ecoinvent database - Swiss LCA data since 30 years

The ecoinvent database is the world leading life cycle inventory data source with several thousand users in more than 40 countries. The ecoinvent data are used in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), Carbon footprint (CF), Integrated Product Policy (IPP), Life Cycle Management (LCM), Design for Environment (DfE), ecolabelling, ecodesign and many other applications.

How to use the ecoinvent database?

The best option for working with ecoinvent data is to use them in the specialized LCA software SimaPro. This allows for using all features of the data format and documentation, like the unique possibility to find the cradle of each emission.

ecoimage — The certification scheme for green electricity "naturemade star", represented here by the biogas plant of Bio Energina AG in Silvaplana-Surlej, Switzerland, is partly based on ecoinvent data; Picture: Raetia Energie.

Which data can be found in the ecoinvent database?

The ecoinvent data contain life cycle inventory data of energy (electricity, oil, coal, natural gas, biomass, biofuels, bioenergy, hydropower, nuclear power, photovoltaics, wind power, biogas), materials (chemicals, metals, minerals, plastics, paper, biomass, biomaterials), waste management (incineration, landfill, waste water treatment), transports (road, rail, air, ship), agricultural products and processes, electronics, metals processing, and building ventilation. The data are available in several formats as XML or Excel.

Who developed the ecoinvent data?

The team of ESU-services has managed and led the conception and creation of the database system from 1998 until March 2008. This includes the first development and the introduction of Version 1.0, followed by the expansion and update work, culminating in the release of version 2.2. ESU-services elaborated about 900 out of 4'000 life cycle inventory datasets of ecoinvent data v2.2. With this contribution ESU-services is the largest privately owned partner of the ecoinvent Centre.

In 2008, the management of the ecoinvent center changed. Since the beginning, the new conception and revision was accompanied by interest and criticism by the management of ESU-services. Version v3.0 of the ecoinvent database was published at the end of 2013. In parallel, updates to the ecoinvent data v2.2 have been commissioned by Swiss authorities and are available in separate databases.

From version 3.9 onwards, we have updated the data for oil and gas supply.

In addition, ESU-services offers its own version of the updated ecoinvent v2.2 database for SimaPro, in which all errors known to us have also been corrected and which contains additional standard data sets.

More information

We will be happy to advise you independently on the use of the various database versions and system models.

Listen to a half hour interview (in German) on the ecoinvent database broadcasted on April 9, 2008. Download the MP3 file here.

References

The ecoinvent reports that are prepared by ESU-services and implemented in the ecoinvent data v2.2 (2010) and subsequent versions can be downloaded here.

Christoph Meili; Niels Jungbluth; Maresa Bussa (2023) Life cycle inventories of crude oil and natural gas extraction. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by ecoinvent & Carbon Minds, Schaffhausen, Switzerland,

Christoph Meili; Niels Jungbluth; Maresa Bussa (2023) Life cycle inventories of long-distance transport of crude oil. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by ecoinvent & Carbon Minds, Schaffhausen, Switzerland,

Maresa Bussa; Niels Jungbluth; Christoph Meili (2023) Life cycle inventories for long-distance transport and distribution of natural gas. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by ecoinvent, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Christoph Meili; Niels Jungbluth; Maresa Bussa (2022) Life cycle inventories of crude oil and natural gas extraction. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by ecoinvent, Schaffhausen, Switzerland,

Christoph Meili; Niels Jungbluth; Maresa Bussa (2022) Life cycle inventories of long-distance transport of crude oil. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by ecoinvent, Schaffhausen, Switzerland,

Maresa Bussa; Niels Jungbluth; Christoph Meili (2022) Life cycle inventories for long-distance transport and distribution of natural gas. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by ecoinvent, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Christoph Meili, Niels Jungbluth, Maresa Bussa (2021) Life cycle inventories of crude oil and natural gas extraction. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by BAFU & VSG, Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Maresa Bussa, Niels Jungbluth, Christoph Meili (2021) Life cycle inventories for long-distance transport and distribution of natural gas. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by BAFU & VSG, Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Christoph Meili, Niels Jungbluth, Maresa Bussa (2021) Life cycle inventories of long-distance transport of crude oil. ESU-services Ltd. commissioned by BAFU & VSG, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

Niels Jungbluth, Christoph Meili (2018) Update of the life cycle inventory data for
crude oil and mineral oil products. SETAC Europe 24th LCA Symposium in Vienna, Assessment of trade, sectors and consumption, Tuesday September 25th, 2018

Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Hellweg S., Hischier R., Nemecek T., Rebitzer G. and Spielmann M., 2007. Overview and Methodology. ecoinvent report No. 1.

Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Dones R., Hellweg S., Hischier R., Nemecek T., Rebitzer G. and Spielmann M., 2007. Code of Practice. ecoinvent report No. 2.

Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H.-J., Doka G., Dones R., Hirschier R., Hellweg S., Humbert S., Margni M., Nemecek T. and Spielmann M., 2007. Implementation of Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods. ecoinvent report No. 3.

Jungbluth N., Chudacoff M., Dauriat A., Dinkel F., Doka G., Faist Emmenegger M., Gnansounou E., Kljun N., Schleiss K., Spielmann M., Stettler C. and Sutter J. (2007) Life Cycle Inventories of Bioenergy. ecoinvent report No. 17, v2.0. ESU-services, Uster, CH