LCA Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) are used as a tool to assess the environmental impacts of a product, process or activity throughout its life cycle from extraction of raw materials through to processing, transport, use and disposal.

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What is an LCA?

An LCA evaluates the CO2 footprint of a product in an application from cradle to grave. The LCAs for COOL-FIT shown were undertaken by accredited independent environmental engineers. The assessment process and evaluation is stadardised to ensure comparable results.

The standards are provided by the International Organisations for Standardization (ISO) in ISO 14040 and 14044, and describe the four main phases of an LCA:

goal and scope,
inventory analysis,
impact assessment.
and interpretation

LCA's compare specified options of products or solutions in an application in terms of their environmental impact. For example : ODP effect (Ozone Depleting Potential) , GWP (Global Warming Potential) , Acidification.
The graph below is an extract form the LCA GF performed comparing use of COOL-FIT to traditional metal, post-insulated solutions, in a refrigeration system in a supermarket.
It shows the consistently positive environmental impact of a plastic pipe system for all evaluation criteria.

Plastic pipes show positive evaluation results compared to standard metallic pipes thanks mainly due to their low unit weight (ie. per meter) and long life-span (>25 years design life-span).

For details please download the complete LCA documents and summary documents below.

Plastic Pipes are eco-friendly

We are all striving to use products and solutions that meet the growing global environmental demands. Plastics combine material properties which enable ecological and cost-efficient performance, thus complying with the requirements of business in terms of sustainability

•   Long lifetime - design life-span >25 years
•   Recyclability - thermopltics can be recycled
•   Low unit weight - per meter far less than traditional metal
•   Corrosion resistance and no internal bore incrustation
•   Low thermal conductivity - far lower than metals
•   Significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions across all processes

PE-100 & PVC-U Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)

The effect a product has in a specified application on the environment can be summarised in an "Environmental Product Declaration". This evaluation is performed in line with EN 15804 to ensure consistency and transparency of results geographically and across all industries.

See downloads, at the bottom of this page, for EPDs ;
- GF ecoFIT PE-100 in Water Distribution
- GF ecoFIT PE-100 for a Cooling Plant Sea Water Intake
- GF PVC-U in a Chemical Dosing Unit for sterilisation of water using Sodium Hypochloride.

Life Cycle Assessments for specific GF Piping Systems industrial systems

In cooperation with the independent Belgian institute VITO, GF Piping Systems calculated the life cycle assessments (LCA) for four selected GF Piping Systems specific industry systems and compared them to a competing system with the same application.

The life cycle assessments of GF Piping Systems and VITO cover the environmental impact over the whole life cycle – from cradle to grave. The environmental impacts of the plastic systems are based on calculations with GF PS specific data. Subsequent the following materials and applications were compared:

Compared to competing systems, the Georg Fischer systems show a smaller environmental impact. The studies confirm the results of other studies and make clear the importance of plastics in building piping systems that are ecologically sound.

The following graphs show the results in the impact category “global warming” (without considering the use phase):

Plastic	Competing material	Application
PP	Stainless steel	Chemical conveyance
PVC-U	Stainless steel	Dosing of chemicals
PE	Glass reinforced plastic (GRP)	Cooling water intake for a power plant
PB	Copper	Water distribution on a cruise ship