What is the lowest macOS and openLCA version I need on my MacBook Pro (Early 2015) to run ecoinvent 3.11 (.zolca) ?

Question

Dear Support Team,

I am a student working with several databases provided in my course, including ecoinvent 3.11 (.zolca), as well as UVEK, NEEDS, Agribalyse, and others (see attached for full list).

My current setup is:

• MacBook Pro (Early 2015)

• macOS Mojave 10.14.6

• openLCA 1.10.13

I cannot import the new databases.

Could you please confirm:

1. What is the minimum openLCA version required for ecoinvent 3.11 (.zolca) and the other attached databases?

2. What is the most recent openLCA version that can still run on macOS Mojave (10.14.6), if any?

3. If Mojave is too old, what is the lowest macOS version I must upgrade to so that both openLCA and these databases will work correctly on my MacBook Pro (Early 2015)?

My goal is to update my Mac only to the lowest version necessary, while still being able to run the software and databases reliably.

Thank you very much for your support.

Best regards,
Daniel Kuchuk

Answer 1

Dear Daniel,

I cannot tell exactly which version is the lowest. Ventura onwards (MacOS 13 from 2022 will work for sure). I guess that also everything from Big Sur onwards (MacOS 11 from 2020) will work, because that was a huge step of a very new MacOS system from Apple.

For opening the databases, you should always run the latest openLCA version (which is currently 2.5.0). You should not use old versions (especially versions older than openLCA 2) because they will not be compatible to recent databases and it will be also much slower to run them and might contain bugs or missing functionalities.

Best wishes,

Conrad