Life Cycle Analysis Education
at Virginia Tech
LCA/LCM Conference
October 3, 2007
Sean McGinnis
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Blacksburg, VA
Green Engineering Program
VT Green Engineering Program Overview
•
VT College of Engineering
– 12 Engineering departments, 300 faculty
– 5500 undergraduates, 2000 graduate students
•
Program initiated in 1997 to increase student
awareness of the environmental impacts of
engineering practice across disciplines
– Goal is integration across engineering curricula, not
stand-alone program or degree
•
18 credit “Green Engineering” Minor
– 2 Core Classes
• Intro to Green Engineering
• Environmental Life Cycle Analysis
– 2 Engineering Classes (environmental content)
– 2 Interdisciplinary Classes (environmental focus)
•
Program is attempting to engage the whole
university in sustainable thinking rather than
focusing solely on engineering and technology
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
¾
¾
¾
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¾
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Aerospace & Ocean Engineering
Biological System Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Computer Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Engineering Education
Engineering Science & Mechanics
Industrial Systems Engineering
Materials Science & Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Mining & Minerals Engineering
¾
¾
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¾
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¾
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Architecture
Building Construction
Business
Chemistry
Environmental Science
Horticulture
Economics
Science and Technology Studies
Urban Affairs and Planning
Political Science
Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (ENGR 3134)
•
3 credit upper-level undergraduate course
– No strict prerequisites; prefer students to have Intro to Green Engineering or Fundamentals of
Environmental Science
– Prefer junior level students to allow use of concepts in subsequent classes, specifically senior
design projects
•
Enrollment open across all disciplines, but various barriers limit participation
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Student awareness
Engineering course listing
Elective credit allowances by departments
Schedule conflicts
Major Distribution
Student time vs. benefit perception
(2001 - 2006)
Class size and faculty expertise
3
1 2
8
Gender Ratio
(2001 - 2006)
BSE
CEE
CHE
ECE
ISE
ME
1
Green Engineering Program
Male
Female
61%
ESM
10
(SPM 10.03.07)
39%
2
9
2
MSE
MINE
VT COE Overall Female ~15%
LCA Analogy For Course Structure
Assessment
IMPACTS
• Teaching/education
Students
Faculty
Content
LCA Course
(ENGR 3134)
Students
Faculty
New content ideas
• Green product design
• LCA studies/reports
• Policy changes
• Life Cycle
Thinking/Decisions
??
INTERPRETATION
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
ENGR 3134 Course Learning Objectives
• Students successfully completing this course will be able to:
Describe the 4 phases of the 1life cycle of a product, process, or system
Pre-Class Score
Describe the 4 steps for completing a life cycle analysis
0.9
Post-Class Score
Define and select appropriate functional units for LCA Analyses
0.8
Discuss causes/effects of commonly
used environmental impact LCA categories
0.7
Compare the concepts of environmental
impact midpoints and endpoints
Explain characterization factors
0.6 in LCA for impact analysis
Explain the concept of “weighting”
in LCA analysis and interpretation
0.5
Discuss why design decisions dominate environmental impacts of products and processes
0.4
Explain why materials selection is a critical design parameter for LCA
0.3
Find sources of environmental impact data and assess the quality of that data
0.2
Explain the strengths and weaknesses
of Streamlined LCA compared to full LCA
Discuss several limitations of0.1LCA
Discuss the connection of Life0 Cycle Analysis (LCA) to technology, economics, society, the
environment, and political decisions.
14. Create a simple stream-lined LCA for a product, process or system
15. Create a simple LCA on a product, process, or system using a spreadsheet or commercial software
10
9
8
7
ut
-o
6
6
-i
np
pu
ut
ts
s
6
5
4
3
2
Normalized Score
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Question Number
ASSESSING AND IMPROVING A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS COURSE
ASEE 2007 Conference – M. Borrego, S. McGinnis, and D. Richter
http://www.asee.org/conferences/v2search.cfm
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
LCA Course Topics and Methods
• LCA Content
–
–
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Life Cycle Phases
LCA methodology and details
News media, marketing and advertising info, journal articles, case studies, LCA reports
• LCA connections to issues the students can more easily connect with
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Green product marketing
Organic food
LEED® buildings
Climate Change (carbon footprint, energy analysis, ICLEI – Cool Cities)
• Student Exercises and Projects
1. “Green Product” analysis
• Students pick “green product” and write memos at course beginning and end to justify
2. Materials/product research
• Students pick specific material/product to research across the life cycle phases
3. Input/Output Inventory
• Students log personal inputs and outputs (food, purchases, trash) over the course of a week
4. Materials Choice, Disassembly, and End-of-Life
• Students disassemble simple products and categorize materials (toys, consumer goods, etc.)
5. LCA Group project
• Students pick small scale project for LCA analysis (SimaPro) and full report
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
ENGR 3134 Reference Material
• Students need exposure to a variety of references
– No text covers LCA well from interdisciplinary perspective
(selections used from “Industrial Ecology”, “Cradle to Cradle”)
– Other resources abound, integration and coherence is an issue
• UNEP, EPA LCA101, TRACI, ISO Standards, NREL LCI data
• Software
– Excel Spreadsheets
• Energy calculations (carbon footprint)
– University
• EIO-LCA (Carnegie Mellon University)
– Governmental
• TRACI, NREL LCI database, BEES
– Commercial
• SimaPro, GaBi, ATHENA
• Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES)
• Students need specific instruction on data
collection and quality analysis
– Library facutly expertise often brought into class for a lecture on
this topic
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
CES Selector Version 4.6 Granta
Design Limited, 2005
LCA Education Challenges & Questions
• Disciplinary differences among students must be assessed & dealt with
• Students prefer the class to be focused on examples and discussion,
but need to build a toolbox of skills to apply
• Software use is a difficult balance between simplicity and complexity
• Case studies show final results, but generally don’t provide insight into
design choices and changes that actually occurred as a result of LCA
• Engineering students struggle with value-based decisions like weighting
• What is the best order and depth for presentation of information?
– Project/examples vs. LCA concepts/methodology
– Streamlined LCA vs. LCA
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
How Can the LCA Community Help?
• Case Studies
– More case studies with detailed project histories, mistakes, iterative design examples
– Condensed versions of LCA reports or case studies
• Real-world student LCA projects
– Student projects are best if they have real data and customers
• Software
– Student focused LCA software with realistic and relevant examples
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
Future LCA Plans at VT
• Incorporate basic LCA concepts into freshman Engineering Education
courses to expose all engineering students (~1200)
• Implement spiral curriculum focused on LCA for engineering departments
1. Freshmen
– LCA basics, simple product inventory and analysis based on few impact categories
2. Sophomores
– LCA examples relevant to the discipline including more impact categories
3. Juniors
– Detailed LCA case studies with more complexity
4. Seniors
– Senior design project with strong LCA component and application to design
• Modify the course for other audiences and learning modes
– Professional and K-12 LCA courses or modules
– Distance-learning for college and professional levels
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
Questions?
Contact Info:
Sean McGinnis
Director – VT Green Engineering Program
smcginn@vt.edu
www.eng.vt.edu/green
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
LCA Assists in Meeting ABET Criteria
• ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology) Criterion 3:
a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
b) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
c) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs
within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political,
ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
d) an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
f) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
g) an ability to communicate effectively
h) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering
solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
i) a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
j) a knowledge of contemporary issues
k) an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for
engineering practice.
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)
LCA Course Assessment
Average
Pre-Course
Survey #
Coding
Scale
2
0-3
3
Question Verbiage
Standard Deviation
t-test
Pre
Post
Pre
Post
p-value
List 3 reasons why engineers should be concerned about the environmental
impact of their professional decisions
2.4
2.4
0.67
0.57
0.616
0-4
Describe in a few sentences your current understanding of the general concept
of Environmental Life Cycle Assessment Methodology (What is it? Why do it?
What does one do? What does it provide?)
1.8
3.4
1.3
0.63
<0.001
4
0-4
Explain in a few sentences why engineers should perform LCA on products,
processes, and systems
2.1
3.1
1.0
0.82
<0.001
5
0-4
List the 4 main phases of the life cycle of a product
2.3
3.8
1.1
0.76
<0.001
6
0-6
List 3 common inputs and 3 common outputs for products or processes that
would be used in an LCA
2.1
5.1
2.1
1.25
<0.001
6 - inputs
0-3
List 3 common inputs for products or processes that would be used in an LCA
1.3
2.8
1.3
0.64
<0.001
6 - outputs
0-3
List 3 common outputs for products or processes that would be used in an LCA
0.8
2.4
1.0
0.82
<0.001
7
0-6
List any 3 major environmental impact categories and describe one or more
potential endpoints
0.4
3.8
0.7
1.70
<0.001
8
0-3
List 3 specific sources for quantitative environmental data (more specific than
“on the web”)
1.4
2.2
1.0
0.51
<0.001
9
0-3
List 3 limitations of current Life Cycle Analysis methods
0.7
2.3
0.9
0.70
<0.001
10
0-4
Discuss in a few sentences why product design is a critical phase in the life
cycle of a product
1.9
3.3
1.0
0.65
<0.001
Green Engineering Program
(SPM 10.03.07)