Abstract
The Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is a proven method for sustainability assessment. However, the interpretation phase of an LCSA is challenging because many different single results are obtained. Additionally, performing a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is one way—not only for LCSA—to gain clarity about how to interpret the results. One common form of MCDAs are outranking methods. For these type of methods it becomes of utmost importance to clarify when results become preferable. Thus, thresholds are commonly used to prevent decisions based on results that are actually indifferent between the analyzed options. In this paper, a new approach is presented to identify and quantify such thresholds for Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) based on uncertainty of Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods. Common thresholds and this new approach are discussed using a case study on finding a preferred location for sustainable industrial hydrogen production, comparing three locations in European countries. The single LCSA results indicated different preferences for the environmental, economic and social assessment. The application of PROMETHEE helped to find a clear solution. The comparison of the newly-specified thresholds based on LCIA uncertainty with default thresholds provided important insights of how to interpret the LCSA results regarding industrial hydrogen production.
Highlights
The transformation of the energy system is of high importance to meet the goals of theParis agreement [1]
The main goal of this work was to introduce weighting factors for LCA indicators based on the opinion of the general public, LCA experts and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) development experts
We introduce a new approach for addressing uncertainty in the LCIA
Summary
The transformation of the energy system is of high importance to meet the goals of theParis agreement [1]. The transformation of the energy system is of high importance to meet the goals of the. Innovative energy technologies are necessary to make a considerable contribution to this transformation process. The EU published the Hydrogen Roadmap Europe [3] in 2019. As a secondary energy carrier, is discussed frequently in energy transformation scenarios, e.g., [4,5]. It is easier to store than electricity, can be directly used as feedstock, or can help to electrify several other sectors besides the energy sector, e.g., mobility or industry. Hydrogen should only be used if a direct electrification is hard to achieve, e.g., large battery demand for heavy-duty vehicles or demand of a very steady heat source in the glass industry, because of the lower efficiency of hydrogen applications compared to direct electrification
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