LCA Flashcards
1
Q
What does LCA stand for
A
Life Cycle Assessment
2
Q
Defenition
A
- life cycle means that a product is followed from its cradle where raw materials are extracted from natural resources, through production and use, to its grave the diposal
- env LCA - natural resources and pollutant emissions are described in quantitative terms
3
Q
LCA model for use, flowchart
A
Flowchart (lådor i led neråt)
Raw material acquisition Process Transportation Manufacture Use Wastemanagement
In to them: Resources (ex raw material, energy, land resources)
Out from them: emissions (to air, water, ground)
- physical processes and flows of matter and energy
4
Q
Term: Weighting
A
- used in the impact assessment (step 3 in LCA) to express the relative importance of different parameters
5
Q
Term: index
A
- aggregated data in single dimension to express information eg GWP, footprint. Used in LCA to show the overall env. impact of a product in a single number/category
6
Q
Term: Characterization
A
- In LCIA to calculate/evaluate the relevant contributes of emission and resources to each type of category
7
Q
Term: classification
A
about grouping different substances into impact categories
8
Q
Term: functional unit
A
To express the function of the system
9
Q
General impact categories
A
- resource use
- human health
- ecological consequentces
10
Q
Methodology of LCA, 4 steps
A
- Goal and scope defenition
- Inventory analysis
- Impact assessment (classification, characterization, weighting)
(pil mellan 3 och 1 med 4 emellen) - Interpretation
11
Q
Describe step 1 in LCA methodology
A
- Goal and scope
- deciding product to be studied and purpose of the study
- state the intended application of the study, reason for carrying it out and fro whom the results are intended
- Goal - why, for whom, def of system,
- scope - modeling aspects, functional unit, system boundaries, allocation
12
Q
Describe Functional Unit
A
- expressess the function of the system
- liter, kg/year,
- all flows related to the functional unit
- basis of comparison
13
Q
What is included in system boundries
A
Geographical boundaries and time
14
Q
What does allocation mean
A
- allocation in LCA tries to calculate how much one product that comes out has environmental load
- system expansion may be needed to look into what is happening around the system, where resources come from, to see full impact
- may need system expansion to fully see
15
Q
Describe step 2 in LCA methodology
A
- Inventory analysis
- to build a system model according to the requirements of the goal and scope def.
- system model = a flow model of a technical system with certain types of system boundaries (“cradle-to-grave”)
- only env. relevant flows are concidered
- collecting and calculating data
Procedure:
- construction of flow model
- gather data
- Calculations - of resource use and pollutant emissions of the system
