QUASIMAN

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

Environmental footprints of singular activities can be calculated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is a tool for quantifying and assessing a range of potential environmental impacts of product use or services. It can help identify unforeseen consequences - so-called ‘environmental problem shifting’. Problem shifting can occur when a proposed solution to reduce (direct) emissions from an activity results in increased emissions elsewhere. For example, capture of carbon dioxide at a power plant requires energy and reduces its net efficiency. As a result, more coal or natural gas needs to be combusted increasing resource requirements and emissions upstream. Not only can LCA quantify product carbon footprints, the tool also allows for the calculation of other environmental impacts, such as impacts of emissions on health and ecosystems. LCA calculations rely heavily on pre-established Life Cycle Inventory databases. The increasing size and complexity of these databases, as well as recent advances in the field of life cycle modelling, make commercial software for LCA less suitable as a state-of-the-art modelling tool. NILU aims to develop a flexible research software for projects aiming at a more integrative sustainability assessment, where not only ‘classical’ life cycle impact indicators are assessed, but other impacts can be quantified at high level of detail. The main objective of the project is to develop an LCA calculator that can act as the first module of a software framework suited for the calculation of life-cycle based sustainability indicators.