What is a comparative life cycle assessment?

What is a comparative life cycle assessment?

The LCA compares the environmental impact from extraction of raw materials to end-of-life for the two commonly-used produce container systems across eight of the highest volume produce items. The assessment shows that the two container systems have different environmental impacts which create value-based trade-offs.

What are the 4 stages of life cycle assessment?

Defining LCA Stages 1- Raw Materials: Extraction of natural resources and production of intermediates. 2- Production: Manufacturing of the main products and services. 3- Consumer/Use: After the product and/or service leave the manufacturing gate. 4- Disposal: End-of-life of the products.

What is life cycle assessment with examples?

Life cycle assessment is a cradle-to-grave or cradle-to-cradle analysis technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product’s life, which is from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, and use.

How is EV design different from conventional car design?

Whereas conventional vehicles burn fuel in an internal combustion engine, battery-powered electric vehicles don’t have an engine. Instead, they use energy stored in batteries to power one or more electric motors.

Why are electric cars different?

A battery-powered car, or Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), does not have a gasoline or diesel engine and instead has an electric motor, power electronics, and a battery pack. Just like a plug-in hybrid, battery-powered cars plug into an electric outlet to refuel.

What is the need and importance of electric and hybrid electric vehicle?

Hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles can help improve fuel economy, lower fuel costs, and reduce emissions.

What’s the difference between hybrid and plug in hybrid?

The main difference when looking at a hybrid vs a plug in hybrid is that the former is powered by both a petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine and a battery-powered electric motor that can work either independently or simultaneously, whereas the latter is powered chiefly by an electric motor and will only use its …

What are the 5 stages of a life cycle assessment?

5 Steps of a product lifecycle: From Cradle To Grave

• Raw Material Extraction.
• Manufacturing & Processing.
• Transportation.
• Usage & Retail.
• Waste Disposal.

What is a conventional car?

Conventional Gas Cars Conventional vehicles use an internal combustion engine fueled by gasoline or diesel to power the wheels. Electricity is used for some accessories, but is not used to move the vehicle.

What do we know about life cycle assessment of electric vehicles?

In an earlier stage of this research, we reviewed life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of EVs (Hawkins et al. 2012 ). For conventional ICEVs, although the use phase accounts for the majority of global warming potential (GWP) impact, vehicle production is not insignificant, contributing on the order of 10\% to the life cycle GWP.

Do electric vehicles have a higher GWP than conventional vehicles?

Because production impacts are more significant for EVs than conventional vehicles, assuming a vehicle lifetime of 200,000 km exaggerates the GWP benefits of EVs to 27\% to 29\% relative to gasoline vehicles or 17\% to 20\% relative to diesel.

How can we improve the environmental profile of electric vehicles?

Improving the environmental profile of EVs requires engagement around reducing vehicle production supply chain impacts and promoting clean electricity sources in decision making regarding electricity infrastructure.

Do electric vehicles reduce tailpipe emissions from personal transportation?

Learn more. Electric vehicles (EVs) coupled with low-carbon electricity sources offer the potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and exposure to tailpipe emissions from personal transportation. In considering these benefits, it is important to address concerns of problem-shifting.