BYG404-G Life-cycle assessment of constructions 23.August.2023 LCA in a nutshell 1 1 Today’s readings • Compendium 1: Chapter.1 – pages 1-20 • Chapter 1 of Hitch Hiker’s Guide to LCA • Optional: Weidema et al 2004 - The product, functional units and reference flows in LCA, pages 19-39 Review: seeing things as complex systems - A simple cake example Egg Mel Sukker Miksing av ingredienser Baking av kaken Spising av kaken! Smør Melk 3 A more complete recipe! Låven til høne Dyrking av hønemat Mat til høne Dyrking av sukkerrør Låven til kua Dyrking av halm Høne på gård Pakking av egg Kjøling i butikken Egg Dyrking av hvete Knusing av hvete Holding i butikken Mel Miksing av ingredienser Koking av rå sukkerrør Pakking av sukker Holding i butikken Sukker Smørlaging Pakking av smør Kjøling i butikken Smør Ku på gård Melking av kua Kjøling i butikken Melk Baking av kaken Spising av kaken! Mat til kua 4 Class exercise – Systems thinking – defining and describing a system • How would you describe following systems? What processes (inputs and outputs to the system) would be included in a life cycle perspective? – A house – An electric car – The production of steel – Norway’s energy system – A road • What is the purpose (function) of each system? Newspaper vs. Tablet: Which one has lower emissions for reading the news? LCA example: Newspaper LCA evaluates the environmental repercussions of the system resources into the system emissions out of the system http://www.naylornetwork.com/ppi-otw/newsletter.asp?issueID=22315 7 Newspaper 2 8 Newspaper 3 9 Newspaper 4 10 Newspaper 5 11 Newspaper 6 Why is tablet better than newspaper? 12 What is LCA? Why, what, and how to model Cradle Beginning of life Use phase Middle of life Goal and Scope Definition Emissions and resource/energy inputs Inventory analysis Grave End of life Environmental impacts and characterization Interpretation What the impacts mean Impact assessment LCA framework adapted from ISO 14044/Figure 1.1 in Hitch Hiker’s Guide to LCA Where do we get our materials and how? How does everything get from one place to the other? How do design choices influence impacts? Cradle Beginning of life to Grave End of life What happens to our infrastructure at the end-of-life? How are our materials processed? Life cycle of infrastructure How are we building our infrastructure? How do we maintain our infrastructure? Life cycle of infrastructure Source: Saint Gobain (https://www.isover.co.za/life-cycle-analysis-environmental-product-declarations) A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 C1 C2 C3 C4 D1 D2 D3 D4 Raw material extraction Transport Manufacturing Transport Construction and installation process Use Maintenance Repair Replacement Refurbishment Operational energy use Operational water use Demolition Transport Waste processing Disposal Reuse Recovery Recycling Exported energy potental CEN Standard for system boundaries of infrastructure System boundaries according to EN15804 and EN15978 Product stage Construction stage Use stage End-of-life Benefits and loads beyond the system boundary Why do we use LCA? • • • • Concern about environmental issues Need a tool to assess options To identify improvements in products and systems LCA useful for making decisions on products (or product systems) and processes • Policy, regulations and laws • To help us understand impacts! 18 What do we use LCA for? • • • • • • • • Comparisons of products and systems Product design/development and product improvement Strategic planning Public policy making Learning/exploration Communication and Marketing Ecolabelling Decision making! What is an LCA study? Goal and Scope Definition Inventory analysis Impact assessment Interpretation 1. Goal and scope definition LCA for washing detergent Purpose • Perform an inventory of ingredients • Compare two detergent formulations with environmental impact • Identify the activities that control the environmental impacts Q1: What do we mean by environmental impact? Which impacts? Q2: How much do we include in our evaluation? What is the boundary? 21 2. Inventory analysis Basic steps in an inventory analysis: 1. Construct a flow model (a flow chart) 2. Collect data – Raw materials & energy in – Products out – Wastes and emissions to air and water 3. Calculate amounts of resource use and emissions and characterize them as potentials 22 Detergent inventory analysis The inventory analysis maps the flows in and out of the system resources into the system emissions out of the system Detergent inventory analysis – flowsheet Material production 1 Material production 2 Material production 3 Material production 4 Material production 5 Material production 6 Material production 7 Raw materials Material transport 1 Material transport 2 Material transport 3 Material transport 4 Material transport 5 Material transport 6 Material transport 7 Transport Formulation Production Transport to retailer Transport Packaging? Retail sale Transport to user Surface water Water treatment Water trp. to user Washing Wastewater treatment Retail Transport Water & USE EOL Inventory analysis – inventory table Energy Resources Emissions to air Emissions to water Wastes 25 3. Impact assessment Inventory results Emissions ď understandable impacts Weighting SO2 NOx HCl Procedure: • Classification • Characterization • Normalization • Weighting Characterisation results Acidification potential Etc. NOx NH3 P Eutrophication potential Single weighted environmental score Etc. CO2 CH4 CFCs Global warming potential Etc. … other impact categories 26 Example: Impact assessment process for GWP ReCiPe 2016 characterisation methodology Impact assessment – detergents 29 4. Interpretation • What is the best option? • What choice should be made? • What can we improve? • How can we use these results? • How do we validate the results?
