The lack of temporal information is an important limitation of life cycle assessment (LCA). A dynamic LCA approach is proposed to improve the accuracy of LCA by addressing the inconsistency of temporal assessment. This approach consists of first computing a dynamic life cycle inventory (LCI), considering the temporal profile of emissions. Then, time-dependent characterization factors are calculated to assess the dynamic LCI in real-time impact scores for any given time horizon. Although generally applicable to any impact category, this approach is developed here for global warming, based on the radiative forcing concept. This case study demonstrates that the use of global warming potentials for a given time horizon to characterize greenhouse gas emissions leads to an inconsistency between the time frame chosen for the analysis and the time period covered by the LCA results. Dynamic LCA is applied to the US EPA LCA on renewable fuels, which compares the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of different biofuels with fossil fuels including land-use change emissions. The comparison of the results obtained with both traditional and dynamic LCA approaches shows that the difference can be important enough to change the conclusions on whether or not a biofuel meets some given global warming reduction targets.

Key words:carbon footprint carbon storage climate change global warming industrial ecology time Summary A growing tendency in policy making and carbon footprint estimation gives value to temporary carbon storage in biomass products or to delayed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Some life cycle-based methods, such as the British publicly available specification (PAS) 2050 or the recently published European Commission's International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook, address this issue. This article shows the importance of consistent consideration of biogenic carbon and timing of GHG emissions in life cycle assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint analysis. We use a fictitious case study assessing the life cycle of a wooden chair for four end-of-life scenarios to compare different approaches: traditional LCA with and without consideration of biogenic carbon, the PAS 2050 and ILCD Handbook methods, and a dynamic LCA approach. Reliable results require accounting for the timing of every GHG emission, including biogenic carbon flows, as soon as a benefit is given for temporarily storing carbon or delaying GHG emissions. The conclusions of a comparative LCA can change depending on the time horizon chosen for the analysis. The dynamic LCA approach allows for a consistent assessment of the impact, through time, of all GHG emissions (positive) and sequestration (negative). The dynamic LCA is also a valuable approach for decision makers who have to understand the sensitivity of the conclusions to the chosen time horizon.Volume 17, Number 1 potentials (GWPs) with a fixed time horizon. Another topical issue regarding the assessment of GHG emissions is the consideration of biogenic carbon, for which there is no consensus among different methods. Using a fictitious case study comparing different approaches, the objective of this article is to show that the results of a life cycle GHG assessment are sensitive to the assumptions regarding the timing of emissions and the consideration of biogenic carbon, and that dynamic LCA is the preferred approach to address these issues consistently.

The divide between attributional and consequential research perspectives partly overlaps with the long-standing methodological discussions in the lifecycle assessment (LCA) and input-output analysis (IO) research communities on the choice of techniques and models for dealing with situations of coproduction.The recent harmonization of LCA allocations and IO constructs revealed a more diverse set of coproduction models than had previously been understood. This increased flexibility and transparency in inventory modeling warrants a re-evaluation of the treatment of coproduction in analyses with attributional and consequential perspectives.In the present article, the main types of coproductions situations and of coproduction models are reviewed, along with key desirable characteristics of attributional and consequential studies. A concordance analysis leads to clear recommendations, which call for important refinements to current guidelines for both LCA/IO practitioners and database developers. We notably challenge the simple association between, on the one hand, attributional LCA and partition allocation, and on the one hand, consequential LCA and substitution modeling.

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The effect of two anionic surfactants was assessed during biodegradation of 13 of the 16 USEPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in a wood-preserving soil contaminated with creosote and pentacholorophenol for a period of at least 20 years. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and biosurfactants from Pseudomonas aeruginosa UG2 were utilized at concentrations of 10, 100 and 500 micrograms/g soil. Because both surfactants are readily biodegradable, the microcosms received a fresh spike of surfactant every 2 weeks. Biodegradation of aged PAH residues was monitored by GC/MS for a period of 45 weeks. Results indicated that the biodegradation of the three-ring PAH was rapid and almost complete but was slowed by the addition of 100 micrograms/g and 500 micrograms/g chemical surfactant. Similarly, at the same concentrations, the two surfactants significantly decreased the biodegradation rate of the four-ring PAH. In this case, the inhibition was more pronounced with SDS. High-molecular-mass PAH (more than four rings) were not biodegraded under the test conditions. It was suggested that the preferential utilization of surfactants by PAH degraders was responsible for the inhibition observed in the biodegradation of the hydrocarbons. The high biodegradability and the inhibitory effect of these two surfactants would have a significant impact on the development of both above-ground and in situ site reclamation processes.