life cycle assessment: framework
Post on 23-Jan-2016
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Life Cycle Assessment:Framework
Goal: Life cycle THINKING
• Many “centers” on campus have seminars with lunch and drinks provided. How should drinks be provided?– 12 oz. aluminum cans– 2 L bottles– 10 oz refillable glass bottles– Syrup concentrate
First step toward LCA
• What materials/resources do I need to consider for this analysis?
• Example on board. • List and link materials/resources over
the life cycle for your beverage container. Ignore the soda itself.
Activity Details
• Divide into groups– First - introductions, Second - assign recorder
• 10 minutes list and link materials/resources• 3 minutes each - share• 5 minutes identify common elements
Reflection on Activity
Components of LCA• Scope and Goal definition• Inventory• Impact Assessment• Interpretation (and Improvement)
• Each component included in any methodology followed
• Common terminology
Definitions
• Big set of definitions in ISO framework documents (e.g., p.1 of ISO 14040)
• Won’t review all of them here, but you need to know them.
• Main ones to know are: unit process, elementary flows, inputs, outputs
Definitions• Elementary flows - material or energy
entering or leaving the system, directly to/from the environment, without human transformation
• Unit process - smallest portion of a product being studied for which LCI data available
• Inputs / Outputs - materials or energy entering or leaving a unit process
Scope and Goal: LCA Uses
• Process analysis• Material selection• Product evaluation• Product comparison• Policy-making• Measuring performance• Marketing
Scope Considerations
• Setting all the parameters for study– e.g., functional unit, boundaries, data, etc.– Whether it will be critically reviewed
• Functional unit definition ensures unit consistency for validation and comparison
• May be iterative (update in progress)• Supports product system diagram
Product Systems
• Collections of unit processes, elementary flows, and product flows
• Also shows system boundary• Processes, flows maybe in / out of bounds
– In: fuel, energy, materials, …– Out: emissions, waste, …
Simple Example - Tree
SunlightCO2
O2
Biomass
Environ- ment
Tree EnergySystem?Wate
r
If we wanted to do a life cycle inventory of a tree, we could draw the boundary in one of several places
More Complex Example
• Realize LCA can be used for ‘products’, ‘processes’, ‘systems’, etc.
• We manufacture a part for new automobiles and ship it in cardboard boxes
• Currently, we “ship it and forget it”• Generates significant box waste (not for us!)• We want to reduce waste - how?• What are tradeoffs?
Original System
ManufactureSystem
PackagingTransport/Delivery
Energy
Emissions, Cardboard Box Waste
Car Assembly
Part
Energy
Cardboard Manuf.
UnboxedPart
Raw Mats, Energy
Emissions,Waste
BoxedPart
Packaging Takeback System
Manuf.System
PartPackaging
Transport/Delivery
Emissions, (Less?) Cardboard Waste
Car Assembly
Cardboard Manuf.
Unboxed Part
Empty Box
Transport/Logistics
Reused Box
Energy
Emissions
Packaging Takeback System
• Our new system uses less cardboard– Thus less waste, manufacturing impacts
• But uses more transportation to retrieve used boxes– Thus more energy use, emissions
• Unclear whether this tradeoff is beneficial• Perfect application for LCI/LCA
Example Goal/Scope• Goal: “To determine whether the new system is
better than the old”– More detail: which inventory items? How to assess?– Maybe air emissions, energy use, waste generated– Would a better goal originally have been to do LCA of
old system and suggest improvements?• Scope: Fairly detailed description of both
systems, items in/out of boundaries– e.g., might exclude impacts of product (relevant?)– But include packaging/logistics/reuse of systems
Next Step: Inventory
• In general, just “good research”• “Look up the data, add it up”
– However, data availability varies widely• Consider inputs, outputs of interest
– In: energy, resources, etc.– Out: emissions, waste, etc.
• Also may be iterative• Allocation an issue
Resources
• Don’t despair, you do not need to collect all of your own data for LCAs, for example:– US NREL LCI Database (various):
http://www.nrel.gov/lci/– BEES (construction materials):
http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html
• You should look at these for ideas before finalizing ideas and scope for Course Project
Inventory Interpretation• How do results fit goal/scope?• Assessment of data quality• Sensitivity analysis on inputs/outputs
Improvement
• Are any parts of the inventory obvious targets for change?– Material with high energy requirements– Process with high VOC emissions– Life cycle stage that dominates
Impact?
• Haven’t addressed impact assessment here
• Least developed portion of LCA• Separate science and research• High uncertainty
Criticisms / Limitations• Data reliability and quality is questionable.• Models based on assumptions.• Problem boundaries are arbitrary. • Scale issues - global -> local, etc.• Uncertainty is everywhere• Spatial and temporal issues• Comparisons between studies difficult• No single, accepted method
Important Note on Context
• LCA should be one part of a broad environmental assessment
• If comparing with LCA, all assumptions and methods should be consistent– Especially problematic for validating
against external studies
Reminder: Pre-Assessment
See blackboard site
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