GaBi Education - GaBi Software

Procedure
We determined that our paperclip has a weight of approximately 0.35 g.
By clicking in the Quantity column of the Paperclip output you can choose if you either
want to specify the amount of mass or number of pieces.
42. Choose the quantity „Number of pieces‟ and enter the amount „1.‟
We do this to specify the functional unit: 1 paperclip. All data for the process will now refer
to the production of 1 paperclip. If you change the quantity back to mass, the amount will
be converted to 0.00035 kg.
We need the same amount of steel wire on the input side.
43. Enter the input mass „0.00035‟ now.
3.15 Flow types
In order to calculate the potential environmental impact of a system, GaBi needs to
understand the nature of the flows that you have entered as inputs and outputs. In GaBi
all flows must be defined as either elementary or non-elementary flows.
Elementary flows are flows that enter the technosphere directly from nature (those you
can find in the Resources flow-folder) and flows that exit the technosphere directly to
nature (e.g. all flows in the Emissions to air, water and soil folders). For example, in our
system, iron ore for the production of steel is an elementary flow entering the paperclip
technosphere. Carbon dioxide emissions, arising from production, are an elementary flow
leaving the paperclip technosphere.
Non-elementary flows are flows that move only within the technosphere. They are not
entering directly from the natural world and do not exit the technosphere to the natural
world. GaBi requires that you specify if a flow is an elementary flow, a waste flow or a
tracked flow.
Tracked flows include valuable substance and energy flows that can be used in another
process. A tracked output flow can be connected with a tracked input flow of the following
process in the process chain. A connection between plans and processes by tracked
flows is also possible.
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