Life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess energy neutrality in occupancy sensors

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a quantitative model which attempts to assess the aggregated environmental impacts of various life cycle stages of a product and helps in various sustainability support decisions for product design and development. This methodology has been standardized by ISO and been accepted by various organizations and designers. The present study focuses on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool for Energy Neutrality Assessment with the help of a case study of occupancy sensors in net energy conservation assessed through life cycle energy study and simulation methods provided by LCA tools. Occupancy sensors aim to reduce energy consumption by switching off energy appliances when the monitored space has no occupants. Moreover, it is evident that though it saves some energy at the place of installation but these measures needs to be evaluated from Life-cycle energy framework to effectively understand the net energy conservation over the life cycle of such devices. This approach focuses on two dimensions of investigation, the former being the life-cycle energy involved in the adoption of such a device, while the later concentrates on the environmental aspects of various life cycle stages. In this case study, Occupancy Sensors have been studied for their adoption in typical office buildings. The study would compare the effectiveness of occupancy sensor in reducing net energy consumption computed over its life span with the aid of existing LCA Simulation tools and models. The results reported measures the effectiveness of such measures and devices in net energy conservation and its environmental impacts, accounting for the data uncertainty and limitations in data availability.