Import of US LCI database

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Melblu
Posts: 3
Joined: 10 Feb 2015 10:56

Import of US LCI database

Post by Melblu » 10 Feb 2015 11:05

Hello,
I have downloaded the US LCI database in EcoSpold format from their website and would like to import it into openLCA.
I did: File->Import->File Import-> EcoSpold->Next-> select all or one data sets -> Next and then nothing more happens as I get an error message telling me "failed to built unit mappings"
I looked for import instructions online but could only find information on importing .zolca files or for older versions of openLCA using MySQL.

aciroth
Posts: 750
Joined: 09 May 2010 23:28

Re: Import of US LCI database

Post by aciroth » 10 Feb 2015 12:29

Hi, you can import the entire database in EcoSpold format, openLCA will then throw some errors due to mistakes in the data (allocation factors not adding up to 100% e.g.) and missing units I think - if you fix these in the original data (i.e. the EcoSpold files) you will be able to import. You will then have many dummy processes also since NREL was modeled in SimaPro which needs to have a process for every product on the input side, and some other things could be improved, but basically you can model and calculate in this database.
Question for us is if there is interest in a refined version of NREL to be offered at a price (since it is some work to refactor the database for us) and how much people would be able / willing to pay. If you have any ideas here, let us know, thanks in advance!
Andreas

msrocka
Posts: 18
Joined: 29 Jan 2013 10:07

Re: Import of US LCI database

Post by msrocka » 17 Feb 2015 10:22

Hi Melblu,

I think you tried to import the NREL data sets without an opened database. You first have to create a database (right click in the navigation) and open it (via a double click). After this you should not see the error in the import wizard anymore. Some units from NREL are missing in openLCA which you have to assign manually as they are not in the openLCA reference data. Then the import should work.

Michael

Melblu
Posts: 3
Joined: 10 Feb 2015 10:56

Re: Import of US LCI database

Post by Melblu » 10 Mar 2015 14:37

Thank you. Creating a new database with unit and flow properties and then importing the ecospold files worked.

aciroth
Posts: 750
Joined: 09 May 2010 23:28

Re: Import of US LCI database

Post by aciroth » 15 Mar 2015 18:28

Yes that works but the database has several "issues" then I would say (stemming from the original NREL data) which should better be fixed before using it. As said, we are working on it.
Thank you!

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