Life Cycle Assessment: Framework

1. Life Cycle Assessment:Framework

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. Reflection on Activity

6. Components of LCA • Scope and Goal definition • Inventory • Impact Assessment • Interpretation (and Improvement) • Each component included in any methodology followed • Common terminology

7. 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

8. 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

9. Scope and Goal: LCA Uses • Process analysis • Material selection • Product evaluation • Product comparison • Policy-making • Measuring performance • Marketing

10. 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

11. 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, …

12. Simple Example - Tree Sunlight O2 Environ- ment Energy System? CO2 Tree Water Biomass If we wanted to do a life cycle inventory of a tree, we could draw the boundary in one of several places

13. 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?

14. Original System Cardboard Manuf. Energy Raw Mats, Energy Energy Unboxed Part Boxed Part Part Manufacture System Transport/ Delivery Car Assembly Packaging Emissions, Waste Emissions, Cardboard Box Waste

15. Packaging Takeback System Energy Cardboard Manuf. Reused Box Transport/ Logistics Emissions Part Manuf. System Packaging Empty Box Transport/ Delivery Car Assembly Unboxed Part Emissions, (Less?) Cardboard Waste

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. Inventory Interpretation • How do results fit goal/scope? • Assessment of data quality • Sensitivity analysis on inputs/outputs

21. 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

22. Impact? • Haven’t addressed impact assessment here • Least developed portion of LCA • Separate science and research • High uncertainty

23. 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

24. 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

25. Reminder: Pre-Assessment See blackboard site