A critical view on the current application of LCA for new technologies and recommendations for improved practice

Giesen, Coen van der; Cucurachi, Stefano; Guinée, Jeroen B.; Kramer, Gert Jan; Tukker, Arnold

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120904

Cited by 217 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

114

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The goal of an LCA is to determine all environmental impacts of a product or service over its lifetime. 25,27,33 LCA is particularly suitable to assess product systems, which have a significant impact around all stages of their life-cycle, including the production and the end-of-life phase as is the case for most CDR technologies. 15,23 LCA methodology is defined by a series of standards from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

Terlouw

Bauer

Rosa

et al. 2021

Energy Environ. Sci.

208

150

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Life Cycle Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2) on their entire life-cycle environmental performance. [24][25][26][27] Further, LCA is a flexible methodology which offers various modelling choices, and as such can be used to quantify a variety of environmental impacts, such as acidification potential, ecotoxicity and water depletion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

Terlouw

Bauer

Rosa

et al. 2021

Energy Environ. Sci.

208

150

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Due to its holistic nature, Life Cycle Assessment is a universal approach to quantitative environmental analyses. Despite some criticism and limitations [72,73], the LCA methodology is a commonly applied and recognized method for environmental assessments brought into elementary level, referring to a single material and product. The environmental performance of a product is generally shown in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) where environmental indicators are defined and standardized according to a set of standards on LCA (ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14025 and EN15804) or in the Environmental Certificate provided by the manufacturer.…”

Section: Eco-efficiency Concept and Life Cycle Assessment To Measure mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Short Food Supply Chains More Environmentally Sustainable than Long Chains? A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Eco-Efficiency of Food Chains in Selected EU Countries

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Improving the eco-efficiency of food systems is one of the major global challenges faced by the modern world. Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are commonly regarded to be less harmful to the environment, among various reasons, due to their organizational distribution and thus the shortened physical distance between primary producers and final consumers. In this paper, we empirically test this hypothesis, by assessing and comparing the environmental impacts of short and long food supply chains. Based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, we calculate eco-efficiency indicators for nine types of food distribution chains. The analysis is performed on a sample of 428 short and long food supply chains from six European countries. Our results indicate that, on average, long food supply chains may generate less negative environmental impacts than short chains (in terms of fossil fuel energy consumption, pollution, and GHG emissions) per kg of a given product. The values of eco-efficiency indicators display a large variability across analyzed chains, and especially across different types of SFSCs. The analysis shows that the environmental impacts of the food distribution process are not only determined by the geographical distance between producer and consumer, but depend on numerous factors, including the supply chain infrastructure.

show abstract

“…To perform an LCA, a complete understanding of the life cycle of a product is generally required [ 241 , 242 ]. Thus, in order to extrapolate a framework for LCA analysis of BCPs and polymer brush lithography in the semiconductor industry ex-ante LCA is required [ 241 , 243 , 244 ]. Ex-ante LCA examines the projected performance of a product or technology during the early stages of production and before commercial deployment on a large scale [ 241 , 245 ].…”

Section: Life Cycle Analysis Framework To Assess the Viability Of Green Lithographic Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Nanofabrication Opportunities in the Semiconductor Industry: A Life Cycle Perspective

Mullen

Morris

2021

Nanomaterials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The turn of the 21st century heralded in the semiconductor age alongside the Anthropocene epoch, characterised by the ever-increasing human impact on the environment. The ecological consequences of semiconductor chip manufacturing are the most predominant within the electronics industry. This is due to current reliance upon large amounts of solvents, acids and gases that have numerous toxicological impacts. Management and assessment of hazardous chemicals is complicated by trade secrets and continual rapid change in the electronic manufacturing process. Of the many subprocesses involved in chip manufacturing, lithographic processes are of particular concern. Current developments in bottom-up lithography, such as directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs), are being considered as a next-generation technology for semiconductor chip production. These nanofabrication techniques present a novel opportunity for improving the sustainability of lithography by reducing the number of processing steps, energy and chemical waste products involved. At present, to the extent of our knowledge, there is no published life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluating the environmental impact of new bottom-up lithography versus conventional lithographic techniques. Quantification of this impact is central to verifying whether these new nanofabrication routes can replace conventional deposition techniques in industry as a more environmentally friendly option.

show abstract

A critical view on the current application of LCA for new technologies and recommendations for improved practice

Cited by 217 publications

References 59 publications

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

Life cycle assessment of carbon dioxide removal technologies: a critical review

Are Short Food Supply Chains More Environmentally Sustainable than Long Chains? A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Eco-Efficiency of Food Chains in Selected EU Countries

Green Nanofabrication Opportunities in the Semiconductor Industry: A Life Cycle Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About