LCA — Evah Institute

We have established the Eco-positive Life Cycle Benefit Assessment (LCBA) Platform. It offers exciting new initiatives including LCBA methods, datasets and project starter kits for business and industry, and LCADesignStudio for students, interns and practitioners.

LCBA extends the reach of negative LCA of loss and impacts that stops at zero (nothing lost or gained). It reaches to assess positive benefits like oxygen generation and rain harvesting, soil biota creation, species richness and ecosystem enrichment. It enables practitioners to go beyond LCA that ends at no net gain to objectively measure eco-positive design and development.

To learn more and contribute to LCBA concepts or research initiatives read our WIT press paper in July 2020, a poster on Novel EPDs from SETAC in 2019, two of our posters from SETAC in Brussels in May 2017. Or there are our third party certified EPDs for a range of products including for Garbage Chute E-Diverter, Particleboard flooring, laminates, toilet paper, reclaimed sand and recycled aggregates.

Papers & Posters

Third-Party Certified EPDs

Background

As well as reducing loads on its finite carrying capacity a sustainable world needs its inhabitants to apply operations that benefit, and grow natural capital and repair its finite carrying capacity. There are many tools for measuring unsustainable development including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the International Standards Organisation Environmental Management System method designed to reduce industrial pollution and resource depletion which are negative burdens rather than positive benefits.

LCA has no methodology for analysis or assessment of systems' eco-positive outcomes — for example that may include capacity for oxygen generation, fresh and ground water absorption, ecosystem and species richness and habitat recovery. Instead it can consider oxygen depletion, water consumption, ecosystem depletion and habitat loss. Counting that moves away from loss to gain is outside the current scope of LCA because it lacks the reach to assess moves into and across positive domains.

Aim

The aim is to generate discourse and creation of new quantitative methods for eco-positive development.

Scope

While the focus here is on LCA, the author argues the same principals are applicable to a range of approaches currently used to assess or reduce negative outcomes of unsustainable development. Theoretical and practical transitions are the key to transforming the scope of negative perspectives into viewpoints society needs to stand in to be able to sight and then discern positive outcomes. Sustainability practitioners need new applications and capability to assess benefits, power to create traction in, discretion to ensure gains, capacity to increase reach of, and drive to impel development towards eco-positive outcomes. To reinforce opinion and qualitative argument such outcomes must be objectively assessed, distinctly clear, physically attainable and quantitatively investment worthy.

Introduction

Because it is designed to model, analyse and assess negative impacts of systems as well as improvement and proximity to zero burden goals and benchmarks along the way, LCA can only assess the lack of rather than the growth of real sustainability.

For example a sustainability direction guide or compass depicts negative impact on the sphere, across red to orange zones with a yellow fringe. Red-tip arrow lines arising near −1 development (impact) and −1 capacity (loss) lead to near zero impact. Existing Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is shown to start with impacts and capacity loss and stop at zero impact. Since all positive outcomes are outside LCIA range it has no scope to go beyond zero in approaching positive sustainability.

Positive Path and Ways

An LCA concept is needed to model, analyse and assess positive benefits as well as improvement and proximity to regenerative and full-benefit goals and real benchmarks along the way. This is essential for defining sustainability theory, research, models and practice. For example positive benefit is depicted on the sphere across green to blue zones with some yellow fringe. Blue-tip development lines are from zero to points between +1 development (benefit) and +1 capacity (gain).

Life Cycle Benefit Assessment

LCBA is one key to access, quantify and report tangible benefits to be gained from eco-positive development outcomes as well as to discern investment required to achieve such goals. LCBA metrics have been conceptualised for:

Hale Community Health Years — i.e. human, flora and or fauna
Positive Ecosystem Replenishment and Supply
Energy & Resource Viability

Community Health considers populations' needs to restore and improve health after environmentally induced illness, disability and morbidity, in units of Health Adjusted Life Years (HALY).

Ecosystem Replenishment considers ecosystem species, population size or geographical distribution, in units of positive ecosystem replenishment fraction per square metre (PERF·m²/yr) per year for ecosystem, habitat, biodiversity plus built and urban eco-capacity.

Energy and Resource Viability considers increased renewable and cycling material supply essential to a community, in units of surplus energy and resource viability (SERV·MJ/capita GFA).

LCBA benefit metrics — exposure, units, and benefit scores (local and global)
>1750 Benefit Layer	From exposure to	Unit pa	Score >0 <100% (local)	Score >0 <100% (global)
Hale Human Adjusted Life Years (HALY*) — local pp pa / global pp pa
Quality Air Indoors	Healthy Oxygen	HALY_IAQ	kg O_2eq & PM10₁₇₅₀	kg O_2eq IAQ
Fresh Air Access	Organic Safe	HALY_fresh	VOC₁₇₅₀ & 1,4-DB₁₇₅₀	VOC₁₇₅₀
Clean Air Access	Inorganic Safe	HALY_clean	kg O_2eq & PM10₁₇₅₀	kg O_2eq AQO
Safe Water Access	Potable Water	HALY_potable	kg rain & 1,4-DB₁₇₅₀	kg rain
Climate Brake	Carbon Sink 20yrs	HALY_clime	kgCO_2eq1750 sink	kgCO_2eq 1750 sink
Food Safe	Nourishment	HALY_nourish	UN kg organic intake	UN kg organic export
Community Security	Shelter & access	HALY_urban	Nurse@<1km	Nurse@<10km
Positive Ecosystem Replenishment Fraction (PERF*) — 1750/m²pa / >1750/Ha pa
Climate Brake_100year	Retained Ecosystem	PERF_ecos	Ecosystem intact	Ecosystem gain
Habitat Security	Expanded Habitat	PERF_habitat	Habitat intact	Habitat gain
Disaster Security	Food & Water Stock	PERF_secure	Calorie & MI stock	UN_calorie & MI kits
Urban Security	Expanded Habitat	PERF_urban	Urban habitat	Urban gain
Species Security	Species Richness	PERF_species	Species recovery	Species richness
Biodiverse Stock	Terra & Aqua Stock	PERF_diverse	Flora fauna stock	Flora fauna surplus
Aquatic Stocks	Restock Aquatic	PERF_aqua	Aquatic stock	Aquatic surplus
Supply Energy & Resource Viability (SERV*MJsurplus) — 1750 pp pa / >1750 pp pa
Resource Recyclate	Recycle Resource	SERV_resource	kg Resupply in	kg Fe_eq
Resource Recovery	Recover Resource	SERV_reused	kg Reuse out	kg Fe_eq
Quality Recovery	Retain Technical	SERV_quality	kg Grade in	kg Fe_eq
Water Catchment	Local Surplus	SERV_rain	MI Raincatch	MI rain
Fuel Renewal	Biofuel Reliance	SERV_biofuel	MJ Biofuel in	kg oil_eq
Energy Renewal	Renew Energy	SERV_energy	MJ Renew in	kg oil_eq
Material Biomass	Renew Feedstock	SERV_biomass	MJ Biosupply	kg oil_eq
Community Supply	Food Autonomy	SERV_food	MJ Food km	km UN_eq

Table transcribed from the low-resolution capture of the original site — subscripts and units are flagged for Delwyn to verify before publication.

To learn more about LCBA please email info@evah.institute.