PROGRAMME

Training deficiencies in sustainability analysis can pose a barrier to advancing towards sustainable development. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a basic tool in the analysis of the environmental performance of products. This paper describes exercise for teaching innovation for higher education in this field focused on the practical application of the impact assessment stage that involves transforming inventory data into impact values through classification, characterization, normalization and weighting. This exercise describes a parallel analysis of two heating systems, one based on natural gas and the other on biomass fuel for which inventory data and a simplified impact assessment method are available. This case study will allow students to become familiar with the conceptual and practical basis of the life cycle approach and the procedures described in ISO 14040.