SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Life Cycle Assessments to Spur Product Innovation Life Cycle Assessments to Spur Product Innovation

A life cycle assessment (LCA) calculates the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions emitted throughout the lifespan of a product or service.  A well designed LCA provides an opportunity to continuously critically evaluate the product’s life stages to establish new ways to deliver an improved product or service that is also more sustainable. 

LCA will look at the full life cycle of the produce from creation, use to disposal. The product’s life stages include the following:

• Raw materials used

• Manufacturing

• Shipping

• Produce use

• Produce disposal

The data is collected to establish an assessment of the total impact on the environment due to the product. 

How to Perform a Life Cycle Assessment? 

Look at the impact of the product or service on the environment at each stage. Take the following three steps: 

1. Inventory of energy and material inputs. 

2. Inventory of all environmental releases from the energy and material inputs

3. Environmental impacts from inputs and releases

4. Interpret results 

What are the Benefits of Doing a LCA? 

A LCA allows a company to assess the environmental impact of a product’s life cycle in order to reduce the environmental footprint resulting in a greener economy and potentially higher customer loyalty. LCA also benefits organizations in the following ways:

1. Identify high emitting components of each stage i.e. manufacturing processes, transportation method etc. 

2. Find alternatives to the high emitting components of each stage

3. Compare materials used for the product to find a more sustainable option. 

4. Credible Data to back sustainability efforts

In 2021, a grocery delivery company was looking at lowering their energy use during deliveries. The grocery company was keeping the refrigerator plugged into the electric grid and using energy in each delivery van 24 hours a day for 7 days a week including the delivery vans sitting in their fleet parking lot. The company was also experiencing substantial costs to repair the refrigerators in the vans since they were constantly in operation. Here are some of the examples of how we used our LCA analysis to benefit the company:  

• We observed that the refrigerators in the delivery vans did not need to be on 24 hours a day for 7 days a week. 

• We were able to find that the delivery vans were able to cool to the proper temperatures for the groceries by plugging the refrigerators in within 1 hour of loading the groceries into the van’s refrigerator. The company was able to save $180 per month in electricity charges by following the above recommendations. It also saved money on “wear and tear” repairs to the refrigerators since they were not operating for as long each day. 

What are the standards to Perform a LCA?

LCAs are fairly new to the sustainability field. There are international protocols that have been established to assist with the LCA. For example there is the ISO 14040 and 14044. 

ISO 14040 and 14044 provide four phases to an LCA: 

1. Goal and scope

2. Life cycle inventory

3. Life cycle impact assessment

4. Interpretation of the results

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol also provides guidelines detailing the life cycle calculator considerations such as emission factors, which utility bills to be used, and to ensure no occurrence of double-counting is made. 

Who are the service providers in this space? 

Footprint assessment companies include Dayrize, Ecochain, Doconomy, Ecocart, and One Click LCA.

ERP providers are integrating environmental data tracking into the ERP platform solutions. For example, SAP incorporates LCA into its ERP solutions.

Some companies use Sphera’s GaBi software to scale tech solutions on top of software tools. 

Companies also have the option of using carbon accounting platforms such as Persefoni to account for carbon emissions.

Download our FREE Guide to Life Cycle Assessments to get started!

Key Takeaways

Insights to Address

• The goal is to (1) make financial data and environmental data (1) on par with each other and (2) used for day-to-day decision making and reporting. 

• Envirolly assists companies with setting up life cycle assessment programs that works for them and their employees. Contact us today!

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