Abstract
This report serves as an example report on how to perform an LCA according to the guidance given in Chap. 37 and how to structure the report according to the reporting template in Chap. 38. The goals of the LCA were (i) to perform a benchmarking of a prototype wood/composite (W/C) window made out of glass fibre against three alternative window types currently offered in the market (made of wood (W), wood/aluminium (W/ALU), and PVC) and (ii) to identify environmental hotspots for each window system.
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This report is based on an LCA that was delivered as part of the requirements to pass the MSc course “Life Cycle Assessment of Products and Systems”, given at the Department of Management Engineering of the Technical University of Denmark. The report has been reworked somewhat to serve as an example report to illustrate to students how to perform and how to structure the report on an LCA according to the requirements of ISO 14044:2006 (ISO 2006) and the reporting template in Chap. 38 from the ILCD Handbook (EC-JRC 2010).
The reader should note that it is not the intention to provide an example of “the perfect LCA study” or “the perfect LCA report”. The results of this LCA should not be directly used to inform a choice between windows, not even in Denmark. As a result of students collaborating in project teams of 5–6 members during one semester (~13 weeks, 10 ECTS MSc course), this is primarily the result of a well-achieved learning experience from LCA beginners. Its main purpose is to illustrate reporting, not good or best LCA practice, which is why many details are not necessarily handled the way they should be according to part II of the book, because there are many constraints on what can be achieved in one semester of learning LCA. LCA studies and reports produced by experienced LCA professionals can have a wide range of different structures and follow different emphases depending on the goal of the study.
Appendices
39.4 Annex (Public)
1.1 39.4.1 Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods and Normalisation Factors
See Table 39.11.
1.2 39.4.2 Bills of Materials and End-of-Life Options
1.3 39.4.3 List of Assumptions
See Table 39.14.
1.4 39.4.4 Unit Processes and LCI Results
See Tables 39.15, 39.16, 39.17, 39.18, 39.19, 39.20, 39.21, 39.22, 39.23, 39.24, 39.25, 39.26, 39.27, 39.28, 39.29, 39.30, 39.31, 39.32, 39.33 and 39.34.
1.5 39.4.5 Normalised Sensitivity Coefficients
Normalised sensitivity coefficients were computed for the perturbance of the following parameters: amount of wood, aluminium, steel (W/C window only), and PVC (PVC window only) in the window frame, the amount of glass in the pane, amount of paint, electricity needed for assembly, U-value, and transportation distance from Nor-win to retailers. Thereby, we found that impact scores are most sensitive to U-value, and three other parameters (amount of wood and steel in the frame, and amount of glass in the pane). The normalised sensitivity coefficients for these four parameters are presented in Tables 39.35,39.36, 39.37 and 39.38.
39.5 Annex (Confidential)
No confidential data were used in the study.
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Owsianiak, M. et al. (2018). Illustrative Case Study: Life Cycle Assessment of Four Window Alternatives. In: Hauschild, M., Rosenbaum, R., Olsen, S. (eds) Life Cycle Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_39
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