Full Life Cycle inventory: Car case study

Part B Inventory results and sensitivity study

Olivier Jolliet, PhD

Automobile front end panel Extractions and emissions inventory

Virgin Recycled
Unit Steel Composite
Aluminum Aluminum

Resources Energy MJ 4043 3061 2193 1658

Emissions in air CO2 kg 253.9 176.4 134.6 103.2

CO kg 0.294 0.045 0.047 0.029
CH4 kg 0.154 0.122 0.112 0.062

N2O kg 0.0013 0.0005 0.0015 0.0006

kg 0.221 0.172 0.156 0.083
NOx
kg 0.439 0.348 0.315 0.184
SO2
kg 0.0383 0.0136 0.0287 0.0095
Particles
kg 7.16 x 10-5 1.03 x 10-5 1.41 x 10-5 1.65 x 10-4
Pb
Emissions in water Nitrates kg 9.30 x 10-4 6.44 x 10-4 1.07 x 10-3 4.25 x 10-4
Pb kg 2.13 x 10-4 5.13 x 10-5 9.70 x 10-5 4.19 x 10-5
Sensitivity study: Cumulative primary energy
Primary energy as a function of transportation distance/miles over lifetime

Recycled Aluminum
Aluminum
Composite
Steel
Sensitivity study: Energy per km driven
Alternative representation per FU: Primary energy per km as a function of lifetime mileage

Recycled Aluminum
Aluminum
Composite
Steel
Summary
► The inventory can be determined by matrix multiplication

► It provides the inventory of all aggregated flows from cradle to gate or cradle to grave

► These are the cumulative extractions and emissions per functional unit

► It is the initial step for product comparison, but is rarely conclusive without
impact assessment
► Sensitivity study as a function of most uncertain usage parameter
(e.g. product life time, total distance over lifetime, number of reuse)
is an efficient way to analyze trade-offs
► It enables the practitioner to discuss minimum product lifetime for a scenario to
become best and avoid to make arbitrary assumption