An Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment with SimaPro Colin McMillan

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An Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment with
SimaProColin McMillan
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An Introduction to SimaPro

• Why Use It?
• Program Structure
• Goal and Scope Definition
• Inventory Analysis
• Impact Analysis
• Interpretation
• Building a LCA in SimaPro
• Navigating SimaPro
• Where to find data
• Entering data

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Why SimaPro?

• Market-leading LCA software developed by PRé
  Consultants (Netherlands).
• Provides access to a large amount of licensed
  (i.e. not publicly available) LCI data.
• Speeds the calculation of LCI and LCIA (matrix
  inversion calculation routine).
• SimaPro allows users to organize material and
  energy flows into a database of product and
  process building blocks.
• LCAs of materials and processes are then
  constructed with these building blocks.

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SimaPro Organization

• Organized based on LCA stages
• Goal and scope definition
• Inventory
• Impact assessment
• Interpretation

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Goal and Scope Definition

• Description
• Multiple fields for discussion of project goal,
  functional unit, and other details.
• Data Quality Indicators (DQIs)
• Used to record data time period, geography,
  representativeness, allocation, system
  boundaries.
• Allows users to evaluate the appropriateness of
  data and to define DQI requirements and
  weightings.
• Your ideal LCI data are the most current possible
  and are obtained from the same geographic area as
  your study.
• Complete documentation of data sources, data
  quality, and any associated assumptions are of
  KEY IMPORTANCE.

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Life Cycle Inventory LCA Building Blocks

• Processes
• Describe materials, transportation, production
  processing, and disposal processing in terms of
  input output flows of substances
• Environmental Flows- most commonly used. Include
  emissions to air, water, and soil, solid wastes,
  non-material emissions (i.e. radiation, noise),
  use of natural resources.
• Economic Flows- include inputs from other
  processes, economic outputs (e.g. products),
  waste outputs for treatment, avoided processes,
  economic inputs.
• Social Flows- user specified.
• Product Stages
• Assemblies, life cycle, disposal scenarios,
  reuse, disassembly used to describe the overall
  product and its life cycle.

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Life Cycle Inventory LCA Building Blocks

• Substances Inputs from Nature (Resources)
• These are the most basic blocks in SimaPro and
  express the use of natural resources.
• They are materials as they exist in nature and
  have neither emissions nor energy consumption
  associated with them. Example limestone in
  ground.
• Inputs from Technosphere Materials/Fuels
  Electricity/Heat
• These are inputs from other processes.
• The building blocks that define human products
  and processes and contain defined inputs and
  outputs. Example limestone mining, heat from an
  industrial furnace.
• Distinction between inputs Materials/Fuels
  have mass units. Electricity/Heat have units
  other than mass.

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Process Types Systems and Unit Processes

• A system type process includes only inputs from
  nature (the furthest point upstream) and
  emissions. A black box is created, reducing
  transparency.
• A unit process type process identifies all of the
  sub processes used, each of which have inputs
  from nature and emissions. Individual sub
  processes can be modified with updated data or
  data from a new geographic area (i.e. in order to
  make European process data for mfg HDPE more
  suitable for use in a U.S. LCA, substitute U.S.
  electricity production for the given electricity
  process)

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Process Types Systems and Unit Processes
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Product Stages Assembling the Building Blocks

• Product Stages
• Do not directly contain environmental, social,
  or economic flows instead are used to assemble
  materials and processes to describe various life
  cycle stages.
• Assemblies
• The product specification of component materials,
  transportation, and mfg processes.
• An assembly is a cradle-to-gate representation
  of a product.
• End-of-Life Scenarios
• Enables user to describe separate processes for
  disposal, disassembly, and reuse.
• Life Cycle
• Links the product specifications (assemblies)
  with defined use phase and end-of-life scenario.
• Can be linked to other life cycles, enabling the
  user to model a products use of other products.

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Example Product Assembly
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Example Product Life Cycle
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Relationships Among Building Blocks
PRODUCT STAGES
Life Cycle
Assembly
PROCESSES
Inputs from Technosphere
Inputs from Technosphere
SUBSTANCES
Inputs from Nature
Emissions
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Calculating, Analyzing, and Interpreting Results

• Network
• Tree
• Analyze
• Compare
• Uncertainty Analysis

Clicking any of these will calculate results
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Analyzing Interpreting Results Networks and
Trees

• Both networks and trees show the relationships
  within and between processes and assemblies.
• Unlike a tree, a network shows looped
  relationships between processes
• Contribution Analysis- both can track
  contributions of substances, emissions, and
  impact assessment results.

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Analyzing Interpreting Results Analyze
Compare

• Choosing either will calculate LCI and LCIA
  results. Compare is used to create a
  side-by-side comparison of multiple processes or
  assemblies.

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Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Results

• A life cycle inventory (LCI) is the environmental
  balance sheet for a process or material.
• It records material and energy flows entering and
  leaving the process or material.
• Later used to calculate the life cycle impact
  assessment

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LCI Results
Inventory contribution by life cycle stage
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Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

• LCI results are aggregated and adjusted to
  describe their relevance in a more meaningful
  way. Multiple steps of calculation are involved-
  depend on Midpoint or Endpoint approach.
• Classification
• Defines the impact categories and their
  substances.
• Characterization
• Reflects the relative contribution of a LCI flow
  (a substance) to the impact category result.
• Normalization
• Defines the extent to which an impact category
  contributes to the total environmental burden.
• Weighting
• Process by which indicators are aggregated into a
  single score. Uses subjective weighting factors.

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Getting to Know Your Impact Assessment Methods (v
7.0)

• Endpoint Methods include emission, fate,
  exposure, effect, and damage. Provides more
  intuitive measures, but at the expense of
  certainty.
• Eco-Indicator 99
• Impact 2002
• Ecopoints 97
• Midpoint Methods include emission, fate, and
  exposure. Less uncertainty than endpoints.
• TRACI 2002 U.S. EPA. Characterization only- no
  normalization or weighting.
• CML 2 baseline 2000

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LCIA Example Climate Change in EcoIndicator 99
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LCIA Results

• Based on the type of impact assessment
  methodology chosen, it may be possible to see
  results from each stage of the LCIA
  (characterization, damage assessment,
  normalization, weighting, and single score.

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Connection Between Inventory and Impact Assessment

• LCI emissions must be matched to the substances
  contained in impact assessment categories. If
  not, the emissions will not be captured by the
  impact assessment method.
• The Checks Tab
• Lists substances that are not being captured by
  the selected impact assessment method.

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Analyzing Interpreting Results Uncertainty
Analysis

• Latest version of SimaPro (v7.0)incorporates
  Monte Carlo analysis for calculating uncertainty
  in process inputs and outputs, as well as product
  stages, in LCI and LCIA.
• HOWEVER, information on the types of
  distributions and other uncertainty parameters
  are only included with the EcoInvent database.

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Uncertainty Analysis Example
Only 0.0399 of the values contain uncertainty
data!
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An Introduction to SimaPro

• Why Use It?
• Program Structure
• Goal and Scope Definition
• Inventory Analysis
• Impact Analysis
• Interpretation
• Building a LCA in SimaPro
• Where to find data
• Entering data

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Getting to Know Your Underlying Databases (v 7.0)

• EcoInvent v1.2 (2005)
• Swiss energy production, transport, and
  materials.
• Industry Data (2001)
• Data collected by industry associations, such as
  the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in
  Europe (APME).
• Idemat (2001)
• Production of various materials, compiled by
  Delft University (Netherlands)
• Buwal 250 (1997)
• Packaging materials for the Swiss Packaging
  Institute.
• ETH-ESU (1996)
• Swiss and Eastern European production of energy,
  resource extraction, raw material production,
  production of semi-manufactures, auxiliary and
  working materials, supply of transport and waste
  treatment services, and infrastructure
  construction.
• Franklin (1996)
• North American materials, energy, and transport.

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Sources of Publicly Available LCI/LCA Data

• U.S. LCI Database http//www.nrel.gov/lci
• Managed by the National Renewable Energy Lab
• Sources include Franklin Associates, Athena
  Institute,
• Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe
  (APME) http//www.plasticseurope.org
• LCI data contained in eco-profiles, developed
  by Boustead.
• Peer-Reviewed Journals
• Journal of Industrial Ecology, International
  Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of
  Cleaner Production, Environmental Science
  Technology, and others

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US. LCI Database
The go-to source for publicly available LCI
data for North American materials, energy, and
processes. Free, but registration required.
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U.S. LCI Database Data

• Data arranged in spreadsheets. Were concerned
  with the streamlined and detailed
  spreadsheets.
• Streamlined Spreadsheets
• Contain information on scope boundary, data
  quality indicators, and data sources.
• LCI data should look familiar arranged by inputs
  from nature, inputs from technosphere, outputs to
  nature (air, water, soil emissions).
• Detailed Spreadsheets
• Contain supporting calculations and references

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U.S. LCI Database Data Al Precision Sand Casting
Streamlined Spreadsheet
Inputs of Man-Made Materials, Industrial
Processes, and Energy
Inputs of Natural Resources
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Entering Data into SimaPro North American
Natural Gas Extraction

• Data from U.S. LCI Database
• Data Description
• Process type unit process
• Geographical Representation N. America
• Year 2003
• Technical Representation Offshore and onshore
  extraction, includes gas co-extracted with crude
  oil.
• Data Sources Government and industry sources.
• Functional Unit extraction of 1,000 cu ft of
  natural gas

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Entering Data Documentation
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Entering Data
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Wheres the Energy?Energy Accounting in SimaPro

• Energy Accounting Definitions
• Energy accounting is a fundamental concept in
  LCA.
• Feedstock Energy- the amount of energy contained
  in a material that is not used as an energy
  source. The heat of combustion of a material,
  expressed in terms of HHV or LHV.
• Process (Fuel) Energy- the amount of energy
  contained in fuel that is combusted for work or
  heat.
• Total Primary Energy- the total amount of fuel
  and feedstock energy consumed by a product or
  process over its entire life cycle.
• Energy can be tracked in two ways in SimaPro
• Input from nature specified with heat of
  combustion (Oil, crude, feedstock, 41 MJ/kg, in
  ground). This approach necessitates creating a
  new input for each new heat of combustion value.
• Create energy reminders as Non Material
  Emissions

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Advanced Topics

• Describing waste disposal and EOL processes
  Waste Scenarios, Disposal Scenarios, Disassembly,
  Reuse.
• Creating Parameters

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Waste Scenarios, Disposal Scenarios, Disassembly,
and Reuse

• Used to build descriptions and to define impacts
  of EOL processes
• Commonly an under utilized feature of SimaPro
• Waste Scenarios are SimaPro processes and are
  used to describe where waste flows go. They
  require additional waste treatment processes to
  describe
• Example a waste scenario for municipal waste
  describes the s of certain materials collected
  from waste stream. An incineration process
  describes the emissions resulting from
  incineration.
• Disposal Scenarios, Disassembly, and Reuse are
  SimaPro product stages and are used to describe
  the EOL processes for the product youre
  modeling, as well as any of the products
  assemblies and subassemblies.
• Example a disposal scenario describes the
  transportation energy required to collect a
  discarded coffee maker and includes the s of the
  overall coffee maker that are disposed,
  disassembled and recovered, and reused.

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Waste Scenarios Identifying Waste Flows and
Where They Go

• A material or process must have a defined waste
  type in order to be included in a waste scenario.
  This is the waste flow.

• The waste scenario is then used to describe where
  the waste flow goes. Example household waste

36 of paper waste flow is separated and recycled
All remaining is treated as municipal waste
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Waste Scenarios Describing the Treatment of
Waste Flows

• After initial separation, household waste is
  linked to the municipal waste scenario. Here,
  additional separation occurs before waste is
  incinerated and landfilled

Additional separation recovery

• The Incineration waste treatment process
  contains the emissions that result from
  incinerating municipal waste

Waste treatment scenarios
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Disposal Scenarios, Disassembly, and Reuse

• Disposal Scenarios describe the types of EOL
  processes that specific products undergo.
• The disposal scenario for a coffee maker includes
  the of the product that is sent to municipal
  waste, disassembled, and reused.

• Separate disassembly and reuse stages are used to
  describe specifics.

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Relationships Among Disposal EOL Processes
PRODUCT STAGES
PROCESSES
SUBSTANCES
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Advanced Concepts Parameters

• Parameters (new in SimaPro v. 7) allow user to
  model relationships within inventory data through
  mathematical expressions.
• Used for sensitivity analysis, including
  boundary, transportation, and, allocation
  choices.
• Create nonlinear models.
• Define and evaluate uncertainty in LCI data.
• Used to develop Product Scenarios.
• Example create multiple design options for a
  product by defining parameters for dimensions and
  materials.
• No longer a need to create multiple assemblies or
  life cycles for evaluating different product
  process designs.

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Advanced Concepts Parameters Example Application

• Assume we are using SimaPro to evaluate different
  designs for wood shed.

• Create parameter definitions for the shed
  dimensions.
• Develop expressions based on parameters.
• Quantities of material assembly inputs are now
  controlled by parameter expressions. Now,
  different shed designs can be analyzed by
  adjusting parameters, instead of creating a
  completely new product in SimaPro.

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Your Homework
Develop and model a comparative LCA of high
pressure mercury lamps and metal halide lamps in
SimaPro. You will be given a bill of materials
and operating characteristics for each lamp type.