Life cycle assessment as an engineering tool in the automotive industry

Abstract

For this study, the following conclusions for improvement can be drawn: The usage phase is dominated by the fuel consumption and the CO(2) emissions arising from this, for other emissions the production phase and the recycling is also of great importance, light product weight is a possibility for improving energy use and limiting the contribution to global warming, lightweight products may require higher environmental investments in the production or recycling phase, In some cases these investments are very useful, recycling is more important for expensive and energy intensive materials. From other studies and the results not reported here, the following conclusions can be made: The fuel production has great impact and is not well known today, the best basis for the decision making is a supplier specific LCA, close cooperations between producers and suppliers are necessary. The possibilities offered by LCA studies are large. Starting from comparative studies, the assessment and choice of processes, materials, parts or even systems is possible with daily practise. Even location or supplier choices are possible. The systematic process of a LCA study ensures transparency and repeatability. Judgement and decision making support is also possible. LCA studies offer a good basis for the decision making process. Improvement considerations and weak point analysis methods offer the opportunity not only to identify environmental improvement possibilities. Practise shows that economical benefits can be identified as well. However, there are also limitations: The boundary conditions and system definitions have great influence in the study, result? Data quality dominates the result reliability. Ranges may lead to uncertainties. Today's studies are time and labour intensive, and therefore expensive. Every single study is a snapshot and only valid within a certain time frame. Data gaps always exist and have to be closed

On the calculation of fuel savings through lightweight design in automotive life cycle assessments

“…Publications on automotive lightweight LCAs are numerous (DaimlerChrysler 2007;Eberle 2000;Keoleian et al 1998;Muñoz et al 2006;Pflieger et al 2005;Ribeiro et al 2007;Saur et al 1996;Schmidt et al 2004;Subic and Schiavone 2006;Suzuki and Takahashi 2005). While some authors make use of the EUCAR Automotive LCA Guidelines as published by Ridge (1998) for use stage calculations, others assume a linear correlation between vehicle weight and fuel consumption.…”

Comparing the environmental impacts of paracetamol dosage forms using life cycle assessment

“…Impact assessment aids in making the right conclusions (Saur et al, 1996). Midpoint and endpoint impact assessment methods from 'ReCiPe' impact assessment method (ReCiPe method for the impact assessment, 2011) are used to carry out the life cycle impact assessment.…”

Decarbonisation Index (DCI): an LCA-based key performance indicator for the automotive industry

“…Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been applied in the automotive sector for nearly three decades to compare different technical solutions regarding their potential environmental burden (see, e.g. Gradin et al 2020, Bushi et al 2019Lombardi et al 2017;Muñoz et al 2006;Saur et al 1996). Furthermore, LCA studies of vehicles are a powerful tool for OEMs to identify carbon hotspots and consequently reduction measures on the product level.…”