Dear Newbies,
The creators of OpenLCA and support team have been AMAZING in responding to queries on this forum. They are taking time from their busy work schedules while also maintaining OpenLCA to keep it running smoothly.
Newbies like me sometimes have very basic questions like understanding the difference between various databases, whether it is suitable for our project/region, and whether we should use RER, RoW, GLO, or CN for my specific inputs.
I asked these basic queries to Gemini and similar Large Language Models (LLMs) which provide a response with an explanation immediately. Queries can be as basic as "What keywords should I use to find the input for 'diesel burned in agricultural machinery'?", or the difference between 'urea' and 'market for urea'. I can even upload the PDF of any guidelines related to LCA and ask specific questions to it. Better still, some LLMs also provide the reference to where they got the reply from.
Pros of using A.I. chat bots:
* Immediate response
* Multiple language support
* Gives the creators of OpenLCA more free time to focus on more complex issues and queries.
Cons:
* WARNING: LLMs come with the known risk of 'HALLUCINATION' or 'Fabrication of information'. While they can provide basic technical responses, they might make a mistake while personalising the response according to your specific requirements. It is best to cross-check the response with an expert, available documentation, or with responses on this forum.
Sometimes our queries on this forum trigger ideas and solutions that help improve OpenLCA further. So it is good to share about your challenges on this forum and keep the discussion going on.
Again, I am very, very grateful to Dr Ciroth and all the help his team offers every day. I am sharing this post just to help reduce their workload as well as to help those newbies who may struggle with anxiety before posting a query anywhere in public (I know, I have been there too!).
Best of luck!