05.0 Environmental Assessment Tools
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
5.2 Eco Design
5.3 Mass Flow Analysis
1/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Analysis of Environmental,
Financial and Social Impacts
throughout the Life-cycle of
Products and Processes
2/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Contents
• The Concept of Environmental LCA
• Methodology of Environmental LCA;
• Goal and Scope
• Inventory Analysis
• Impact Assessment
• Interpretation
• Extending the scope of Environmental LCA;
• Economic LCA
• Social LCA
3/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (1)
• Products do no pollute, but their production, use and
disposal do!
• Product systems are composed of interrelated
processes
Life Cycle of Product Systems (Source:
USEPA, 2006. Life Cycle Assessment:
Principles and Practice, Cincinnati, Ohio
report no. 45268
4/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (2)
• Some products have a dominating environmental
load in production, some in use, some in disposal:
Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
books, furniture, art etc.
cars, television, airco etc.
Ni-Cd batteries, household
chemicals, fireworks etc.
5/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (3)
• Environmental LCA is the quantitative assessment of
environmental impacts of products or processes over
their life cycle.
LCA is the analysis of the contribution of lifecycle stages, product
parts or processes to environmental burden.
LCA is often used to compare between products or design
alternatives.
• Applications of LCA:
Product improvement
Support for strategic choices
Benchmarking
External communication
6/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (4)
• LCA is a model of a complex reality!
• …of an average lifecycle of a mass product
• …of the effect of all impacts that occur
• …of their interaction.
• Any model is a simplification of reality: If you
make a model, you must specify the goal and
scope describing why you want to make the
model.
7/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (1)
1. Goal and Scope definition
2. Inventory Analysis
3. Impact Assessment
4. Interpretation
Life cycle assessment framework
Goal
and scope
definition
Direct applications:
Inventory
analysis
The official LCA framework
according to the International
Standards: ISO 14040:2006 and
ISO 14044:2006
Interpretation
-
Product development
and improvement
-
Strategic planning
-
Public policy making
-
Marketing
-
Other
Impact
assessment
8/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (2), Goal and Scope
Questions:
•
What is the intended application of the LCA?
•
How much effort do you want to invest?
•
Who are interested parties?
•
What methodology will you use?
Why is a goal and scope definition important?
–
–
–
–
guidance in data collection phase
communication base for data providers
reference for data quality management.
afterwards, to explain how choices have been made during the various LCA
phases.
9/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (3), Goal and Scope
•
Definition of functional unit, initial system boundaries and procedural
aspects
Functional unit: comparison of products on the basis of equivalent
function, for example: comparison of 2 packaging systems for 1000 litres
of milk by (a) 1000 disposable cartons or (b) 100 reusable bottles;
instead of comparison of 1 carton and 1 bottle.
Functional unit is basis for comparison
?
=
“Compare
environmental
impacts of
packaging of 1000
litres milk in carton
packages or glass
bottles”
10/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (4), Goal and Scope
•
Definition of functional unit, initial system boundaries and procedural
aspects
System boundaries: definition of processes that are included in the
investigation, e.g. material extraction, processing and transport; energy
production; disposal processes. Production of capital goods (equipment
used for production and transportation) are often excluded from the
system. System boundaries are further defined during the inventory
process.
Procedural aspects: organizational arrangements such as a critical
review to guarantee consistency, scientific validity, transparency of the
final report and how various stakeholders will be involved in the process
(LCA is a participatory process)
11/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (4), Inventory
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Also referred to as Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) phase
Compiling and quantifying of inputs and outputs
Collecting of data, determination of total emissions and resource use
Detailed defining of product system and economy-environment
boundary. Only data collection for processes that are controlled by
human beings (economic processes). Examples: coal mining,
electricity production, controlled dumping of solid waste etc.
Visualizing connected processes in product system
Scaling of available technical data (e.g. from data libraries) to
functional unit
Aggregating the inputs and outputs in Inventory Table
12/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (5), Inventory
Example of Product system and Inventory Table
electricity
steel
plastic
incineration
production
distribution
use
reuse
recycling
dump
LCI table with environmental
interventions
Crude oil
from earth
40000 kg
CO2 to air
3500
SO2 to air
20 kg
NOx to air
100 kg
Cd to water
5g
PAH to
water
8 kg
Etc.
…….
13/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (6), Inventory
Difficulties:
• Data availability and quality
Data rarely available, usually special data gathering studies needed
Measurement procedures rarely standardized
•
Geographic variations
quality of raw materials/energy sources
production methods
relevant environmental impacts
•
Technology
Which type of electricity production?
Salt Electrolysis with Mercury or Membrane process?
Oldest, average or modern Waste Incineration Plant?
14/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (6), Inventory
Difficulties:
• Allocation of environmental interventions in case of multiple output
processes;
Many processes are ‘multifunctional’ (e.g. co-production, combined
waste treatment.) and interventions can be allocated to more outputs:
Recycling
Electricity production
Chlorine
Salt electrolysis
Caustic Soda
•
Plastic
production
Paint
production
Plastic bag
use
Old plastic
Recycling and reuse
• Allocation determined by number of reuse times and fraction of
materials that can be recycled at a certain quality
15/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (7), Impact assessment
•
•
Also referred to as Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)
Linkage (long) list of LCI results to environmental impacts, like
climate change, acidification, eco-toxic impacts etc.
LCI result
Raw
materials
Land use
CO2
VOS
P
SO2
NOx
CFC
Cd
PAH
DDT
Depletion
Depletion
Land
Landuse
use
Climate
Climate
change
change
Acidification
Acidification
Eutrophicatio
Eutrophicatio
nn
Ecotoxicity
Ecotoxicity
Humantoxicit
Humantoxicit
yy
16/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (8), Impact assessment:
•
Steps: Characterization, Classification and Normalization:
Determine which LCI results contribute to which impact category, e.g. CO2 and
CH4 to climate change
Multiply environmental interventions (resources, emissions etc.) from LCI with a
characterisation factor to get indicator results
Normalize to understand the relative magnitude of the indicator results and to get
Imp
dimensionless
score (useful for comparison)
a
ct c
r. F
Cha
r(
acto
Glo
b
at eg
o ry
ng
rmi
a
al W
l)
ntia
e
t
Po
Cat. Indicator result (kg CO2 equivalent)
17/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (9), Impact assessment
Category indicators are quantifiable representations of impact categories (ISO) and are
defined according standards, such as CML-IA, Eco indicator 99, Impact 2002+ etc.)
Intervention
CO2
P
SO2
NOx
DDT
Dust
Effect
Greenhouse
effect
Eutrophication
Acidification
Damage to
Eco-systems
Pesticides
Indicator
Winter smog
VOC
Summer smog
Cd
Heavy metals
PAH
CFC
Damage
Carconogenics
Damage to
human
health
Ozone layer depl.
18/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (9), Impact assessment
•
•
•
A ‘high’ contribution to a certain impact category (a high normalized
score) does not automatically mean an ‘important’ contribution
weighing of results is needed
Weighing is a valuation of results and thus a normative process,
depending on preferences of researcher; which environmental
impact is most important?
Procedure of LCIA according to ISO:
- Classification and characterisation are an obligatory step.
- Normalisation is an optional step.
- Weighing is only permitted for internal decision making, and not
for comparison of products to the public.
19/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (10), Interpretation
•
“Phase of life cycle assessment in which the findings of either the
inventory analysis or the impact assessment, or both, are combined
consistent with the defined goal and scope in order to reach
conclusions and recommendations” (ISO)
•
To interpret an LCA, you must check the goal and scope:
Are the the general assumptions reasonable?
Is the functional unit well chosen?
Are ISO standards applied?
Has a peer review been conducted?
20/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (10), Interpretation
•
Conduct a sensitivity analysis: analyze the impact of important
choices or assumptions
What if other allocations are applied.
What if other boundaries are applied.
What if other impact assessment method is used.
•
By recalculating the LCA with other assumptions, we can verify how
the conclusions connect with the assumptions.
21/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (1)
• LCA is often associated with environmental impacts, but
scope can be extended to include economic and social
impacts.
• Financial LCA = Life Cycle Costing (LCC);
• Analysis of life cycle costs
• Social LCA
• Social impacts throughout life cycle of products and
processes
22/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (2)
• What are the costs and revenues incured during the
life cycle of a product or process?
•
•
•
•
•
R&D
Production
Marketing
Sales
Etc.
• Sometimes external costs included as well (costs that
are ‘imposed’ on society or the environment):
• Monetary valuation of environmental LCI and LCIA results…
but is it possible to monetise all environmental services?
23/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (3)
• Social LCA analyses social impacts, such as employment
and health:
Job quality
Quality physical health
Quality social health
Earthly possessions
• Challenging to model social life cycle impacts, because
social conditions do change more rapidly
impacts from changes in employment conditions may dissipate
emotions resulting from changes disappear with time
diseases get cured
people who are laid off may find new jobs)
24/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
5.2 Eco-Design
Life Cycle Thinking within the
Design of Products and
Processes
25/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Contents
• What is Eco-Design?
• Implications for the Design Process.
• Consequences for Composition and Amount of Solid
Waste.
• Related Concepts: Design for Environment, Sustainable
Product Design.
26/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
What is Eco-Design?
• Eco-design…
• incorporates environmental aspects into the familiar
design process
• is aimed at improving eco-efficiency (section 2.3) of
products and processes
• evolves directly from life cycle thinking and is a logical
application of LCA (section 5.1) results
27/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (1)
• The designer considers
functionality requirements of
the product including its
environmental implications
along the life cycle.
• The ‘Lifecycle Design
Strategies Wheel’ visualizes
the guidelines of Eco-Design.
• A ‘product profile’ is created
using LCA.
The Lifecycle Design Strategies Wheel
28/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (2)
•
The relative complex LCA procedure and the creative slightly chaotic design
process are not so easy to combine:
Problem
Idea
Decision
29/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (3)
Availability of
information on
the product
Freedom to
change the
design
Planning
Idea generation
Concept development Detailed design
Complexity of the Design Process
30/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (4)
LCA activity
LCA information
generated
Assessment of
strategy
Strategic choices
LCA of reference
product
Design guidelines and
eco-indicators
Creativity techniques
are used to generate
new solutions
Use of design rules
and eco-indicators
Pre-selection of ideas
Best ideas are
selected and
elaborated
Short screenings and
what-if analysis
Support in concept
choices
Best concept is
detailed; prototype and
CAD drawings
Specific questions and
issues
Support in detailed
design choices
Design phase
Design activity
Product
planning
Target is defined as
product/market
combination
Refinement of target
and definition of
requirements
Analysis
Idea
generation
Concept
Detailed
design
Application of LCA results in Design for Environment
31/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (5)
•
Simulation of environmental impacts by LCA can provide important
guidance during the design process:
…In the creative phase as pre-defined guidelines and predefined indicators
…In the concept phase as screenings
…An LCA of a reference product should be ready before the
creative phase in order to develop dedicated guidelines and
indicators!
!
Possibilities for environmental improvement are large at the
early/conceptual phase within the design process, when there is still
freedom to change the design
32/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (1)
•
•
•
Eco-Design implies efficient resource use for production
Eco-Design implies lower use of toxic substances
Eco-Design implies efficient material and energy use
…which decreases…:
•
•
•
•
natural resource extractions (materials and energy)
hazardous materials within discarded products
toxic emissions during incineration
solid waste quantities
33/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (2)
• Eco-Design improves Eco-efficiency:
Functional performance provided by product over life cycle
Eco-efficiency =
Environmental Impacts of product over life cycle
eco-efficiency
=
resourceefficiency
+
reduction haz.
substances
applying Eco-efficiency results in Eco-products…
34/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (3)
Eco-products
Improved
material and
energy content
(quantity and
quality) in
products
Reduced solid waste
amount and
hazardousness
composition
Consequences for solid waste:
• Reduction of natural resource extractions (materials and energy)
• Reduction or elimination of hazardous materials within waste
• Reduction of toxic emissions during incineration
35/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Design for Environment
Related Concepts: Design for Environment,
Sustainable Product Design (1)
Design for Environment (DfE): “the systematic
consideration of design performance with respect to
environmental, health, and safety objectives over the full
product and process life cycle” (Fiksel, 1996 in Wrisberg et al. 2002).
DfE…
• focuses on existing products and processes that fulfil
a specific function (function-oriented systems)
• expands the design scope towards environmental and
social implications of products and processes
36/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Sustainable Product Design
Related Concepts: Design for Environment,
Sustainable Product Design (2)
Sustainable Product Design: investigates possibilities for
improvement on a broader scale.
Examples:
• Alternative Function Fulfilment (changes the way in
which a specific function or need is fulfilled)
• System innovation (redesigning of product production
systems, creating ‘closed-loop’ economies etc.)
37/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
(MFA)
Analysis of Material Flows
in a Region
38/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Contents
•
•
•
•
Why MFA?
What is MFA?
Rationale of MFA: the Mass Balance Principle
Framework of MFA;
• System Definition
• Quantification of Flows and Stocks
• Interpretation
• Applications of MFA
39/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (1)
Because products do not pollute, but materials do…
Natural
Resource
Depletion
Waste
Absorption
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Waste
Residuals
(Pollution)
Environment:
waste sink
Extractions of
materials
40/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (1)
…hence, material flows and stocks from the economy are crucial
to the understanding of environmental problems
Material flows and
accumulations
Throughput
Throughput
Hazard
Hazard
potential
potential
Quantityaspect
Qualityaspect
41/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (2)
… and eventually solutions are based on an analysis of
environmental problems in material/physical terms ( Van der Voet,
1996)
Natural
Resource
Depletion
Waste
Absorption
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Extractions of
materials
Pollution
Environment:
waste sink
Quantitatively: lower materials throughput
Qualitatively: less hazardous materials
42/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
What is MFA? (1)
MFA is a tool for systematic research of flows and stocks of
materials from ‘cradle to grave’ (LCA!) in a region:
MFA is useful for:
•Identification of sources of environmental
pollution
•Identification of accumulations of
hazardous substances
•Identification of potential control points,
useful for environmental management
43/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
What is MFA? (2)
•
•
•
MFA describes the industrial ‘metabolism’ of a region: the transfer,
storage and transformation of substances within an anthropogenic
(=human controlled) system and the exchange of these
substances with the environment (Brunner and Rechberger 2004).
Examples:
Sources, pathways and sinks for mercury in a watershed
Nitrogen flows and stocks in the Malang area
Sometimes MFA is applied on systems of smaller scale; for
example the flows and stocks of heavy metals in a waste
incineration plant
44/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
Pro
c es
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
ses
with
in
sub
Systematic analysis of regional
material flows and
sys
t em
‘air ’
Eco
nom
stocks
y-E
nvir
o
•
•
nm e
nt B
oun
Systematic description of
Flows and Stocks of materials
in a region where activities in
the anthroposhere are taking
place
There is an exchange of
materials between and within
anthropogenic (economic)
and environmental
subsystems
Systematic overview of material flows in
a region
Pro
c
s
sub
n
i
h
it
es w
s
s
e
yste
dar
a
m ‘w
ce
Pro
s
sse
y
t er ’
s
sub
n
i
with
yste
’
arth
e
‘
m
45/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Rationale of MFA: The Mass Balance Principle (1)
• Mass balance: the law of conservation of mass
• Mass output = Mass input + Mass accumulation
2
1
3
Xp-q: Material Flow from process ‘p’ to process ‘q’
• X0-1 = X1-2 + X1-3
• X1-2 = X2-0
• X1-3 = X3-0
• X0-1 = X2-0+ X3-0
46/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Advantages of applying Mass Balance Principle
1. Mass balances can be applied at different system levels:
• Single processes
• Complex combinations of processes at smaller and larger
scales:
Household
Country
World
2. Valuable tool to calculate regional streams that are hardly
measurable, like in waste residual outputs (Ayres 1989).
3. Efficient way to obtain accurate results even when some data
are missing
47/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (1)
Problem
1
Goal and system
definition
2
Quantification of flows
and stocks
3
Interpretation
48/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (1)
1
Goal definition = selection of substance or material to be
investigated: single element (Substance Flow Analysis) or group
of substances (Material Flow Analysis)
System definition = definition of system boundaries and relevant
processes
a. Spatial boundary: Geographical or administrative boundary
(e.g. watershed or country)
b. Temporal boundary: Flows per hour or month or year. Often
1 year because of data availabillity
c. Selection of relevant processes: Only processes that are
significant to the substance(s) under investigation
49/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (2)
2
Quantification of stocks and flows:
Calculate mass flows of goods that enter and leave
processes (measurements or applying mass balance)
Calculate substance flows within these flows (multiplying
mass flows of goods with element concentrations)
Calculate stocks: is there any type of accumulation
occuring?
Example of mass flow of goods and a substance (Cadmium) in a municipal
waste incinerator
50/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (3)
3
• Interpretation of results:
What is the relative contribution of processes to certain flows?
Where are hotspots and potential control points?
Is there a possibility of problem shifting when certain flows will
be restricted?
51/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (4)
• MFA is a cyclical process: start with provisional data and rough
estimations; refine and improve system until required data quality
is achieved
Systematic overview of MFA procedures
52/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA: resource management
• Analysis and planning of resources
• Identification of depletion and accumulation of
materials in society; forecasting of resource scarcities
and ‘secondary’ sources (recycling, landfills)
Example: natural resources are transformed to
‘anthropogenic’ resources; stocks in landfills
become important for future mining of
substances
53/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; resource management
• Resource study: Copper cycle in Asia
Copper cycle in Asia The units are Gg
Cu/year; Lith=Lithosphere
54/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; environmental management
• Identification of existence, size and fate of
hazardous substances in a region
• Identification of hotspots and control points
• Identification of problem shifts
Example (hypothetical): “A Material Flow Account of a harbour
substance
source
problem shift
watershed shows a large flow of mercury in wastewater. Laboratories
are relatively the largest contributors. In wastewater treatment plants,
absorption and deposition to sludge are a major removal mechanism
for mercury. When mercury flows in wastewater are restricted by
means of imposing advanced treatment technology to wastewater
treatment plants in the region, then mercury outflows to landfills are
likely to increase.”
55/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA in soil management
56/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; solid waste management
• MFA discerns between flows of ‘goods’ and ‘substances’
Important because substances cause environmental
problems, while flows of substances can only be controlled
indirectly via flows of the goods that contain the substances.
“It is not the good leachate of a landfill that imposes danger
to the groundwater. The danger resides in the cocktail of
hazardous substances in the leachate of the landfill.” (Brunner
and Rechberger 2004)
• MFA can identify appropriate recycling options
Elemental composition of materials determine whether a
material is appropriate for recycling
• MFA identifies side-effects of recycling
Accumulation of heavy metals in soils when sewage sludge
is used as agricultural fertilizer
57/57
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
5.2 Eco Design
5.3 Mass Flow Analysis
1/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Analysis of Environmental,
Financial and Social Impacts
throughout the Life-cycle of
Products and Processes
2/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Contents
• The Concept of Environmental LCA
• Methodology of Environmental LCA;
• Goal and Scope
• Inventory Analysis
• Impact Assessment
• Interpretation
• Extending the scope of Environmental LCA;
• Economic LCA
• Social LCA
3/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (1)
• Products do no pollute, but their production, use and
disposal do!
• Product systems are composed of interrelated
processes
Life Cycle of Product Systems (Source:
USEPA, 2006. Life Cycle Assessment:
Principles and Practice, Cincinnati, Ohio
report no. 45268
4/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (2)
• Some products have a dominating environmental
load in production, some in use, some in disposal:
Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
books, furniture, art etc.
cars, television, airco etc.
Ni-Cd batteries, household
chemicals, fireworks etc.
5/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (3)
• Environmental LCA is the quantitative assessment of
environmental impacts of products or processes over
their life cycle.
LCA is the analysis of the contribution of lifecycle stages, product
parts or processes to environmental burden.
LCA is often used to compare between products or design
alternatives.
• Applications of LCA:
Product improvement
Support for strategic choices
Benchmarking
External communication
6/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (4)
• LCA is a model of a complex reality!
• …of an average lifecycle of a mass product
• …of the effect of all impacts that occur
• …of their interaction.
• Any model is a simplification of reality: If you
make a model, you must specify the goal and
scope describing why you want to make the
model.
7/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (1)
1. Goal and Scope definition
2. Inventory Analysis
3. Impact Assessment
4. Interpretation
Life cycle assessment framework
Goal
and scope
definition
Direct applications:
Inventory
analysis
The official LCA framework
according to the International
Standards: ISO 14040:2006 and
ISO 14044:2006
Interpretation
-
Product development
and improvement
-
Strategic planning
-
Public policy making
-
Marketing
-
Other
Impact
assessment
8/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (2), Goal and Scope
Questions:
•
What is the intended application of the LCA?
•
How much effort do you want to invest?
•
Who are interested parties?
•
What methodology will you use?
Why is a goal and scope definition important?
–
–
–
–
guidance in data collection phase
communication base for data providers
reference for data quality management.
afterwards, to explain how choices have been made during the various LCA
phases.
9/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (3), Goal and Scope
•
Definition of functional unit, initial system boundaries and procedural
aspects
Functional unit: comparison of products on the basis of equivalent
function, for example: comparison of 2 packaging systems for 1000 litres
of milk by (a) 1000 disposable cartons or (b) 100 reusable bottles;
instead of comparison of 1 carton and 1 bottle.
Functional unit is basis for comparison
?
=
“Compare
environmental
impacts of
packaging of 1000
litres milk in carton
packages or glass
bottles”
10/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (4), Goal and Scope
•
Definition of functional unit, initial system boundaries and procedural
aspects
System boundaries: definition of processes that are included in the
investigation, e.g. material extraction, processing and transport; energy
production; disposal processes. Production of capital goods (equipment
used for production and transportation) are often excluded from the
system. System boundaries are further defined during the inventory
process.
Procedural aspects: organizational arrangements such as a critical
review to guarantee consistency, scientific validity, transparency of the
final report and how various stakeholders will be involved in the process
(LCA is a participatory process)
11/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (4), Inventory
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Also referred to as Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) phase
Compiling and quantifying of inputs and outputs
Collecting of data, determination of total emissions and resource use
Detailed defining of product system and economy-environment
boundary. Only data collection for processes that are controlled by
human beings (economic processes). Examples: coal mining,
electricity production, controlled dumping of solid waste etc.
Visualizing connected processes in product system
Scaling of available technical data (e.g. from data libraries) to
functional unit
Aggregating the inputs and outputs in Inventory Table
12/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (5), Inventory
Example of Product system and Inventory Table
electricity
steel
plastic
incineration
production
distribution
use
reuse
recycling
dump
LCI table with environmental
interventions
Crude oil
from earth
40000 kg
CO2 to air
3500
SO2 to air
20 kg
NOx to air
100 kg
Cd to water
5g
PAH to
water
8 kg
Etc.
…….
13/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (6), Inventory
Difficulties:
• Data availability and quality
Data rarely available, usually special data gathering studies needed
Measurement procedures rarely standardized
•
Geographic variations
quality of raw materials/energy sources
production methods
relevant environmental impacts
•
Technology
Which type of electricity production?
Salt Electrolysis with Mercury or Membrane process?
Oldest, average or modern Waste Incineration Plant?
14/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (6), Inventory
Difficulties:
• Allocation of environmental interventions in case of multiple output
processes;
Many processes are ‘multifunctional’ (e.g. co-production, combined
waste treatment.) and interventions can be allocated to more outputs:
Recycling
Electricity production
Chlorine
Salt electrolysis
Caustic Soda
•
Plastic
production
Paint
production
Plastic bag
use
Old plastic
Recycling and reuse
• Allocation determined by number of reuse times and fraction of
materials that can be recycled at a certain quality
15/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (7), Impact assessment
•
•
Also referred to as Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)
Linkage (long) list of LCI results to environmental impacts, like
climate change, acidification, eco-toxic impacts etc.
LCI result
Raw
materials
Land use
CO2
VOS
P
SO2
NOx
CFC
Cd
PAH
DDT
Depletion
Depletion
Land
Landuse
use
Climate
Climate
change
change
Acidification
Acidification
Eutrophicatio
Eutrophicatio
nn
Ecotoxicity
Ecotoxicity
Humantoxicit
Humantoxicit
yy
16/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (8), Impact assessment:
•
Steps: Characterization, Classification and Normalization:
Determine which LCI results contribute to which impact category, e.g. CO2 and
CH4 to climate change
Multiply environmental interventions (resources, emissions etc.) from LCI with a
characterisation factor to get indicator results
Normalize to understand the relative magnitude of the indicator results and to get
Imp
dimensionless
score (useful for comparison)
a
ct c
r. F
Cha
r(
acto
Glo
b
at eg
o ry
ng
rmi
a
al W
l)
ntia
e
t
Po
Cat. Indicator result (kg CO2 equivalent)
17/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (9), Impact assessment
Category indicators are quantifiable representations of impact categories (ISO) and are
defined according standards, such as CML-IA, Eco indicator 99, Impact 2002+ etc.)
Intervention
CO2
P
SO2
NOx
DDT
Dust
Effect
Greenhouse
effect
Eutrophication
Acidification
Damage to
Eco-systems
Pesticides
Indicator
Winter smog
VOC
Summer smog
Cd
Heavy metals
PAH
CFC
Damage
Carconogenics
Damage to
human
health
Ozone layer depl.
18/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (9), Impact assessment
•
•
•
A ‘high’ contribution to a certain impact category (a high normalized
score) does not automatically mean an ‘important’ contribution
weighing of results is needed
Weighing is a valuation of results and thus a normative process,
depending on preferences of researcher; which environmental
impact is most important?
Procedure of LCIA according to ISO:
- Classification and characterisation are an obligatory step.
- Normalisation is an optional step.
- Weighing is only permitted for internal decision making, and not
for comparison of products to the public.
19/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (10), Interpretation
•
“Phase of life cycle assessment in which the findings of either the
inventory analysis or the impact assessment, or both, are combined
consistent with the defined goal and scope in order to reach
conclusions and recommendations” (ISO)
•
To interpret an LCA, you must check the goal and scope:
Are the the general assumptions reasonable?
Is the functional unit well chosen?
Are ISO standards applied?
Has a peer review been conducted?
20/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (10), Interpretation
•
Conduct a sensitivity analysis: analyze the impact of important
choices or assumptions
What if other allocations are applied.
What if other boundaries are applied.
What if other impact assessment method is used.
•
By recalculating the LCA with other assumptions, we can verify how
the conclusions connect with the assumptions.
21/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (1)
• LCA is often associated with environmental impacts, but
scope can be extended to include economic and social
impacts.
• Financial LCA = Life Cycle Costing (LCC);
• Analysis of life cycle costs
• Social LCA
• Social impacts throughout life cycle of products and
processes
22/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (2)
• What are the costs and revenues incured during the
life cycle of a product or process?
•
•
•
•
•
R&D
Production
Marketing
Sales
Etc.
• Sometimes external costs included as well (costs that
are ‘imposed’ on society or the environment):
• Monetary valuation of environmental LCI and LCIA results…
but is it possible to monetise all environmental services?
23/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (3)
• Social LCA analyses social impacts, such as employment
and health:
Job quality
Quality physical health
Quality social health
Earthly possessions
• Challenging to model social life cycle impacts, because
social conditions do change more rapidly
impacts from changes in employment conditions may dissipate
emotions resulting from changes disappear with time
diseases get cured
people who are laid off may find new jobs)
24/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
5.2 Eco-Design
Life Cycle Thinking within the
Design of Products and
Processes
25/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Contents
• What is Eco-Design?
• Implications for the Design Process.
• Consequences for Composition and Amount of Solid
Waste.
• Related Concepts: Design for Environment, Sustainable
Product Design.
26/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
What is Eco-Design?
• Eco-design…
• incorporates environmental aspects into the familiar
design process
• is aimed at improving eco-efficiency (section 2.3) of
products and processes
• evolves directly from life cycle thinking and is a logical
application of LCA (section 5.1) results
27/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (1)
• The designer considers
functionality requirements of
the product including its
environmental implications
along the life cycle.
• The ‘Lifecycle Design
Strategies Wheel’ visualizes
the guidelines of Eco-Design.
• A ‘product profile’ is created
using LCA.
The Lifecycle Design Strategies Wheel
28/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (2)
•
The relative complex LCA procedure and the creative slightly chaotic design
process are not so easy to combine:
Problem
Idea
Decision
29/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (3)
Availability of
information on
the product
Freedom to
change the
design
Planning
Idea generation
Concept development Detailed design
Complexity of the Design Process
30/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (4)
LCA activity
LCA information
generated
Assessment of
strategy
Strategic choices
LCA of reference
product
Design guidelines and
eco-indicators
Creativity techniques
are used to generate
new solutions
Use of design rules
and eco-indicators
Pre-selection of ideas
Best ideas are
selected and
elaborated
Short screenings and
what-if analysis
Support in concept
choices
Best concept is
detailed; prototype and
CAD drawings
Specific questions and
issues
Support in detailed
design choices
Design phase
Design activity
Product
planning
Target is defined as
product/market
combination
Refinement of target
and definition of
requirements
Analysis
Idea
generation
Concept
Detailed
design
Application of LCA results in Design for Environment
31/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (5)
•
Simulation of environmental impacts by LCA can provide important
guidance during the design process:
…In the creative phase as pre-defined guidelines and predefined indicators
…In the concept phase as screenings
…An LCA of a reference product should be ready before the
creative phase in order to develop dedicated guidelines and
indicators!
!
Possibilities for environmental improvement are large at the
early/conceptual phase within the design process, when there is still
freedom to change the design
32/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (1)
•
•
•
Eco-Design implies efficient resource use for production
Eco-Design implies lower use of toxic substances
Eco-Design implies efficient material and energy use
…which decreases…:
•
•
•
•
natural resource extractions (materials and energy)
hazardous materials within discarded products
toxic emissions during incineration
solid waste quantities
33/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (2)
• Eco-Design improves Eco-efficiency:
Functional performance provided by product over life cycle
Eco-efficiency =
Environmental Impacts of product over life cycle
eco-efficiency
=
resourceefficiency
+
reduction haz.
substances
applying Eco-efficiency results in Eco-products…
34/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (3)
Eco-products
Improved
material and
energy content
(quantity and
quality) in
products
Reduced solid waste
amount and
hazardousness
composition
Consequences for solid waste:
• Reduction of natural resource extractions (materials and energy)
• Reduction or elimination of hazardous materials within waste
• Reduction of toxic emissions during incineration
35/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Design for Environment
Related Concepts: Design for Environment,
Sustainable Product Design (1)
Design for Environment (DfE): “the systematic
consideration of design performance with respect to
environmental, health, and safety objectives over the full
product and process life cycle” (Fiksel, 1996 in Wrisberg et al. 2002).
DfE…
• focuses on existing products and processes that fulfil
a specific function (function-oriented systems)
• expands the design scope towards environmental and
social implications of products and processes
36/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Sustainable Product Design
Related Concepts: Design for Environment,
Sustainable Product Design (2)
Sustainable Product Design: investigates possibilities for
improvement on a broader scale.
Examples:
• Alternative Function Fulfilment (changes the way in
which a specific function or need is fulfilled)
• System innovation (redesigning of product production
systems, creating ‘closed-loop’ economies etc.)
37/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
(MFA)
Analysis of Material Flows
in a Region
38/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Contents
•
•
•
•
Why MFA?
What is MFA?
Rationale of MFA: the Mass Balance Principle
Framework of MFA;
• System Definition
• Quantification of Flows and Stocks
• Interpretation
• Applications of MFA
39/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (1)
Because products do not pollute, but materials do…
Natural
Resource
Depletion
Waste
Absorption
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Waste
Residuals
(Pollution)
Environment:
waste sink
Extractions of
materials
40/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (1)
…hence, material flows and stocks from the economy are crucial
to the understanding of environmental problems
Material flows and
accumulations
Throughput
Throughput
Hazard
Hazard
potential
potential
Quantityaspect
Qualityaspect
41/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (2)
… and eventually solutions are based on an analysis of
environmental problems in material/physical terms ( Van der Voet,
1996)
Natural
Resource
Depletion
Waste
Absorption
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Extractions of
materials
Pollution
Environment:
waste sink
Quantitatively: lower materials throughput
Qualitatively: less hazardous materials
42/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
What is MFA? (1)
MFA is a tool for systematic research of flows and stocks of
materials from ‘cradle to grave’ (LCA!) in a region:
MFA is useful for:
•Identification of sources of environmental
pollution
•Identification of accumulations of
hazardous substances
•Identification of potential control points,
useful for environmental management
43/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
What is MFA? (2)
•
•
•
MFA describes the industrial ‘metabolism’ of a region: the transfer,
storage and transformation of substances within an anthropogenic
(=human controlled) system and the exchange of these
substances with the environment (Brunner and Rechberger 2004).
Examples:
Sources, pathways and sinks for mercury in a watershed
Nitrogen flows and stocks in the Malang area
Sometimes MFA is applied on systems of smaller scale; for
example the flows and stocks of heavy metals in a waste
incineration plant
44/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
Pro
c es
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
ses
with
in
sub
Systematic analysis of regional
material flows and
sys
t em
‘air ’
Eco
nom
stocks
y-E
nvir
o
•
•
nm e
nt B
oun
Systematic description of
Flows and Stocks of materials
in a region where activities in
the anthroposhere are taking
place
There is an exchange of
materials between and within
anthropogenic (economic)
and environmental
subsystems
Systematic overview of material flows in
a region
Pro
c
s
sub
n
i
h
it
es w
s
s
e
yste
dar
a
m ‘w
ce
Pro
s
sse
y
t er ’
s
sub
n
i
with
yste
’
arth
e
‘
m
45/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Rationale of MFA: The Mass Balance Principle (1)
• Mass balance: the law of conservation of mass
• Mass output = Mass input + Mass accumulation
2
1
3
Xp-q: Material Flow from process ‘p’ to process ‘q’
• X0-1 = X1-2 + X1-3
• X1-2 = X2-0
• X1-3 = X3-0
• X0-1 = X2-0+ X3-0
46/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Advantages of applying Mass Balance Principle
1. Mass balances can be applied at different system levels:
• Single processes
• Complex combinations of processes at smaller and larger
scales:
Household
Country
World
2. Valuable tool to calculate regional streams that are hardly
measurable, like in waste residual outputs (Ayres 1989).
3. Efficient way to obtain accurate results even when some data
are missing
47/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (1)
Problem
1
Goal and system
definition
2
Quantification of flows
and stocks
3
Interpretation
48/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (1)
1
Goal definition = selection of substance or material to be
investigated: single element (Substance Flow Analysis) or group
of substances (Material Flow Analysis)
System definition = definition of system boundaries and relevant
processes
a. Spatial boundary: Geographical or administrative boundary
(e.g. watershed or country)
b. Temporal boundary: Flows per hour or month or year. Often
1 year because of data availabillity
c. Selection of relevant processes: Only processes that are
significant to the substance(s) under investigation
49/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (2)
2
Quantification of stocks and flows:
Calculate mass flows of goods that enter and leave
processes (measurements or applying mass balance)
Calculate substance flows within these flows (multiplying
mass flows of goods with element concentrations)
Calculate stocks: is there any type of accumulation
occuring?
Example of mass flow of goods and a substance (Cadmium) in a municipal
waste incinerator
50/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (3)
3
• Interpretation of results:
What is the relative contribution of processes to certain flows?
Where are hotspots and potential control points?
Is there a possibility of problem shifting when certain flows will
be restricted?
51/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (4)
• MFA is a cyclical process: start with provisional data and rough
estimations; refine and improve system until required data quality
is achieved
Systematic overview of MFA procedures
52/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA: resource management
• Analysis and planning of resources
• Identification of depletion and accumulation of
materials in society; forecasting of resource scarcities
and ‘secondary’ sources (recycling, landfills)
Example: natural resources are transformed to
‘anthropogenic’ resources; stocks in landfills
become important for future mining of
substances
53/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; resource management
• Resource study: Copper cycle in Asia
Copper cycle in Asia The units are Gg
Cu/year; Lith=Lithosphere
54/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; environmental management
• Identification of existence, size and fate of
hazardous substances in a region
• Identification of hotspots and control points
• Identification of problem shifts
Example (hypothetical): “A Material Flow Account of a harbour
substance
source
problem shift
watershed shows a large flow of mercury in wastewater. Laboratories
are relatively the largest contributors. In wastewater treatment plants,
absorption and deposition to sludge are a major removal mechanism
for mercury. When mercury flows in wastewater are restricted by
means of imposing advanced treatment technology to wastewater
treatment plants in the region, then mercury outflows to landfills are
likely to increase.”
55/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA in soil management
56/57
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; solid waste management
• MFA discerns between flows of ‘goods’ and ‘substances’
Important because substances cause environmental
problems, while flows of substances can only be controlled
indirectly via flows of the goods that contain the substances.
“It is not the good leachate of a landfill that imposes danger
to the groundwater. The danger resides in the cocktail of
hazardous substances in the leachate of the landfill.” (Brunner
and Rechberger 2004)
• MFA can identify appropriate recycling options
Elemental composition of materials determine whether a
material is appropriate for recycling
• MFA identifies side-effects of recycling
Accumulation of heavy metals in soils when sewage sludge
is used as agricultural fertilizer
57/57