Suggested topics for project work

Suggested topics for projects in AG2800

This list includes examples of (vaguely defined) topics for LCA projects. It’s not a definitive list of topics, but only meant to trigger you own ideas and imagination. Use them as inspiration to formulate your own research questions. Your project does not need to be within any of the areas listed below.

To be able to find the data necessary to build your LCA model, we strongly recommend that you choose a topic that you already have some knowledge of. The more narrowly defined your topic is (focusing on exact details), the more difficult it will be to find specific data, but with own experience from the field you may be able to overcome these problems.

To be manageable, projects should cover product systems consisting mainly of materials and processes that can be found in the SimaPro databases. Additional data can be sought in reports, scientific journals and other databases, some of which are listed in a separate document. We cannot guarantee that you find all the data you need, and “qualified guesses” may be needed to fill in the data gaps!

Renewable vehicle fuels

Compare conventional vehicle fuels to some renewable alternatives.

Residential heating

Compare conventional residential heating (electricity, oil, district heating) to some alternatives (solar panels, small-scale biofuel, heat pump).

ICT/Media

Compare impacts of reading a PDF-document - from the screen or printed on paper

ICT/Media

Watching a TV show on a TV or on a PC

Packaging

Compare one-way, refillable, and recyclable systems.

Services

What are the environmental impacts of a service provided by society to its inhabitants, eg. waste management?

Public policy and planning

Evaluate the possible consequences if public policy in for instance waste management, transport, etc.

Internal policy

What are the possible environmental improvements of introducing a travel policy in a company, which for instance reduces flying to the benefit of train travel or video conferencing?

Conventional vs. vegetarian diet

What are the major impacts of conventional and vegetarian diets, respectively? How do they compare?

Housing          

What is the environmental impact of a house? What life cycle stage is more important?

Food industry

What is the environmental impact of wine/bread/fruit?

Event industry

What is the environmental impact of a major event? What causes most impact on the environment; tourist travel, the activity itself, lodging?

Sanitation systems

What is the environmental impact of a small-scale biological sanitation system, in comparison with conventional systems?

Transportation

Questions related to transport systems, transport infrastructure.

Technology assessment

Compare the environmental performance of a new emerging technology to that of the established conventional alternative. Identify “hot spots” for improvement in the performance of the new technology.