Life cycle assessment
A Powerful tool to tackle our environmental impact
The UN Environment Program has recently announced that people are consuming more resources than ever, resulting in increased waste, depletion of natural resources and endangering impacts on our environment. Thus, the adoption of sustainable consumption and production practices is inevitable, but how can we accelerate the sustainable transformation as a global society?
“Knowledge is key”, therefore environmental awareness is crucial to foster carbon neutrality. Quantifying, comprehending, and communicating the environmental footprint of our products and services unlocks the door to #reduce their ecological impact and further expand their benefits to society [1].
The methodology of “Life cycle assessment” (LCA) serves hereby as a holistic approach to analyse the entire life cycle of a product, service, or material, starting from the extraction of raw materials until disposal. This includes a broad range of impacts on our planet and the global society, such as climate change, global warming potential, and human toxicity. The methodology behind the LCA is based on internationally recognized standards EN ISO 14040 and EN ISO 14044.
Nowadays, LCA is widely used as a decision-making tool for sustainable development [2] which incorporates transparency, communication, and awareness for the environmental footprint of our products and services. The LCA gives overview of the impacts and release of toxic substances per each life cycle phase, thereby providing crucial insights into the hotspots of the product system while identifying improvement and optimization possibilities. Subsequently, LCA also serves as a guideline for product redesign, including the selection of eco-friendly materials, non-hazardous and non-toxic substances.
As proactive leaders of the sustainable transformation, Trench & HSP are implementing the LCA methodology to analyse the potential environmental impacts of their products and deriving data-based decisions towards a carbon-neutral portfolio. The research-based technology of “Monitoring” embodies a key pillar of the REGENERA™ concept which guides our ambition to #reduce environmental impact and #remove hazardous substances from our environment.
Another key goal of Trench and HSP is to provide transparent environmental footprints of the products to our business partners and customers and influence in making more sustainable choices.
Thus, we consider LCA as a powerful asset to kick-start a global turnaround and accelerate the sustainable transformation, not only in the power industry but far beyond!
To learn more about the LCA, click here and follow us on LinkedIn to discover more about our sustainable practices!
By Natasha Jovanova
Sources:
[1] Jason Hill, Life Cycle Analysis of Biofuels, Encyclopedia of Biodiversity (Second Edition), Academic Press, 2013.
[2] Mark L. Brusseau, Ian L. Pepper, Charles P. Gerba, Environmental and Pollution Science (Third Edition), Academic Press, 2019.
[3] Baumann, Henrikke., and Anne-Marie. Tillman. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to LCA : an Orientation in Life Cycle Assessment Methodology and Application. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2004. Print.