310044 Life Cycle Assessment within Biological Production Systems

Detaljer
Inst. for Jordbrugsvidenskab   80 %
Skov & landskab   20 %
Tidligst mulig placeringKandidat 1.år til Kandidat 2. år
VarighedEn blok
 
Pointværdi7.5 (ECTS)
KursustypeKandidatkursus
 
EksamenSluteksamen

skriftlig og mundtlig eksamen


Alle hjælpemidler tilladt

Beskrivelse af eksamen: Evaluation of 3 individual reports on defined cases. Individual oral examination.

Vægtning: Individual oral examination 60%. Individual reports 40 %.



7-trinsskala, intern censur
 
Forudsætninger for indstilling til eksamenSubmitted group report
 
Rammer for undervisningLectures and exercises with pre-defined case-studies. Group project on a product of a biological production system of the students' interest/study direction. Two day excursions to the relevant biological production systems.
 
BlokplaceringBlock 4
Ugestruktur: A
yes

 
UndervisningssprogEngelsk
 
Anbefalede forudsætninger280002 Environmental and Ecotechnology
230009 Miljøkemi i biologiske systemer
 
Kompetenceområder
Competences within Basic science:
- Understand the theory of life cycle assessment (LCA)
- Comprehend the definition of scope, goal, inventory analysis and impact categories
- Make judgments about system boundaries and delineation
- Comprehend the use of normalization metrics for weighting impacts
- Comprehend the transfer of results to economic cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
- Knowledge about alternative environmental assessment tools and their applicability

Competences within Applied science:
- apply LCA on different kinds of products of biological production systems.
- make simple estimations of economic cost-benefit based on LCA
- make judgments about the conclusions in LCA-reports
- Knowledge about how LCA is used for improving production systems

Competences within Ethics and Values
- reflect on environmental impacts of biological production systems
- be aware of ethical values inherent in LCA weighting methods
- be aware of the limitations LCA and CBA methods
 
Kursets målsætning
The course is a multi-disciplinary course on a tool, the life cycle assessment (LCA). The objective of the course is to learn the theory and to apply life cycle assessment for analysis. The course will teach the students the basic principles on conducting LCA and to evaluate environmental impacts of biological production.
 
Kursusindhold
The course is basically divided in two major parts: 1. Introduction to the theory, principles and application of LCA; 2. Use of the acquired LCA competences on a self-chosen case-study of a product of a biological production system.

On the first part, various environmental and resource conservation problems that arise in conjunction with products of biological production systems (e.g. horticultural crops, field crops, production animals, aquaculture, food industry, pharmaceutics) are used as case studies. Products from different biological systems will be analysed and evaluated on their environmental impact such as their use of non-renewable resources, water use, eutrophication potential etc. Special emphasis will be on defining the system boundaries (e.g. how do I define the effective borders of a biocide used on a field). The linking of LCA-outcomes to economic analysis tools, primarily CBA, is standard in much assessment work. Students are introduced to the concepts of CBA (incl. the concept of externalities) and illustrative examples of CBA based on value transfer will given. A spreadsheet-based LCA calculation model will be used. The students will work on three cases and prepare a report on each of them.

In the second part the students will define/choose a product from a biological system of their own interest. This will be done in groups. The system analysis starts with a thorough delineation of the system boundaries. LCA is then performed. Measures to reduce negative effects on the environment are worked out and suggestions for modification are made and analysed.
 
Undervisningsform
The basics of life cycle analysis (LCA) will be taught in the form of lectures and exercises. The students will then be introduced to three defined cases dealing with products (e.g. protected crops, field crops, organic waste) from biological systems. In group exercises supported by lectures given by specialists of relevant fields, LCA will be applied to all of these cases. These projects teach the students how to formulate and analyse life cycles. Two days of excursions to the three pre-defined biological production systems gives the students the possibility to get a more concrete relation to the production system.
 
Målbeskrivelse
Knowing how to use the life cycle analysis - Be able to determine system boundaries - Knowledge about factors that influence directly or indirectly the environmental impact of biological systems - Apply life cycle analysis to products from different biological systems - Identification of major environmental impacts in biological systems - Improving biological systems in terms of environmental impact with the aid of life cycle analysis - Transferring life cycle analysis skills to other production systems - Knowing how to link LCA-outcomes with the CBA of economists.

On completion of the course student should be able to describe, analyse, evaluate and improve biological production systems. The student should also know how LCA can be generally applied in other non-biological systems.
 
Litteraturhenvisninger
Course material will be announced at the beginning of the course and papers and print outs will be distributed during the course. For preparation the students may start with:

- Henrikke Baumann & Anne-Marie Tillman: The hitch hiker's guide to LCA. Studentlitteratur, Lund, Sweden
 
Kursusansvarlig
Oliver Körner, oli@life.ku.dk, Institut for Jordbrugsvidenskab/Afgrødevidenskab, Tlf: 35332217
Dvora-Laiô Wulfsohn, dw@life.ku.dk, Institut for Jordbrugsvidenskab/Miljø, Ressourcer og Teknologi, Tlf: 35333395
Sander Bruun, sab@life.ku.dk, Institut for Jordbrugsvidenskab/Plante- og Jordvidenskab, Tlf: 35333481
Bo Jellesmark Thorsen, bjt@life.ku.dk, Center for Skov, Landskab og Planlægning/Økonomi, Politik og Driftsplanlægning, Tlf: 35331700
Søren Nors Nielsen, snn@dfh.dk, Institut for Jordbrugsvidenskab/Miljø, Ressourcer og Teknologi, Tlf: 3528
 
Deltagerbetaling
None
 
Studienævn
Studienævn NSN
 
Kursusbeskrivelsesomfang
forelæsninger35
praktiske øvelser10
projektarbejde90
ekskursioner16
kollokvier10
forberedelse44
eksamen1

206