With our Life Cycle Research Highlights we are putting a spotlight on open access papers we feel deserve special attention! Each month, we highlight four papers that we consider innovative, insightful and well written. Support us in identifying great research and submit a paper for consideration by our selection committee here. Subscribe to our dedicated project newsletter and receive our summaries each month directly in your mailbox!


Life cycle assessment of behind-the-meter Bitcoin mining at US power plant


Our Summary:

The study conducts a Life Cycle Assessment of a natural gas power plant that produces 88,840 metric tons of CO2-eq annually to mine Bitcoin behind-the-meter. If the powerplant directed 100% of its electricity production for mining Bitcoin, it would emit 656,983 metric tons of CO2-eq . In behind-the-meter Bitcoin mining, 79% to the major GHG emissions are attributed to the mining itself. This is especially relevant for the New York State as it aims to curb 85% of GHG emissions...

Sustainability improvements in complex systems composed of products and services


Our Summary:

The aim of this study is to assess and improve the sustainability of the products and services system composite. Thus, it proposes an approach to analyse system sustainability using the life cycle sustainability assessment method (LCSA) consisting of environmental, economic and social dimensions in four phases: (i) identification of links between involved systems; (ii) sustainability assessment of the P+S system; (iii) application of sustainability strategies; and (iv) sustainability results comparison. The research culminates in a set of quantitative sustainability indicators...

Review and expert survey of allocation methods used in life cycle assessment of milk and beef


Our Summary:

LCA results of beef and dairy products differ considerably depending on the impact allocation method used for by-products. The study reviews various available impact allocation methods and seeks to provide clarity when to use which one. As the demand for diverse materials from the Circular Economy grows, the review also concludes that inedible outputs of these systems (bone, hides, internal organs and manure) should be recognized as products and included in future LCA studies.

Evaluation of a challenge-derived social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) framework


Our Summary:

This paper develops an S-LCA framework using categories of challenges to facilitate methodologies for making social impact assessments. The framework proposes an approach to evaluate the social impact of product systems using an LCA framework. The final framework is presented in the format of the different LCA assessment stages: (1) Goal and Scope, (2) Inventory Analysis, (3) Impact Assessment and, (4) Interpretation of Results.

Risk and sustainability: trade-offs and synergies for robust decision making


Our Summary:

This research paper proposes a framework for decoupling risk assessment and sustainability to minimize risk-sustainability trade-offs and to maximise optimum synergies. The framework consists of four steps: (1) identifying assessment scope and aligning system boundaries, (2) harmonizing assessment metrics and applied methods, (3) addressing cross-cutting issues and, (4) intermediate results are exchanged.

A core ontology for modeling life cycle sustainability assessment on the Semantic Web


Our Summary:

This paper has developed a core ontology to enhance the use of the Semantic Web for life cycle sustainability assessment. Semantic Web and Linked Open Data (LOD) is an extension of the World Wide Web (WWW) that is a database linked to a well-defined description of the data, termed as an ontology. Given the different notations, terminologies and schemes of existing data used for sustainability assessments, this is an important intervention that proposes an ontology (or technical framework) to enhance...

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