Lecture

Life Cycle Assessment Methodologies: Existing Approaches

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Description

This lecture introduces existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies, starting with the concept of critical volumes in the 1980s and progressing through key developments such as Ecoscarcity, Ecoindicator95, and CML. It explores the evolution of LCA thinking in the early 90s, highlighting three main schools of thought and the shift from midpoint to endpoint modeling. The presentation delves into a detailed chronology of LCA methodologies, emphasizing the progression from BUS's critical volumes to modern approaches like TRACI and ReCiPe. It also discusses the main existing methods categorized by their approach, such as Ecoscarcity, JEPIX, CML, and ILCD. The lecture concludes by addressing the importance of selecting the appropriate LCA method and provides references for further exploration.

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Related concepts (31)

Life-cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case of a manufactured product, environmental impacts are assessed from raw material extraction and processing (cradle), through the product's manufacture, distribution and use, to the recycling or final disposal of the materials composing it (grave).

Global warming potential

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much infrared thermal radiation a greenhouse gas added to the atmosphere would absorb over a given time frame, as a multiple of the radiation that would be absorbed by the same mass of added carbon dioxide (). GWP is 1 for . For other gases it depends on how strongly the gas absorbs infrared thermal radiation, how quickly the gas leaves the atmosphere, and the time frame being considered. The carbon dioxide equivalent (e or eq or -e) is calculated from GWP.

Emission intensity

Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of energy sources An emission intensity (also carbon intensity or C.I.) is the emission rate of a given pollutant relative to the intensity of a specific activity, or an industrial production process; for example grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule of energy produced, or the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions produced to gross domestic product (GDP).

Climate change

In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices increase greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane.

Effects of climate change

Climate change affects the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. Changes in the climate system include an overall warming trend, more extreme weather and rising sea levels. These in turn impact nature and wildlife, as well as human settlements and societies. The effects of human-caused climate change are broad and far-reaching, especially if significant climate action is not taken. The projected and observed negative impacts of climate change are sometimes referred to as the climate crisis.

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