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Code
SE-LCA1
Version
5.0
Offered by
Supply Engineering
ECTS
5
Prerequisites
Main purpose
The purpose of this course is to:
Equip students with in-depth knowledge of Circular Economy (CE) and its role in sustainable business development, while demonstrating how LCA serves as a fundamental tool in CE strategies.
Provide students with a solid understanding of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), including its principles, methodologies, and practical applications in engineering.
Ensure that students can conduct and critically interpret LCA analyses of selected products and systems.
Develop decision-making skills that integrate LCA results into sustainability assessments, regulatory compliance, and Circular Economy frameworks.
Knowledge
Students completing this course will be familiar with:
- The role of LCA and Circular Economy in global and national sustainability initiatives, including Planetary Boundaries, Absolute Environmental Sustainability Assessment (AESA), the UN SDGs, Sustainability Certifications, and the EU Taxonomy.
- International and national frameworks for LCA analyses (ISO standards).
- Step-by-step methodology for conducting an LCA analysis.
- Methods for defining functional units, system boundaries, and timeframes in LCA analyses.
- Selected data sources for Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD).
- Various environmental impact categories.
Skills
Students completing this course will be able to:
- Apply and explain methods within the circular economy, such as the R-hierarchy.
- Apply LCA methodologies to analyze environmental impacts of products, buildings, and infrastructure projects.
- Identify barriers and develop strategies for advancing the circular economy.
- Define functional units, system boundaries, and timeframes for LCA analyses in accordance with relevant guidelines.
- Conduct LCA analyses for simple product- or system-scenarios following established guidelines.
- Compare, interpret, and present LCA analysis results, and discuss their implications for decision-making.
- Utilize Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to perform LCA analyses using relevant calculation tools (e.g., variant analysis).
- Evaluate case studies in relation to circular economy principles and LCA compliance.
Competences
Students completing this course will be able to:
- Define comparable scenarios for competing products or systems, such as supply facilities, buildings, and infrastructures, to analyze their respective environmental impacts.
- Relate the results of LCA analyses to circular economy principles to propose sustainable choices in specific contexts.
Topics
Teaching methods and study activities
The course is offered in the autumn semester.
The course has a duration of 12 weeks.
Expected workload for the student is 137.5 hours, including 4 lessons per week with a total of 48 lessons.
Resources
Students will have the opportunity to apply various LCA software tools during the course
- LCAByg – for sustainability assessments of buildings and construction projects.
- InfraCLA – for evaluating the sustainability of infrastructure projects.
- ForsyningsLCA – for assessing the environmental impact of utility and supply systems.
- Other relevant LCA software may also be used depending on project requirements.
Evaluation
Examination
Exam prerequisites:
None
Exam type:
Individual oral exam, 20 min.
The exam is based on a randomly drawn topic with 20 min preparation time.
Internal assessment.
Tools allowed:
All tools are allowed during preparation. Notes from preparation are allowed during exam.
Re-exam:
Conducted as the ordinary exam.
Grading criteria
Grading based on the Danish 7-point scale.
Additional information
Responsible
Dorte N. Holm, Merete Lindholm, Sigrid Peters
Valid from
8/1/2025 12:00 AM
Course type
Electives<br/>7. semester<br/>Elective for the specialization District Heating<br/>Elective for the specialization Waste Water Supply<br/>Elective for the specialization Water Supply<br/>
Keywords
Circular Economy (CE), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Sustainability Strategies, Environmental Regulations & Standards, Decision-Making in Sustainable Development