Transcript Reducing Your Wasteline

Life Cycle Analysis
Topics
Definition
Use
Process
Limitations
Definition
 Holistic approach to pollution prevention by
analyzing the entire life of a product, process
or activity
 Complete picture of environmental impact
 Environmental impact and cost of
manufacturing, distribution, and disposal
 Energy consumption, material use, and
wastes released
Possible Results of LCA
Can be used in product design and system
engineering and process and facilities
engineering:
1. material selection/ changes,
2. equipment selection/ changes
3. improved purchasing choices,
4. improved operating practices,
5. disposition practices, and
6. improved logistics.
Possible Uses
Communicate relationship between
environmental implications and
engineering requirements or policy
Assess environmental implications of
alternatives
Identify improvement opportunities
Guide for product design or use
Stages of Product, Process or
Activity
Material production (mining non
renewable and harvesting biomass)
Manufacturing and construction
Use, support, and maintenance
Decommissioning and material recycling
and disposal
LCA Process
Goal Definition and Scoping
Inventory Analysis
Impact Assessment
Interpretation
Goal Definition and Scoping
Define and describe the product, process or activity.
Establish the context in which the assessment is to
be made and identify the boundaries and
environmental effects to be reviewed for the
assessment.
 Define the Goal(s) of the Project
 Determine What Type of Information Is Needed to
Inform the Decision-Makers
 Determine the Required Specificity
 Determine How the Data Should Be Organized and
the Results Displayed
 Define the Scope of the Study
 Determine the Ground Rules for Performing the Work
Inventory Analysis
Identify and quantify energy, water and
materials usage and environmental
releases (e.g., air emissions, solid waste
disposal, waste water discharges).
Impact Assessment
Assess the potential human and ecological
effects of energy, water, and material usage
and the environmental releases identified in
the inventory analysis. Examples:
 Evaluate categories (global warming, ozone
depletion, smog ….
 Evaluate data to permit comparisons (CO2
equivalents for global warming)
 Weighting according to importance (nonattainment air quality area might weigh air
pollutants more)
Interpretation
Evaluate the results of the inventory
analysis and impact assessment to
select the preferred product, process or
service with a clear understanding of
the uncertainty and the assumptions
used to generate the results.
Application to Integrated Solid
Waste Management
Apply to waste management elements
(collection/transportation, recycling/
materials recovery, treatment, final
disposal)
Generators divided by
– Sectors
– Waste components
Evaluate from curbside to final disposal
From Barlaz et al, Journal of Env. Engr,(2002) Vol 128 (10): 981
Life Cycle Analysis of ISWM
Use linear programming to solve mass
balance for identified alternatives
Evaluate all feasible alternatives for
waste processing using objective
functions
– Minimize cost
– Minimize environmental emissions, or
– Minimize energy consumption
Select objectives (example: cost
minimization or specific pollutant)
Limitations
 Lack of spatial resolution – e.g., a 4,000-gallon
ammonia release is worse in a small stream than in a
large river.
 Lack of temporal resolution – e.g., a five-ton release
of particulate matter during a one month period is
worse than the same release spread through the
whole year.
 Inventory speciation – e.g., broad inventory listing
such as “VOC” or “metals” do not provide enough
information to accurately assess environmental
impacts.
 Threshold and non-threshold impact – e.g., ten tons
of contamination is not necessarily ten times worse
than one ton of contamination.