```{attention} __HELP WANTED__ \ You can help update and improve the content on this page. \ Please start by reading the [guide to contributing to the Brightway documentation.](../contributing/contributing.md) ``` ```{warning} __NEEDS WORK__ \ This page is not yet complete. \ It is either a rough draft or has been copied over from the legacy documentation. ``` # LCA ## Specifying a functional unit The functional unit for any LCA calculation is a dictionary of keys and amounts: ``` python { ("a database", "the answer"): 42, ("a database", "pi"): 3.14159265358979 } ``` However, you can also use a `Activity` proxy: ``` python In [1]: from brightway2 import * In [2]: activity = Database("ecoinvent 3.2 cutoff").random() In [3]: type(activity), activity Out[3]: (bw2data.backends.peewee.proxies.Activity, 'quicklime production, milled, packed' (kilogram, CH, None)) In [4]: lca = LCA({activity: 1}) In [5]: lca.demand Out[5]: {'quicklime production, milled, packed' (kilogram, CH, None): 1} ``` How does this work? It is quite simple - the `Activity` proxy knows how to pretend to be a key tuple: ``` python In [7]: activity[0], activity[1] Out[7]: ('ecoinvent 3.2 cutoff', 'ab2f7a551a06a59de9191065128233e4') In [8]: activity == ('ecoinvent 3.2 cutoff', 'ab2f7a551a06a59de9191065128233e4') Out[8]: True ``` This is an instance of [duck typing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_typing) - if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then we can treat it like a duck. If you are interested in the details, see how `bw2data.proxies.ActivityProxyBase` defines `__getitem__` and other `__` magic methods. ## Turning processed data arrays in matrices {#building-matrices} A parameter array is a NumPy [structured or record array](http://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/user/basics.rec.html), where each column has a label and data type. Here is an sample of the parameter array for the US LCI: input output row col type amount ------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------ -------- 9829 9829 4294967295 4294967295 0 1.0 9708 9708 4294967295 4294967295 0 1.0 9633 9633 4294967295 4294967295 0 1.0 9276 9276 4294967295 4294967295 0 3.0999 8778 8778 4294967295 4294967295 0 1.0 9349 9349 4294967295 4294967295 0 1000.0 5685 9349 4294967295 4294967295 2 14.895 9516 9349 4294967295 4294967295 1 1032.7 9433 9349 4294967295 4294967295 1 4.4287 8838 9349 4294967295 4294967295 1 1.5490 There are also some columns for uncertainty information, but these would only be a distraction for now. The complete spec for the uncertainty fields is given in the [stats_arrays documentation](http://stats-arrays.readthedocs.io/en/latest/). We notice several things: > - Both the `input` and `output` columns have numbers, but we don\'t > know what they mean yet > - Both the `row` and `col` columns are filled with a large number > - The `type` column has only a few values, but they are also > mysterious > - The `amount` column is the only one that seems reasonable, and > gives the values that should be inserted into the matrix ### Input and Output The `input` and `output` columns gives values for biosphere flows or transforming activity data sets. The `mapping`{.interpreted-text role="ref"} is used to translate keys like `("Douglas Adams", 42)` into integer values. So, each mapping number uniquely identifies an activity dataset. If the `input` and `output` values are the same, then this is a production exchange - it describes how much product is produced by the transforming activity dataset. ::: warning ::: title Warning ::: Integer mapping ids are not transferable from machine to machine or installation to installation, as the order of insertion (and hence the integer id) is more or less at random. Always `.process()` datasets on a new machine. ::: ### Rows and columns The `row` and `col` columns have the data type *unsigned integer, 32 bit*, and the maximum value is therefore $2^{32} - 1$, i.e. 4294967295. This is just a dummy value telling Brightway2 to insert better data. The method `MatrixBuilder.build_dictionary` is used to take `input` and `output` values, respectively, and figure out which rows and columns they correspond to. The actual code is succinct - only one line - but what it does is: > 1. Get all unique values, as each value will appear multiple times > 2. Sort these values > 3. Give them integer indices, starting with zero For our example parameter array, the dictionary from `input` values to `row` would be: ``` python {5685: 0, 8778: 1, 8838: 2, 9276: 3, 9349: 4, 9433: 5, 9516: 6, 9633: 7, 9708: 8, 9829: 9} ``` And the dictionary from `output` to `col` would be: ``` python {8778: 0, 9276: 1, 9349: 2, 9633: 3, 9708: 4, 9829: 5} ``` The method `MatrixBuilder.add_matrix_indices` would replace the 4294967295 values with dictionary values based on `input` and `output`. At this point, we have enough to build a sparse matrix using `MatrixBuilder.build_matrix`: row col amount ----- ----- -------- 9 5 1.0 8 4 1.0 7 3 1.0 3 1 3.0999 1 0 1.0 4 2 1000.0 0 2 14.895 6 2 1032.7 5 2 4.4287 2 2 1.5490 Indeed, the [coordinate (coo) matrix](http://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/reference/generated/scipy.sparse.coo_matrix.html) takes as inputs exactly the row and column indices, and the values to insert. Of course, there are some details for specific matrices - technosphere matrices need to be square, and should have ones by default on the diagonal, etc. etc., but this is the general idea. ### Types The `type` column indicates whether a value should be in the technosphere or biosphere matrix: `0` is a transforming activity production amount, `1` is a technosphere exchange, and `2` is a biosphere exchange. ## Brightway2 LCA Reports The Brightway2 report data format is evolving, and this section should not be understood as definitive. ::: LCA reports calculated with `bw2analyzer.report.SerializedLCAReport` are written as a JSON file to disk. It has the following data format: ``` python { "monte carlo": { "statistics": { "interval": [lower, upper values], "median": median, "mean": mean }, "smoothed": [ ## This is smoothed values for drawing empirical PDF [x, y], ], "histogram": [ ## This are point coordinates for each point when drawing histogram bins [x, y], ] }, "score": LCA score, "activity": [ [name, amount, unit], ], "contribution": { "hinton": { "xlabels": [ label, ], "ylabels": [ label, ], "total": LCA score, "results": [ [x index, y index, score], ## See hinton JS implementation in bw2ui source code ], }, "treemap": { "size:" LCA score, "name": "LCA result", "children": [ { "name": activity name, "size": activity LCA score }, ] } "herfindahl": herfindahl score, "concentration": concentration score }, "method": { "name": method name, "unit": method unit }, "metadata": { "version": report data format version number (this is 1), "type": "Brightway2 serialized LCA report", "uuid": the UUID of this report, "online": URL where this report can be accessed. Optional. } } ``` ## Graph traversal To generate graphs of impact like supply chain or Sankey diagrams, we need to traverse the graph of the supply chain. The `GraphTraversal` class does this in a relatively intelligent way, assessing each inventory activity only once regardless of how many times it is used, and prioritizing activities based on their LCA score. It is usually possible to create a reduced graph of the supply chain, with only the most relevant pathways and flows included, in a few seconds. ### Illustration of graph traversal It's easiest to understand how graph traversal is implemented with a simple example. Take this system: - This system has four **nodes**, which are LCI processes, also called transforming activities. Each **node** has one reference product, and a set of zero or more technosphere inputs. By convention, node `A` produces one unit of product `A`. - This system has four **edges** which define the inputs of each node. An edge has a start, an end, and an amount. - We consider solving this system for a *functional unit* of one unit of `A`. As we traverse this supply chain, we will keep different data for the nodes and the edges. For nodes, we are interested in the following: - `amount`: The total amount of this node needed to produce the functional unit. - `cum`: The cumulative LCA impact score attributable to the needed amount of this node, *including its specific supply chain*. - `ind`: The individual LCA impact score directly attributable to one unit of this node, i.e. the score from the direct emissions and resource consumption of this node. For edges, we want to know: - `to`: The row index of the node consuming the product. - `from`: The row index of the node producing the product. - `amount`: The total amount of product `from` needed for the amount of `to` needed. - `exc_amount`: The amount of `from` needed for *one unit* of `to`, i.e. the value given in the technosphere matrix. - `impact`: The total LCA impact score embodied in this edge, i.e. the individual score of `from` times `amount`. Our functional unit is one unit of `A`. Before starting any calculations, we need to set up our data structures. First, we have an empty list of **edges**. We also have a **heap**, a list which is [automatically sorted](https://docs.python.org/2/library/heapq.html), and keeps track of the **nodes** we need to examine. **nodes** are identified by their row index in the *technosphere matrix*. Finally, we have a dictionary of **nodes**, which looks up nodes by their row indices. ``` python nodes, edges, heap = {}, [], [] ``` We create a special node, the functional unit, and insert it into the nodes dictionary: ``` python nodes[-1] = { 'amount': 1, 'cum': total_lca_score, 'ind': 1e-6 * total_lca_score } ``` The *cumulative LCA impact score* is obviously the total LCA score; we set the *individual LCA score* to some small but non-zero value so that it isn\'t deleted in graph simplification later on. We next start building our list of edges. We start with all the inputs to the *functional unit*, which in this case is only one unit of `A`. Note that the functional unit can have multiple inputs. ``` python for node_id, amount in functional_unit: edges.append({ "to": -1, ## Special id of functional unit "from": node_id, "amount": amount, "exc_amount": amount, "impact": LCA(node_id, amount).score, ## Evaluate LCA impact score for node_id/amount }) ``` Finally, we push each node to the **heap**: ``` python for node_id, amount in functional_unit: heappush(heap, (abs(1 / LCA(node_id, amount).score), node_id)) ``` This is not so easy to understand at first glance. What is `1 / LCA(node_id, amount).score`? Why the absolute value? What is this `heappush` thing? We want one *divided by* the LCA impact score for node `A` because our heap is sorted in ascending order, and we want the highest score to be first. We take the absolute value because we are interested in the magnitude of node scores in deciding which node to process next, not the sign of the score - leaving out the absolute value would put all negative scores at the top of the heap (which is sorted in ascending order). `heappush` is just a call to push something on to the heap, which is our automatically sorted list of nodes to examine. After this first iteration, we have the following nodes and edges in our graph traversal: ``` python nodes = {-1: {'amount': 1, 'cum': some number, 'ind': some small number}} edges = [{ 'to': -1, 'from': 0, ## Assuming A is 0 'amount': 1, 'exc_amount': 1, 'impact': some number }] heap = [(some number, 0)] ``` After this, it is rather simple: pull off the next node from the *heap*, add it to the list of nodes, construct its edges, and add its inputs to the heap. Iterate until no new nodes are found. Because the heap is automatically sorted, at each iteration we will take the node with the highest impact that hasn\'t yet been assessed. There are two more things to keep in mind: - We use a cutoff criteria to stop traversing the supply chain - any node whose cumulative LCA impact score is too small is not added to the heap. - We only visit each node once. The is functionality in `bw2analyzer` to \"unroll\" the supply chain so that afterwards each process can occur more than once. ```{toctree} --- hidden: maxdepth: 2 --- self static_lca stochastic_lca ```