Page 55 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

36 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT HANDBOOK

make a clear separation between behavior and technology, and
between technosphere and ecosphere. The fuel needed to drive
1 km with a certain car depends on the car, the drive style, the
road, other traffic, and the traffic policy. Actual impacts of a seem-
ingly technological process such as transportation are thus linked
to consumer behavior, policy-making, strategic investments, etc.
Some endpoint models like Eco-Indicator 99 [33] and ReCiPe [84]
include human adaptation scenarios in their endpoint models on
climate change, but they do not include the environmental impli-
cations of these adaption scenarios, such as the production of
electricity to run additional air conditioners (as a consequence of
global warming), or the production of additional sun blockers (as
a consequence of ozone layer depletion).
• The broadening of the object of analysis (vertical arrow). LCSA can
be performed at three different levels: product, meso or economy.
Products are thereby defined as in the ISO 14040 Standards and
comprise any good or service. Product systems performing the
same function(s) are compared, for example different options for
milk packaging. Examples of methods and models for this level
include process-LCA, EIO-LCA, hybrid LCA, life-cycle costing
(LCC) and social LCA (SLCA). Meso refers to a level in-between
product and economy-wide. It may include groups of related prod-
ucts and technologies, baskets of commodities (e.g., the product
folio of a company), a municipality, a household, etc. An example
at this level might be the introduction of biomass as a major car
fuel. Defining and finding appropriate methods and models for
this level needs further research [85] but may for example include
environmental input-output analysis (EIOA), input-output
analysis (IOA) and partial equilibrium models. Economy-wide
refers both to economies of states or other geographical/political
entities, and eventually the world. An example question for this
level might be the comparison of options for emerging technol-
ogy domains, for example large-scale introduction of wind energy
or solar cells as strategy for phasing out fossil energy, nanotech-
nology and new communication services. Defining and finding
appropriate methods and models for this level also needs further
research but may for example include IOA [86] and multi-region
IOA [87]. Obviously the three levels are not sharply defined, and
there may be questions that fall somewhere in-between two levels.
• The broadening of the scope of indicators (horizontal arrow).
Analyses are made for at least one set of sustainability indicators
a
(environmental, economic nd/or social indicators). A distinction
is made between LCA with just one set of sustainability indica-
tors (environmental, economic or social), and LCSA comprised
of performance indicators for all three (or at least two) pillars of
sustainable development [86].