1. Life Cycle Analysis

2. Topics  Definition  Use  Process  Limitations

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

9. LCA Process  Goal Definition and Scoping  Inventory Analysis  Impact Assessment  Interpretation

10. 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

11. Inventory Analysis Identify and quantify energy, water and materials usage and environmental releases (e.g., air emissions, solid waste disposal, waste water discharges).

12. 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 (non- attainment air quality area might weigh air pollutants more)

13. 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.

14. 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

15. From Barlaz et al, Journal of Env. Engr,(2002) Vol 128 (10): 981

16. 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)

17. 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.