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sensitive in regard to energy grid mixes, recycling practices, manufacturing technologies, and transportation distances. Furthermore, beyond individual products,
the database includes information on “energy use, transportation, construction and
demolition processes including on-site construction of a building’s assemblies,
maintenance, repair and replacement effects through the operating life, and demolition and disposal” (Athena n.d.). The reputation of the Athena Institute helps to
instill trust in the data even with the complete lack of transparency.
7.2.2 ecoinvent Database
Taking an opposite stance to that of Athena, the ecoinvent database was built on the
principles of developing a transparent and consistent set of LCI data spanning many
economic sectors (Frischknecht et al. 2005). Originally this data was specific to
Switzerland, where it is developed and managed, but with the release of version 3,
significant effort has been made to expand the database to encompass global LCI
data (Saade et al. 2018). Anyone with a license to the database can see all of the
values of the individual flows within the unit process, all of the metadata associated
with the dataset, the calculated level of uncertainty for all flows within the unit process, and an assessment on the data quality and relevance using an LCI pedigree
matrix (Frischknecht et al. 2005). ecoinvent has a very systematic method for calculating uncertainty of the data that was updated in 2016 with the release of version
3.0 (Ciroth et al. 2016). The data is updated yearly to add new datasets, update the
existing ones, and make general improvement to the database. As of version 3.6,
there are around 17,000 LCI datasets included in the database (ecoinvent).
Additionally, ecoinvent provides the user with options regarding impact partition
modeling and LCIA methods (Saade et al. 2018). The meticulous, transparent, and
customizable nature of ecoinvent makes it one of the most widely used LCI databases in the world.
The transparency outlined above is valuable for LCA experts involved in the LCI
phase of a study. However, designers will typically only use the data through an
LCIA tool and therefore will not have the opportunity to engage as closely with all
of these features, nor do they have the requisite background knowledge and skills to
engage with them in any meaningful way. Instead, designers only have as much
information about the data as is available to them through the specific tool that is
being used. For more information on this, see Sect. 7.3.
7.2.3 GaBi Database
Much like the ecoinvent database, the GaBi database is also focused on providing
consistent and transparent LCI data across sectors and geographical regions. Sphera,
formerly thinkstep, owns and operates the database. The data they include in their
7.2 Use of LCI Databases in LCIA Tools
sensitive in regard to energy grid mixes, recycling practices, manufacturing technologies, and transportation distances. Furthermore, beyond individual products,
the database includes information on “energy use, transportation, construction and
demolition processes including on-site construction of a building’s assemblies,
maintenance, repair and replacement effects through the operating life, and demolition and disposal” (Athena n.d.). The reputation of the Athena Institute helps to
instill trust in the data even with the complete lack of transparency.
7.2.2 ecoinvent Database
Taking an opposite stance to that of Athena, the ecoinvent database was built on the
principles of developing a transparent and consistent set of LCI data spanning many
economic sectors (Frischknecht et al. 2005). Originally this data was specific to
Switzerland, where it is developed and managed, but with the release of version 3,
significant effort has been made to expand the database to encompass global LCI
data (Saade et al. 2018). Anyone with a license to the database can see all of the
values of the individual flows within the unit process, all of the metadata associated
with the dataset, the calculated level of uncertainty for all flows within the unit process, and an assessment on the data quality and relevance using an LCI pedigree
matrix (Frischknecht et al. 2005). ecoinvent has a very systematic method for calculating uncertainty of the data that was updated in 2016 with the release of version
3.0 (Ciroth et al. 2016). The data is updated yearly to add new datasets, update the
existing ones, and make general improvement to the database. As of version 3.6,
there are around 17,000 LCI datasets included in the database (ecoinvent).
Additionally, ecoinvent provides the user with options regarding impact partition
modeling and LCIA methods (Saade et al. 2018). The meticulous, transparent, and
customizable nature of ecoinvent makes it one of the most widely used LCI databases in the world.
The transparency outlined above is valuable for LCA experts involved in the LCI
phase of a study. However, designers will typically only use the data through an
LCIA tool and therefore will not have the opportunity to engage as closely with all
of these features, nor do they have the requisite background knowledge and skills to
engage with them in any meaningful way. Instead, designers only have as much
information about the data as is available to them through the specific tool that is
being used. For more information on this, see Sect. 7.3.
7.2.3 GaBi Database
Much like the ecoinvent database, the GaBi database is also focused on providing
consistent and transparent LCI data across sectors and geographical regions. Sphera,
formerly thinkstep, owns and operates the database. The data they include in their
7.2 Use of LCI Databases in LCIA Tools