Life-cycle Analysis/Assessment (LCA)

Glossary
Life-Cycle Assessment
The technique whereby the environmental impacts of a material, process or product are identified and assessed over its entire life-cycle
Streamlined LCA
An LCA with reduced scope such that only those issues considered to be of principal significance are taken into account
Life-Cycle Inventory
The result of gathering data on all the energy and material input flows required by a process or product and all the output emissions to air, water and land, including solid waste

Glossary
Burden
‘Burden' is a term used to describe the materials and energy used to make, use or dispose of a product and the resultant emissions to air, land and water.
A product may have many burdens associated with it, such as CO2 or wastewater, and therefore an inventory needs to be developed to identify them all
Characterization
The process by which the significance of a product's environmental burdens are quantified

Glossary
Classification
The process by which environmental burdens are grouped into impact categories such as acidification and global warming
Environmental Impact
Once a set of burdens has been identified for a product, it is useful to know something of the overall implications of those burdens. This ‘aggregated' consideration is referred to as the environmental impact

Glossary
Impact Assessment
The process by which burdens identified in an inventory are assessed so that an overall environmental impact can be identified
Impact Categories
Environmental burdens can have a number of potential effects on the environment, such as global warming, acidification and human health effects – these are called impact categories.
To form an appraisal of the burdens, it is advisable to group the burdens into several impact categories to aid assessment

Glossary
System Boundary
When conducting an LCA, it is necessary to identify the limits of the study, i.e. how far back and forward in a product's life-cycle it is necessary to gather data.
For example, in the case of a washing machine, upstream options include placing the boundary at the factory gate (i.e. the point where materials are received) or at the point where raw materials are extracted from the ground

Glossary
System Flows
The term used to denote the energy and material inputs to a process or product and the output emissions to air, water and land, including solid waste
Valuation
The process by which impact categories are assessed for their relative importance

Glossary
COx
A general term used to describe the oxides of carbon produced by the complete and incomplete combustions of organic matter such as coal, gas, biomass (wood, peat, etc.) and oil based materials
NOx
A general term used to describe oxides of nitrogen. Oxides of nitrogen are produced by the combustion of fossil fuels and certain industrial processes such as nitric acid works, electroplating etc.
Nuisance
An act or omission by a person which causes inconvenience, discomfort or harm to another person, e.g. noise, dusts, odours etc. The nuisance may be covered in statute law, or may be based on a common law judgement.

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
Life-cycle analysis (LCA) is a method in which the energy and raw material consumption, different types of emissions and other important factors related to a specific product are being measured, analyzed and summoned over the products entire life cycle from an environmental point of view.
Life-Cycle Analysis attempts to measure the “cradle to grave” impact on the ecosystem.
LCAs started in the early 1970s, initially to investigate the energy requirements for different processes.
Emissions and raw materials were added later.
LCAs are considered to be the most comprehensive approach to assessing environmental impact.

Product Life Cycle
Raw materials
mining
Primary materials
production
Component
manufacture
Product
assembly &
distribution
Product
use &
maintenance
Product
disposal
Service
Supply Chain
Product Life Cycle

LCA steps
Generally, an LCA consists of four main activities:
1. Goal definition (ISO 14040):
The basis and scope of the evaluation are defined.
2. Inventory Analysis (ISO 14041):
Create a process tree in which all processes from raw material extraction through waste water treatment are mapped out and connected and mass and energy balances are closed (all emissions and consumptions are accounted for).
3. Impact Assessment (ISO 14042):
Emissions and consumptions are translated into environmental effects. The environmental effects are grouped and weighted.
4. Improvement Assessment/Interpretation (ISO 14043):
Areas for improvement are identified.

LCA steps

LCA standards

LCA standards

LCA standards

LCA standards

LCA Step 1 Goal Definition and Scope
It is important to establish beforehand what purpose the model is to serve, what one wishes to study, what depth and degree of accuracy are required, and what will ultimately become the decision criteria.
In addition, the system boundaries - for both time and place - should be determined.
Thus, pay special attention to:
Basis for evaluation (what and why)
Temporal boundaries (time scale)
Spatial boundaries (geographic)

LCA Step 2 - Inventory Analysis
This means that the inputs and outputs of all life-cycle processes have to be determined in terms of material and energy.
Start with making a process tree or a flow-chart classifying the events in a product’s life-cycle which are to be considered in the LCA, plus their interrelations.
Next, start collecting the relevant data for each event: the emissions from each process and the resources (back to raw materials) used.
Establish (correct) material and energy balance(s) for each process stage and event.

Single Stage Flow Diagram

Example: Simplified Process Tree for a Coffee Machine’s Life-Cycle

Example: Coffee Machine Life-Cycle Inventory
White boxes are not included in assessment/inventory

Problems with Inventory Analysis
The inventory phase usually takes a great deal of time and effort and mistakes are easily made.
There exists published data on impacts of different materials such as plastics, aluminum, steel, paper, etc.
However, the data is often inconsistent and not directly applicable due to different goals and scope.
It is expected that both the quantity and quality of data will improve in the future.
Mass and energy balances are not correct and defy laws of thermodynamics.
Results are generalized improperly.

LCA Step 3 - Impact Assessment

LCA Step 4 - Improvement Assessment/Interpretation
The final step in Life-Cycle Analysis is to identify areas for improvement.
Consult the original goal definition for the purpose of the analysis and the target group.
Life-cycle areas/processes/events with large impacts (i.e., high numerical values) are clearly the most obvious candidates
However, what are the resources required and risk involved?
Good areas for improvement are those where large improvements can be made with minimal (corporate) resource expenditure and low risk.

Weightings - A Single Figure for Environmental Impact
A single figure is needed for comparison purposes
Several methods exist, but it is still a controversial issue and no singular widely accepted method exists.
Three well-documented and used methods are:
The Eco-Points method
The Environmental Priority System
The Eco-Indicator

Eco-Points Method
The eco-points method was developed in Switzerland and is based on the use of national government policy objectives.
The evaluation principle is the distance to target principle, or the difference between the total impact in a specific area and the target value.
The Eco-Points method is not so much an environmental indicator as an indicator “in conformity with policy”.

The Eco-Points Evaluation Method
A low number of eco-points is preferred.

The Environmental Priority System (EPS)
The EPS system was used first for Volvo in Sweden.
It is not based on governmental policy, but on estimated financial consequences of environmental problems.
It attempts to translate environmental impact into a sort of social expenditure.
The first step is to establish the damage caused to a number of “safeguard objects” - objects that a community considers valuable.
The next step is to identify how much the community is prepared to pay for these things, i.e., the social costs of the safeguard objects are established.
The resulting costs are added up to a single figure.

The EPS Evaluation Method
In:
oil
zinc
Out:
CO2
SO2
lead
CFC
value in EURO
Impacts
Safeguard objects
Evaluation
Result

The Eco-Indicator (95 and 99)
The aim was to develop an easy to use tool for product designers and the main outcome was a list of 100 indicators for the most significant materials and processes.
By using these indicators a designer can easily make combinations and carry out his/her own LCA. No outside expert or software are needed.
Indicators have been drawn up for all life-cycle phases
the production of materials such as steel, aluminum, thermo-plastics, paper, glass
production processes, such as injection molding, rolling, turning, welding
transport by road, rail, and sea
energy generating processes
waste processing processes, such as incineration, dumping, recycling.
The most recent revised version is called Eco-Indicator 99.

Eco-Indicator 95
The evaluation method for calculating the Eco-Indicator 95 strongly focuses on the effects of emissions on the ecosystem.
For the valuation, the distance to target principle is used, but the targets are based on scientific data on environmental damage and not on policy statements.
The targets values are related to three types of environmental damage:
deterioration of ecosystems (a target level has been chosen at which “only” 5% ecosystem degradation will still occur over several decades);
deterioration of human health (this refers in particular to winter and summer smog and the acceptable level set is that smog periods should hardly ever occur again);
human deaths (the level chosen as acceptable is 1 fatality per million inhabitants per year).

Eco-Indicator 95 Evaluation method

Weighting Factors Used in Eco-Indicator 95
*Setting equivalents for these damage levels is a subjective choice.

LCA use
LCAs are used:
in the design process to determine which of several designs may leave a smaller “footprint on the environment”, or
after the fact to identify environmentally preferred products in government procurement or eco-labeling programs.
Also, the study of reference or benchmark LCAs provides insight into the main causes of the environmental impact of a certain kind of product and design priorities and product design guidelines can be established based on the LCA data.

Softwares
EPA website
http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/lcaccess/resources.htm#Software
GaBi
http://www.gabi-software.com/
Simapro
http://www.pre.nl/default.htm