Using life cycle assessment in environmental engineering education

Figures & data

Figure 3. Model outputs – financial summary.

Table 1. LCA skills.

LCA stage	Skills required
Goal and scope definition	Systems thinking Negotiation skills Market research
Inventory analysis	Chemistry Pollution control Transport studies Energy production Mass and energy balances Literature searching Waste management processes
Impact assessment	Environmental science Pollution dispersion Health impact assessment Ecological impact assessment
Interpretation	Critical analysis Data interpretation Presentation skills Negotiating skills

Figure 1. Model input screen.

Table 2. Life cycle burden categories used in the model.

Category	Units
Climate change	kg CO2 equivalent
Non-renewable resource depletion	kg antimony equivalent
Eutrophication	kg phosphate equivalent
Acidification	kg sulphate
Human Toxicity	kg 1,4-dichlorobenzene equivalent
Aquatic eco-toxicity	kg 1,4-dichlorobenzene equivalent

(The units used are standard ways of characterising emissions used in most LCA studies)

Figure 2. Model outputs – environmental impacts (note that negative values shown in red indicate areas where the process leads to an overall reduction in that particular category due to the recovery of energy, materials or compost).

Figure 4. Important of NOx emissions in contributing to eutrophication impacts.