When ecoinvent 3.10.1 will be available in openLCA nexus?

Question

Can you please inform about the expected release date of ecoinvent 3.10.1 in nexus, according to:

https://www.openlca.org/reported-issues-for-ecoinvent-3-10-from-database-provider/

Thanks

Answer 1

We will upload the correct versions for 3.10.1 with unit processes today or next week latest. We directly applied the corrections from ecoinvent to our latest Nexus versions 3.10, so that the database integrations into openLCA will remain exactly the same and only some few exchange values are updated according to 3.10.1.

Please be aware that the changes from version 3.10 to 3.10.1 are very small. The first corrections by ecoinvent are some elementary emissions flows in "coke production" and "coke production, wet quenching" in RoW and CN, which does slightly affect some toxicity indicators and no other impact categories will change. You will find the file with these changes by ecoinvent here:  Correction Coke 3.10 All System Models

Additionally, there was a wrong market share for Brazil inside the market group for electricity in RLA (Latin America and the Caribbean). The 1-page change report is here: Report of Changes

The issues were already known for some time and that's why it was surprising that the 3.10.1 update was only released together with the upcoming 3.11. In case you still have a valid Nexus/ecoinvent license, you can directly use the upcoming ecoinvent 3.11 which will have major updates and there is no need to use 3.10.1 in this case. 

We cannot tell the exact release date for version 3.11 in openLCA, but similar to last year it will be only a few weeks after the release by ecoinvent.

Comments

Thank you for your feedback. Will you provide ecoinvent 3.10.1 also in Cut-off, S version?
According to ecoinvent the changes in coke unit process have an influence on a substantial part of the database, so I suppose many datasets in System version are affected.

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This will take more time, since it means that we have to transform and integrate the raw ecoinvent data completely new into openLCA. And as I said before, it will soon be possible to directly use ecoinvent 3.11.

May I ask why you want to use the system version, since it only comes with disadvantages like not seeing the full supply chain, no data quality assessment, no uncertainty calculations, no Monte-Carlo-Simulation, no modifying of unit processes possible,  no useful contribution tree possible, delayed searches and some delayed tasks in this much larger system databases.

Long time ago, when openLCA was not as fast as it is now, the system process version was faster to calculate (because actually the system process version contains already the calculated results), but nowadays the calculation of ecoinvent product systems with unit processes only lasts a few seconds but comes with all the advantages of a unit process databases.

I'm just curious to know more use cases where the system process version is preferred over the unit process version.

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Thanks for the info. I thought that for the system version you need to integrate the cumulative LCIs provided directly by ecoinvent. Can you anyway estimate when this 3.10.1 system version will be available in nexus?

According to my experience working with the unit-process version is more time demanding. The creation of product systems and mainly the calculations takes more time compared to working with the system version. So as far as possible I work with system version and integrate/modify unit-process data when it is necessary. I understand the limitations of the system processes but usually they are sufficient, and time is also a relevant factor to consider. I also experienced improvements in speed but my current projects with ecoinvent 3.10 are still built up mostly with system processes. I just want to update them to 3.10.1 as fast as possible.

Of course please let me know if you have any suggestion.

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I would be interested to learn why the unit-process version is more time demanding? Maybe we can learn from some input.

Are you using the standard "Lazy/On-Demand" calculation? It takes only a few seconds in the unit-process version. Also "Direct calculations" are possible in the unit-process version without creating each time a product system first.

I see a point that in the system-process version one can very quickly screen results by checking the "Direct impacts" tab. But at the same time, searching all database elements, creating a backup, copying the database, exporting and importing data sets is usually slower in the system process version due to the fact that it is much larger in size. That's why in my experience it can also be quicker when working with the unit process versions.

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Thanks, I will try to work with the unit-process version in next projects and let you know about the experience.  At the moment I can say that the calculation requires more time and memory, probably because much more detailed results are produced. But I will test and use your hints.

Anyway, the system version is part of the package, so I would appreciate a feedback about when it will be availble for ecoinvent 3.10.1. Many thanks.

Answer 2

The default unit process versions for Cutoff, APOS, Consequential with the corrections from 3.10.1 are online now on Nexus.