Life Cycle Assessment,

Trends, Methodologies and Current Implementation

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Tufts University

August 5, 1994

Client: The United States Department of Energy

Capstone Team:

Magalie Breville

Thomas Gloria

Michael O'Connell

Ted Saad

Faculty Advisor: Gene Blake

This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Masters of Science Degree in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

An Evaluation of Life Cycle Assessment Methods and Implementation

Abstract

Prepared for : U.S. Department of Energy

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an analytical tool that evaluates the environmental consequences of a product, process, or activity holistically, across its entire life cycle. LCA is used internationally by government and industry to obtain a complete picture of interactions between an activity and the environment, contribute an overall understanding of a product or process life-cycle, and provide decision-makers with a tool to identify opportunities for improvement.

In light of two Executive Orders that encourage the use of LCA, the Capstone team was requested by our client, the Department of Energy (DOE), to evaluate the state of the science of LCA and to recommend specific areas of focus for Federal activities to improve the state of LCA. The team narrowed the focus to this complex issue and evaluated the following: current trends and issues that are driving LCA internationally; a description and comparative analysis of the LCA methodologies in use; and a survey to review the implementation and corporate perspective of LCA.

The consensus is that LCA has come a long way from its first commercial use on a Coca-Cola packaging study in 1969. Today, LCA is driven by external forces such as eco-labels and ISO standards and is integrated into environmental management programs, motivated by market awareness, public perception, and cost savings. Many methodologies and software tools are enhancing the science through improvements on data inventory characterization and classification, impact valuation, and boundary decision-making.

However, as found with our analysis of current methodologies and corporate perspectives, LCA has many shortcomings that need to be assessed. The concern over poor data quality and availability, high costs and duration, subjectivity of methodologies, and lack of standardization has sent LCA into a state of flux. The team recommends that these issues could be rectified by the following: continue to strive for a standardized impact analysis method; further funding for LCA tools to address issues of data; promote LCA through case studies; construct LCA guidelines with flexibility and streamlining; and incorporate cost into LCA.

Executive Summary

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an analytical tool which evaluates the environmental consequences of a product, process, or activity, holistically across its entire life cycle. The usefulness and performance of this tool to industry and government is not without its shortcomings: there are a lack of standardized tools; the availability and quality of data is poor; and there continues to be disagreement with the science and art of LCA. The Department of Energy (DOE), in conjunction with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI), are embarking on a joint venture to develop solutions to some of these problems. As requested by DOE, the Capstone team, under advisement of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Tufts University, has performed an assessment of where the science of LCA currently stands and provided recommendations on specific areas of focus for Federal activities.

To meet the objective of assessing the current science of LCA, the Capstone team has evaluated LCA within the scope of the following issues:

the driving forces, and related issues that have motivated the use of LCA;

a description and comparison of the methodologies that have been developed in the arena of life-cycle frameworks;

an aggregation and summary of LCA computer technology tools;

an evaluation of the implementation and corporate perspective of LCA in industry;

recommendations on specific areas of focus for the DOE and other stakeholders involved with the development of LCA; and

suggestions for future research in the arena of LCA.

Currently there are many forces at work, both domestically and internationally, to motivate and encourage the refinement, standardization and broad based adoption of LCA. Domestically, two recent Executive Orders by President William Clinton, Federal Acquisition, Recycling, and Waste Prevention and Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation at Federal Facilities, as well as the proposed Congressional Environmental Technologies Act of 1994 seek to utilize the practice of LCA by Federal agencies and promote its adoption by the public sector. The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) has become an effective forum for addressing and advancing the development of LCA in the constructs of shaping a standardized methodology. While SETAC operates on an international level, it continues to work closely with the U.S. interests in the area of LCA. DOE, in conjunction with Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories and Sandia National Laboratories, is also working extensively to enhance the current science of LCA through the development of innovative software tools and databases. And finally, environmental organizations, such as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), are also playing an active role in shaping how LCA is utilized for the public's interest.

Driving forces behind LCA can also be found outside of the United States, as the world community mobilizes to adopt the goals of sustainable development. The World Bank is seeking to adopt many of the principles behind LCA for assessing the worthiness of projects under consideration for financing. The International Organization for Standards (ISO) is currently developing a standardized environmental management system, titled ISO 14000, which includes a LCA methodology to be adopted globally. The European Community (EC) is moving to require companies to adhere to the ISO 14000 standards in order to market their goods within the EC member nations. In addition, eco-labels are having an impact on the evolution of LCA within Europe. Eco-labels have been proposed by several European organizations and governments as a means of promoting "environmentally preferable" products evaluated by LCA, without imposing command and control regulations.

Many other forces at work in the arena of LCA are attempting to achieve refinement and standardization of LCA, specifically in the area of methodology. Organizations such as SETAC, DOE, EPA, Eco-balance, Franklin Associates, Tellus Institute, Arthur D. Little, and, Scientific Certification Services (SCS), subscribe to unique differences in the approach to LCA. However, it appears that the major components in their methodologies are not so different. For instance, most LCA methods generally begin with a scoping and goal definition component that defines the purpose of the study. Another commonality is an inventory analysis, an evaluation of the inputs and outputs of the product, process or activity that is the subject of study. Most methodologies encourage an improvement component based on the inventory discharges and impacts on the environment. In addition, most methods consider cradle-to-grave of a product or process.

However, the impact assessment, which defines the actual impacts to the environment based on the inventory data, has significant variation in several LCA methodologies. Impact assessment methods, such as SCS, Environmental Priority System (EPS), and Eco-balance, have developed this area of study with approaches that use more subjective art than science. The specific problem in development of a suitable impact assessment appears to exist in the classification of inventory data into impact categories, and in the valuation of the data to determine the type of environmental effect it represents. In addition, variations exist in the determination of whether or not the impact component should consider elements of costing or economics.

The methodologies developed to date have the potential to be effective environmental tools that can be used to identify opportunities for system improvements, as well as analyze impacts on the environment. However, it will require consensus to reach a level that can ensure consistent, useful, and scientifically sound LCA studies. Today, SETAC has established itself as a forum to facilitate development in methodologies by other groups, especially in the area of impact assessment, as the organization attempts to achieve standardization. Even though the SETAC methodology is the most prominent, it is also not complete, providing guidelines rather than a specific approach. This allows other developing methodologies to add elements of specific criteria as goals of standardization are achieved.

The evolving availability of hardware and software technologies are facilitating the use of LCA methodologies. The intent of these tools are to assist LCA practitioners with the data intensive nature of LCA and provide relational database management. In addition, many software packages provide models for impact assessments of various methodologies. Most of these tools are designed to be user-friendly and flexible in a developing and changing environment, with the goal of being comprehensive and consistent with all the elements of a LCA methodology.

Corporations, as the entities implementing LCA, are a significant force in setting the tone and shaping LCA standardization and refinement. Companies around the world are making improvements in operations that reduce effects on the environment through the use of LCA. This change in behavior regarding environmental improvement has evolved into management practices, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Product Stewardship, and Design-for-Environment (DFE) - all of which have elements of LCA.

In light of the corporate involvement with LCA, the Capstone team performed a corporate survey of 34 "Fortune-500" companies as an attempt to evaluate current approaches to implementation and perspectives on LCA. The survey responses demonstrate that companies are using, developing, or considering the use of LCA. However, there are many companies that are using various life-cycle frameworks such as Product Stewardship and DFE, incorporating elements of LCA. This presents two types of LCA implementors, the first implements LCA as a stand alone program, the other uses LCA as part of an environmental management strategy, where LCA is viewed as a tool to reach specific goals.

Integration of LCA within existing departments demonstrates that the level of commitment reflects the company's need for LCA. For example, companies in the chemical/plastics/paper sector typically originate LCA efforts from the health, safety and environment (HS&E) department to facilitate environmental compliance. Companies in the electronics/computer sector highly involve their product, design and development (PD&D) and HS&E departments to improve design practices. Many companies are also integrating various departments with cross-functional groups and strategy teams to facilitate further support in LCA. However, support from upper level management appears to be a hurdle for complete integration of LCA within a company.

The primary motivations by companies to conduct an LCA appear to be product and process improvements and cost savings. In addition, proactive environmentalism, ISO standards and market strategies are playing more of a role in the motivation of LCA as companies attempt to remain competitive in the international market.

For the inventory component, companies generate most of their data internally due to the lack of trust in the validity of the data that is publicly available. Due to the difficulty of complete data collection and the high costs associated with it, there is a desire by companies to have access to a central database. The attitude towards a central database as a source of data is split between those actively contributing to generate data and those that believe that a central database will not be able to provide useful or accurate data.

SETAC is the most common methodology in use by the companies contacted. However, in many cases the SETAC model is not used in a comprehensive manner, but instead streamlined due to costs, time, and the desire for companies to use a model that suits their specific needs. The streamlining is done by minimizing the scope of the LCA or by not including certain data where appropriate.

LCA is having an effect on internal decisions and changing many of the products and processes developed in the marketplace. These changes show that future product and process innovations and reduced environmental impacts can be anticipated as designers focus on an additional set of issues through the use of LCA. LCA is also beneficial to companies in setting priorities and facilitating the decision making process. In addition, LCA is instrumental in bringing together different departments to discuss environmental issues. Overall, the survey demonstrates that LCA has a promising future as companies adopt more comprehensive and environmentally driven strategies based on life-cycle concerns. However, LCA is also currently in a state of flux as companies attempt to rectify many of the uncertainties that accompany the implementation of various methodologies.

In light of these issues, and given the state of the entities driving LCA and developing LCA methodologies, the Capstone team provides several recommendations for action.

First, the Capstone team recommends that LCA organizers designate a champion to move the tool forward throughout the LCA community. LCA methodologies need to be flexible for internal use within industry and standardized as companies use LCA for external reasons, such as marketing, eco-labels, and ISO certification. A standardized impact assessment method needs to be established and widely accepted. Fourth, further funding for LCA tools, such as a central database, needs to continue and be integrated with multi-educated individuals from inception. Finally, LCA methodologies must incorporate the cost component to be effective within industry.