Role of LCA in evaluating the sustainability of steel

Clare Broadbent, 19th July 2012

18 July 2012 2

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Agenda

What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Steel in a green economy

LCA in the steel industry

LCA in market sectors

Increasing importance of life cycle thinking for steel

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What is Life Cycle Assessment?

LCA is a technique that provides the best framework for

assessing the potential environmental impacts of products

currently available

This is done by:

Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and

environmental releases or outputs

Evaluating the associated potential environmental impacts

Interpreting the results to help make informed decisions

LCA covers the whole value chain from raw material extraction to

product manufacture to the use and final disposal or recycling

European Commission, Integrated Product Policy COM/2003/0302

United States of America, Environmental Protection Agency

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12 July 2012

The life cycle of steel

Life Cycle Thinking:

Key to every aspect of Sustainability E

con

om

ic S

ocia

l

Environmental LCA:

Life

cycle

costin

g (L

CC

) S

ocia

l LC

A (

SLC

A)

7

Under a green economy the steel industry has to be

sustainable on three levels:

Financially sustainable: Profitable throughout the cycle

Innovative with strong R&D activity: steel industry is active in development of new products, new production and environmental protection technologies

Environmentally sustainable Environmentally responsible: respects the environment and operates

within its boundaries

Resource efficient: uses natural resources and energy in an efficient and sustainable manner

Socially sustainable Safe: provides safe and healthy workplaces

Socially responsible: provides special social security, care about the health and well-being of workers and the communities in which we operate

Reasons for focusing on the triple bottom line

There are many challenges facing the earth:

An increasing population

Greater demand on resources

Increasing amount of emissions to air, water, land

…

This leads to objectives of

Techno-economic efficiency

Environmental stewardship

Social acceptability

This leads to challenges for steel: key to all market sectors

Need to be aware of our operational impacts

Increasing focus on the impacts of our products in society.

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Steel is at the core of a green economy, in which economic

growth and environmental responsibility work hand in hand.

The steel industry believes that sustainable development must meet the needs

of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet

their own needs. Within this, a green economy delivers prosperity for all nations,

wealthy and poor alike, while preserving and enhancing the planet’s resources.

Steel is essential to the technologies and solutions that meet society’s everyday needs.

Population growth, urbanisation, poverty reduction and mitigation of natural disasters

pose some challenges that can only be met by steel. Steel is central to transport,

housing, energy, agriculture, water and infrastructure.

Steel’s two key components are iron (one of Earth’s most abundant elements) and

recycled steel. Once steel is produced it becomes a permanent resource because it is

100% recyclable and has an infinite life cycle. This infinite recyclability without loss of

properties makes steel unique.

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Sustainable steel

Green economy and the steel industry

Life Cycle Thinking:

Key to every aspect of Sustainability E

con

om

ic S

ocia

l

Environmental LCA:

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1. Tool for material competition & material decision making in product design,

considering the full value chain

2. Enhances brand value & reputation: market advantage & competitiveness

3. Inform customers / product manufacturers / consumers

4. Increasingly being used in regulations and standards

5. Can be used for CO2 and energy calculations

6. Environmental Product Declarations (mainly in construction sector)

7. Benchmarking (internally to company, regionally, globally)

8. To determine steel / product / company environmental impact

9. Promote / demonstrate the environmental benefits steel recyclability

10.Helps avoid unintended consequences by shifting impacts

Steel industry use of LCA: Market sustainability

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We have been working on LCA since 1994

We are one of the first industry sectors to produce a global LCI

Provided to researchers, customers and government communities

LCI method & data has been developed and refined with

extensive consultation of worldsteel members

We support regional / national associations with data collection

and preparing regional datasets.

Needs and expectations change over time: we invite all members

to participate in the LCA meetings so we can meet their needs

Additional LCA specialist, complementing our LCA manager

We continue to evolve the world’s best industry dataset but our

emphasis shifts to supporting the use of steel in market sectors

LCA in the steel industry

1 May 2012

Looking at the whole product system

LCI data collections completed: 2010, 2000, 1995

Data provided on a process-by-process basis

worldsteel model in GaBi for each site

Considers the benefits of production of by-products

and recyclability of steel at end of life

Provision of data: For use in external studies to ensure best practice

To national, regional proprietary databases

Product specific LCI data produced per tonne of product (weighted

average)

Companies get their own specific LCI data provided to members with

regional/global averages

The worldsteel LCA methodology

1 May 2012

Secondary/primary routes included

steel pool

scrap

Primary steel

iron ore

BF/BOF Process

Secondary steel

scrap iron ore (DRI)

EAF process

28 March 2012

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LCA in the steel industry

1 May 2012

Data is externally available for:

15 steel products

Global and/or regional basis

Cradle to gate

Cradle to grave (excluding use phase)

Data available free on request

Inputs and outputs to enable full suite of impact categories to be assessed (not just CO2)

Aggregated datasets, but full transparency with method

worldsteel LCI data

Carbon

Footprint

Environmental Product

Declaration

Life Cycle Assessment

LCA as the basis for labelling and footprints

1 May 2012

Life Cycle Thinking

1 May 2012

Legislative requirements: focus on tail-pipe emissions

One solution: reduce the weight of the vehicle:

Replace conventional steel in the vehicle body with Advanced High Strength Steel, Aluminium, Composites etc.

Aluminium achieves greater weight savings → greater reduction in tail-pipe GHG emissions (~7% compared to ~5% for AHSS)

But, due to the high energy requirements of aluminium production, the manufacturing phase of GHG emissions for aluminium increases

Overall, life cycle GHG emission reduction

AHSS = 8%

Aluminium = 5.4%

Avoid focusing on one phase of a products life cycle

Avoid unintended consequences

shifting the burden between life cycle phases

Use LCA

Using LCA for material comparison: automotive

Effect of alternative fuels and powertrains on carbon footprint:

The need for vehicle Life Cycle Assessment

Fuel economy or tailpipe emissions standards are not enough

to ensure overall reductions in automotive GHG emissions

WorldAutoSteel and LCA

LCA Expert Group collaborates with WorldAutoSteel

Development of a greenhouse gas model for vehicles

Further development of this model into a full LCA model that

considers impacts other than global warming

Covers the full life cycle of vehicles, enables material comparison

Will also be made available via a steeluniversity learning module

Working with WorldAutoSteel to change the focus of automotive

regulations from tailpipe emissions to a life cycle perspective

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Steel in buildings and infrastructure

Accounts for more than 50% of global steel production (>700Mt)

Requirements for environmental information for buildings on a

global level

LCA and product footprints (carbon, water) of buildings

Product regulations: Environmental Product Declarations, Eco-

design of products, Eco-labelling

Guidelines / Standards being developed, e.g. ISO, GHG Protocol,

European Commission, UNEP

Green Building Councils and certifications on a national level

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Construction Sector

Use phase of buildings dominates environmental impact

So, buildings are becoming more efficient to operate

So, more focus on production phase: material comparison increases

Need for harmonisation of methodologies

Risk of multiple LCA methodologies for steel in different parts of the world

Steel made in e.g. in UK sold abroad will require different EPDs per region

worldsteel development of Product Category Rules (PCRs)

These form the basis of an EPD

Need consensus on a methodology in line with each standard

EPD: Environmental Product Declaration

1 May 2012

Raw materials Material

production

Manufacturing Use phase End of life

Environmental impact of buildings: use phase dominates

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% contribution of each life cycle phase

The use phase of buildings has the greatest environmental impact:

heating, lighting, ventilation etc.

Aim of building regulations: to reduce use phase impacts

Steel industry involvement: e.g. improve insulation of buildings

Raw materials Material

production

Manufacturing Use phase End of life

Environmental impact of buildings: use phase dominates

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Use phase impacts decrease, material production and end-of-life

become more important

Move to lighter weight, higher strength steels

% contribution of each life cycle phase

Life cycle considerations versus competitors

Concrete: material production

Per kg, CO2 emissions are lower than steel

But much more concrete is needed for the same application

Concrete not recyclable into new concrete but lower grade materials

Local trade of concrete vs worldwide trade of steel products

But: increased use of concrete is beneficial for the rebar producers

Timber: end-of-life

Lower impact for wood production than steel

But what happens at the end-of-life for timber?

Is it really carbon neutral?

In addition: In LCA, land-use impacts are not adequately addressed for

timber harvesting; steel has advantages regarding land-use

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LCA in construction at worldsteel

Developing a full life cycle model for buildings

Will be used for multiple building functions / comparing building designs

Based on full bill of materials and including different recycling options

Working with the University of Coimbra, Portugal

LivingSteel Forum (30th – 31st October 2012)

We invite all members to attend (construction marketing person)

Open to all members, for all construction-related issues

LCA will be included; discussion on evolvement of construction LCA work

Aim: to produce flexible LCA models for residential, non-

residential and infrastructure analysis, available for members

Comparative LCA models for steel vs. substitute materials

Development of a life cycle costing model (LCC) using publicly

available cost data

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LCA, new solutions for new times

Life cycle thinking is vital for the future. Environmental regulations

which only regulate one phase (use) of a product’s life cycle can create

unintended consequences, i.e. increased CO2 emissions.

An example being vehicle exhaust pipe/tail pipe regulations which

encourage the use of lighter materials which are more CO2 intensive to

produce.

LCA considers production, manufacture, use phase and end of life

recycling and disposal. Life cycle thinking leads to immediate

environmental benefit.

In addition to CO2, LCA assesses other impacts such as resource

consumption, energy demand, acidification etc.

LCA is easy to implement, cost effective and produces affordable and

beneficial solutions for material decision making and product design.

worldsteel developed one of the first global sector databases for life

cycle inventory data and invests to keep it current.

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28 March 2012

worldsteel.org