Life Cycle Analysis
By Wong Phei Yean
P81459
What is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
• United Nations Environment Programme - tool
for the systematic evaluation of the
environmental aspects of a product or service
system through all stages of its life cycle
• often termed as “cradle to grave”- starts from
raw material to final disposal of the product
• Looks into all the processes/stages & considering
environmental aspects and potential impacts of
the process/stages, considering all the inputs and
outputs
What is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) cont..
• provides analysts with a quantitative data to
determine and analyses the environment impact of
such product / system and enable changes to be
made to justify in respect to the cost and
environmental impacts of the product/process.
Exp: What are the impacts of 9,000 tons of carbon
dioxide or 5,000 tons of methane emission released
into the atmosphere? Which is worse? What are the
potential impacts on smog? And on global warming?
Background
• first developed in the 1960s which were
motivated by the economic struggles
• 70s and 80s, this analytical process become
less popular due to lack of standardisation
• Now LCA has been standardised within the
series ISO 14040 by The International
Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) which is
a world-wide federation of national standards
bodies.
Why use LCA
• Calculate a product’s environmental impact
• Identify the positive or negative
environmental impact of a process or product
• Find opportunity for process and product
improvement
• Compare and analyse several processes based
on their environment impacts
• Quantitatively justify a change in a process or
product.
Useful for decision-making
General - Product’s life :
i. Raw material acquisition : material harvesting and
transportation to manufacturing sites;
ii. Processing : material processing and transportation to
production sites;
iii. Manufacturing : product manufacture and assembly,
packaging, and transportation to final distribution
iv. Product life : energy and emission during normal product
life
v. Waste management/end of life: recyling,liquid
waste and gas emission.
Entire Systems, Cradle to Grave
Life-cycle –
Identify the boundaries
4 Main Phases of LCA
4 Main Phases of LCA
Goal and Scope Definition :
1 Defining the goal and
scope of the study and
other relevant information
needed.
4 Main Phases of LCA (cont..)
2 Inventory analysis:
• Making a model of the product life cycle
(process diagram) with all the
environmental inputs and outputs. ( The
more complete the diagram, the greater
the accuracy the result is)
• Data : data based on observation,
quantitative research, and manufacturer
information to calculate national average.
• Data validity is important! current data
Life diagram
On site System
Function:
Construction &
Demolition kWh Delivered
Material
Storage &
Resource Handling
Disposal
Extraction
Water
Production &
Processing
Processing Transport Transmission Distribution
Generation
Manufacturing
Maintenance
Fleet Operations
Pollution
Control
Distributed generation
System Boundary
[Link]
4 Main Phases of LCA (cont..)
3 Impact assessment:
• Understanding the environment relevance of
the inputs and outputs,
• how the processes and product in the LCA
impact human health and environment,
• Calculate the weights science based
characterization factors
= inventory data x characterization factor
Exp: if a process produces 20 pounds of
chloroform, the impact indicator for the
chloroform in that process is 180
• 3 categories:
[Link] impact : polar melt, ocean pattern
changes, ozone depletion
ii. Regional impacts : photochemical smog ,
acidification to water resources and soil
[Link] impacts : human health , terrestrial
toxicity and aquatic toxicity
Indicators for All Impact Categories
Eutrophication
Eutrophication
[Link]
Typical Impact
4 Main Phases of LCA (cont..)
4 Interpretation:
• Evaluating data
• making interpretation and conclusion
• Recommendations
• Data interpretation is an integral part of
all three steps and should be done after
each of the sub-analyses is completed.
Drawbacks of LCA
• Using LCA to compare products is like comparing
apples to oranges.
• For example, which is worse: a product that pollutes the air
by consuming energy from coal-fired power plants or one
that disrupts ecosystems by consuming energy from
massive hydroelectric dam projects? Both types of pollution
should be minimized if possible.
•Comparison between heavy energy demand and heavy
water use: which imposes greater environmental burden?
Conclusion
LCA is an invaluable tool where environmental
impacts assessment is carried out on various
product or systems, and by being able to
quantitatively assess the environmental impacts,
one can make necessary correction to decrease
the environmental impacts and find a better way
to make their product or system, it is then a win-
win situation.
LCA helps to avoid shifting environmental problems
from one area or medium to another.
EXAMPLE
• Water Footprinting: How to Address Water
Use in Life Cycle Assessment? by Markus
Berger * and Matthias Finkbeiner
• This paper provides an overview of a broad
range of methods developed to enable
accounting and impact assessment of water
use.
