LCA for Hydrogen Breakout Session Summary

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LCA for Hydrogen Breakout Session Summary
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Comparison of Five Recent WTW Studies GHG
Emission Changes
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Purpose of LCA for NSF

• Provide holistic strategic guidance
• Identify R D needs
• However, not necessarily choosing outcomes
• losers easier to ID than winners
• Tests sensitivity to assumptions

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LCA Methodological Issues Crucial to a Possible
Hydrogen Economy

• Greater specificity of LCA is needed
• LD / MD / HD
• US / China / India / Europe
• Greater Transparency is needed (trust verify)
• Models
• Data sources
• Results
• Uncertainties need to be quantified / identified
• Vary by technology experience base
• methodologies to address uncertainties
• e.g. Monte Carlo vs sensitivity analysis
• Protocols are needed for accounting, reporting,
  attribution, labeling and cap trade transparency

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Questions regarding the scope of LCA

• Is more diversity needed in technology and energy
  pathways? yes
• How do we address tradeoffs between different
  pathways?
• Nuclear waste / proliferation vs GHG
• Ambient toxic air quality
• Resource depletion
• How do we address resource constraints?
• Do we include impacts?
• How do we measure impacts?
• How can we incorporate
• Long-term dynamic changes, beyond static
  assumptions
• Distributive effects
• Multimedia

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Some Other Observations

• These are complex systems dont be too
  prescriptive
• Social context
• Other methods to stimulate out-of-the-box
  thinking
• Recycling and industrial system issues are
  important
• e.g., platinum reuse, remanufacturing options,
  etc

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NSF Could Sponsor or Support

• LCA improvement (see previous slides)
• Inter-comparison of models
• Periodic LCA model competition bake-off?
• Validation / identification of critical R D
  issues priorities
• Synergies, breakthrough dependencies, etc.
• Benchmarking of evolutionary technology
• Interagency externality valuation research
• LCA to identify key drivers / constraints to help
  identify research priorities