LCIA

10A-LCIA-InClassEx-Pt2.pdf

Team Name: _________________________ Team Members (Last Name, First Name):

____________________________________________________________________________________ MAJOR CAVEAT: This project is intended to be an exercise in understanding LCIA and gaining insight into how the process works, how it can be useful, and the challenges with the process. The data provided below is NOT accurate. It is compiled based on my reading of literature and various LCIA sources, but is not complete, nor would I suggest it to be correct. Ok? :-)

STEP 1: Review the hypothetical Life-Cycle Environmental Impacts for the allowed materials as presented in the table below.

• The data is presented as “environmental impact per kg of material” • Please remember, the data below is only for the purposes of this exercise! • To get real/ actual data here would be a several week-months, full time project. If you are

interested, I’m happy to get you started in this direction. Contact me and we'll do a real LCIA!

Environ. Impact Per kg of Material

Global Warming Potential (GWP) [g CO2e]

Raw Material Consumption

[qualitative]

Water Use

[liters]

Air Pollution, local, smog, etc. [kg]

Water Pollution

[kg]

Hazardous Waste

[kg]

Non-Hazardo us Solid Waste

[kg] Aluminum Sheet

10000 Limited supply, non-renewable, recyclable

200 2 1 inorganic chemicals

1 5

Steel Sheet 4000 Large supply, recyclable

200 2 1 inorganic chemicals

5 5

Wood Lumber

500 Renewable, land use, damage dependent on harvest strategy

1500 1 3 organic chemicals

10 10

Glass 3000 Large supply, non-renewable, recyclable

300 1 1 inorganic chemicals

5 50

Cotton Cloth 1000 Somewhat Renewable, land use damage, Not recyclable

2000 1 5 organic chemicals

20 20

Leather 1000 Somewhat Renewable, Not recyclable

2000 4 2 organic chemicals

20 20

Synthetic Leather

2000 Large supply, non-renewable, not recyclable

4000 1 8 inorganic chemicals

5 4

ENGN 10 A Soneji

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

ENGN 10A – Hypothetical LCIA – PART 2: Quantifying, Assessing, & Evaluating Impacts

STEP 2: On some fresh pieces of paper or in a spreadsheet, generate two tables where you perform a complete assessment based on your initial mass estimates, combined with the hypothetical life-cycle impacts in Step 1. This should be simple math. Multiply mass of material by mass of impact for each material and impact combination. Create one table for each product.

STEP 3: Summarize and Evaluate your analysis in some fashion. Which product has an overall lower impact? Explain why. ___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

STEP 4: Ignoring the hypothetical nature of the data, discuss processes, impacts, and other stages of the full life cycle that are missing from our analysis:

___________________________________________________________________________________

ENGN 10 A Soneji

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
ENGN 10A – Hypothetical LCIA – PART 2: Quantifying, Assessing, & Evaluating Impacts