Economic and environmentally sustainability of modular buildings

Brendan Baxter commented on my review of the ANU shipping container apartment building. Brendan questions the economic and environmental sustainability of importing building modules manufactured in China. As he notes, an independent life cycle analysis would be useful. One preliminary analysis from the USA shows modular building reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 5%. Transporting modules from China would increase the CO2 emissions, but not by much, as they are sent by ship, which is relatively efficient.

The Michigan study is for a wooden frame single family dwelling, which is very different from ANU's steel frame 70 apartment block, but some factors are similar. A modular building requires more materials in each module, as they have to be strong enough to be transported. This applies particularly with shipping container modules, which are required to meet railway safety requirements for strength as well as being able to support the weight of five loaded containers on a ship. The result is that a building built from containers is very much stronger than required, with much more steel used than needed for a conventional building. This gives locally made building modules, made for transport by truck, an energy advantage.

A 1,456 ft2 modular home and conventional site built home in Benton Harbor, Michigan are analyzed to examine how the different construction and design methods of two types of housing influence environmental impact over their 50 year life span. The chosen modular home is fabricated by Redman Homes in Topeka, Indiana and transported to the building site. The conventional home is modeled after the modular home in collaboration with Douglas Construction Company. Many assumptions and simplification were made due to data gaps, so results represent preliminary estimates. The total amount of the materials placed in the conventional home is 9% less than the amount of the modular
home because the modular home is framed with larger 2X6 studs and requires additional structural components. The conventional home produces 2.5 times more construction wastes than the modular home. The lesser material consumption of the conventional home is offset by a larger amount of waste generation. The building use phase dominates more than 93% of the life cycle energy consumption and over 95% of the total greenhouse gas emissions for both homes. The total life cycle energy consumption for modular home is 5%
less than the conventional site home. The total global warming potential for the modular home is 5% less than the conventional site built home. The use phase energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission differences are attributed to the expected higher air tightness (0.194 ACH) of the modular home over the conventional home. The conventional home was modeled with 80% lower air tightness (0.35 ACH) than the modular home, which results in 7% more of the natural gas consumption over its service life. The modular home requires additional transportation energy compared to the conventional home for
delivering the fabricated modular home to the site. However, 4~5 days of the modular home’s short fabrication cycle time allows the modular home to significantly reduce the employee’s transportation energy compared to that of the conventional home.

From: Preliminary Life Cycle Analysis of Modular and Conventional Housing in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Doyoon Kim, University of Michigan, 2008

The road transport part of the energy budget for the modules is likely to be higher, where a truck is used. But If transported on land by rail, rather then by road, the energy use would also be low. Also the manufacture of modular buildings benefits from economies of scale. Large shipments of materials to a factory are more efficient than small deliveries to scattered building sites. Of course greater environmental efficiencies could be achieved by using local materials from the site for building, but this is not commonly done in Australia.

Buying imported buildings at the same time as the Government is attempting stimulate the local construction industry is an interesting issue. The building industry has previously not had to face overseas competition, but now has to with modular building. My view is that the government should support the development of an Australian modular building industry which can compete on price and environmental sustainability. Australians should be able to buy locally made modular buildings. Subsidising the building industry is not a viable long term strategy, as subsidies for the car industry have shown. When in Tasmania a few months ago I suggested development of hi-tech wood modular buildings.

European Life Cycle Inventory Database

The European Commission's Institute for Environment and Sustainability has released a Life Cycle Inventory database (LCI) of 300 materials, energy, transport, and waste management organisations. This must have taken a lot of work to prepare, but unfortunately it will be unintelligible to most potential users. The European Commission needs to put more resources into explaining what these initiatives are, otherwise the effort will be wasted.

European Draft Environmental Handbook

The European Commission has invited Consultation on the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook by 31 August 2009. Unfortunately the invitation to comment is written in almost unintelligible bureaucratic language. It was difficult to work out from the invitation what it was comments were being invited about. The documents themselves are much better written than the request for comment and are poorly served by it.

Five PDF files are provided, which appear to be the manual, although the word "manual" is not used:

1. General guidance document for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
2. Specific guidance document for generic or average Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data sets
3. Analysis of existing Environmental Impact Assessment methodologies for use in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) - Background Document
4. Framework and requirements for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) models and indicators
5. Review schemes for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and annex on Reviewer qualification

Below is the executive summary of the general guidance document. While well written, it suffers from having been poorly formatted as large PDF files. The distribution of documents in this format is contrary to sound environmental practice. It should be replaced with an efficiently formatted web document which meets accessibility standards.

I have suggested the documents be reformatted to achieve 80/100 with the W3C mobileOK Checker and pass Priority 1 and 2 tests on a automated accessibility test. This will make it easier for people, and web search engines, to read the document and also reduce its carbon footprint by 90%.

Executive summary

Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are moving into the core of modern environmental policies and business decision support.

Life Cycle Assessment is a structured, internationally standardised method and management tool for quantifying the emissions, resources consumed, and environmental and health impacts that are associated with goods and services (“products”). LCAs take into account the product’s full life cycle: from the extraction of resources, production, use and recycling, up to the disposal of remaining waste. LCAs help thereby to avoid resolving one environmental problem while creating another: They avoid the so-called “shifting of burdens”, e.g. from one part of the life cycle to another, amongst different types of impacts on the natural environment and on human health, and amongst countries.

This guidance document is a component of the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). It provides a detailed technical guidance to the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards on LCA, differentiated by four main decision contexts. The overall objective is to provide a common basis for consistent and quality-assured life cycle data and robust studies. These are required in support of coherent and reliable policies and robust decision support in the public and private sectors and related to products, resources and waste management.

Background / The International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD)

The International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) has been established to support the use of consistent and quality-assured life cycle data and methods in the public and private sectors.

The ILCD consists primarily of the ILCD Handbook and the ILCD Data Network: The Handbook is a series of technical guidance documents in line with the ISO 14040 series and developed through peer review and public consultation. The Data Network is a web-based, decentralised network of consistent and quality-assured life cycle inventory (LCI) data sets. This is ensured through compliance with the requirements of the ILCD Handbook. It is open for all data providers to join under their own terms and conditions.
Purpose and Addressees of this Guidance Document
Today, no commonly accepted guidance exists that complements the general framework given in the ISO 14040 series for ensuring consistent and reproducible life cycle data and robust assessments. However, for use in policy context and for reliable decision support in the public and private sectors, such foundations are indispensable.

This document provides guidance for the planning, performance, review, and documentation of life cycle emission and resource consumption inventory (LCI) data sets and life cycle assessments, as defined in the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. Such data sets and assessments are the basis for all types of applications, such as e.g. ecolabels, carbon footprint declarations, eco-design studies.
The main target audience for this technical guidance document is the LCA practitioner. This document also serves as an introduction to the main technical principles and requirements of Life Cycle Assessment, providing many illustrative in-line examples and graphics. It is however not meant to be a comprehensive and detailed introduction or training material for beginners.


Approach and principles followed

The relevant ISO 14040 and 14044 standards, existing LCA handbooks, and the general LCA literature have been analysed to compile a set of “needs for guidance” and to obtain input in form of approaches and arguments.

Reflecting the global nature of product life cycles and the necessity of having globally agreed methods and data, the ILCD is developed through consultation with UNEP and with non-European national authorities developing LCA databases. This is currently facilitated by the European Commission, including interactions with representatives of its 27 Member States. The consultation on first drafts equally included the about 40 members of the advisory groups of business associations, LCA software and database developers, as well as life cycle impact assessment method developers. The development and consultation procedures can be found at http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eplca/deliverables/international-reference-life-cycle-data-system-ilcd-handbook .

Building on this state-of-the-art analysis and ISO 14044 as main basis, this guidance document has been developed towards a practical guidance. The stakeholder process (up to the achieved status) is documented in Explanatory Memoranda for each ILCD System component; access via http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eplca/deliverables/international-reference-life-cycle-data-system-ilcd-handbook .

The uptake or endorsement of this document and the other ILCD System components by governments and businesses as well as other stakeholders is independent of this technical development.

Key Issues Addressed in this Guidance Document

This document provides a complete technical guidance, based on the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. It is further detailing and specifying the ISO provisions along four main decision-context situations that were identified as being of relevance in LCA and in need of differentiated guidance:

• Situation I ("Short-term product decision support"): Decision support for near future: LCI data for EPDs and Type I Ecolabel, weak-point analysis for eco-design, background LCI data for generic use, etc.
• Situation II ("Future product decision support"): Decision support for more remote future, scenario based: System changes with none or small scale effects on the background system
• Situation III ("Future strategy decision support"): Decision support for more remote future, scenario based: System changes with effects in the background system at society or sector level
• Situation IV ("Monitoring"): Monitoring (typically of past or present situation): Documentation of what has happened, not for direct decision support or comparisons

Focus is on issues that give rise to differences in current practice of developing life cycle data sets and in assessments. Among these the two main issues are around the questions:
- How to model the life cycle of a product (i.e. depicting the supply-chain or analysing expected consequences associated with changes), and closely related
- How to share the environmental impacts of a process among co-products if it has more than one (e.g. by allocation of impacts based on allocation criteria or by crediting for avoided production of replaced alternative products).

A detailed discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the related methods and approaches and their applicability in practice provides the basis for this guidance, including which option to use when.

In addition, the following issues that need guidance are worked out in more detail as well:
- the question which kinds of activities are to be included in LCA, how to relate them to the analysed product, and how to quantify the completeness of the data,
- how to avoid misleading LCA studies,
- how to meet the requirements of transparency and reproducibility in context of potentially sensitive or proprietary process data and information,
- when to use primary data from goods producers and service operators and when secondary data can be used, and
- how to capture and evaluate the quality of life cycle data and assessment results.

The sub-structure of this document reflects the practical work-flow of performing an LCA. “Actions” at the end of chapters condense the guidance to a check-list style practice guidance. References to the corresponding chapter in the ISO 14044 standard are given in each chapter.

Open issues

The condensation of this main guidance into specific guidance documents for different types of LCI and LCA studies is ongoing and will be completed after the consultations.

The summary of the outcome of the parallel work on review is to be integrated into the “Review” chapter of this document.
A “translation” of this guidance into sector-specific manuals could be beneficial. ...

From: General guidance document for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook, Draft for Public Consultation, 1 June 2009

Life Cycle Assessment

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, is looking for independent experts to reviewer reports and papers on Life Cycle Assessment. They pay €450 a day. You can register online. This might be one for people with an academic background.

Australian Conference on Life Cycle Assessment

The Sixth Australian Conference on Life Cycle Assessment is in Melbourne from 16 to 19 February 2009. Life cycle assessment (LCA), assesses the environmental impacts of products and services. Unfortunately many people will not find out about this worthwhile event, due to the poor web site, so I have extracted some details below to make them more accessible. Also PE Australia are offering a free "Practitioner-Workshop: Using GaBi 4 software and databases for LCA and carbon foot-printing", February 16th, 2 - 5 pm, just accross from the conference.

From the Conference program:

One aim of the conference is to build bridges between different environmental assessment methods that have a sustainability focus. This includes:

• Life cycle assessment • Life cycle costing • Ecological footprints • Materials flow analysis
• Triple bottom line accounting approaches • Energy and greenhouse life cycle studies
• Input Output analysis • Uncertainty analysis in environmental assessment

The conference also aims to provide a forum for sharing LCA experience in different sectors such as:

• Building applications
• Waste Management
  
• Water issues
  
• Food and Agriculture
• Energy and fuel production system
• Products and packaging manufacture

Keynote Speakers

Andreas Ciroth studied Environmental Engineering in Berlin, Germany; his dissertation (Dr.-Ing.) in 2001 was on error propagation in LCA. Since
then, he has worked as a consultant and software developer, mostly in scientific projects. ...

Stefanie Hellweg is Associate Professor for ecological systems design at the Institute of Environmental Engineering of ETH Zurich (Switzerland). ...

Hongtao Wang College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China ...

Bo Weidema has more than 30 years of experience in environmental issues, since joining the emerging environmental grassroots movements in 1972. ...

Optional Workshops

9.00am - 5.15pm: Workshop 1: Introduction to LCA
This introductory Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) course is designed for participants with little or no experience in LCA. The course will provide participants with an understanding of the concepts of LCA including what LCA is, the historical development of LCA, where LCA can be used, and the application of LCAs including steps to undertake a LCA, and how to interpret findings from a LCA analysis.
Presenters: Sean Shiels (EPA Victoria)

9.00am - 5.15pm: Workshop 2: Advanced LCA Techniques
This advanced LCA course is aimed at participants who have experience in LCA. The course will provide participants with a further understanding of market based system delineation, analysis of input output, different environmental valuation methods, toxicology indicators, uncertainty analysis, and new fields for LCA.
Presenters: Tim Grant (Life Cycle Strategies)

9.00am - 12.45pm: Workshop 3: Life Cycle Management
Life Cycle Management is all about how you can make an organisation more sustainable. It is a unique framework of concepts, techniques and procedures promoted by the UNEP SETAC Life Cycle Initiative and various institutions. LCM combines a variety of tools and approaches to look at environmental, social and economic factors that influence the life cycle of products and processes.

This workshop is aimed at business people interested in sustainability and LCA experts interested in broadening the application of their skills. The structure will be:

• Introduction to LCM
• LCM case studies
• Communication of LCM Results
• LCM & Stakeholder Expectations

Presenters: Michael Faltenbacher (PE Australia) and Greg Peters (UNSW)

9.00am - 12.45pm: Workshop 4: Industrial Ecology
Industrial Ecology (IE) is emerging as an effective framework to achieving a zero waste goal within industrial systems. IE promotes enhanced sustainability by stimulating innovations in the reuse of waste materials. The wastes or by-products of one industry are used as inputs in another industry, thereby closing the material loop of industrial systems, while optimising material and energy flows.

If you and your organisation are interested in finding out more about how you can achieve simultaneous environmental and triple bottom line goals, then come and join us for the “Industrial Ecology Workshop”. We will cover:

• What this rapidly evolving concept is all about;
• What initiatives are already in place internationally and nationally;
• How LCA can play a vital role in IE systems;
• How an LCA coupled IE system can help companies turn regulatory compliance into innovation;
• Case study examples drawn from an emerging IE network in Australia.
Convenors: Viviane Clément and Tom Davies (Edge Environment)

1.30pm - 5.15pm: Workshop 5: Greenhouse Gas Accounting
This workshop is aimed at participants who are interested in making their products or the service they provide greenhouse neutral.

Each step of the process will be discussed and will include:

• The LCA process - the system boundary, time period, what activities need to be included, what data is required, greenhouse gas emission factors and the quantification of emissions.
• The verification process and what this involves.
• How to go about offsetting your emissions.
• Gaining and maintaining certification for your greenhouse neutral products/services.

Examples will be given and there will be plenty of opportunity for participants to ask questions.

Presenters: Jean Wiegard and Lisa Opray (JTP Australia)

Tuesday, 17 February 2009
8.00am Registration
9.00am - 12.30pm Opening Plenary: Challenges for LCA
9.00am Welcome
9.20am Australian Challenges, Industry Perspective
Glenn Simpkin
9.40am Making LCA More Relevant
Stefanie Hellweg
10.00am China’s Progress and Plans for LCA and LCI
Hongtao Wang
10.20am Session Discussion
10.30am Morning tea
11.00am Globalisation of LCA Data. Why LCI? Benefits to Business Tim Grant
11.20am Ecoinvent, Future Developments Bo Weidema
11.40am Open Source LCA: Earthster and Other Developments Andreas Ciroth
12.00pm AusLCI - Summary of Progress to Date Alastair Woodard and Greg Foliante
12.30pm Lunch
1.30pm - 3.00pm : Parallel Sessions 1A and 1B

SESSION 1A: LCA, CLIMATE AND THE BUSINESS RESPONSE
1.30pm Australia Post Adam Tennant
1.50pm The State We’re in: Global Corporate Response to Climate Change and the Implications for Investors Duncan Paterson
2.10pm What Role will Greenhouse Gas LCAs Play in an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme? Jean Wiegard and Tim Grant
2.30pm The Internal Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme at EPA Victoria Krista Milne and Louisa Perrin
2.50pm Session Discussion

SESSION 1B: INTEGRATING LCA WITH OTHER TOOLS
1.30pm Convergence of LCC and LCA Andreas Ciroth
1.50pm Total Cost Assessment - Using TCAce to Support Decision Making in Water Industry. Tim Grant
2.10pm Cost as an Independent Variable in Whole of Life Engineering Mingwei Zhou and Yong Bing Khoo
2.30pm Life Cycle Costing Analysis to Improve Operations and Supply Chain Management of Green Electronic Products Hui-Ming Wee, Ming-Chang Lee, Jonas Yu and C. Edward Wang
2.50pm Session Discussion
3.00pm Afternoon tea
3.30pm - 5.00pm : Parallel Sessions 2A & 2B

SESSION 2A: IMPLEMENTING LCA IN ORGANISATIONS
3.30pm LCA and Carbon Neutrality Assessments: Monetary Implications of Information Unavailability and Uncertainty Mary Stewart and Rob Rouwette
3.50pm Life Cycle Assessment. The Basis of an Innovative Partnership in the Tourism Industry Simon Whitehouse, Andrew Moore, Nicci Whitehouse, Michael Faltenbacher, Alexander Stoffregen
4.10pm Quantification of Life-cycle Carbon Emissions for Australian Retail Property - A Comparison of Methods and Results Caroline Noller and Colin Reay
4.30pm The Driving Factors Behind the Increasing Interest of LCA in Packaging Design Karli Verghese and Ralph Horne
4.50pm Session Discussion

SESSION 2B: INTEGRATING LCA WITH OTHER TOOLS
3.30pm Sustainability Tools for the Chemical Industry Juin Majumdar, Vandit Bhasin and Margaret Jollands
3.50pm The Importance of a Life Cycle Approach in Designing for Sustainability Krista Imberger
4.10pm Industrial Ecology in NSW Vivienne Clement
4.30pm Social impact Assessment in LCA Bo Weidema
4.50pm Session Discussion
5.00pm Welcome Reception

Wednesday, 18 February 2009
8.30am Registration
9.00am - 10.30am : Sessions 3A & 3B

SESSION 3A: CONSTRUCTED ENVIRONMENT
9.00am BPIC ICIP Construction LCA Database Nigel Howard
9.20am Life Cycle Energy and Greenhouse Emissions of Building Construction Assemblies: Developing a Decision Support Tool for Building Designers Robert Crawford
9.40am Application of Ecological Foot-printing to Australian Retail Property - A Case Study of Outcomes from Rouse Hill Town Centre Caroline Noller and Colin Reay
10.00am Whole of Life Impacts of a Building: The Effect of Incorporating Thermal Mass in LCA Mary Stewart and Rob Rouwette
10.20am Session Discussion

SESSION 3B: AGRICULTURE
9.00am AusLCI progress in Agriculture Marguerite Renouf
9.20am Use of LCA Methodology for Greenhouse Gas Footprinting of New Zealand Dairy Farm Systems from Cradle-to-farm-gate Stewart Ledgard and M Boyes
9.40am Life Cycle Assessment in Plant Breeding: An Example Using Porridge Oats from the UK James McDevitt
10.00am Life Cycle Global Warming Potential of Sub-clover, Ryegrass, and Wheat Production in Three Adjacent Plots in Victoria Wahidul K. Biswas, Michele B. John
and John Graham
10.20am Session Discussion
10.30am Morning tea
11.00am - 12.30pm : Sessions 4A & 4B

SESSION 4A: CONSTRUCTED ENVIRONMENT
11.00am The Greenhouse Implications of Using Wood Products and Alternative Building Materials in the Construction of Two Popular House Designs in Sydney Fabiano A. Ximenes
11.20am Product Sustainability Ratings: The Future is Here David Baggs and Delwyn Jones
11.40am Sustainability Aspects of Constructions Based on Clay Roof Tiles and Bricks: The Environmental Pillar Theo Geerken, Carolin Spirinckx and An Vercalsteren
12.00pm Sustainable Building: The Search for an Integrated Method to Evaluate the Sustainability of Different Dwelling Types Theo Geerken, Carolin Spirinckx and An Vercalsteren
12.20pm Session Discussion

SESSION 4B: BIOENERGY
11.00am Greenhouse Gas Sequestration by Algae - Energy and Greenhouse Gas Life Cycle Studies Tom Beer, Peter Campbell, and David Batten
11.20am Life Cycle Assessment of Biodiesel Production from Moringa Oleifera Oilseeds Wahidul K. Biswas and Michele B. John
11.40am The Econo-Enviro-Energy Return (3‘‘E’’s R) Mourad Ben Amor and Réjean Samson
12.00pm Modeling What Happens - Biofuels Case Study in Consequential Aalysis Tim Grant, Tom Beer and Peter Campbell
12.20pm Session Discussion
12.30pm Lunch
1.30pm - 3.00pm : Parallel Sessions 5A & 5B

SESSION 5A: LCA AND DECISION MAKING
1.30pm Green Purchasing for Organisations: Development of an LCA Based Tool to Enable Quantification of the Benefits of Greener Purchasing Scott McAlister and Ralph Horne
1.50pm Supporting Statutory & Strategic Decision-making with Life Cycle Management: A Regulator’s Perspective Sean Shiels and Sally Jungwirth
2.10pm Earthster, Purchasing Decision Tool Andreas Ciroth
2.30pm LCA - Looking Beyond the Project Report Vanessa Lenihan
2.50pm Session Discussion

SESSION 5B: WATER SERVICES
1.30pm Comparative Analysis of Two Decentralised Wastewater Treatment Technologies Using LCA Amanda Binks, Jeff Foley and Paul Lant
1.50pm Greenhouse Gas and Nutrients for the South East Queensland Water Strategy Murray Hall
2.10pm LCA’s Evolution and Integration into Sustainable Business Decisions: A Water Company’s Perspective Francis Pamminger and Rita Narangala
2.30pm Tool for Rapid Cost and Environmental Assessment of Water Servicing Strategies Matthias Schulz, Greg Peters and Hazel Rowley
2.50pm Session Discussion
3.00pm Afternoon tea
3.30pm - 5.00pm : Parallel Sessions 6A & 6B

SESSION 6A: INPUT OUTPUT LCA
3.30pm Hybrid IO Model for National LCI Bo Weidema
3.50pm Using Life Cycle Assessment to Inform Infrastructure Decisions: the Case of Railway Sleepers Robert Crawford
4.10pm LCA of Australian Diets Peter Osman
4.50pm Session Discussion

SESSION 6B: WATER - METHODS
3.30pm Product Water Footprinting: How Transferable Are the Concepts From Carbon Footprinting B. Ridoutt, S. Eady, J. Sellahewa, L. Simons and R. Bektash
3.50pm The Challenges of Using Life Cycle Assessment to Compare Centralised and Decentralised Water Cycle Approaches Joe Lane
4.10pm Water Footprint: the Business Case Peter Holt, Mary Stewart and Rob Rouwette
4.30pm Water Neutrality at EPA Victoria Beth McLachlan
4.50pm Session Discussion
7.00 for 7.30pm Conference Dinner The Observatory Café

Thursday, 19 February 2009
8.30am Registration
9.00am - 10.30am Plenary: Special Session on AusLCI Methods
9.00am Design and Development of a Web-based Life Cycle Inventory Database Yong Bing Khoo, Mingwei Zhou, Julia Anticev, and Rajah Tharumarajah
9.20am Australian Sawmill Life Cycle Inventory Murray Hall
9.40am Setting System Boundaries, Allocation Methods and Functional Units for Australian Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment S.J. Eady and B. Ridoutt
10.00am Data Guidelines for AusLCI Tim Grant
10.20am How to Get Involved in AusLCI Sean Shiels
10.30am Morning tea
11.00am - 12.30pm : Parallel Sessions 7A & 7B

SESSION 7A: PRODUCTS LCA
11.00am Development of EPD Programme in China Hongtao Wang
11.20am ISO 14 024 Based Ecolabelling - Making the Principles of LCA Accessible to Everyday Life Sven Paufler
11.40am Online vs Paper Billing Vanessa Lenihan
12.00pm The Life Cycle Paradigm as an Intrinsic Component of Value Chain Analysis - Case Study, The Yalumba Wine Company Cecil Camilleri
12.20pm Session Discussion

SESSION 7B: METHODOLOGY
11.00am Assessing the Sustainability of Aluminum and Steel Production Using Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment Terence Norgate
11.20am Carbon Balance in Wood Products P. Koltun
11.40am How to Obtain a Precise and Representative Estimate for Parameters in LCA Andreas Ciroth
12.00pm Impact Pathways of Water Use Stefanie Hellweg
12.20pm Session Discussion
12.30pm Lunch
1.30pm - 3.00pm : Parallel Sessions 8A & 8B

SESSION 8A: PRODUCTS LCA
1.30pm Life Cycle Assessment: Reusable and Disposable Nappies in Australia O’Brien, K.R., Olive, R., Hsu, Y.-C., Bell, R., Morris, L., Kendall, N
1.50pm LCA Comparison of an ‘Atmospheric Water Generator’ with a Bottled Water Cooler Naomi Blackburn and Greg Peters
2.10pm Application of the Simplified Life Cycle Inventory for a Product Life Cycle Suphunnika Manmek and Sami Kara
2.30pm An Integrated Production Inventory Deteriorating Model for Short Life-cycle Green Product Remanufacturing Hui-Ming Wee
2.50pm Session Discussion

SESSION 8B: IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND
DECISION FRAMEWORKS
1.30pm LCA and Multi-criteria Analysis Vanessa Lenihan
1.50pm Multi-criteria Methods for the Aggregation of Life Cycle Impacts Hazel Rowley and Greg Peters
2.10pm Biodiversity Metrics for LCIA AusLCI Working Group
2.30pm Introduction to Recommended Practice Guide for LCA in Australia Greg Peters
2.50pm Session Discussion
3.00pm Afternoon tea
3.30pm - 4.15pm Closing Plenary