DF 38

Environmental Assessment of Future Technologies: How to trim LCA to fit this goal

Discussion forum on Life Cycle Assessment
June 19, 2009, Zurich, ETH Central Building, 09h15, GEP Pavilion

We kindly invite you to the 38th discussion forum on Life Cycle Assessment
This event will be held in English
New and innovative technologies have to compete with well-established and mature technologies. Even though new and innovative technologies may claim substantial efficiency gains in the future, they are assessed based on their current performance, measured in the lab or in pilot plants.

Thus, the environmental assessment of such future technologies faces several challenges. Firstly, the performance and efficiency of operational scale technologies will differ from those of laboratory or pilot scale equipment or from performance and efficiency figures gained with process modeling. Secondly, the basic economic, environmental and social conditions will change with time and thus will differ from the basic conditions of our current economy, environment and society. Neglecting such expected changes in the environmental assessment of future technologies may lead to a severe impediment for the market entrance and growth of promising future technologies. Thirdly, the predictions of technological, societal, economical and environmental developments are inherently uncertain and therefore subjected to dispute.

Within the recently accomplished NEEDS project (New Energy Externality Developments for Su-stainability, 6th framework program of the European Commission) on the improvement of the assess-ment of external costs of electricity supply, experiences were gained in the field of long-term environmental technology assessment with the help of life cycle assessment. The discussion forum will on one hand shed light on the main drivers and principles that ensure a sensible and fair assessment of far future technologies. We will listen to representatives from national and international companies, who tell us their approach in long-term strategic planning and the potential role of LCA. On the other hand, the most recent European developments in the identification of specific external damage costs per kg resource extracted and pollutant emitted will be touched upon.

The DF 38 will especially discuss the following questions:
- Is there a role for LCA in far future technology development?
- If yes, how to trim LCA to fit to this role?
- How does industry assess future trends in consumer needs and product development?

We look forward to meeting you in Zürich!
Rolf Frischknecht & Wolfram Krewitt

Final Program (updated June 19, 2009)

Download: program_DF38_final.pdf

Time	Title	Speaker	Affiliation
8:30	Registration, Coffee and Croissants DF38-03 Ott-Biodiv assessment.pdf
9:15	Welcome DF38-01 Frischknecht-Welcome.pdf	Rolf Frischknecht	ESU-services
	External costs and multi-criteria decisions DF38-02 Krewitt-external cost of future electricity supply systems.pdf
9:20	External cost assessment of future electricity supply systems *	Wolfram Krewitt	DLR
9:45	Monetary assessment of land use *	Walter Ott	econcept
10:10	Multi Criteria Decision Analysis of power systems * DF38-04 Hirschberg_MCDA power systems.pdf	Stefan Hirschberg	PSI
10:35	Discussion
10:45	Coffee break
	Long-term LCI modeling aspects
11:15	LCI of future electricity supply systems * DF38-05 Frischknecht-LCI of future electricity supply systems.pdf	Rolf Frischknecht
11:40	Integrated Modeling and Analysis of Power and Transportation Systems DF38-06 Galus-Power and transportation systems.pdf	Matthias Galus	Power Systems Laboratory, ETHZ
12:05	Integrating Technical Scaling Laws into LCA DF38-07 Caduff-Scaling.pdf	Marloes Caduff	Empa
12:30	Discussion
12:40	Lunch break
	Industry implementation and case studies
13:40	Long-term power generation visions in the context of economical and political realities DF38-08 Graenicher-long-term power generation.pdf	Walter Gränicher	former President Alstom Power Service and President Alstom Switzerland
14:10	Environmental assessment of future photovoltaics	Mariska de Wild-Scholten	ECN Solar Energy
14:20	Eco design of a solar lawn mower; lessons learned with LCA DF38-09 de Wild-Scholten-Future photovoltaics.pdf	Jacques Richard, Eric Vittecoq	HES-SO Genève / hepia
14:30	Factory Planning for a Start-up Technology - Based on selected criteria for Oerlikon Solar’s PV technology DF38-11 Steimen-Factory planning2.pdf	Irene Steimen	Factory Planning Oerlikon Solar
14:40	Coffee break
15:10	Sustainable Urban Form: Using LCA Tools to Appraise Current and Future Technology Options DF38-12 Chester-Sustainable indicators in ReVISIONS.pdf	Matthew Chestetr	University of Leeds
15:20	Clean Sky Project - Assessing new technologies for aircrafts DF38-13 Vionnet.pdf	Samuel Vionnet	Laboratory of Composite and Polymer Technology, EPFL
15:30	Innovative Technologies to reduce Resource Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions - the Case of Lightweight Boards DF38-14 Feifel-Lightweight boards.pdf	Silke Feifel	FZK, ITAS-ZTS
15:40	Prospective assessment of nanotechnology: case study on silver in textiles DF38-15 WalserTobias_LCA of Nanotechnology.pdf	Tobias Walser	Master Student ETHZ
15:50	Discussion: role of and requirements on LCA regarding long-term development of products and technologies	Rolf Frischknecht
16:30	Feedback wrap-up and farewell	Rolf Frischknecht

*	results from the NEEDS project (New Energy Externality Developments for Sustainability, 6th framework program of the European Commission)