Page 1 of 1

No comment fields

Posted: 11 Dec 2014 21:34
by pascal.lesage
Hi,

This is not so much a question as it is a "feature" request: would it be able to see comments associated with inputs/outputs and parameters at the process level? Since ecoinvent v3, the documentation manuals have been replaced by extensive documentation within the dataset. Having provided many datasets myself, I know how much ecoinvent relies on these comment fields to detail their dataset, and how little one can sometimes understand about the dataset without this information.

Thanks for reading,
Pascal

Re: No comment fields

Posted: 12 Dec 2014 12:50
by aciroth
Hi Pascal,
good point; of course adding something to exchanges can increase the size of a database considerably, and also the size of a product system if these additions are loaded, and the comments on exchanges and more specifically on their production volumes and their carbon content and so forth are specific for the ecoinvent 3 database only, and would need to be filled for other databases or ignored and can then not be used in a mixed product system with data from different databases. Plus, maybe storing the carbon and water content of any exchange, including for example metal ions, as it is now done in ecoinvent 3, could be improved. Also any other LCA software that calculates life cycles does not implement these additional exchange information I believe? I see there could be a need in a full ecoinvent 3 implementation in openLCA to support also these exchange comments and additions but I think we would need to look for a sponsoring project to implement this. What do you think?
Best wishes,
Andreas

Re: No comment fields

Posted: 18 Dec 2014 22:51
by pascal.lesage
Hi Andreas,
Thanks for your answer. Perhaps the issue can be broken down: comments on exchange properties, comments on parameters, comments on production volumes, comments on actual instances of exchanges (inputs and outputs in a specific dataset). All of these could be very useful, and indeed the first software to achieve a full ecoinvent v3 implementation will need to include these. I do understand however that this is a big project that would need funding. I hope a funding source becomes available, it would be extremely useful to have a software available that explicitly uses all the features that the are made available in ecoinvent v3 (automatic creation of markets, parametrized exchanges, etc.).
If we focus on just the last type of comment, however (comments on instances of exchanges), these were already there in ecoinvent v2, and are implemented in SimaPro and in GaBi. Would it be very hard to include these in the "Inputs/Outputs" page of processes?
All the best,
Pascal

Re: No comment fields

Posted: 22 Dec 2014 19:46
by aciroth
Hi Pascal,
I agree, comments are easier to implement and provide immediate benefits.
A complete ecoinvent implementation would be very interesting too, but as you say would be really a larger project. If anybody is interested in sponsoring this, please let us know.. This could include implementation of features of the eco-editor which would be available as fully transparent, open source software then.
Best wishes,
Andreas