Life cycle assessment of emerging technologies: A review

Abstract

In recent literature, prospective application of life cycle assessment (LCA) at low technology readiness levels (TRL) has gained immense interest for its potential to enable development of emerging technologies with improved environmental performances. However, limited data, uncertain functionality, scale up issues and uncertainties make it very challenging for the standard LCA guidelines to evaluate emerging technologies and requires methodological advances in the current LCA framework. In this paper, we review published literature to identify major methodological challenges and key research efforts to resolve these issues with a focus on recent developments in five major areas: cross-study comparability, data availability and quality, scale-up issues, uncertainty and uncertainty communication, and assessment time. We also provide a number of recommendations for future research to support the evaluation of emerging technologies at low technology readiness levels: (a) the development of a consistent framework and reporting methods for LCA of emerging technologies; (b) the integration of other tools with LCA, such as multicriteria decision analysis, risk analysis, technoeconomic analysis; and (c) the development of a data repository for emerging materials, processes, and technologies. K E Y W O R D S emerging technology, ex ante LCA, industrial ecology, life cycle assessment (LCA), technoeconomic analysis (TEA), technology readiness level (TRL)

Life cycle assessment of emerging technologies: Evaluation techniques at different stages of market and technical maturity

“…While the fundamental approach to conducting life cycle assessment (LCA) of emerging technologies is akin to that of LCA of existing technologies, emerging technologies pose additional and unique challenges for the analyst. Challenges associated with LCAs of emerging technologies include issues related to lack of data, scale‐up, a lack (in some cases) of incumbents against which to compare, and uncertainty with respect to both how the emerging technology will be deployed as well as the market conditions into which the technology will be deployed (Hetherington et al., ; Moni, Mahmud, High, & Carbajales‐Dale, ). An early stage assessment can help set targets for technology development, influence design and ensure that environmental goals of innovation are achieved (Moni et al., ).…”

“…Challenges associated with LCAs of emerging technologies include issues related to lack of data, scale‐up, a lack (in some cases) of incumbents against which to compare, and uncertainty with respect to both how the emerging technology will be deployed as well as the market conditions into which the technology will be deployed (Hetherington et al., ; Moni, Mahmud, High, & Carbajales‐Dale, ). An early stage assessment can help set targets for technology development, influence design and ensure that environmental goals of innovation are achieved (Moni et al., ). Several funding agencies now require technology developers to report LCA results of emerging technologies (e.g., US DOE, , , , , ; see additional explanation in Moni et al.…”

“…Several funding agencies now require technology developers to report LCA results of emerging technologies (e.g., US DOE, , , , , ; see additional explanation in Moni et al. () and use it to track progress throughout the funding cycle (EC, , ). Despite the growing use of LCA at these early stages, there is a lack of a systematic guidance for LCA analysts to address the particular challenges of emerging technologies (e.g., Wender et al., ).…”

“…Several recent studies have addressed the procedure of LCA for early stage technologies (Arvidsson et al., ; Cooper & Gutowski, ; Hetherington et al., ; Moni et al., ; Sharp & Miller, ; Villares et al., ). Villares et al.…”

“…Moni et al. () argue that methodological advances beyond LCA approaches typically employed to characterize commercial technologies are required for evaluating emerging technologies. They provide recommendations about techniques to employ at various stages of commercialization of an emerging technology.…”