Differences between openLCA LCIA methods v.1.5.7 and v.2.0.2

Question

Hello to everyone.

Could you, please, clarify the difference between "openLCA LCIA methods v.1.5.7" and "openLCA LCIA methods v.2.0.0": when can we use the first and when the second? For instance v2.0.0 methods give very different results from v1.5.7 and some of them are deprecated as indicated in the attached description:

• the version 2.0.0 contains some deprecated versions of ReCiPe (ReCiPe Endpoint and Midpoint (E,H and I)) and other versions that do not include normalization and weighting set (ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint and Midpoint (E,H and I)), so I was wondering if it was better referring to openLCA LCIA methods v.1.5.7 for this method (ReCiPe Endpoint and Midpoint (E,H and I) [v1.11,  December 2014]).
• We have the same problem for Eco-indicator 99 (E,H and I); furthermore v2.0.0 also contains a deprecated version of Eco-indicator 95.

Thank you very much.

Best regards

Comments

Hi everyone !
I should also add that I found some discrepancies in the v2_0_2 version of CExD and CED impact methods. For example there are six elementary flows named "Gas, natural, 46.8 MJ per kg, in ground" (three classified in "resource > in ground" and three other in "resource > unspecified"), with the same IDs (resp. 26132 and 26142), but with differet characterization factors.

Therefore I would currently use the "ecoinvent v3-4 lcia methods" pack until the next update !

Answer 1

1) One of the main differences between the two versions of the method package is the amount of included LCIA methods. The openLCA LCIA method package v2 includes more than seventy LCIA methods, most of which aren't included in the openLCA LCIA method package v1.5.7.

2) Some of the methods that are included in v2 include countrified flows with specific characterisation factors for each country e.g. ReCiPe. This should also be the reason for the different results. We recommend use of regionalised LCIA methods with databases that are compatible e.g. ecoinvent 3.4 countrified from openLCA nexus (same for Eco-indicator 95).

I suppose which method you want to use (countrified or not) depends a bit on the scope of your study and the underlying database. I hope this clarifies a bit.

http://www.openlca.org/country-specific-ecoinvent-3-4-for-openlca-and-openlca-lcia-methods-v2/