How are weighted data quality results calculated?

Question

Dear GreenDelta,

I have read the data quality section of the openLCA v2 manual on data quality, including the following note:

"Note: If the data quality is captured on the flow level (e.g. ecoinvent), the assessment and aggregation of data quality up to the impact categories in the results is based solely on the data quality entries for elementary flows."

Please could you explain why only elementary flows are considered in the calculation?

Answer 1

Hello,

DQ scores are based on the entire LCI of a given product system or process and are reflected through elementary flows in openLCA. You can see this when you run a DQ calculation and open Inventory Results the DQ scores are displayed there. This is because DQ scores are ultimately represented per impact category, with each impact category reflecting the classification and characterization of elementary flows i.e. LCI.

I would turn the question around: what additional elements would you expect to be considered?