Mapping the Environmental Consequence of Design Decisions: Introduction Professor Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering and Engineering Systems Division ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 1 Overview •Goal – Examine the need for an environmental evaluation method – Provide an overview of Life Cycle Assessment ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 2 1What are some examples of products that compete on environmental characteristics? ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 3 How would you make a engineering decision to evaluate options? ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 4 2Example: Comparing Grocery Sacks •Your firm is going to launch a new line of grocery stores that focuses on environmentally and socially conscious consumers – Stop & Care & Shop •Your task has been to identify the type of grocery sacks you will offer – Paper or plastic? •What do you need to know? ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 5 Comparing Paper and Plastic: Comparing Unit Production Energy ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 6 3What about product design? ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 7 Comparing Paper and Plastic: Production Energy of a Single Bag ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 8 4What happens to the bag after production? ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 9 Comparing Paper and Plastic: Comparing Unit Production Energy with Recovery ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 10 5Steel Aluminum Materials Substitution: Making Better Materials Choices Which Material would you Choose? Material A Material B CO2 2 kg / kg CO2 11 kg / kg SO2 0.008 SO2 0.4 NOx 0.007 NOx 0.3 ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 11 Which would you choose? CO2 SO2 NOx NM VOC Dust 1e-05 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 kg Released per kg Produced Steel Aluminum Emissions from Production 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 kg Emissions from Production CO2 A B A B Why does B advertise itself as Environmental? ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 12 6What is Life-cycle Assessment? •SETAC Definition: “The life cycle assessment is an objective process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process, or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials usage and environmental releases, to assess the impact of those… and to evaluate and implement opportunities to effect environmental improvements…” ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 13 LCA: Methodology • Goal & Scope Definition – What is the unit of analysis? – What materials, processes, or products are to be considered? • Inventory Analysis – Identify & quantify • Energy inflows • Material inflows • Releases • Impact Analysis – Relating inventory to impact on world Goal & Scope Definition Inventory Analysis Impact Analysis Interpretation ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 14 7• • Establishing Common LCA Practice •SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) – Regarded as pioneering organization establishing LCA procedures •ISO 14040 (1997) – 14043 (2000) – Defines LCA as: “compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs, and potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life-cycle” ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 15 Why Carry Out a Life-Cycle Assessment? Goals Decision-making – Product design – Process design – Purchasing – Policy-making • Communication – Eco-labeling – Product declarations – Benchmarking Learning / exploration – Identifying improvement opportunities – Identify liability concerns – Selecting performance indicators – Research ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: Slide 16 8Why Carry Out a Life-Cycle Assessment? Advantages •Systems perspective – Many impacts occur because of decisions we control, but not directly due to our actions – Avoids media shifting •Product / activity focus – Allows consideration of alternative paths to fulfilling objective •Analytical – Provides orderly structure to evaluation – Not value-free ESD.123/3.560: Industrial Ecology – Systems Perspectives Massachusetts Institute of Technology Randolph Kirchain Department of Materials Science & Engineering Introduction: