Environmental Assessment of Energy Related Products and Energy Systems Across Their Life Cycle

Abstract

In a global context, where several international and national policies attempt to define strategic energy plans that address environmental sustainability, it is necessary to adopt a holistic perspective. In this session, we want to stimulate inputs on how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models can capture the complex management challenges in the whole energy sector. In that sense, the various sectors related to energy (namely heat, power, etc.) will become more interrelated, which will be challenging to deal with in Life Cycle Management (LCM). The next decades, LCM modelling of energy systems will have to be quite innovative in order to create realistic models. Furthermore, if LCA wants to do real LCM, the methodology should be widened to e.g. include long-term environmental implications.