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Thesis-Integrated Life Cycle Assessment: a graduate course at the University of Washington
Joyce Cooper,* University of WashingtonSince 2003, a course in Life Cycle Assessment (ME515) has been taught to graduate students in engineering, forestry, business administration, and public policy at the University of Washington (UW). The course is based on discussion-rich lectures and instructor feedback that provide “just-in-time” support for student LCA projects. Feedback is provided through three interim reports, the first describing the goal and scope of their project, the second describing and presenting their inventory analysis and the third describing their impact characterization. The final report combines these three interim reports (with responses to instructor comments and suggestions for data sources and modeling techniques), and adds the student's interpretation of the results. Although student projects are often limited in scope and by simplifying assumptions, computational nuances and all LCA phases are implemented within the 10-week quarter.
In ME515, students are encouraged to select projects related to their graduate research, which has contributed not only to the student experience but also to an understanding of LCA in research labs throughout the UW. Specifically, LCAs are built around computational models from each student’s home discipline, such that key technology performance parameters can be understood from a life cycle perspective and ideally performance targets can be fed back into the research and development process. Here, 3 example student projects that span basic and applied UW research are described and critiqued: (1) LCA of magnetic semiconductor materials in microprocessor chips (related to basic research in Materials Science), (2) LCA of Pacific Northwest forestry operations (related to applied research in the College of Forest Resources), and (3) LCA of I-5 Pavement Replacement (related to applied research in Civil Engineering). The critique compares core modeling approaches, inventory and impact assessment data acquisition (combining public data sources and using EcoInvent), and student challenges throughout the quarter.
* corresponding author: cooperjs@u.washington.edu