Life Cycle Assessment and Beyond
Release Date: Each May
Lead Organisation: IBERS, Aberystwyth University
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely used to measure and verify the environmental impacts associated with developing biobased products. Limitations to LCA mean that it may not reflect the true life-cycle of a product and new methodologies such as Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery (CVORR) are being developed to allow a fuller picture to be formed. This module is designed to provide a detailed knowledge and understanding of LCA and an insight into CVORR and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for professionals concerned with assessing the sustainability credentials of a biobased product or waste.
Content
The course will consist of a series of lectures and guided learning focused on:
List of Units
| Introduction | to the breadth and scope of LCA |
|---|---|
| The Global Carbon Cycle | The key components of the global carbon cycle and greenhouse gas fluxes associated with a biobased product |
| Components of LCA | The importance of feedstock choice, conversion process, transport and energy consumption, and end of life disposal options, with a focus on fluxes of CH4 and N2O as well as CO2 along with economic, social and technical metrics. |
| LCA Protocols | The range of international protocols for performing LCA and the challenge of determining appropriate emissions factors will also be reviewed. |
| Driving policy | How LCA can steer policy |
| Environmental Product Declarations | A look at the use and development of EPDs |
| Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery | CVORR theory and framework |
| Other Key Ecosystem Services | The assessment of other eco-service impacts e.g. regulation of water and air pollutants; impacts of land use change |
| Case Studies | A range of product case studies including biofuels and bioplastics. |
Tutors
| Tutors Name |
|---|
| Dr Stephen Chapman |
| Dr Richard Kipling |