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Development of EcoScores for use in Life Cycle Design

• Seung J. L., J. Cooper (2006) Life Cycle Design of Emerging Energy Generation Technologies, Presented at the 2006 InLCA Conference, October 4-6, Washington, DC

• EcoScores are fuel, transport, component, and materials management-specific scores based on LCA data and an impact weighting scheme. Adding the scores for each item allows the development of system level scores:

  • lSystem EcoScore = ∑ES_i I_i

    where:

    ES_i = the EcoScore for item i

    I_i = the inventory flow for item i

  • EcoScore Categories

    • Energy use (ES_i in Ecopoints/mmBTU; I_i in mmBTU)

    • Emissions (ES_i in Ecopoints/lb; I_i in lb)

    • Transportation (ES_i in Ecopoints/ton-mile; I_i in ton-mile)

    • Fabricated metal components (ES_i in Ecopoints/lb; I_i in lb)

    • Recycling and landfilling (ES_i in Ecopoints/lb; I_i in lb)

• The EcoScore concept is not new (see Pré EcoIndicators and Okala Impact Factors)

  • However, we were interested in a system that:

    • Is based on US or publicly peer reviewed and accessible LCA data;

    • Allows the weighting scheme to be specified (as in BEEs)

    • Facilitates custom evaluations of recycled materials use, system recycling, and local material sourcing

    • Can account for specific emissions (e.g., so scores can be developed from inventory data)

    • Allows the reference technology to be specified for normalization

• EcoScores are based on

  • Life Cycle Inventory Data

    • Energy and Transport Data from the Argonne National Lab GREET LCA tool

    • Materials data from

      • The US EPA's AP42

      • Jiménez-González, C., S. Kim, M.R. Overcash (2000) “Methodology for Developing Gate-to-Gate Life Cycle Inventory Information,” International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 5(3) 153-159.

      • The USDOE's Energy and Environmental Profile of the US Mining Industry

      • and more

    • Weighting factors chosen by the user for

      • Energy consumption

      • Fossil energy consumption

      • Petroleum energy consumption

      • Percent use of recycled material over the system life

      • Percent end-of-life material recycled

      • Contribution to global warming (from as CO2, N2O, & CH4)

      • Contribution to photochemical smog (from CH4, NOx, CO, & VOCs)

      • Contribution to acidification (from SOx & NOx)

      • Contribution to human health criteria impacts (from NOx & PM10)

• EcoScores in development (pending peer review)

For more information, contact Associate Professor Joyce Smith Cooper at cooper@me.washington.edu