Abstract
Traditionally, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies
include four stages to assess the environmental impact of
a product or process. These four stages are scope
definition, life cycle inventory (LCI), life cycle impact
assessment (LCIA) and interpretation of results. Data
collection for the LCI requires substantial effort and
may be considered the most critical phase of a LCA, as
poor data availability and inconsistency of data may lead
to unrealistic results and conclusions. In machine tools,
this inventory definition effort is amplified by the
inherent complexity of machine tools and their
operational behaviour alternatives. This paper describes
a LCI method for machine tools providing a new procedure,
which improves the transparency and consistency of LCA
data. The method is partially based on the developments
and strategies described in the draft standard ISO/DIS
14955-1. In this paper, a detailed description of the new
method is presented along with the demonstration of its
applicability by its implementation in two different
manufacturing cases. One of the cases involves the
manufacturing of an aeronautic part, while the other case
relates to a part manufactured for the household sector.
The environmental impact of these two parts, which are
produced by a traditional process and by an alternative
process is considered, thus it is demonstrated that LCI
method as part of a LCA, can be used as a decision
support tool to assess the lifecycle impact of the
manufacturing of a product using machine tools
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 139-151 |
Journal | Journal of Cleaner Production |
Volume | 78 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Energy consumption
- life cycle inventory
- machine tool
- sustainable manufacturing