TY - GEN
T1 - Towards prospective life cycle assessment
T2 - 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2011
AU - Wender, Ben A.
AU - Seager, Thomas
PY - 2011/7/29
Y1 - 2011/7/29
N2 - Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly recognized as the proper framework for understanding the environmental impacts of nanotechnologies. In practice, applying LCA to nanotechnology is problematic. The performance, emissions, and inventory data collected at the laboratory scale may not be representative of the commercial scale. Despite the high uncertainty, LCA may guide nascent technologies towards being environmentally beneficial through early identification of leverage points. This research applies novel LCA methods based on laboratory-scale manufacturing data and battery performance modeling to quantify the energy tradeoffs associated with nano-enabled lithium ion batteries. At present, the large energy demands of nanomanufacturing processes make commercial scale application of nano-enabled batteries impracticable. This case study reveals both the challenge and value of applying prospective LCA to nanomaterials.
AB - Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly recognized as the proper framework for understanding the environmental impacts of nanotechnologies. In practice, applying LCA to nanotechnology is problematic. The performance, emissions, and inventory data collected at the laboratory scale may not be representative of the commercial scale. Despite the high uncertainty, LCA may guide nascent technologies towards being environmentally beneficial through early identification of leverage points. This research applies novel LCA methods based on laboratory-scale manufacturing data and battery performance modeling to quantify the energy tradeoffs associated with nano-enabled lithium ion batteries. At present, the large energy demands of nanomanufacturing processes make commercial scale application of nano-enabled batteries impracticable. This case study reveals both the challenge and value of applying prospective LCA to nanomaterials.
KW - Life cycle assessment
KW - Lithium ion batteries
KW - Nanotechnology
KW - Single-walled carbon nanotubes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960701853&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79960701853&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISSST.2011.5936889
DO - 10.1109/ISSST.2011.5936889
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:79960701853
SN - 9781612843926
T3 - Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2011
BT - Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2011
Y2 - 16 May 2011 through 18 May 2011
ER -