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(LCA)
LCA
= A scientific approach to measure quantitatively the environmental
performance of a product or system
= The evaluation of environmental impact of a system over its life
span, from production over use, up to the end-of-life, for each
“impact category”
• Universally applicable
Acidification potential (AP)
Usable primary energy is a scarce on earth. Hence the global society can only be durable if primary
energy use is limited
Consequently, primary energy use can be seen as an environmental impact category, even though it is
in principle an environmental inventory value (no characterisation factor)
Primary energy use can be measured in GJ (giga Joule) or t.o.e (tonnes of oil equivalent)
Other impact categories
• Human and aquatic toxicity
– E.g. due to dioxines, heavy metals, hydrochloric acids (benzene) …
– Difficult to draw the line from which quantity those substances are harmful and how to
reflect cumulating effects and long-term reaction effects
• For these categories, there is a high level of uncertainty on the methodology for impact
assessment; in addition, impacts tend to be more local
Better managed through other methods, such as risk assessment
Round-up
An environmental “impact category” groups various substance emissions into
a quantified measure of effect on global or local environment
The following are called the big 6 impact categories: Primary Energy Use,
Acidification, Eutrophication, Global Warming, Ozone Depletion,
Photochemical Ozone Creation
The contribution of a substance to one of these impacts is called the Impact
Potential and is measured relatively to the impact of a major substance
For instance, the Global Warming Potential is measured in CO 2-equivalents, so
relatively to the global warming potential of CO2 which represents the bulk of
greenhouse gas emissions