The Great LCA Roundtable: The Perspective of a

Seasoned Practitioner

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J. L. Sullivan

Why LCA

• There is a need to assess the environmental performance (EP) of

product systems over their entire life cycles: including raw

material acquisition, manufacturing, operation, & EOL activities

� Why? Not everything occurs where you think; many

contributors

• LCA is the method of choice for such assessments:

� International recognized and standardized

� The scope is earth to earth

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� The scope is earth to earth

� It is a systems analysis tool. Not product but service focused

� Environmental improvement proposals can be evaluated

• For vehicles, it can be used to assess:

� The EP merits of new power trains, recycling, weight

reduction, etc.

� System wide carbon emissions

� System wide energy consumption

� Resource consumptions, etc.

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How Does LCA Help and What is needed

• Because of its framework, LCA can reduce

� a complex array of environmental emissions and consumptions into a

relevent set of environmental performance metrics.

• LCI is the quantitative edge of the method.

� Data bases are essential; otherwise the method is not practical

� More and more data sets are coming available, e.g. GREET

� NREL National LCI database is one example

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� NREL National LCI database is one example

• LCI data must be detailed

� Otherwise, its quality is uncertain

� Detail is necessary, e.g. all energies are not the same

� Energies should be speciated, kWh, m3, gallons, etc.

• LCA can be applied to much more than the carbon evaluations. Due to its

framework, it is aptly suited for many other environmental assessments

Current Use

• LCA is being used more and more for a wide range of applications:

� Advanced batteries

� Electric power sector: NGCC, IGCC, nuclear, geothermal, etc.

� Advanced vehicle technology evaluations: HEVs and PHEVs

� Mining industry

� Packaging

� Recycling

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� Recycling

� Biofuels

� Interstate highway infrastructure and its upkeep.

� Materials production

� Manufacturing processes

� Office furniture

� Organic milk

• LCA is alive and well and will be increasingly used in the future.

LCA & Greenhouse Gas AccountingLCA & Greenhouse Gas AccountingLCA & Greenhouse Gas AccountingLCA & Greenhouse Gas Accounting

LCA RoundtableLCA RoundtableLCA RoundtableLCA Roundtable

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LCA RoundtableLCA RoundtableLCA RoundtableLCA Roundtable

Laura Draucker, PhDLaura Draucker, PhDLaura Draucker, PhDLaura Draucker, PhDWorld Resources Institute

Benefits of LCA:

• Avoids shifting or leaking of

environmental burdens

• Allows companies to make

informed decisions to

improve the environmental

LCA: A “cradlecradlecradlecradle----totototo----gravegravegravegrave” approach for assessing industrial systems

EPA, 2006

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improve the environmental

impacts of:

– Product design & packaging

– Material consumption

– Energy sources

– End-of-life

– Use phase impacts

GHG Protocol Initiative

• Convened in 1998 by WRI and

WBCSD

• A multi-stakeholder

partnership of businesses,

NGOs, governments and

others

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others

• Mission: Develop

internationally accepted GHG

accounting and reporting

standards and promote their

use worldwide

Influence of LCA on Corporate GHG Accounting

• Corporate Scope 1 & 2 inventories provide useful

information about a companies own operations

• Scope 3 gives a more complete picture by including

the life cycle impacts of the products a company buys

and sells

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Influence of LCA on Product-Level GHG Accounting

• Scope 3 provides a big picture view of GHG

impacts and reduction potentials

• Product-level GHG accounting focuses on impacts

and reduction potentials within the life cycle of a

product

What is the difference between a GHG Inventory

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What is the difference between a GHG Inventory

and LCA?

• GHG accounting does not consider multiple

impacts

• GHG accounting allows for cradle-to-gate

assessments of intermediate products

Life Cycle Tools for Sustainable Material ChoicesLife Cycle Tools for Sustainable Material ChoicesLife Cycle Tools for Sustainable Material ChoicesLife Cycle Tools for Sustainable Material Choices

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Louis BrimacombeLouis BrimacombeLouis BrimacombeLouis BrimacombeCorus RD&T, Tata Steel Group

Life Cycle Assessment

• Life cycle assessment offers an holistic view of

environmental impacts across materials, products,

use phase and end of life stages. For example to

assess the sustainability of new vehicle designs.

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Life Cycle Inventories for Steel Products

• High quality steel data needed for full LCAs

• worldsteel committed to providing high quality data

with consistent methodology

• worldsteel Life Cycle Inventory study:– Cradle to gate data

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– Cradle to gate data

– Global and regional average data (51 sites worldwide)

– Representative of current technologies (primary and secondary routes)

– Study critically reviewed to international standards on LCA

– 2010 update now available from www.worldsteel.org

LCA Model Development for Steel Applications

• Full life cycle models in automotive, construction and

packaging have been developed.

• Automotive model developed with the University of

California with full critical review to ensure compliance with

International Standards on LCA

• Flexible model which enables selection of materials, vehicle

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• Flexible model which enables selection of materials, vehicle

type, drive-train and methodology choices including newly

developing vehicle technologies.

• These models allow the designer to gain insights into:– Trade-offs between use phase and manufacture

– The benefits of recycling

– Analysis of consequential effects

University of California

What do these models tell us?

CO2eq

Vehicle Use

(tail-pipe emissions)

Material manufacture

Recycling benefit

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• Shows impact of different materials at each stage of the life

cycle

• In automotive, results are sensitive to a wide range of

assumptions (drive cycle, secondary savings and fuel type)

Mild Steel AHSS Aluminium

Complexity of LCA input data: Variability of fuel savings

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Complexity of LCA input data: Variability of fuel savings

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Profit viability/affordability

Making the Sustainable Choice

Beyond environmental considerations, the functionality and

economic performance of a material is crucial for making

sustainable decisions.

Material choice

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Safety/comfortCarbon footprint

Resources use

LCA

Material choice

Where are we heading……

Impact talEnvironmen

ValueSocial AimLong term

=

Sustainable Development requires that social and economic

dimensions are considered along with environment, and for the

long term !

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maxImpact talEnvironmen

What are we doing about it ……

The FutureSteelVehicle FutureSteelVehicle FutureSteelVehicle FutureSteelVehicle program is focused squarely on low carbon/fuel efficient vehicles:

• Lighter weight steel designs, which are used in unique ways to accommodate the new powertrains AND material selection decisions on the basis of life cycle assessment.

• As the fuel economy of vehicles increases (i.e. use phase

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• As the fuel economy of vehicles increases (i.e. use phase emissions decrease) - it becomes even more important to evaluate material selection decisions on a life cycle basis.

• Maximise the social and economic value of vehicles (e.g. safety/cost/ affordability) with minimal environmental impact

How do we make this system

more sustainable?

•Resource efficient design

Improved levels of reuse

Eliminate steel losses

•Make sure that any

Sustainability and the future

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•Make sure that any

changes have full life

cycle approach and

consequential SAs.

•Make sure that all

assumptions are fair,

transparent and reflect

reality