Visualizing Product LCAs
by Tim Greiner
26 April 2011
An exciting new vehicle for enhancing the overall value and communication of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results and opportunities is the integration of GIS and mapping functionality into LCA tools.
Sourcemap of New Leaf Paper sold at Office Depot from treehugger.com
Mapping tools can help LCA results come alive for your audience and provide business value by shedding light on topics such as:
- Carrying capacity: Comparing resource consumption with local resource availability (e.g. Is your manufacturing facility consuming water in a water scarce area?).
- Assimilative capacity: Examining how wastes and emissions are absorbed at the local level. Are different regional characterization factors appropriate (e.g. is acidification a higher concern for your facility in Ohio than Shenzhen?)?
- Sourcing: Depicting how different suppliers, shipping modes, warehouse locations, and distances impact a product's carbon footprint.
- People: Mapping material flows can connect us to the people that provide a product's raw materials and illuminate social challenges deep in the supply chain.
- Social Media: Connecting LCA results with social media allows people across the web to view, share, and comment on product life cycle stories.
Software developers are starting to take notice. Companies such as Earthster and Sourcemap have begun to offer some supply chain mapping and LCA visualization tools. Leo Bonanni, the founder of Sourcemap, offers new capabilities that can add value to a company's sustainability efforts. The beta version of source map is fascinating (see this source map of the Tesla Roadster). According to Leo, the next version of Sourcemap, due in June, will provide much greater functionality.
The current drive towards deeper understanding of products' life cycles will create rich and exciting ways for customers, investors, NGOs, and consumers, to interact and improve the complex global system used to manufacture the products we use every day. We will be watching these trends and will keep you current on important new developments.
Written by Tim Greiner
Tim Greiner, a Pure Strategies Co-founder and Managing Director, has pioneered approaches to building environmental and social integrity into products, brands, and businesses. His experience spans the spectrum from developing sustainability strategy, drafting sustainability goals, designing product sustainability programs, creating approaches to transform sustainable supply chains and fostering collaborative mechanisms to lift the sustainability performance of entire industries. He is currently working with several progressive businesses on developing science-based targets and comprehensive climate strategies. He is a co-founder of the Chemical Footprint Project and has guided sustainable chemicals management strategies for companies across diverse industries. He has also led regenerative agriculture projects with food brands and retailers. Current and former clients include Annie’s, Walmart, Seventh Generation, Ben & Jerry’s, The North Face, Stonyfield Farm, MilliporeSigma and U.S. EPA.
Tim holds Masters’ degrees in Environmental Policy and Business from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor's degree in Materials Science Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a founding member of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Planners Association and a former Board member and President. He is also founder of the Cape Ann Climate Change Network and is a Research Associate at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. Tim has experience in industry as a Process Engineer for Fairchild Semiconductor. He also worked for the Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance as Project Director and Chief Engineer.
