Life Cycle Assessment Information Research Articles

A global life cycle assessment for primary zinc production

The purpose of this study was to update the average environmental impacts of global primary zinc production using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. This study represents the latest contribution from zinc producers, which historically established the first life cycle inventory for primary zinc production in 1998 (Western Europe) and the first global LCA-based cradle-to-gate study for zinc concentrate and special high-grade zinc (SHG; 99.99 %) in 2009. Improvements from the previous studies were realized through expanded geographical scope and range of production technologies. The product system under study (SHG zinc) was characterized by collecting primary data for the relevant production processes, including zinc ore mining and concentration, transportation of the zinc concentrate, and zinc concentrate smelting. This data was modeled in GaBi 6 and complemented with background data from the GaBi 2013 databases to create the cradle-to-gate LCA model. Allocation was used to distribute the inputs and outputs among the various co-products produced during the production process, with mass of metal content being the preferred allocation approach, when applicable. In total, this global study includes primary data from 24 mines and 18 smelters, which cover 4.7 × 106 MT of zinc concentrate and 3.4 × 106 MT of SHG zinc, representing 36 and 27 % of global production, respectively. While the LCA model generated a full life cycle inventory, selected impact categories and indicators are reported in this article (global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, ozone creation potential, and primary energy demand). The results show that SHG zinc has a primary energy demand of 37,500 MJ/t and a climate change impact of 2600 kg CO2-eq./t. Across all impact categories and indicators reported here, around 65 % of the burden are associated with smelting, 30 % with mining and concentration, and 5 % with transportation of the concentrate. Sensitivity analyses were carried out for the allocation method (total mass versus mass of metal content) and transportation of zinc concentrate. This study generated updated LCA information for the global production of SHG zinc, in line with the metal industry’s current harmonization efforts. Through the provision of unit process information for zinc concentrate and SHG zinc production, greater transparency is achieved. Technological and temporal representativeness was deemed to be high. Geographical representativeness, however, was found to be moderate to low. Future studies should focus on increasing company participation from underrepresented regions.

Calculation of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of urban rail transit systems: A case study of Shanghai Metro

In China, although per capita energy consumption is lower in the urban rail transit system than other modes of transportation, the total energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions will reach considerable levels based on the current speed of urban rail transit system development. The objective of this research is to use the life cycle assessment (LCA) type method to define the system boundaries of the life cycle of Shanghai Metro and to inventory the associated resource inputs and emission outputs based on actual observed data. A comparative analysis of GHG emissions of different urban rail transit systems around the world is also provided. The results show that the total life-cycle GHG emissions per construction length of the entire Shanghai Metro are 109,642.81tCO2e (with a service life of 50 years), and materials production, materials transportation, on-site construction, operation, and maintenance generated, respectively, about 4.1%, <0.1%, 0.4%, 92.1%, and 3.4% of the total emissions. Although the traction emissions per passenger-km traveled of Shanghai Metro are competitive at the global level, there is still great energy-saving potential in the operation phase, especially in ornately designed train stations. The preliminary conclusions of this study may help shed light on the emission reduction potential of urban rail transit systems and the emission reduction targets in China and serve as a source of information and data for future LCAs.

The use of temporal dynamics for the automatic calculation of land use impacts in LCA using R programming environment

Purpose Evaluation of soil functionality in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has progressively gained importance, although only a small cluster of studies deliver detailed guidelines on how to calculate quantified indicators. In addition, there is a lack of bibliography assessing impacts on the pedosphere due to spatially differentiated land use changes (LUC). In this study, an automated geospatial simulation of LUC based on crop rotation probabilities in Luxembourg was implemented in the programming environment R. Furthermore, this method based on coupling LCA and geographic information system (GIS) was used to calculate changes in soil functionality by implementing both the soil organic carbon (SOC) method and the Land Use Indicator Value Calculation Tool (LANCA®). The developed R script was then applied to a case study dealing with maize production for bioenergy purposes in Luxembourg.

Linking chemical risk information with life cycle assessment in product development

Abstract This paper presents a prototype model developed for a case study linking chemical risk information with a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to product development. Standard LCA software was used to develop a tool combining LCA and Risk Phrase information for health and environmental hazards encompassed by new European chemicals directives. Real product development cases are used based on Ostfold Research's collaboration with industry – specifically a coatings company. The principal objective of the work was to investigate the degree to which hazardous risk information could be combined with elements of LCA methodology to better inform product development. The work also shows how the tool equips product developers to move beyond the limited insight provided by the pure hazardous risk information approach, to also consider health and environmental hazard aspects in a functional perspective typical of LCA. This allows the identification of differences in product development priorities resulting from the two approaches. Some results from testing the prototype tool are presented and its application in product development within the coatings company and for other companies is discussed. The work presented in this paper falls short of the aim of including the full life cycle perspective, but represents an important first step towards achieving this. The work demonstrates that some integration of hazardous risk and LCA approaches is practicable, and indicates that such integration gives rise to changes in product development priorities. Combining hazardous risk information with LCA is valuable for decision makers, including product designers. The tool presented in this paper makes it possible for decision makers to combine LCA functional unit information with hazardous risk information, enabling designers to reduce a product's hazardous risk.

The use of LCA studies and LCA outcomes in the decision-making processes of enterprises - discussion and conclusions on the basis of case studies

The paper assesses different ways of utilising life-cycle assessment (LCA) for life-cycle management (LCM) of products. Enterprises face different kinds of barriers for the use of LCA. These are related to communication, the lack of methods and information, or access to tools and information. There are different ways available for LCA data acquisition and the use of LCA results in decision-making. These include comprehensive research projects as well as much easier processes where LCA information is collected in accordance with existing product category rules and with the help of tailored tools. The paper studies, discusses and draws conclusions about the effective use of LCA for LCM in different kinds of enterprises and in different phases of supply chains with the help of case study results and literature. The position and the role in the supply chain and the size of the enterprise significantly affect the type of LCA approach needed.

Eco-innovation of a wooden childhood furniture set: An example of environmental solutions in the wood sector

The environmental profile of a set of wood furniture was carried out to define the best design criteria for its eco-design. A baby cot convertible into a bed, a study desk and a bedside table were the objects of study. Two quantitative and qualitative environmental approaches were combined in order to propose improvement alternatives: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Design for Environment (DfE). In the first case Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to identify the hot spots in the product system. As a next step, LCA information was used in eco-briefing to determine several improvement alternatives. A wood products company located in Catalonia (NE Spain) was assessed in detail, dividing the process into three stages: assembly, finishing and packaging. Ten impact categories were considered in the LCA study: abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, global warming, ozone layer depletion, human toxicity, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity and photochemical oxidant formation. Two processes can be considered the key environmental factors: the production of the wooden boards and electricity, with contributions of 45–68% and 14–33% respectively depending on the impact categories. Subsequently, several improvement alternatives were proposed in the eco-design process (DfE) to achieve reductions in a short–medium period of time in the environmental impact. These eco-design strategies could reduce the environmental profile of the setup by 14%. The correct methodological adaptation of the concept of eco-briefing, as a tool for communication among environmental technicians and designers, the simplification of the analytical tool used and the LCA, could facilitate the environmental analysis of a product. The results obtained provide information that can help the furniture sector to improve their environmental performance.

An Ecological Economic Critique of the Use of Market Information in Life Cycle Assessment Research

Summary The rising prominence of life cycle assessment (LCA) and similar environmental accounting frameworks reflects increasing awareness of the pressing necessity of managing both for eco-efficiency and with respect to the macroscale, environmental dimensions of the material/energy flows and emissions that underpin all economic activity. However, by relying on environmentally myopic market signals to inform evaluations of the biophysical dimensions of economic activity through the widespread use of market information (in particular, via economic allocation) in LCA, we are concerned that researchers greatly compromise the value of their work to furthering these objectives. In response to this problem, we provide a systematic critique of the use of market information in attributional LCA and present the case for an ecological-economic approach to the execution, interpretation, and application of biophysically consistent LCA research specifically intended to elucidate the environmental dimensions of meeting human needs. We further argue that, although LCA has historically been limited to informing eco-efficiency considerations, it can and should also be used to manage for sustainable scale, which is the first condition of sustainability.

PIQET: the design and development of an online ‘streamlined’ LCA tool for sustainable packaging design decision support

Background, aim and scope ‘Streamlined’ life cycle assessment (LCA) tools hold out the possibility of providing LCA information quickly and easily in order to support a variety of decision-making environments and situations. The utility of such tools is closely related to the accuracy needs and possibilities, and the particular decisions to be supported. In order to facilitate the provision and application of LCA information in decision making during packaging design, development and utilisation, there is a prima facia case for a ‘streamlined’ LCA tool, provided it meets a set of requirements, including functionality, accuracy, validity, reliability and usability.

Integration of Life Cycle Assessment Into Agent‐Based Modeling

SummaryA method is presented that allows for a life cycle assessment (LCA) to provide environmental information on an energy infrastructure system while it evolves. Energy conversion facilities are represented in an agent‐based model (ABM) as distinct instances of technologies with owners capable of making decisions based on economic and environmental information. This simulation setup allows us to explore the dynamics of assembly, disassembly, and use of these systems, which typically span decades, and to analyze the effect of using LCA information in decision making.We were able to integrate a simplified LCA into an ABM by aligning and connecting the data structures that represent the energy infrastructure and the supply chains from source to sink. By using an appropriate database containing life cycle inventory (LCI) information and by solving the scaling factors for the technology matrix, we computed the contribution to global warming in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents in the form of a single impact indicator for each instance of technology at each discrete simulation step. These LCAs may then serve to show each agent the impact of its activities at a global level, as indicated by its contribution to climate change. Similar to economic indicators, the LCA indicators may be fed back to the simulated decision making in the ABM to emulate the use of environmental information while the system evolves. A proof of concept was developed that is illustrated for a simplified LCA and ABM used to generate and simulate the evolution of a bioelectricity infrastructure system.

LCAccess – Global Directory of LCI resources

LCAccess is an EPA-sponsored web-site intended to promote the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) in business decision-making by facilitating access to data sources that are useful in developing a life cycle inventory (LCI). While LCAccess does not itself contain data, it is a searchable global directory of potential data sources. In addition to directing users to relevant data sources, LCAccess also serves as a central source for LCA information. To find the LCAccess web-site go to: http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/lcaccess. LCAccess is soliciting organizations that have completed LCI/LCA studies to provide their data sources for reference in LCAccess.

Environmental costs and benefits in life cycle costing

PurposeFrom a methodological point of view, life cycle costing (LCC) is well developed with respect to conventional costs. However, when it comes to costs related to environmental issues, neither the items nor their estimation have been well developed. This paper aims at investigating the possibilities of using life cycle assessment (LCA) results to identify and estimate environmental costs or benefits in an LCC.Design/methodology/approachThe paper begins by looking at the driving forces for introducing environmental costs in companies, continues by identifying external and internal environmental cost issues, and concludes with an attempt to estimate the internal costs.FindingsSome of the items of an LCC have to do with increased/decreased sales, others with good will. Both are difficult to estimate, but LCA or LCA‐like investigations may be helpful in identifying relevant issues. Future costs to the product system may also be estimated, for example, with a distance‐to‐target type of weighting. LCA may be helpful in roughly estimating risks, especially together with those LCA impact assessment methods that model damage. Such an item in LCC can be dealt with as an insurance fee or, if the risk is too high, as a way of including necessary preventive actions.Research limitations/implicationsThe literature on the subject is limited and not sufficient to aid in estimation of environmental costs and benefits for a company. It seems reasonable to begin an improvement of the methodology by looking at future costs and benefits.Practical implicationsThis paper may help in structuring the task of using LCA information for estimating environmental costs in LCC.Originality/valueThere has been increased interest recently in the integration of LCA and LCC, such as in the SETAC (Society for Ecotoxicology and Chemistry) working group on LCC. This paper contributes with new outlooks and structures for that work.

The status of life‐cycle assessment as an environmental management tool

AbstractAs environmental awareness increases, industries and businesses have responded by providing “greener” products and using “greener” processes. Many companies have found it advantageous to explore ways of moving beyond compliance, using pollution prevention strategies and environmental management systems, to improve their environmental performance. One such way is life‐cycle assessment (LCA). This concept considers the entire life cycle of a product, process, or an activity. Evaluating environmental impacts holistically from raw material acquisition, through manufacture, use, and disposal using a life‐cycle perspective is gradually being viewed by environmental managers and decision makers as an important element in achieving environmental sustainability. The use of a holistic, life‐cycle approach can help industry and government avoid the unintended trading of one environmental problem for another. This paper addresses ongoing research in LCA methodology in the US EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory. Two key areas of this research include life‐cycle inventory (LCI) data availability and life‐cycle impact assessment (LCIA) modeling.To address the issue of data availability, EPA developed a website entitled LCAccess. Although LCAccess does not itself contain data, it is a searchable global directory to potential data sources. LCAccess also serves as a central source for LCA information. In addition, EPA developed TRACI (the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts), which allows the characterization of ozone depletion, global warming, acidification, eutrophication, tropospheric ozone (smog) formation, ecotoxicity, human particulate effects, human health, fossil fuel depletion, and land use effects. TRACI can be used with life‐cycle inventory to further analyze and understand the data. © 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2004

Energy in chemical manufacturing processes: gate‐to‐gate information for life cycle assessment

AbstractGate‐to‐gate process energy for 86 chemical manufacturing processes is presented. The estimation of the process energy follows design‐based methodology. Results show that the gate‐to‐gate process energy for half of organic chemicals ranges from 0 to 4 MJ per kg, and for half of inorganic chemicals ranges from −1 to 3 MJ per kg. The main energy source in both organic and inorganic processes is steam energy followed by potential recovered energy. In organic chemicals, the fractions of heating oil and electricity use are relatively low, but these fractions are higher in the inorganic chemicals than in the organic chemicals. Furthermore, about 50% of the energy consumed in chemical processes is used for purifying the product, byproduct or recycled stream, which indicates that there are large opportunities for improving the process energy in chemical processes. The information presented in this study is very important for those in the life cycle assessment community in order for them to identify inaccurate information or information not based on actual process design. However, the range for the entire range of chemicals is very substantial and thus reflects the need of the life cycle inventory to separately evaluate the chemistry and degree of purity for chemical products. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry

LCAccess: A global directory of life cycle assessment resources

AbstractLCAccess is an EPA‐sponsored Web site intended to promote the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in business decision‐making by facilitating access to data sources useful in developing a life cycle inventory (LCI). While LCAccess does not, itself, contain data, it is a searchable global directory of potential data sources, and serves as a central source for LCA information.

An approach for handling geographical information in life cycle assessment using a relational database

A new data model has been developed to handle information relevant to site-specific life cycle assessments (LCA). The model is orientated towards GIS-representations of three generalised subsystems; the technical, the environmental and the social subsystems. The technical and environmental systems are mainly linked through flows of energy and matter, which are the causes of environmental impacts, which subsequently is perceived, evaluated and acted upon by the social subsystem. For all three systems important differences, attributable to geographical locations can be determined. With the new data model a possibility to enhance LCA and reach more relevant results emerge due to a higher site specificity. The high level data model is expressed as relations between different entities using the entity relationship (ER) modelling language. An existing LCA-database, SPINE, which is already used by several companies for decision support in product development, can be utilised since the structure of the database supports geographical information. So far, applications with GIS-data are limited, but examples of area specific LCA impact characterisation factors exist.

ニュータウン建設における二酸化炭素排出量の概略推計方法の検討

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an effective tool to evaluate the environmental impact of urban infrastructure, and to choose the alternative with the least impact. Application of LCA in master planning phase of development of residential or resort area enables planners to choose environmentally benign alternative better than its application in implementation phase.This study proposes a method of LCA in master planning phase in which detailed information for LCA is limited because details of plan is not yet determined. The proposed LCA was applied to projects of 7 new residential area development, 1 new complex area of residence and logistics, 2 resort area actually completed in Japan. The result of LCA serves a criterion to evaluate such a project in addition to cost and performance.

Developing a decision support tool for life‐cycle cost assessments

AbstractRecent years have seen advancements in the development and use of life‐cycle assessment (LCA) analytic techniques. Although these techniques have highlighted the power of LCA to identify the environmental consequences of a product system through its entire life cycle, they have also highlighted a major shortcoming of LCA—the lack of cost information. Because companies make daily decisions that involve trade‐offs between economics and the environment, including cost information in LCA is critical for advancing its use as an overall environmental decision‐making tool. This article outlines the current state of LCA methodology development, defines key life‐cycle cost assessment terms and concepts, and evaluates existing cost assessment techniques with the objective of building an integrated life‐cycle cost assessment tool.