A life cycle assessment lca is a tool that can be used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of a product, material, process, or activity. The objectives of the project have been to develop a code of practise for lca built on nordic consensus, to provide industry and other practitioners with a set of guidelines for lca, mainly in key issue identification lcas and to influence the international discussion on the subject. In this study, three different municipal solid waste msw management options like pyrolysisgasification, incineration and sanitary landfill are analyzed by life cycle assessment model using simapro software. Life cycle assessment of power transformercase study miro hegedic1, tihomir opetuk1, goran dukic1, hrvoje draskovic2 1university of zagreb, faculty of mechanical engineering and naval architecture, ivana lucica 5, zagreb, croatia 2koncarpower transformers ltd. Design for the environment lifecycle assessments safer. Life cycle assessment department of environmental affairs. A life cycle analysis lca tool is used to select environmentally preferable products or assemblies, or lca is conducted on the entire building. A life cycle assessment lca, also known as life cycle analysis, ecobalance is a technique for an product related estimation of environmental aspects and impact. Aia guide to building life cycle assessment in practice. The result of this study is expected to represent the environmental feature of typical diesel vehicles at each life cycle stage. General guide for life cycle assessment detailed guidance first edition v such are seen as the most appropriate solutions for enabling the efficient use of reliable and robust life cycle approaches in small and medium enterprises sme. A large number of methods and tools for describing environmental aspects have been developed for use in different types of decision context.
Carried out by mit and commissioned by dyson, this lca report is the first to compare such a. Life cycle assessment lca of food and beverage packaging. Life cycle assessment of consumer packaging for liquid food. Life cycle assessment lca methodology aims at evaluating the environmental impacts of a product or system from a holistic approach. At the european level, the parliament has suggested that the commission develop a framework for an integrated lifecycleoriented product policy. Pdf life cycle assessment of fine chemical production. An introduction to life cycle assessment lca nick santero, ph. In this methodology, all life cycle phases of the product are identified and assessed, from the raw material acquisition to the end of life phase. Nordic life cycle assessment wine pkp ackage st dst udy. The objective of this study was to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of a decentralized mobile production system for pelletizing logging residues in northern sweden operating at either the forest landing or forest terminal from a life cycle assessment lca perspective. What is and how to do it, and the european environment agencys lifecycle assessment.
Henrik wenzel was trained as a chemical engineer from the technical university of denmark dtu in 1982. The development of the ilcd has been coordinated by the european commission and has. The results from the inventory analysis and impact assessment are summarized during the interpretation phase. The future of building life cycle assessment in practice summary as the architectural and construction industries increasingly emphasize sustainability, more comprehensive methods are being developed to evaluate and reduce environmental impacts by buildings. Lifecycle assessment lca a guide to approaches, experiences and information sources there are great expectations for lca. Global guidance principles for life cycle assessment databases a basis for greener processes and products united nations environment programme p. Life cycle inventories and life cycle assessments of. The main objectives were to find any hot spots in the life cycle of milk, to determine the significance of the dairy. Three norwegian dairies of different sizes and degree of automation were studied. Life cycle assessment of energy from solid wastepart 1.
A consequential life cycle assessment lca and an energy analysis of seaweedbased biofuel production were carried out in nordic conditions. A bibliometric investigation of life cycle assessment research in the web of science databases. Life cycle assessment lca is the calculation and evaluation. This recent approach towards tracking the environmental impact of a specific product or process has been manipulated to better suit each and every need. Pdf life cycle assessment of automated container port. Conducting a life cycle assessment lca there are four main phases of the lca process. Swedish, finnish, danish and norwegian authors, published nordic guidelines on lifecycle assessment 26. Environmental life cycle assessment is an introductory college level textbook on the science of life cycle assessment. A life cycle assessment lca is a method that measures the environmental impact of different products. Ecolabelling is an effective tool for pioneering businesses that want visible proof of their environmental efforts. The methodological development in lca has been strong, and lca is broadly applied in practice.
Life cycle assessment lca is a commonly applied tool to analyze environmental burden for waste management technology, as well as system. Introduction to life cycle assessment 10 the following is just a brief list of the groups that use lcas and of the possibilities that an lca could be used for. The current report contains the results of the life cycle assessment lca study for four representative mattresses, yl polyether foam, latex foam, spring interior and a scandinavian mattress. Isocompliant life cycle inventory lci data for analysis and ultimate use in lcas is a key objective of this study and should remain a focus for the immediate future. Materials may include raw materials, intermediate products, emissions and waste. German federal environment agency uba and iso standards for lca in recent years lca of packaging systems and cooperation with packaging producers worldwide special focus on beverage packaging systems including many lca studies. Life cycle assessment environmental profile of cotton and. Nordic lca wine package study final report iso compliant. The lcia also provides information for the interpretation phase. When an atomic nucleus is split by nuclear fission. This master thesis is dealing with the lca o f a norwegian bridge.
The ecoindicator 95 method was employed to perform an impact assessment. Lifecycle assessment lca also called life cycle analysis is a tool for examining the total environmental impact of a product through every step of its life from obtaining raw materials all the way through making it in a factory, selling it in a store, using it in the workplace or at home, and disposing of it. Mar 15, 2015 phase of interpretation life cycle interpretation is a systematic technique to identify, quantify, check, and evaluate information from the results of the life cycle inventory andor the life cycle impact assessment. Request pdf on nov 16, 2012, merlin alvaradomorales and others published life cycle assessment of biofuel production from brown seaweed in nordic conditions find, read and cite all the. This studys 1 international standards organization, environmental management life cycle assessment principles and. Wool is the textile fibre where the largest benefits per tonne can be achieved from reuse and recycling. Life cycle assessment of hand drying systems 3 executive summary this lca is an analysis and comparison of the environmental impacts of handdrying systems found in public washrooms. Key findingsoftetra paklca studyfornordic countries. Lca examples investigating environmental impact of food packaging. The life cycle of this study includes all stages from raw material acquisition up to final disposal. In the life cycle impact assessment lcia, the product or production system is examined from an environmental perspective using category indicators.
Postdoctoral scholar civil and environmental engineering university of california, berkeley alissa kendall, ph. Life cycle assessment lca and ghg emission calculation development of methodologies and standards, e. One click lca, the worldleading construction lifecycle assessment and costing software, announces integration with climate earth, the leading provider of digital epds. Gaining benefits from discarded textiles for all fibres and recycling methods considered, recycling is a better environmental option than incineration, though the relative benefits are moderate compared to the benefits of reuse. System boundaries in life cycle assessments lca must be specified in several dimensions. This is the essence of the nordic swan ecolabel, and this is where it sets itself apart from other labels or certifications.
The use of algae for biofuel production is expected to play an important role in securing energy supply in the next decades. Evaluation of potential improvments to the product systems of cement and concrete with respect to environmental aspects. Nordic ilibrary environmental assessment of seafood. Comparative life cycle assessment of tetra pak carton. The major stages in a life cycle are raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, consumer usereusemaintenance, and recycle waste management. Life cycle assessment lca of industrial milk production. Life cycle assessment lca is emerging as one of the most. Towards a l c sustainability a life cycle initiative. Goals and scoping3 the scoping step determines which processes will be included, which environmental concerns will be included. A wholebuilding lca is performed using a life cycle assessment and data compliant with iso 14044 or other. Project participants represented national projects in this field in finland, sweden, denmark, norway and iceland. A second paper focuses on life cycle impact assessment lcia, the subsequent phase of an lca for assessing the inventory data in terms of contributions to environmental impacts life cycle impact assessment pennington et al.
Life cycle assessment introduction life cycle analysis or assessment lca is an examination of a products total environmental impacts from raw materials extraction on through to waste management. When an atomic nucleus is split by nuclear fission, heat is generated. Life cycle assessment lca life cycle assessment lca is a tool to evaluate the environmental effects of a product or process throughout its entire life cycle. Over thirty lca experts were brought together by the american center for life cycle assessment, with full redundant editing to provide a consistent and comprehensive coverage of. Comparative study of municipal solid waste treatment.
The nordic swan ecolabel generates sustainable solutions, which build upon a life cycle assessment. A guide to approaches, experiences and information sources 20. The textile production lca inventory calculations were based on the production process data of one finnish textile manufacturing company 22. Environmental life cycle assessment lca has developed fast over the last three decades. An lca entails examining the product from the extraction of raw materials for the manufacturing process, through the production and use of the.
Life cycle impact assessment lcia phase of life cycle assessment aimed at understanding and evaluating the magnitude and significance of the potential environmental impacts for a product system throughout the life cycle of the product iso 14040. Life cycle assessment of biofuel production from brown. The study has been commissioned by tetra pak and was finalised in december 2017. Ilcd handbook general guide on lca detailed guidance. Support life cycle thinking in the development of goods and services support life cycle thinking in a broad range fof policies with its activities and deliverables, this project addresses the needs of. A white paper 2 executive summary in most industries worldwide, including the forest products sector, there is an increasing focus on the environmental, social and economic sustainability credentials of companies and products. Comparison of concrete and asphalt roads from a life cycle perspective. Life cycle assessment results showed that the overall environmental impacts of bioadhesive was 30% lower compared to the petroadhesives production process. In 1991, the nordic council of ministers initiated a project on lca. The advantages of impact assessment and life cycle assessment lca have been highly documented based on the amount of published academia in the recent years. Flow of the life cycle stages, energy, materials, and effluents for pv systems raw. Life cycle assessment is a tool to assess the environmental impacts and resources used throughout a products life cycle, i.
A more recent compilation and introduction to the methodology can be found in jensen,1997. The european platform on life cycle assessment, a project of the european commission, has two main goals. A network project run has gathered researchers in the field of life cycle assessment lca and seafood to discuss and develop methodology for lcas of seafood products. Life cycle assessment for vattenfalls electricity generation. The available data covered the total manufacturing system.
An lca is a comprehensive method for assessing a range of environmental impacts across the full life cycle of a product system, from materials acquisition to manufacturing, use, and final. The idea of comprehensive environmental assessments of products was conceived in europe and in the united states in the. At the european level, the parliament has suggested that the commission develop a framework for an integrated life cycle oriented. Choice of system boundaries in life cycle assessment. Whereas lca developed from merely energy analysis to a comprehensive environmental burden analysis in the 1970s, fullfledged life cycle impact assessment and life cycle costing models were introduced in the 1980s and 1990s, and sociallca and particularly consequential lca gained ground in the first. Life cycle assessment lca methodology is standardised at the international level through iso 14 044 to quantify the environmental impacts of a service or product throughout its life lca is. On the nordic guidelines for life cycle assessment springerlink. Recent developments in life cycle assessment sciencedirect. A life cycle assessment lca aims at assessing the quantifiable environmental impacts of a service or product from the extraction of the materials contained within the components involved, to the treatment of these materials at the endof life stage. All life cycle steps are included in the assessment, from raw material extraction to endof life management. A comprehensive lca life cycle assessment study on tetra pak and alternative packages has been carried out for 24 packaging specifications on four nordic markets denmark, finland, norway, and sweden resulting in a total of 29 packaging types including different filler locations and product groups and 115 packaging systems when.
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