How Green is That Product?

An Introduction to Life Cycle Environmental Assessment

Homework #1 Solutions
Correct Answers in Red
Goal: In this assignment, youll do the following:

read and interpret a life-cycle energy analysis of bottled water to better understand the lifecycle systems perspective; and
practice categorizing flows according to the structured unit process inventory format that well
use in our plastic bag and bottled soft drink LCA models.

Instructions: The questions below can be answered offline. When you complete the assignment, return
to the Week 1 course page on the Coursera website. Click on the Submit Homework Assignment
Answers button, which will allow you to enter your answers into a web form for automated grading.
Grading: This assignment is worth 100 points. The point values of each answer are listed below. You
can submit a maximum of 30 attempts. The highest scoring attempt that is submitted before the
deadline will count toward your official grade. Scores for each attempt will be available immediately
after submission of your answers.
Numbers: In this assignment, and throughout this course, numbers will be expressed using the U.S.
numeric convention where commas separate thousands and the dot (or decimal point) is the decimal
separator. For example, the number one thousand two hundred and one-tenth is written 1,200.1.
Interpreting published life-cycle data (10 points for each correct answer)
To answer these questions, youll need to first download and read the following open-access journal
article by clicking on the link:
Gleick, P.H., and H.S. Cooley (2009). Energy implications of bottled water. Environmental
Research Letters, Volume 4, Issue 1. http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/4/1/014009/
Question 1: Which statement below is CORRECT? Select the best answer based on your interpretation
of the studys stated scope.

This study considers all life-cycle stages and all environmental impacts associated with bottled
water
This study considers all life-cycle stages but only one environmental impact (energy use)
associated with bottled water
This study considers some, but not all, life-cycle stages and all environmental impacts associated
with bottled water
This study considers some, but not all, life-cycle stages and only one environmental impact
(energy use) associated with bottled water

Indeed, this study is not a comprehensive LCA because it omits the end of life stage of the life cycle
(collection, disposal, and recycling) and it only considers energy use when there are a number of other
environmental issues relevant to bottled water (as the authors point out in Section 1). However, the
authors state clearly that they do not consider all life-cycle stages and that their conclusions are limited
to energy use, so theyve done a good job with respect to being explicit about the system boundaries,
included impacts, and limitations of their study.
Question 2: In the space below, enter the total manufacturing energy required to make PET and form it
into a typical 1 liter PET bottle weighing 38 grams. Use units of megajoules (MJ). Enter your answer
using one decimal place after the decimal point (e.g., X.X).
4.0____ MJ
As discussed in Section 2.1, the authors estimate that the combined energy required to make the PET
and form it into a one-liter, 38 gram bottle is 4.0 MJ.
Question 3: Which statement below BEST DESCRIBES the total transportation energy requirement for
bottled water?

The total transportation energy requirement depends mostly on the mode of transportation
The total transportation energy requirement depends on both the distance from the bottling
plant to the market and the mode of transportation
The total transportation energy requirement depends mostly on the distance from the bottling
plant to the market
The total transportation energy requirement is negligible

As discussed in Section 2.4, the authors find that the total transportation energy depends mostly on two
factors. The first factor is the distance from the bottling plant to the market, as evident in Table 4,
where the authors compare the energy requirements of local production to those of shipping from very
far away. The second factor is the mode of transportation, as evident in Table 3, where the authors
compare the energy intensity of different shipping modes.
Question 4: Select the TWO life cycle processes that contribute most to the energy implications of
bottled water.

Manufacture of the PET plastic bottle

Treatment at bottling plant
Fill, label, and seal bottle
Transportation
Cooling

The results in Table 5 clearly suggest that the manufacture of bottles and transportation dominate the
energy requirements of producing bottled water.

Question 5: Which statement below MOST ACCURATELY DESCRIBES the authors results for the energy
requirements of bottled water? Note that proper interpretation and communication of LCA findings
requires an accurate understanding of numerical results, as opposed to casual observations.

Producing bottled water requires 1,120 to 2,040 times the energy required for producing tap
water
Producing bottled water requires 2,000 times the energy required for producing tap water
Producing bottled water requires more energy than producing tap water
Producing bottled water requires a lot of energy

Consider the authors range of results for the energy requirement of bottled water (5.6 MJ/liter to 10.2
MJ/liter; Section 3) compared to their stated energy requirement for tap water (0.005 MJ/liter, which
was obtained from Burton (1996)). Some simple math (5.6/0.005; 10.2/0.005) reveals that their results
suggest that bottled water requires 1,120 to 2,040 times the energy that is required for tap water. Note
also that answer 2 only considers the high end of this range, so, while this answer might seem
reasonable given the authors results, it does not adequately capture the stated range on their results.
Answers 3 and 4 are correct, but vague; in this course, well only make environmental conclusions based
on data and numbers and avoid general, vague conclusions such as these when interpreting our LCA
results and documenting them in LCA reports.
Categorizing flows in a unit process system (5 points each)
Figure 1 represents a simplified unit process system diagram for producing a bottled soft drink, which is
denoted in bold text. Boxes represent unit processes and arrows represent selected mass flows in the
system. In the figure, we assume that production of a bottled soft drink requires four primary inputs:
treated water, sweetener, processed carbon dioxide, and a bottle made of polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) resin. Simplified unit process systems for producing each primary input are also depicted in the
figure, as well as for producing the diesel fuel consumed in harvesting and transport unit processes.
Mass flows of several pollutants are depicted for selected unit processes. In reality, the system of unit
processes and mass flows required for bottled soft drink production is much more complicated than
what is depicted in Figure 1, with additional unit processes and many more mass flows (especially for
different species of pollutants).
After you study the diagram, select the correct flow type and category for each flow listed in the table
below. In the near future, youll learn how to construct unit process inventories using data to quantify
such flows. For now, just focus on understanding how to assign flows to the proper type and category
as discussed in the lecture videos, which is of critical importance for proper inventory construction.

Flow name
Crude oil (in ground)
Nitrogen oxides (to air)
Treated water
Surface water
Biomass (in ground)
Solid waste (to land)
Carbon dioxide (processed)
Diesel fuel
Carbon dioxide (to air)
Biomass (harvested)

Check the correct flow type and category for each flow
Input from nature
Output to nature Input from or output
(Resource/
(elementary
to the technoshpere
elementary flow)
flow)
(product flow)
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

Figure 1: Simplified unit process system diagram for bottled soft drink production