Streamlined LCA

© Colin Fitzpatrick

Streamlining the LCA Process

Full LCA is only practical with no limitations to time, expense, data availability etc…

In practice consists of many compromises Although very extensive LCA’s have been

conducted a complete quantitative LCA has never been accomplished nor is it ever likely to be

Design stage is best time to do LCA but very little data available at this point

The LCA Continuum

Fully Comprehensive LCA

Ecoscreening

Currently Accessible Region

Extensive LCA

Streamlined LCA

LCA Scoping

Streamlining the LCA Process

Screen the product with an inviolates list Limit or eliminate life-cycle stages Include only selected environmental impacts Include only selected inventory parameters Limit consideration to major constituents Limit or eliminate impact analysis Use surrogate data Use qualitative rather than quantitative data Eliminate interpretations or recommendations

The SLCA Matrix

Number of approaches developed adopting a matrix approach in which several life stages are evaluated for their potential impacts on a number of environmentally related concerns

Any SLCA process should allow for– Direct comparisons between rated products– Useable and consistent across different assessment teams– Encompass all stages of product life cycle– Address all relevant environmental concerns– Simple enough to permit relatively quick and inexpensive

assessments

The SLCA Matrix

Environmental Concern

Life Stage Materials Choice Energy Use Solid Residues Liquid Residues Gaseous Residues

Resource Extraction 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5

Product Manufacture 2,1 2,2 2,3 2,4 2,5

Product Delivery 3,1 3,2 3,3 3,4 3,5

Product Use 4,1 4,2 4,3 4,4 4,5

Refurb/ Recycle/ Disposal 5,1 5,2 5,3 5,4 5,5

Developed in 1993 at AT&T

The SLCA Matrix

Values may be – Binary

1 = problem 0 = no problem

– Ordinal 1-10 severity ranking 1-4 severity ranking

Assessor is providing a figure of merit to represent the estimated result from a more formal LCA

Should be guided by experience, design & manufacturing survey, appropriate checklists & other available info

The SLCA Matrix

Once an evaluation has been made for each matrix element the overall Environmentally Responsible Product Rating (RERP) is computed as the sum of the matrix element values

Process is qualitative but does provide a numerical end point against which to measure improvement

i j jiERP MR ,

Target Plots

The SLCA Matrix

Assignment of integer ratings may seem subjective, experiments at AT&T have been performed in which comparative assessments of products are made by several different industrial and environmental engineers. Overall product ratings differ by no more that 15%

SLCA Assets

More efficient & less costly (days vrs months) Useable at the early stage of design when

opportunities for change are greater Evaluate design attributes which are inherently

qualitative such as ease of disassembly

SLCA Liabilities

Little or no ability to track overall material flows Little ability to compare completely dissimilar

approaches to fulfilling a need Little ability to track improvements over time

Commercial LCA Tool for Electronics

EIME (www.codde.fr) Two distinct interfaces

which allow different users tailored access

Which is the most environmentally friendly??

                                                                     

What are the critical issues and data gaps?

Further Reading

Papers on Website.

Graedel & Allenby, Chapter 17.

www.codde.fr