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 CO 2 O2O2 Biomass Environ- ment Tree Energy System? Water 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 Manufacture System Packaging Transport/ Delivery Energy Emissions, Cardboard Box Waste Car Assembly Part Energy Cardboard Manuf. Unboxed Part Raw Mats, Energy Emissions, Waste Boxed Part

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

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/ http://www.nrel.gov/lci/ –BEES (construction materials): http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html 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