Lecture 2: LCA and EMS Flashcards
Definition of Life Cycle Assessment
Methodology of assessing and quantifying env. impacts associated with product life cycle stages (from raw material extraction and processing to manufacture, distribution and use, to recycling and disposal of materials)
What is Life Cycle Assessment used for?
- Prioritise list of improvements to be achieved throughout the product lifecycle
- Compare and analyse impacts of two similar products
Definition of Environmental Management System
System/database that integrates procedures and processes for training of personnel, monitoring, summarising, and reporting of specialised environmental performance information to internal and external stakeholders of a firm.
Put simply, integrated approach to managing and monitoring impact on environment and complying with regulations.
What are the sides of the triangle that SETAC depicts LCA as?
- Impact Assessment
- Improvement Analysis
- Inventory Analysis
LCA ISO Methodology is broken up into what 4 phases?
- Define goal and scope
- Life cycle inventory analysis
- Life cycle impact assessment
- Life cycle interpretation
What is the LCA Goal and Scope?
- Defines questions being asked and scope of activities that will be undertaken to answer them
- Defines boundaries of systems that will be included in assessment
- To be considered in LCA scope: function of product system, functional unit for assessment, product system to be studied and system boundaries (should include data requirements, limitations, assumptions, type and format of report required)
Definition of Functional Unit and an Example
- Quantified description of performance requirements that the product system fulfills
- Enables comparison of two different product systems
- Should include quantity, quality and duration of function required
- Eg. Functional unit for a toaster could be ‘4 medium toasted bread slices per day for 5 years’ or ‘6 fully completely manufactured cars per day for 5 months’.
What occurs in LCA Inventory Analysis?
- Data collection and calculation procedures to quantify relevant inputs and outputs of a product system.
- Must: develop system boundaries and classify lifecycle events, establish material and energy for each stage/event, make assumptions for missing data
What occurs in LCA Impact Assessment?
- Evaluates the significance of potential environmental impacts using results of inventory analysis
- Level of detail, choice of impacts and methodologies used depends on the goal and scope of the study
Definition of Summer Smog
Yellowish brown haze over city in summer months. Formed by interacting sunlight with pollutants from burning fossil fuels. Vulnerable people and active outdoorsy people are prone to effects.
Definition of Eutrophication
Chemicals like fertilisers from farms, sewage treatment discharges or atmospheric nitrogen leak into water bodies which stimulates excessive plant growth, reducing dissolved oxygen in the water and causes organisms to die.
Definition of Global Warming Potential Factor
Simple measure of the radiative effects of emissions of various greenhouse gases, integrated over a specific time horizon, relative to an equal mass of CO2 emissions.
GWP = given formula probs
Ai = instantaneous radiative forcing due to release of a unit mass of trace gas i into atmosphere at time TR
Ci = amount of unit mass remaining in atmosphere at time t after its release
TH is TR plus time horizon over which calculation is performed
What occurs in LCA Interpretation?
- Findings from inventory analysis and impact assessment are combined together
- Should be consistent with goal and scope to reach conclusions and recommendations
What can LCA be used for?
- Assessment of environmental impact throughout product lifecycle
- Comparison of environmental performance of two or more similar products
- Guidance for product designers to improve designs and make use of more environmental resources
- Assessment of impact of potential environmental regulations through different scenarios to identify best options
- Identification of gaps in data/knowledge
What are the limitations of LCA?
- Availability and quality of lifecycle inventory data
- Uncertainties in inventory and impact assessment methodologies
- Lack of agreement on some elements of Impact Assessment methodology
- Differences in LCA problem formulation due to differences in values
