Hello everyone,
I am trying to follow Step 3 of the setup and import the ecoinvent database for use with mescal. However, I do not have ecoinvent credentials, so I am unable to complete the import through the standard procedure.
I would like to ask how I can get past this step and whether there are any alternatives that would allow me to proceed with the Quick Tutorial.
Thank you very much for your help.
Hello @Lucia1807!
Thanks for the question, to my knowledge no, there is no alternative to ecoinvent.
Sorry for that.
Hello Lucia!
Indeed, ecoinvent is the most commonly used LCI database in our field, it works very smoothly with brightway and other tools like premise.
However, you might have other options. The BAFU database has recently been published. It is free but specific to Switzerland. I have not tried to import it on brightway, but it seems available under ecospold1 and excel formats. You can see this tutorial from brightway to try to import it. Another option could be the Gabi database, which is apparently partly free. But again, I’ve never tried importing it in brightway.
If you’re going in that direction, keep us posted as mescal has only been used with ecoinvent, so I am pretty sure that some unexpected bugs will occur with different background databases!
Hope this helps,
Matthieu