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1
Coffee Maker Example
2 Source: http://home.howstuffworks.com/coffee-maker.htm
Define step by step the overall activity to carry out a Life Cycle
Assessment of a Coffee Maker
1. WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF MY ANALYSIS?
2. WHERE DO YOU STOP DRAWING THE BOUNDS?
3. WHAT DATA DO I HAVE TO INCLUDE IN THE ANALYSIS?
WHERE CAN I FIND THEM?
3 Source: http://home.howstuffworks.com/coffee-maker.htm
Step 1 – Goal definition and scope
Goal Definition: Establish how to improve the environmental performance
of the Coffee Maker
Functional unit: 3650 filters (5 cups twice a day)
System boundaries: from cradle to grave (all the life cycle stages)
1. Draw up a schematic overview of the product life cycle, paying
equal attention to production, use and waste processing
Source: http://www.pre.nl/download/EI99_Manual.pdf
PR
OD
UC
TIO
N
DIS
TR
IBU
TIO
N
2. Establish (correct) material and energy balance(s) for each
stage and event
Unit Process
Product Material Input
EnergyProcess Materials, Reagents
Primary Product and co-product
Emissions
Waste
3. Establish (correct) material and energy balance(s) for each
stage and event
Source: http://www.pre.nl/download/EI99_Manual.pdf
The functional unit (10
cups for day using the
Coffee Maker twice a day)
is important to quantify
the amount of electricity
and filters
White blocks have
been omitted
Finding data is hard and usually very time-consuming:
• The production manager does not have information about the external phase (i.e. usage, distribution, disposal)
• The shift and the production manager sometimes have information about the complete production line and do not have specific information about a single product
• CEOs don’t want to share their know-how
• Published data on material loads exist, but they are often inconsistent and/or not directly applicable
During a Life Cycle Inventory the assumption and the hypothesis that have been done should be indicated
In the Coffee Maker example it has been decided to exclude:
• Coffee bean production and transportation
• Water consumption of use phase
• Coffee and filters disposal
Mistakes are easily made in quantification
Mass and energy balances may not be correct
1. Define the impact categories
2. Determine which loads affect the impact categories
3. Assign indicators to the impact categories
4. Weigh the importance of each category Environmental Impact Environmental Load
greenhouse effect
ozone layer depletion
eutrophication
depletion of abiotic resources
(summer) smog
acidification
Copper
CO2
CFC
SO2
NOx
Phosphorous
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Heavy metals
PCB
Pesticides
Styrene eco-toxicity
depletion of biotic resources
human toxicity
odor Source: ISO 14044:2006
Source: http://www.pre.nl/download/EI99_Manual.pdf
Ecoindicator 99
Different from the
game indicator
Subjective, subjective, subjective
Impact categories chosen
Indicators chosen for the impact categories
How metrics / load affect impact indicators
Weights used for the impact categories
Where are the impacts occurring?
U.S., Europe, Brazil? The indicators shall distinguish the regional effects Emissions made in Asia have different impact from those made in Europe
Is there already damage in the area being impacted?
How are managers and engineers supposed to know the effects of every load on the different impacts?
1. During this phase the results related to the goal of the analysis should be evaluated
E.G. In coffee machine example:
• Higher impacts are caused by use phase Electricity consumption
2. Identify areas & opportunities for improvement
• Assign greater priority to lower energy consumption
How to improve the coffee maker? Where should we focus?
Source: http://www.pre.nl/download/EI99_Manual.pdf
It is a fair representative of appliances - main impact is the use phase
The size of each block is a
measure of the relative
contribution to the total
• Compare results with published analysis
• If you find many big differences Check the completeness of your inventory
• Sensible analysis to improve the results and carry out details to make modifications on the Coffee Maker production
© Politecnico di Milano 2014
This work is subject to copyright. Duplication of this document or parts thereof is permitted only
under the explicit consent of Politecnico di Milano.
The authors can’t accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made.