Background qualitative analysis of the European Reference Life Cycle Database (ELCD) energy datasets – part I: fuel datasets

Author: 
Daniel Garraín
Simone Fazio
Cristina de la Rúa
Marco Recchioni
Yolanda Lechón
Fabrice Mathieux
Policies and Targets
Technology and Standards
Energy Generation and Distribution

Introduction: The aim of this study is to identify areas of potential improvement of the European Reference Life
Cycle Database (ELCD) fuel datasets.Case description: The revision is based on the data quality indicators described by the ILCD Handbook, applied on
sectorial basis. These indicators evaluate the technological, geographical and time-related representativeness of the
dataset and the appropriateness in terms of completeness, precision and methodology.Discussion and evaluation: Results show that ELCD fuel datasets have a very good quality in general terms,
nevertheless some findings and recommendations in order to improve the quality of Life-Cycle Inventories have
been derived. Moreover, these results ensure the quality of the fuel-related datasets to any LCA practitioner, and
provide insights related to the limitations and assumptions underlying in the datasets modelling.Conclusions: Giving this information, the LCA practitioner will be able to decide whether the use of the ELCD fuel
datasets is appropriate based on the goal and scope of the analysis to be conducted. The methodological approach
would be also useful for dataset developers and reviewers, in order to improve the overall DQR of databases.

https://e3p.jrc.ec.europa.eu/node/171
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