ISO: 14040 Flashcards

1
Q

What is the definition of an LCA?

A

Life Cycle Assessment - cover environmental impact over a products life

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2
Q

What are the key principles of an LCA?

A
  • Quantative - figure to say whether a process is bad or not
  • Assessment - grade a process or product on how good or bad it is.
  • Compare - compare multiple products impacts
  • Environmental - most LCA’s are environmental
  • Product
  • Life cycle
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3
Q

What are the benefits of an LCA?

A
  • Identify the most impactful stage of a products life cycle
  • Can be good for comparing product or transportation.
  • Communication of environmental impact of product
  • Find gaps in existing information available
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4
Q

What are the limitations of an LCA?

A
  • Take a long time to complete
  • Out of date data or resources
  • Scope of LCA limited by time and data available
  • Use stage is not an accurate representation of the actual use of the product
  • Takes lots of resources to collect data for LCA
  • Geographic causes. Water usage of factory in desert vs factory in wet area
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5
Q

What is the LCA time cost quality conundrum?

A

Data availability vs data cost vs data accuracy (all change with time)

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6
Q

What are the key stages of an LCA?

A

Goal and Scope

LCI: Inventory Analysis

LCIA: Impact Assessment

Interpretation

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7
Q

What are the variations of an LCA?

A

Cradle to grave - from manufacture to disposal

Cradle to gate - from manufacture to factory gate

Cradle to Cradle - Regenerative process

Well to Wheel - fuel efficiency for vehicles.

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8
Q

What are examples of impact categories in an LCA?

A
  • Climate change
  • Acidification
  • Ozone Depletion
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9
Q

What is included in the goal of an LCA?

A

purpose & type of study

intended use

audience (public disclosure?)

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10
Q

What is included in the scope of an LCA?

A
  • Product system, function and boundary
  • Functional unit
  • Data requirements, quality and type
  • Assumptions, allocation and procedures
  • Assessment method, impact categories
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11
Q

What is data specificity?

A
  • the breadth of data sources
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12
Q

What is data granularity?

A
  • Depth or detail of data
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13
Q

What are data Quality requirements?

A

Specify the type of data needed for the LCA

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14
Q

What is a functional unit?

A

Quantifies a product function.

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15
Q

What are the system boundary stages?

A
  1. raw material acquisition and energy
  2. Manufacturing, formulation and processing
  3. Packaging, transportation and sales
  4. Use, reuse and maintenance
  5. Recycle and waste management
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15
Q

What is the LCI stage for?

A

To build a data model of the inventory

16
Q

What are the key principles of the LCI?

A

Quantitive
Replicable
Scientific
Comprehensive
Detailed
Peer reviewed

17
Q

What is allocation in LCI?

A

Relating data to unit processes. Make 1kg of wood. Energy makes wood but sawdust too. Choose how much used energy will be allocated to the wood only and not the sawdust.

18
Q

What is aggregation in an LCI?

A

Sums up the LCI.

Add up all same categories.

Analysis of all inputs and outputs

19
Q

What are the 3 stages on an LCIA?

A
  1. Selection of impact categories, category indicators and characterization models
  2. Characterisation: Assignment of LCI results. - Specific compound waste and emission LCI data
  3. Classification: Calculation of category indicator results. - Environmental fate and potency of specific compounds.
20
Q

What are impact categories and damage categories?

A

Impact categories = Midpoints (climate change, land use, water use)

Damage categories = Endpoints (human health, resource depletion, ecosystem quality)

21
Q

What are the 2 objectives of the interpretation stage in an LCA?

A
  1. Analyse - analyse result and reach conclusions, explain limitations. Recommendations based on conclusions. Report must be produced.
  2. Present - present results in accordance with Goal and Scope.
22
Q

What are the key steps of the interpretation phase?

A

Identification - of the significant issues from the LCIA

Evaluation - of results: sensitivity, consistency and completeness

Conclusions - recommendations and reporting of study

23
Q

How do you determine significant issues in an LCIA?

A

Dominance analysis - which part of the lcia is the most dominant impact

Contribution analysis - identify which which load contributes most e.g C02

Anomaly assessment - unusual or surprising deviations from expected or normal results.