 is classified as ecoinvent LCIA method and the adapted version as open LCIA method in the calculation properties, I am confused which one I should use when my database is ecoinvent.

What are the differences between them? I  have not found anything about this in the openLCA manual, the download area or the forum, except that they have different normalization factors but I don't know on which basis they were adapted.

Answer 1

Why are the normalization factors different? I checked it and they are the same for the same impact categories. The LCIA methods from the implementation by the ecoinvent association do not come with normalization and weighting factors by default, but they are easy to add. For convenience we also added them to the EF 3.1 ecoinvent method only and they have the same factors as in "EF 3.1 (adapted)" from the openLCA methods package 2.4.3 implementation. The normalization and weighting factors come from the original EF 3.1 implementation by the JRC.

The difference between the ecoinvent implementation and the openLCA methods package implementation is the same as for any other method:

The methods implementation from the ecoinvent association can be used only in the ecoinvent database, these methods are always unregionalised and they give the results as in ecoquery for comparison.

The methods inside the openLCA methods package are compatible to more databases on Nexus and not only compatible to ecoinvent, they contain some regionalised methods for regionalised calculations and more characterization factors and elementary flows (that are for example not used inside the ecoinvent database).

Comments

This helps, thank you very much for the clarification, Andreas. Really appreciate your quick response.