With the increasing importance of environmental interactions, several innovations of the environmental performance are introduced in automotive industry. One aspect of innovation is an environmental material selection including renewable raw materials. Products of renewable raw materials are generally regarded as environmentally friendly, including products from hemp, jute and flax. The ecological preferences of products of natural fibres can be investigated and described by means of ecological balances. However, no general principles for the ecological advantages or disadvantages of fibre plants can be deducted from their life cycle assessment, since the ecological compatibility of the different products strongly depends on the circumstances of the journey of life of the product. The objective of this study is a decision support of automotive engineers by giving an ecological balance of the benefits of substituting ABS by hemp fibres for covering applications. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of hemp fibre reinforced components is introduced. This study contains the agricultural cultivation of fibre plants, the method of harvesting and the processing of the harvested crops. Finally, the analysis includes the further processing of the fibre, starting from the manufacturing of the fibre composite matrix, on which the production of form press components for the automotive industry bases. The differences of energy demand and emissions amount during the use phase of a passenger car as well as different recycling scenarios are assessed.
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