Role of LCA in evaluating the sustainability of steel
Clare Broadbent, 19th July 2012
18 July 2012 2
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Agenda
What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Steel in a green economy
LCA in the steel industry
LCA in market sectors
Increasing importance of life cycle thinking for steel
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What is Life Cycle Assessment?
LCA is a technique that provides the best framework for
assessing the potential environmental impacts of products
currently available
This is done by:
Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and
environmental releases or outputs
Evaluating the associated potential environmental impacts
Interpreting the results to help make informed decisions
LCA covers the whole value chain from raw material extraction to
product manufacture to the use and final disposal or recycling
European Commission, Integrated Product Policy COM/2003/0302
United States of America, Environmental Protection Agency
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12 July 2012
The life cycle of steel
Life Cycle Thinking:
Key to every aspect of Sustainability E
con
om
ic S
ocia
l
Environmental LCA:
Life
cycle
costin
g (L
CC
) S
ocia
l LC
A (
SLC
A)
7
Under a green economy the steel industry has to be
sustainable on three levels:
Financially sustainable: Profitable throughout the cycle
Innovative with strong R&D activity: steel industry is active in development of new products, new production and environmental protection technologies
Environmentally sustainable Environmentally responsible: respects the environment and operates
within its boundaries
Resource efficient: uses natural resources and energy in an efficient and sustainable manner
Socially sustainable Safe: provides safe and healthy workplaces
Socially responsible: provides special social security, care about the health and well-being of workers and the communities in which we operate
Reasons for focusing on the triple bottom line
There are many challenges facing the earth:
An increasing population
Greater demand on resources
Increasing amount of emissions to air, water, land
…
This leads to objectives of
Techno-economic efficiency
Environmental stewardship
Social acceptability
This leads to challenges for steel: key to all market sectors
Need to be aware of our operational impacts
Increasing focus on the impacts of our products in society.
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Steel is at the core of a green economy, in which economic
growth and environmental responsibility work hand in hand.
The steel industry believes that sustainable development must meet the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs. Within this, a green economy delivers prosperity for all nations,
wealthy and poor alike, while preserving and enhancing the planet’s resources.
Steel is essential to the technologies and solutions that meet society’s everyday needs.
Population growth, urbanisation, poverty reduction and mitigation of natural disasters
pose some challenges that can only be met by steel. Steel is central to transport,
housing, energy, agriculture, water and infrastructure.
Steel’s two key components are iron (one of Earth’s most abundant elements) and
recycled steel. Once steel is produced it becomes a permanent resource because it is
100% recyclable and has an infinite life cycle. This infinite recyclability without loss of
properties makes steel unique.
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Sustainable steel
Green economy and the steel industry
Life Cycle Thinking:
Key to every aspect of Sustainability E
con
om
ic S
ocia
l
Environmental LCA:
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1. Tool for material competition & material decision making in product design,
considering the full value chain
2. Enhances brand value & reputation: market advantage & competitiveness
3. Inform customers / product manufacturers / consumers
4. Increasingly being used in regulations and standards
5. Can be used for CO2 and energy calculations
6. Environmental Product Declarations (mainly in construction sector)
7. Benchmarking (internally to company, regionally, globally)
8. To determine steel / product / company environmental impact
9. Promote / demonstrate the environmental benefits steel recyclability
10.Helps avoid unintended consequences by shifting impacts
Steel industry use of LCA: Market sustainability
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We have been working on LCA since 1994
We are one of the first industry sectors to produce a global LCI
Provided to researchers, customers and government communities
LCI method & data has been developed and refined with
extensive consultation of worldsteel members
We support regional / national associations with data collection
and preparing regional datasets.
Needs and expectations change over time: we invite all members
to participate in the LCA meetings so we can meet their needs
Additional LCA specialist, complementing our LCA manager
We continue to evolve the world’s best industry dataset but our
emphasis shifts to supporting the use of steel in market sectors
LCA in the steel industry
1 May 2012
Looking at the whole product system
LCI data collections completed: 2010, 2000, 1995
Data provided on a process-by-process basis
worldsteel model in GaBi for each site
Considers the benefits of production of by-products
and recyclability of steel at end of life
Provision of data: For use in external studies to ensure best practice
To national, regional proprietary databases
Product specific LCI data produced per tonne of product (weighted
average)
Companies get their own specific LCI data provided to members with
regional/global averages
The worldsteel LCA methodology
1 May 2012
Secondary/primary routes included
steel pool
scrap
Primary steel
iron ore
BF/BOF Process
Secondary steel
scrap iron ore (DRI)
EAF process
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LCA in the steel industry
1 May 2012
Data is externally available for:
15 steel products
Global and/or regional basis
Cradle to gate
Cradle to grave (excluding use phase)
Data available free on request
Inputs and outputs to enable full suite of impact categories to be assessed (not just CO2)
Aggregated datasets, but full transparency with method
worldsteel LCI data
Carbon
Footprint
Environmental Product
Declaration
Life Cycle Assessment
LCA as the basis for labelling and footprints
1 May 2012
Life Cycle Thinking
1 May 2012
Legislative requirements: focus on tail-pipe emissions
One solution: reduce the weight of the vehicle:
Replace conventional steel in the vehicle body with Advanced High Strength Steel, Aluminium, Composites etc.
Aluminium achieves greater weight savings → greater reduction in tail-pipe GHG emissions (~7% compared to ~5% for AHSS)
But, due to the high energy requirements of aluminium production, the manufacturing phase of GHG emissions for aluminium increases
Overall, life cycle GHG emission reduction
AHSS = 8%
Aluminium = 5.4%
Avoid focusing on one phase of a products life cycle
Avoid unintended consequences
shifting the burden between life cycle phases
Use LCA
Using LCA for material comparison: automotive
Effect of alternative fuels and powertrains on carbon footprint:
The need for vehicle Life Cycle Assessment
Fuel economy or tailpipe emissions standards are not enough
to ensure overall reductions in automotive GHG emissions
WorldAutoSteel and LCA
LCA Expert Group collaborates with WorldAutoSteel
Development of a greenhouse gas model for vehicles
Further development of this model into a full LCA model that
considers impacts other than global warming
Covers the full life cycle of vehicles, enables material comparison
Will also be made available via a steeluniversity learning module
Working with WorldAutoSteel to change the focus of automotive
regulations from tailpipe emissions to a life cycle perspective
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Steel in buildings and infrastructure
Accounts for more than 50% of global steel production (>700Mt)
Requirements for environmental information for buildings on a
global level
LCA and product footprints (carbon, water) of buildings
Product regulations: Environmental Product Declarations, Eco-
design of products, Eco-labelling
Guidelines / Standards being developed, e.g. ISO, GHG Protocol,
European Commission, UNEP
Green Building Councils and certifications on a national level
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Construction Sector
Use phase of buildings dominates environmental impact
So, buildings are becoming more efficient to operate
So, more focus on production phase: material comparison increases
Need for harmonisation of methodologies
Risk of multiple LCA methodologies for steel in different parts of the world
Steel made in e.g. in UK sold abroad will require different EPDs per region
worldsteel development of Product Category Rules (PCRs)
These form the basis of an EPD
Need consensus on a methodology in line with each standard
EPD: Environmental Product Declaration
1 May 2012
Raw materials Material
production
Manufacturing Use phase End of life
Environmental impact of buildings: use phase dominates
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% contribution of each life cycle phase
The use phase of buildings has the greatest environmental impact:
heating, lighting, ventilation etc.
Aim of building regulations: to reduce use phase impacts
Steel industry involvement: e.g. improve insulation of buildings
Raw materials Material
production
Manufacturing Use phase End of life
Environmental impact of buildings: use phase dominates
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Use phase impacts decrease, material production and end-of-life
become more important
Move to lighter weight, higher strength steels
% contribution of each life cycle phase
Life cycle considerations versus competitors
Concrete: material production
Per kg, CO2 emissions are lower than steel
But much more concrete is needed for the same application
Concrete not recyclable into new concrete but lower grade materials
Local trade of concrete vs worldwide trade of steel products
But: increased use of concrete is beneficial for the rebar producers
Timber: end-of-life
Lower impact for wood production than steel
But what happens at the end-of-life for timber?
Is it really carbon neutral?
In addition: In LCA, land-use impacts are not adequately addressed for
timber harvesting; steel has advantages regarding land-use
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LCA in construction at worldsteel
Developing a full life cycle model for buildings
Will be used for multiple building functions / comparing building designs
Based on full bill of materials and including different recycling options
Working with the University of Coimbra, Portugal
LivingSteel Forum (30th – 31st October 2012)
We invite all members to attend (construction marketing person)
Open to all members, for all construction-related issues
LCA will be included; discussion on evolvement of construction LCA work
Aim: to produce flexible LCA models for residential, non-
residential and infrastructure analysis, available for members
Comparative LCA models for steel vs. substitute materials
Development of a life cycle costing model (LCC) using publicly
available cost data
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LCA, new solutions for new times
Life cycle thinking is vital for the future. Environmental regulations
which only regulate one phase (use) of a product’s life cycle can create
unintended consequences, i.e. increased CO2 emissions.
An example being vehicle exhaust pipe/tail pipe regulations which
encourage the use of lighter materials which are more CO2 intensive to
produce.
LCA considers production, manufacture, use phase and end of life
recycling and disposal. Life cycle thinking leads to immediate
environmental benefit.
In addition to CO2, LCA assesses other impacts such as resource
consumption, energy demand, acidification etc.
LCA is easy to implement, cost effective and produces affordable and
beneficial solutions for material decision making and product design.
worldsteel developed one of the first global sector databases for life
cycle inventory data and invests to keep it current.
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28 March 2012
worldsteel.org