Essential Information
As a sustainability expert, you are often confronted with controversial questions about the environmental impact of decisions in your job. In this module, you will gain in-depth insight into the comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts over the entire life cycle of a product or service.
By applying life cycle thinking to a specific case study, you will learn to systematically analyse environmental impacts and promote sustainable, science-based decision-making in various sectors of the economy. In the end, you will be able to quantitatively assess the environmental sustainability of products and design innovative solutions for a sustainable future.
Module Contents
Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology
- LCA as a central instrument of product sustainability assessment
- Goal and scope, life cycle inventory, impact assessment, interpretation
- Environmental footprint, carbon footprint, Ecological Scarcity Method, cumulative energy demand
LCA in use
- LCA for everyday life
- Eco-sin game
- Environmental product declarations based on LCA
- My personal footprint
Applying the life cycle assessment methodology to your own case study
- Questionnaire design and data collection
- Modelling with LCA software and databases
- Quantification of the environmental footprint of products, identification of ecological hotspots and trade-offs
- Recommendations and ecological optimisation of products and processes
Prerequisite Modules
4. Semester: none
3. Semester: Methoden der Nachhaltigkeitsbeurteilung
2. Semester: none
1. Semester: Systeme und Modelle I (to be attended before or in parallel with Methoden der Nachhaltigkeitsbeurteilung)
Study Information
This module is part of the minor 'Nachhaltigkeitsbeurteilung', but can also be attended independently, provided the prerequisite modules have been attended.
The language of instruction is English.