{"id":5926,"date":"2016-10-20T11:52:18","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T00:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/?p=5926"},"modified":"2019-09-27T13:58:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T03:58:29","slug":"life-cycle-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/2016\/10\/20\/life-cycle-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Part I: Be careful what you wish for \u2013 the only &#8216;con&#8217; to life cycle thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-5927\" src=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/ThinkstockPhotos-491870341.jpg\" alt=\"life cycle thinking\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" \/><em><strong>LCA in transport infrastructure Part I: Life cycle thinking is one of those things \u2013 next to democracy, justice and education \u2013 that is a really good and useful thing to practice. <\/strong><\/em><em><strong>You can read <a href=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/tfnsw-sustainable-life-cycle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Part II<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>But be careful what you wish for. Going full life cycle may challenge\u00a0your perception of what\u2019s &#8216;green&#8217; and what\u2019s not.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some surprising examples of what a life cycle assessment can reveal:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/is-organic-better\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Organic\u00a0is seen as an environmentally friendly choice for food<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 but it\u00a0often trades\u00a0animal wellbeing for carbon emissions, or toxic pollution (from pesticides) for extensive land use.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/are-electric-cars-better-for-the-environment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Electric cars seem better for the environment<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 but in Australia today, most electric cars are fuelled by black and brown coal combustion, which dramatically reduces the\u00a0environmental advantages.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/do-double-glazed-windows-reduce-a-buildings-carbon-footprint\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Double-glazed windows reduce a building\u2019s carbon footprint<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 but in areas where the climate is mild (e.g.\u00a0only minimal heating and cooling are required), the embodied impacts in the manufacturing process (and materials mining) outweigh the energy savings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Let\u2019s agree on a few principles \u2013 as scientists would<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Infrastructure may be one of the most suitable areas to optimise life cycle thinking. We are talking about assets that we build to be around for decades, even centuries. for infrastructure investments, it makes sense to take a complete life cycle approach.\u00a0And before we get stuck in, can anyone remember the capital cost to build the Harbour Bridge in Sydney 1923. Let&#8217;s agree, to\u00a0be \u2018life cycle-optimised\u2019, an asset\u00a0needs to be:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Triple bottom line-optimised.<\/strong>\u00a0Social, environmental (or ecological) and financial, otherwise we potentially shift the burden from the environment to the financials, or from the financials\u00a0to negative impacts on society (see:<a href=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/bottom-line-business-case-sustainability-infrastructure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> The Bottom Line Business Case for Sustainability in Infrastructure<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Science-based and measurable.<\/strong>\u00a0Otherwise how can we know where to start and what we have achieved (see: <a href=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/sustainable-infrastructure-the-future-is-measurement-and-epds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sustainable Infrastructure: The Future is Measurement and EPDs<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Relevant and ambitious<\/strong>. In other words, relevant to our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/sustainable-development-goals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sustainable Development Goals<\/a> and ambitious enough to meet local, national and international agreed targets.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So,\u00a0what does life cycle thinking\u00a0mean in practical terms for infrastructure projects? What does it\u00a0mean for existing infrastructure\u00a0and\u00a0the infrastructure we build tomorrow?<\/p>\n<p>Using these principles, we can deliver whole assets (transport, utilities, products) and individual assets (power plants, stations, car parks, depots etc.) that are\u00a0modelled and optimised for their <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">lifetime<\/span>,\u00a0rather than just in the construction phase.\u00a0Specific sustainability initiatives can be evaluated from a cost\/benefit perspective; as well as from the environmental and social performance that they deliver. This is leading practice and is the way to achieving positive change.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, there&#8217;s a currency that quantifies the life cycle worth of\u00a0green products\u00a0\u2013 Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).<\/p>\n<p>We discuss more about EPDs and their role in infrastructure projects in <a href=\"http:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/tfnsw-sustainable-life-cycle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Part II<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LCA in transport infrastructure Part I: Life cycle thinking is one of those things \u2013 next to democracy, justice and education \u2013 that is a &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":""},"categories":[518,1,276,740,20,222,240,225],"tags":[172,505,28,21,595,594,596,603,602,598,601,522,100,597,604,515,591,592],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/09\/ThinkstockPhotos-491870341-scaled.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Jonas Bengtsson","author_link":"https:\/\/edgeenvironment.com\/us\/author\/jonas-bengtsson\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Be careful what you wish for \u2013 the only &#039;con&#039; 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