This is a Python package for transition pathway optimization based on time-explicit Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). optimex helps identify optimal process portfolios and deployment timing in systems with multiple processes producing the same product, aiming to minimize dynamically accumulating environmental impacts over time.
optimex builds on top of the optimization framework pyomo and the LCA framework Brightway. If you are looking for a time-explicit LCA rather than an optimization tool, make sure to check out bw_timex.
Like other transition pathway optimization tools, optimex identifies the optimal timing and scale of process deployments to minimize environmental impacts over a transition period. What sets optimex apart is its integration of three additional, temporal considerations for environmental impacts:
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Timing within Process Life Cycles: Environmental impacts are spread across a process’s life cycle: construction happens first, use comes later, and end-of-life impacts follow.
optimexcaptures this by distributing process inputs and outputs over time. -
Technology Evolution: Future technologies may become more sustainable, reducing the environmental impacts later in the expansion period.
optimexreflects this by allowing process inventories to evolve over time. -
Accumulation of Emissions and Impacts: Most impacts arise from the accumulation of emissions, but are typically modeled as discrete and independent pulses.
optimexretains the timing of emissions during inventory calculations and applies dynamic characterization to account for impact accumulation.
During the transition pathway optimization, optimex simultaneously accounts for these temporal considerations, identifying the environmentally optimal process deployment over the transition period.
If you have any questions or need help, do not hesitate to contact us:
- Jan Tautorus ([email protected])
- Timo Diepers ([email protected])
We welcome contributions! If you have suggestions or want to fix a bug, please:
Distributed under the terms of the BSD 3 Clause license, optimex is free and open source software.