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American Center for Life Cycle Assessment Rita Schenck ASTM-International E-60 Meeting, Atlanta 18 October 2009 Rita Schenck • Education in Oceanography, specialization in ecotoxicology and biogeochemistry • Worked as an environmental manager in industry (GE & GTE) • Represented the US in negotiating the ISO standards on LCA • Founder & Executive Director of IERE Institute for Environmental Research and Education • • • • • • • Environmental non-profit (501c3) Supports Fact-based Environmental Decision-Making Headquartered in Washington State Diverse funding base (private, public, business, fee-for-service) Strongly believes that Business must drive environmental improvement Programs in Energy, Agriculture, transportation and buildings, and ACLCA Focus on energy independence and green collar jobs American Center for Life Cycle Assessment www.lcacenter.org • Jointly founded with Mary Ann Curran, Joyce Cooper in 2001 • Professional society for LCA in the USA • Annual Conference, growing over 30% per year • Next year in Portland November 2–5 • Certification for LCA Professionals ACLCA Advisory Council • • • • • • Paul Bertram, Kingspan Bob Boughton, State of CA Michael Deru NREL Nuno da Silva PE Americas Roland Geyer UCSB Tom Gloria Life-Cycle Services LLC • Anne Landfield Grieg Four Elements Consulting, LLC • Gary Jakubcin, Owens Corning • Mike Levy American Chemistry Council • Lise Laurin Earthshift • Margaret Mann NREL • H. Scott Matthews Carnegie Mellon University • Omar Romero ITAM, Mexico • Beverly Sauer Franklin Associates • Rita Schenck IERE • Wayne Trusty Athena Institute Attendance, InLCA Series 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 100% 90% 80% Other NGOs Government Consultants Academia Industry 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2007 2008 2009 LCAIX, Boston 29 September - 2 October Asia/Oceania 4% Latin America 3% EU 16% Canada 18% US 59% Content of the LCA IX Conference • Workshops – Land use and biofuels – Water footprinting – Uncertainty analysis • Meetings of the SETACUNEP Life Cycle Initiative • Classes in carbon footprinting, beginning & advanced LCA • LCACP Exams • Sessions on – – – – – – Industrial applications Biofuels Databases Uncertainty Social LCA International Capability development – Dynamic &Temporal LCA – Agriculture – And many more (about 250 presentations) LCA X, Portland OR 2 – 4 November, 2010 • Expect 450-500 attendees • Expect several classes to be given on the 1st • Planning workshops afterwards in partnership with SETAC (their conference is the next week) • Anticipate more industry participation as the economy improves ACLCA Conference Sponsors Life Cycle Assessment Certified Professional • Started with survey in 2007 • Followed ISO 17024 “Conformity assessment — General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons • Produces an Entry-level certification • All details of development and use can be found on the ACLCA website www.lcacenter.org/certification Committee Developing Program • • • • • • • • • • • Gontran Bage Marc Binder Amy Costello Mattias Fischer Jennifer Gaalswyk Roland Geyer Tom Gloria Annie Grieg Barbara Hanley Richard Heinisch Sebastien Humbert • • • • • • • • • • • Gary Jakubcin Neils Jungbluth Mike Levy Manuele Margni Sean McGinnis Michael Richardson Rita Schenck Ines Sousa Sangwon Su Bo Weidema Liila Woods Prerequisites (pick one) 1. A degree in LCA at the undergraduate or graduate level 2. A degree in environmental science or environmental engineering plus an LCA internship 3. LCA skills gained through experience: an LCA that is either critically reviewed or published in a peer reviewed journal 4. College-level class work • General Chemistry • Statistics • Economics • Systems analysis or systems dynamics • Environmental Toxicology Plus an internship LCACP Criteria (Topic of Exam) • • • • • General Inventory Impact assessment Project Management Data Quality management • Post-impact calculations • Modeling & Software • Statistics • ISO • Ethics ACLCA ethics statement sworn to by all LCACPs Format of Exam • • • • • Closed book Multiple choice 3.5 hours 183 questions Graded correct 1 point, incorrect -.25 points (just like SAT) COSTS • Application fee $200 – Verifies meeting prerequisites • Examination fee $295 – Pays for taking the test itself • Maintenance fees $300 – Every three years – Requires continuing education Current and Ongoing Status • Exam given twice • About 40 LCACPs – http://lcacenter.org/lcacp-dir/ • Three exams tentatively scheduled in 2010 – Delaware – Michigan – Portland • In discussions to partner with other countries • In discussions to develop other certifications – Validation for the US LCA database – Interpretation of LCAs US LCI Database • ACLCA has been the secretariat for the US LCI database over the last year – Camp Long Declaration • Goal to develop quality plan and sustainability plan for the database • Redesigning the database to make it more robust and useful • First draft for public comment out in a few weeks Walmart * • LCA is the basis of its sustainability program • Using LCA in Packaging Program now –Data on every single package • Planning EPD with a sustainability index for all products France • Grenelle de l’Environnement Law (2007) – omnibus legislation • Required that all consumer products sold in France have an EPD effective 1/1/11 • Anticipate that the program will spread to all of the EU • Plastics Europe EPDs already available Without EPDs, cannot sell to France: likely rest of EU will follow Japanese LCA Based Laws • Laws come from MITI (Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry) – Kyoto Protocols– Climate Change – Recycling Oriented Economy – Chemical Integrated Policy (Hazardous Chemical Management) • Japan’s focus is internal – – – – Development of Life Cycle Inventory (US$11MM) Recycling in-country Development of EPDs (Ecoleaf) Requiring carbon footprint EPDs in 2011-2012 US Policy Use of LCA • Energy Independence Act of 2007 • Versions of current legislation proposing requirement for LCA • States and local governments using LCA for policy • National EPD legislation on the horizon The Outlook for LCA from Here • LCAs and EPDs will become the norm – They will be calculated automatically – EPDs will remain mostly a B-to-B tool • LCA certification will become more important • Countries will develop inter-communicating LCI databases • LCA consultants will be like outside accountants • Academic research will be better funded in the USA & Worldwide