Energy Analysis Division Energy Resources Department
Objectives
Life cycle assessment (LCA) has received much attention in Japan. The methodologies of LCA are now being standardized as ISO 14040 series. NIRE started studies of LCA in 1993 to support the ISO activities. Since then, many activities related to LCA have been carried out. In the fiscal year of 1998, following projects were carried out: 1) Life cycle inventory analysis of steel products based on statistics, 2) Life cycle inventory analysis for electricity grid mix in Japan, 3) Development of site-specific life cycle impact assessment methodology for local impact categories in Japan.
Results
1. Life cycle inventory analysis of steel products based on statistics
A life cycle inventory analysis for CO2 emission from steel products in Japan, based on statistics in 1995 was carried out under the system boundary at the ports of resources and materials exporting to Japan. The analytical results show that the CO2 emission from electric arc furnace route is amounted to about 28 % of that from integrated steel route. The calculated result shows that the CO2 emissions in the foreign countries are 32% and 45% from integrated steel route and from electric arc furnace route, respectively for the production of stainless cold coil. It is also shown that the CO2 emission in foreign countries for the production of carbon steel coils is little.
2. Life cycle inventory analysis of electricity grid mix in Japan
This project was conducted in collaboration with IKP, Stuttgart University. Developed was life cycle inventory for the electricity grid mixes of the 10 major electricity companies in Japan in 1995. Levels of emissions of CO2, NOx, SO2, CH4, CO, N2O, NMVOC, dust and heavy metals were investigated with a model developed by IKP.
3. Development of site-specific life cycle impact assessment methodology for local impact categories in Japan
In this work, focused on was how to assess local impact categories compared to global impact categories. The methodology was developed based on Distance-to-Target principle.
