Transcript HL1115 Influences on Health at Work

Life cycle analysis
• definition and application of LCA
• key steps
– goal and scope definition
– inventory analysis
– impact assessment
– interpretation
Life cycle analysis
Life-cycle assessment (LCA):
• a systematic framework for carrying out
an assessment of all of the
environmental impacts associated with
a product over its entire life-cycle.
Life cycle analysis
Goal definition and scoping: identifying the
LCA's purpose and the expected products of
the study, and determining the boundaries
(what is and is not included in the study) and
assumptions based upon the goal definition;
Life-cycle inventory: quantifying the energy
and raw material inputs and environmental
releases associated with each stage of
production;
Life cycle analysis
Impact analysis: assessing the impacts on
human health and the environment
associated with energy and raw material
inputs and environmental releases quantified
by the inventory;
Improvement analysis: evaluating
opportunities to reduce energy, material
inputs, or environmental impacts at each
stage of the product life-cycle
Life cycle analysis
1. Goal and scope definition.
2. A detailed life cycle inventory (LCI)
analysis, with compilation of data both
about energy and resource use and on
emissions to the environment, through
out the life cycle.
Life cycle analysis
3. An assessment of the potential
impacts associated with the identified
forms of resource use and
environmental emissions.
4. The interpretation of the results from
the previous phases of the study in
relation to the objectives of the study.
Life cycle analysis
Goal
• unambiguously states the intended
application, including the reasons for carrying
out the study and the intended audience, i.e.
to whom the results of the study are intended
to be communicated.
Life cycle analysis
Goal examples:
• to compare products fulfilling for marketing or
regulating the use of the products
• to identify improvement possibilities existing
products or in the design of new products
• to identify areas, steps etc. in the life cycle of
a product where criteria can be set for
ecolabelling.
Life cycle analysis
Scope
The following need be considered and
described:
• the functions of the system, or in the case of
comparative studies, systems;
• the functional unit;
• the system to be studied;
• the system boundaries;
• allocation procedures;
Life cycle analysis
• the types of impact and the methodology of
impact assessment and subsequent
interpretation to be used;
• data requirement;
• assumptions;
• limitations;
• the initial data quality requirements;
• the type of critical review, if any;
• the type and format of the report required for
the study
Life cycle analysis
Inventory analysis
• data collection
• refining system boundaries
• calculation
• validation of data
• relating data to the specific system
• allocation
Life cycle analysis
Impact assessment
• category definition
• classification
• characterization
• valuation/weighting
Life cycle analysis
Interpretation
• identification of significant
environmental issues
• evaluation
• conclusions and recommendations