Life Cycle Assessment

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Life Cycle Assessment
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Material choice for beverage containers (for
teaching purposes only)
Environmental impact indicator Primary energy
requirements (in MJ/liter)

• Based on 500 km transportation
• Based on current recycling rates

Question For which aluminum recycling rate do
aluminum can and PET bottle havethe same primary
energy requirements?
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Material choice for beverage containers (for
teaching purposes only)
Conclusion
Products create environmental impacts at all
stages of their life cycles? It is important to
consider the entire life cycle of products
Question How do we know that primary energy
requirements is the right environmental impact
indicator?
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Material choice for beverage containers (for
teaching purposes only)
Material Production
Container Forming
Data source All values derived using GaBi4 life
cycle inventory data
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Material choice for beverage containers (for
teaching purposes only)
Container Transportation
Container Recycling
Data source All values derived using GaBi4 life
cycle inventory data
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Material choice for beverage containers (for
teaching purposes only)
Results
Conclusion
Products create different types of environmental
impacts? It is important to consider a wide
range of environmental impacts
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What is a Product Life Cycle?
Product Life Cycle
Product disposal
Raw materials mining
Primary materials production
Component manufacture
Product assembly distribution
Product use maintenance
Service
Supply Chain
The boxes are process groups called life cycle
stages (system components). The arrows are
economic material flows (relationships between
system components)
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Life cycle thinking as a systems approach
Definition of system An organized assembly of
components that are united and regulated by
interaction or interdependence to accomplish a
set of specific functions.
The system itself is separated from its
environment by the system boundaries.
Most systems are open, i.e. they interact with
their environment.
Raw materials mining
Primary materials production
Component manufacture
Final product assembly
Product use and maintenance
Product disposal
Service
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Life cycle assessment terminology (ISO 140402006)
Elementary flows (e.g. resource extractions)
input flows
Functional unit
Economy-environment system boundary
economic process
economic process
economic process
economic process
Intermediate flow
Intermediate flow
Intermediate flow
Product system
Elementary flows (e.g. emissions to air) output
flows
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History and definition of Life Cycle Assessment

• Late 1960s, first Resource and Environmental
  Profile Analyses (REPAs) (e.g. in 1969 Coca
  Cola funds study on beverage containers)
• Early 1970s, first LCAs (Sundström,1973,Sweden,
  Boustead,1972, UK, Basler
  Hofmann,1974,Switzerland, Hunt et al.,1974 USA)
• 1980s, numerous studies without common
  methodology with contradicting results
• 1993, SETAC publishes Guidelines for Life-Cycle
  Assessment A Code of Practice, (Consoli et
  al.)
• 1997-2000, ISO publishes Standards 14040-43,
  defining the different LCA stages
• 1998-2001, ISO publishes Standards and Technical
  Reports 14047-49
• 2000, UNEP and SETAC create Life Cycle
  Initiative
• 2006 ISO publishes Standards 14040 14044,
  which update and replace 14040-43

Definition of LCA according to ISO 14040 LCA is
a technique compiling an inventory of
relevant inputs and outputs of a product
systemevaluating the potential environmental
impacts associated with those inputs and
outputsand interpreting the results of the
inventory and impact phases in relation to the
objectives of the study.
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Life Cycle Assessment Framework
Four different phases of LCA are distinguished
Goal and scopedefinition
Interpretation

• Direct application
• product development and improvement
• Strategic planning
• Public policy making
• Marketing
• Other

Inventoryanalysis
Impactassessment
Source ISO 14040
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Goal and scopedefinition
Interpretation
Inventoryanalysis
Impactassessment
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Goal and Scope Definition

• The Goal of the LCA states and justifies
• the aim or objective of the study
• the intended use of the results (application)
• the initiator (and commissioner) of the study
• the practitioner of the study
• the stakeholders of the study (interested
  parties)
• intended users of the study (target audience)
• mention if one objective is comparative
  assertion disclosed to the public

• The Scope of an LCA study defines
• temporal coverage (specific or averaged data)
• spatial coverage (specific or averaged data)
• technology coverage (specific or averaged data)
• coverage of economic processes (initial system
  boundaries)
• coverage of environmental interventions and
  impacts
• mode of analysis (Attributional versus
  Consequential LCA)
• level of sophistication

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Goal and Scope Definition
Example for Goal Definition The goal of the LCA
is to identify options for improving the
environmental performance of the material
polyethylene in disposable bread bags. The
results of this LCA will be used for product and
process development. The plastic bag manufacturer
wants to be able to analyze the effects of
changes in its processes, in terms of technology,
inputs, and products composition, on the total
environmental impact. This information, in turn,
can be used to prioritize measures that can be
taken to improve the environmental performance.
This LCA does not aim at a public comparative
assertion. The study is conducted by Pro-Duct
Consultancy Ltd, a medium-sized private
engineering bureau. The commissioner is
Bag-Away, a large producer of plastic disposable
bags. Interested parties are mainly the plastics
industry, bakeries and shops. A steering
committee with representatives of the producer,
the ministry of the environment and academia
will be formed. Finally, an expert review will be
carried out at NILCAR, the National Institute
for LCA Research.
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Goal and Scope Definition
Example for Scope Definition A simplified LCA
is carried out to compare three different
end-of-life management options, namely landfill,
recycling and reuse, for structural steel
sections in the UK construction sector. The
study and its data therefore intends to be
representative of the current practices and
technologies in the UK construction
sector. Initially, the only environmental
intervention covered will be the energy
requirementsof all processes, since this has
shown to be an important environmental indicator
for the construction industry, and the
environmental impact of main interest is climate
change. The total size of the study is 8
person-months. A large portion of this time will
be devoted to the studying and modeling of the
product system, and the collection
of representative data for the most important
processes in production, use and end-of-life
management.
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Goal and Scope Definition Functional unit and
reference flows

• Definitions
• The functional unit describes the primary
  function(s) fulfilled by a (product) system, and
  indicates how much of this function is to be
  considered in the intended LCA study. It willbe
  used as a basis for selecting one or more
  alternative (product) systems that can provide
  these function(s). The functional unit enables
  different systems to be treated as functionally
  equivalent and allows reference flows to be
  determined for each of them.
• Having defined the functional unit, the amount of
  product which is necessary to fulfill
  thefunction shall be quantified. The result of
  this quantification is the reference flow.
• Issues
• Multi-functionality - Beverage bottles have a
  packaging and an image function
• - Hand drying systems have a drying and a
  hygienic function
• Equivalency of product alternatives is often
  determined by customer acceptance and may be a
  function of price and/or perceived rather than
  real product differences

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Goal and Scope Definition Functional unit and
reference flows
Recommended procedure 1. Identify all relevant
functions of the product system studied 2. Select
one ore more functions as the relevant functions
for the study If more than one function is
relevant - account for primary function only
or - account for primary and (all) additional
functions or - allocate between primary and
additional function (using appropriate mechanism)
3. Specify selected function(s) in (SI or
SI-derived) units 4. Determine an appropriate
quantity 5. Determine and identify the
alternative systems studied in terms of reference
flows
What are functional units for the comparison
of Various paints? Paper versus plastic bags in
supermarkets? What are the resulting reference
flows?
20m2 of wall covering with a coloured surface of
98 opacity and a lifetime of 5 years
Comfortable carrying of X kg and Y m3 of
groceries (what about durability?)
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Internet resources for LCA http//www.lcacenter
.org/ (American Center for
LCA)http//www.epa.gov/nrmrl/lcaccess/index.html
(EPA website on LCA)http//www.nrel.gov/lci/
(US LCI Database)http//www.uneptie.org/pc
/sustain/lcinitiative/ (UNEP/SETAC life cycle
initiative)http//lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub
/index.vm (EU website on LCA LCI
database)http//www.ecoinvent.ch (Swiss
centre for LCI data)http//www.netzwerk-lebenszyk
lusdaten.de (German LCA network)
Reading for Wednesday, 23 January Guinée J B
(Ed.) (2002) Handbook on Life Cycle Assessment,
Operational Guide to the ISO Standards, Kluwer
Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands,
Chapter 3 Scientific Background, pp 62-109 Due
date for Assignment 1 Wednesday, 23 January,
10amAssignment and reading available on course
websitehttp//www.bren.ucsb.edu/academics/course
.asp?number282