Lessons Learned From an Alternative Energy Manufacturing Plant Life Cycle Assessment and Potential Implications for Refineries

摘要

Marketplace pressure to support claims of environmental benefits for products was one factor that led BP Solar to conduct a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of its solar panel manufacturing plant in Frederick, Maryland. In one of the first comprehensive efforts using an LCA approach and actual plant data for a manufacturing plant in US, BP Solar developed a model of its operations, and has already used it to set environmental project priorities within the facility. The assessment looked at six impacts: global warming, resource depletion, ozone depletion, photo-oxidant formation, eutrophication, acidification, human toxicity, and aquatic and terrestrial toxicity measures. Production data for three years was used to develop a facility-specific LCA spreadsheet that was subsequently converted into a web-based tool for analysis of manufacturing scenarios on an ongoing basis. The model considered raw material sources, manufacturing, transportation, installation, product use, and disposal.