What is LCA?

1. Transport Production Environment Resources Use Waste treatment What is LCA? • A systematic mapping and evaluation of health, ecological and resource impact thoughout the entire life-cycle of a product from resource extraction to final disposal Health

2. Impact Assessment 1. Classification 2. Characterization3. Weighting Goal and Scope Definition Inventory Analysis1. Constructing a Process Flow Chart 2. Collecting Data 3. Defining Systems Boundaries 4. Processing the Data Interpretation LCA Framework Credit: UNEP, Life Cycle Assessment: What it is and how to do it, Paris 1996.

3. ”1000 liters of beer delivered” requires... ca 70 glas bottles (28 use cycles) ca 130 PET bottles (17 use cycles) ca 2000 aluminium cans (1 'cycle') Functional unit

4. Glass production Bottle production washing Deposit Retail Private transport user landfill Climate change acidification waste VOC Energy consumpton Collection of used glass Production of materials Production of lime- stone and sand etc. Production of bottles washing/ filling & distribution Filling other transport To waste treatment from user Process flow chart for a glas bottle

5. System boundaries • … define the boundary between the product system and the environment. • … separate unit processes that are included in the analysis from those that are excluded.E.g., for private transport, we may include the energy consumption and emissions of driving the car, but exclude the production of the car, the road etc.

6. Data sources, data processing • Good data on the emissions and resource use during life-cycle steps is difficult to obtain. Following data sources are often used: • Process engineering data from the manufacturer • Public emissions databases (e.g., TRI) • LCA databases included in LCA software • other LCAs • Great care must be taken to ensure that data is correct and relevant. • LCA software tools differ in their ability to correctly process inventory data. They are often unable to address feedback loops or uncertainty.

7. Impact Assessment Hertwich et al., J. Ind. Ecol. 4(1):13-28, 2000

8. Equivalent effect Hertwich et al., J. Ind. Ecol. 4(1):13-28, 2000

9. Impact Assessment and Weighting • LCA of concrete: 3 different impact assessment systems were used, reflecting different approaches and values.

10. Interpretation … is a systematic procedure to identify, qualify, check and evaluate information from the reulsts of the LCI and/or LCIA of a product system … ISO 14043 • Find significant contributions • most important impact (pollutant or resource use) • most important step in the life-cycle • Understand analysis -- critical assumptions • how would conclusions change in response to other assumptions (sensitivity analysis) • how dependent are conclusions on uncertain input data (uncertainty analysis) • Identify and evaluate improvement options • changes in design, material, or process that may reduce important environmental impacts

11. LCA of Norwegian Hydropower M. Vold, SETAC Case Study Symposium, Brussels, 1996.

12. Windpower Simplon, CH 1990 Damage costs according to pollutants [Euro/kWh] CO2 7.7 E-4 CH4 5.9 E-5 NOx 4.9 E-4 Particles 1.1 E-3 SO2 1.1 E-3 NMVOC 1.4 E-4 Benzo(a)pyren 2.7 E-9 Global Warming 0.000826 Mortality 0.001646 Morbidity 0.000577 acidification terrestrical 0.000383 acidification aquatic 0.000131 Eutrophication terrestrial 3.76E-05 material damage 2.39E-05 damage to plants 3.65E-05