Streamlined LCA
© Colin Fitzpatrick
Streamlining the LCA Process
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Full LCA is only practical with no limitations to
time, expense, data availability etc…
In practice consists of many compromises
Although very extensive LCA’s have been
conducted a complete quantitative LCA has
never been accomplished nor is it ever likely to
be
Design stage is best time to do LCA but very
little data available at this point
The LCA Continuum
Fully
Comprehensive
LCA
Ecoscreening
Currently Accessible Region
Extensive
LCA
Streamlined
LCA
LCA
Scoping
Streamlining the LCA Process
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Screen the product with an inviolates list
Limit or eliminate life-cycle stages
Include only selected environmental impacts
Include only selected inventory parameters
Limit consideration to major constituents
Limit or eliminate impact analysis
Use surrogate data
Use qualitative rather than quantitative data
Eliminate interpretations or recommendations
The SLCA Matrix
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Number of approaches developed adopting a matrix
approach in which several life stages are evaluated for
their potential impacts on a number of environmentally
related concerns
Any SLCA process should allow for
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Direct comparisons between rated products
Useable and consistent across different assessment teams
Encompass all stages of product life cycle
Address all relevant environmental concerns
Simple enough to permit relatively quick and inexpensive
assessments
The SLCA Matrix
Life Stage
Environmental Concern
Materials Choice Energy Use Solid Residues Liquid Residues Gaseous Residues
Resource Extraction
1,1
1,2
1,3
1,4
1,5
Product Manufacture
2,1
2,2
2,3
2,4
2,5
Product Delivery
Product Use
Refurb/ Recycle/ Disposal
3,1
4,1
5,1
3,2
4,2
5,2
3,3
4,3
5,3
3,4
4,4
5,4
3,5
4,5
5,5
Developed in 1993 at AT&T
The SLCA Matrix
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Values may be
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Binary
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Ordinal
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1 = problem
0 = no problem
1-10 severity ranking
1-4 severity ranking
Assessor is providing a figure of merit to represent the
estimated result from a more formal LCA
Should be guided by experience, design &
manufacturing survey, appropriate checklists & other
available info
The SLCA Matrix
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Once an evaluation has been made for each matrix
element the overall Environmentally Responsible
Product Rating (RERP) is computed as the sum of the
matrix element values
R ERP  i  j M i , j
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Process is qualitative but does provide a numerical end
point against which to measure improvement
Target Plots
The SLCA Matrix
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Assignment of integer ratings may seem
subjective, experiments at AT&T have been
performed in which comparative assessments
of products are made by several different
industrial and environmental engineers. Overall
product ratings differ by no more that 15%
SLCA Assets
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More efficient & less costly (days vrs months)
Useable at the early stage of design when
opportunities for change are greater
Evaluate design attributes which are inherently
qualitative such as ease of disassembly
SLCA Liabilities
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Little or no ability to track overall material flows
Little ability to compare completely dissimilar
approaches to fulfilling a need
Little ability to track improvements over time
Commercial LCA Tool for
Electronics
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EIME (www.codde.fr)
Two distinct interfaces
which allow different
users tailored access
Which is the most environmentally
friendly??
What are the critical issues and data gaps?
Further Reading
Papers on Website.
Graedel & Allenby,
Chapter 17.
www.codde.fr