ISO/BW terminology: Align naming to BW
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Feature request
Not a major issue, but one that's been bothering me for a while:
ISO (14044) and BW/AB use different names for different things. I suggest we add an item to settings that adds the option to switch terminology. Right now, AB uses a mix of BW/AB and ISO terms. Making this one consistent set for BW terminology would be great.
Here's a non-exhaustive list from the top of my mind. I suggest we carefully review ISO 14044 chapter 3 to find more terms.
AB uses labeled where known, cells marked '*' mean wide-spread use:
| BW/AB | uses | ISO | uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| activity | * | process | process contributions |
| product | activity details | functional flow1 | |
| technosphere flow | * | intermediate flow | |
| biosphere flow | * | elementary flow | EF contributions |
| reference flow2 | calculation setup/Sankey | functional unit | |
| Impact category | * | Impact category | AB uses 'impact indicator' in Sankey?? |
1: ISO 14044 defines 'products' as "any goods or service", this implicitly omits other entities like 'product, material or energy flow' as defined for 'Intermediate flow'. As the BW term for 'product' is a special type of 'intermediate flow', I suggest the term 'functional flow' from the Handbook on LCA (Guinée et al. 2002) defined as "any of the flows of a unit process that constitute its goal". Another option is 'Intermediate product' is defined by ISO as "output from a unit process that is input to other unit processes that require further transformation within the system", where 'output' is defined as "product, material or energy flow that leaves a unit process". However, this does not cover the option of waste treatment as being 'functional flows', as the treated waste would be an input.
2: Reference flow as defined by ISO as "measure of the outputs from processes in a given product system required to fulfil the function expressed by the functional unit", which would be 'Technosphere flows' in BW/AB terms.