Sensitivity analysis in life cycle assessment

E.A. Groen, R. Heijungs, E.A.M. Bokkers, I.J.M. de Boer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paperAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Life cycle assessments require many input parameters and many of these parameters are uncertain; therefore, a sensitivity analysis is an essential part of the final interpretation. The aim of this study is to compare seven sensitivity methods applied to three types of case stud-ies. Two (hypothetical) case studies describing electricity production: one shows linear and another shows non-linear behavior. The third case study describes a large (existing) case study of seafood production containing high input uncertainties. The methods are compared based on their results, i.e. variance decomposition and ranking of the input parameters. Results show that Sobol’ sensitivity indices per-form the best for all three case studies. The Sobol’ method can be a useful method in case of non-linear LCA models or LCA models that include outliers.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Life Cycle Assessment Food Conference (LCA Food 2014)
Pages482-488
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Event9th International Conference Life Cycle Assessment of Food Conference (LCA Food 2014), San Francisco, USA -
Duration: 8 Oct 201410 Oct 2014

Conference

Conference9th International Conference Life Cycle Assessment of Food Conference (LCA Food 2014), San Francisco, USA
Period8/10/1410/10/14

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