|
6B - LCIA - New Impact Categories (WEP/235) Can emissions standard limits be used to develop an easy system to interpret LCIA indicators? Gallignani, Nicola 1, Bruzzi, Luigi1, Masoni, Paolo2, Rinaldi, Caterina2, 1 University of Bologna, Ravenna, RA, Italy2 ENEA, Bologna, BO, Italy ABSTRACT- Reduction of costs, time of realisation and simplification of results interpretation without affecting the soundness of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology are well known crucial issues to permit its adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).For this reason, starting from the approach of R. Vignes (1999), we developed an impact assessment methodology based on two indicators only: the Emission Indicator (that includes both airborne and waterborne emissions) and the Energy-Resources Indicator. The Emission Indicator has been obtained from the prescriptive limited values on air and water emissions, that have been used to calculate the weighting factors for which the outputs of the life cycle inventory are multiplied. The indicator for natural resources and energy has been calculated instead on the basis of the most commonly accepted characterisation factors. The proposed methodology has been implemented in the software SimaPro 5.0 and applied to a representative case study. The results have been then compared with those achieved with other two methodologies: Eco-indicator 95 (implemented in SimaPro 5.0) and eVerdEE (an LCA methodology specific for SMEs implemented on a web-based software tool, developed by ENEA).The comparative analysis has showed that the proposed methodology effectively satisfies the defined aims, especially the simplification in the interpretation of results, keeping at the same time an high level of details in the analysis of the results that are very similar in the three different methods.Furthermore it allows to bypass the problem of the subjectivity linked to normalisation and weighting phases, often considered optional as consequence of this aspect in Life Cycle Impact Analysis. Key words: characterisation factors, LCA, indicators, Impact Assessment |
