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Life cycle assessment is a technique used to empirically assess the potential costs, energy use and environmental impacts over the lifetime of a structural investment. LCA had its beginnings in the 1960"s in Europe over concerns of the limitations of raw materials and energy resources. A current example of LCA in transportation sector is the development of a rating system based on LCA for transportation projects.
Life cycle assessment is a technique used to empirically assess the potential costs, energy use and environmental impacts over the lifetime of a structural investment. LCA had its beginnings in the 1960"s in Europe over concerns of the limitations of raw materials and energy resources. A current example of LCA in transportation sector is the development of a rating system based on LCA for transportation projects.
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Life cycle assessment is a technique used to empirically assess the potential costs, energy use and environmental impacts over the lifetime of a structural investment. LCA had its beginnings in the 1960"s in Europe over concerns of the limitations of raw materials and energy resources. A current example of LCA in transportation sector is the development of a rating system based on LCA for transportation projects.
Droits d'auteur :
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Formats disponibles
Téléchargez comme PDF, TXT ou lisez en ligne sur Scribd
Cepeda, Gao, Herrera, Jatteau, and Tran: April 26, 2011 1
“Fact Sheet: Life Cycle Assessment in Transportation Policy”
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique used to
empirically assess the potential costs, energy use and Raw Materials Extraction environmental impacts over the lifetime of a Construction structural investment by compiling an inventory of relevant energy, material inputs and environmental Use releases, from raw material acquisition, to Maintenance construction, to use and maintenance of the End-of-Life investment. Adding life cycle assessment to the procedures as outlined previously. Interested in transportation decision-making process can provide what the perceptions of the public may actually look an understanding of the human health and like, we conducted a survey with UC Berkeley environmental impacts that traditionally are not students (also potential future decision-makers) to considered when selecting a project. This valuable gauge the public‟s opinion on the environmental information provides a way to account for the full performance of several modes of transport. impacts of decisions, especially those that occur outside of the project site that are directly influenced POLICY- & CONTEXT-RELATED ISSUES OF LCA by the selection of a project alternative. However, LCA has disadvantages in its use as a decision-making tool that must be addressed or at CURRENT USE OF LCA IN TRANSPORTATION least acknowledged, including that such assessments LCA had its beginnings in the 1960‟s in Europe over are often time consuming, resource intensive, and concerns of the limitations of raw materials and tends to require significant assumptions. Issues that energy resources, yet the use of LCA in the also must be addressed in conducting a LCA include transportation sector is still relatively recent. One how to define the local effects of raw materials example is the development of a rating system based extraction, determining the planning horizon, on LCA for transportation projects known as STARS context-specificity of the analysis, and the selection (Sustainable Transportation Access Rating System), of the metrics, or functional units, to be analyzed. similar to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design). A current example of LCA in The ultimate implication of LCA for transportation transportation policy is California‟s Low Carbon Fuel planners and civil engineers is that all of the potential Standard (LCFS), a policy requiring the use of low energy use and environmental impacts, as well as carbon fuels, measured on a full life-cycle basis, to costs, over the lifetime of a project must be analyzed reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the and considered in the selection and design of a transportation sector. transportation project. More research in this area will continue to create justification for future policy TRANSPORTATION MODE COMPARISON at the federal, state, and regional/local levels of The „end-pipe‟ approach currently used to evaluate governments that mandates LCA for transportation transportation modes for CO2 emissions levels may projects, much like environmental assessments also have a strong effect on the perceptions of the originating with the National Environmental Policy public and decision-makers. Since LCA is not a Act (NEPA). However, LCA is simply one tool to mainstream method used nationwide currently, we better inform decision-makers that should be believe that the public and decision-makers are included with other decision criteria, such as cost exposed more to emission level measurements that and performance, to make a well-balanced decision. come from direct evaluations for each mode. Direct As global warming and sustainability continue to be measurements will mostly neglect costs and public policy issues, it may only be a matter of when, emissions associated with raw materials extraction, not if, LCA is part of transportation. construction, maintenance, and end-of-life