Sustainable Development - LCA

Question	Answer
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT	Development which meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
Sustainable Development - Environment	Protection of nature and biodiversity, reduction of gas emissions and waste
Sustainable development - economy	Growth - equity - welfare - financial stability
Sustainable development - society	human rights - labour force - poverty
Life Cicle Assessment LCA	-Assessment of potential environmental impacts of a product or service over its entire life cycle -Just environment focus - According to ISO 14040/44 Standard
LCA asists on	1. Identify opportunities to improve environmental performance of products and services at various points in their life cycle 2. Informs decision makers 3. Marketing - ecolabelling
LCA Phase 1 Goal & Scope	Goal: intended application and study reasons, targeted audience Scope: Functional unit, reference flows, elementary flows, product system, process units, system boundaries, impact categories,
Functional Unit	Quantification of the identified functions of a product - ensures comparability of LCA results (common basis)
Product system	what processes are considered - from raw materials extraction to recycling
Impact categories	Global warming potential eco-toxicity Acidification potential Resource depletion potential Eutrophication potential Ozone depletion potential Water resource depletion potential
Reference flow	Amount of products needed to fulfill the function expresedssed by the functional unit
System Boundary	Defines the unit processes to be included in the system, excessed only by elementary flows
Elementary flow	Material or energy entering or leaving the system without human transformation
LCA Phase 2 Life Cicle Inventory LCI	Compilation and quantification of inputs and outputs for a product throughout its life cycle -Quantify inputs and outputs of a product system -Inputs: energy, raw materials, auxiliaries Output: waste, emissions
LCA Phase 3 Life Cycle Impact Assessment LCIA	Understand and evaluate the magnitude and significance of the potential environmental impacts for a product system -Inputs&Outputs from LCI are translated into environmental impacts
LCA Phase 3 - MANDATORY ELEMENTS Life Cycle Impact Assessment LCIA	1. Selection of impact categories, category indicators and characterization models 2. Clasification - Assignment of LCI results to selected impact categories 3. Characterization - Calculation of category indicator results -> convert LCI results to common units
LCA Phase 3 - VOLUNTARY ELEMENTS Life Cycle Impact Assessment LCIA	1.Normalization: calculation of the magnitude of category indicator results relative to reference formation 2. Grouping - sort and rank impact categories (by input, output, impact..) 3. Weighting: convert and aggregate indicator results across impact categories
Classification impact categories	Global warming -> CO2/CH4 emissions Eutrophication -> NO3 emissions Acidification -> SO2 emissions
Characterization of impacts	Multiply each emission (LCI) with a charaterization factor (CF) 10 kg CO2 * 1(cf) = 10 kg CO2 eq
Where can impacts be determined?	Mid points - more proven but abstract (co2 eq End points - insecure but real damage: Areas of protection (years of life lost)
LCA Phase 4 Interpretation	-Discuss results from LCI+LCIA or just LCI according to the goal and scope -Id. process and materials that cause impacts -Scenario analysis -Conclusions & recomendations
LCIA Limitations	Addresses only environmental issues specified in goal and scope but there is not a complete assessment of ALL environmental issues of the product system
LCA Limitations	You cannot say one product is better than another, there is no risk assessment, different impacts in different studies or goals and scopes

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Sustainable Development - LCA

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	Created by Laura Mariño almost 6 years ago