NETL CO2U LCA Toolkit: Applications and Upcoming Updates
Date: 05/16/2023
Contact: Luciane Cunha
Description of NETL CO2U LCA Toolkit and highlights of recent updates.
Utilization Procurement Grants (UPGrants) Program LCA Support
Date: 05/16/2023
Contact: Luciane Cunha
Description of Utilization Procurement Grants Program and NETL UPGrants Toolkit.
Editorial: Harmonizing Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) guidelines: A Common Framework for consistent conduct and transparent reporting of carbon dioxide removal and CCU Technology Appraisal
Date: 05/09/2023
Contact: Luciane Cunha
Editorial of special issue in Frontiers in Climate journal that includes six published journals.
Life Cycle Analysis of Microwave-Assisted Catalytic Conversion of CO2 To Value-Added Chemicals
Date: 11/11/2022
Contact: Luciane Cunha
Overview of NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit and LCA results of Microwave-Assisted Catalytic Conversion of CO2 to Value-Added Chemicals.
A next-generation toolset for the life-cycle analysis of electricity use
Date: 11/09/2022
Contact: Luciane Cunha
This works presents an overview--including background, data flow, and case study--of a tool for analyzing impacts utilizing the electricity baseline provided by ElectricityLCI and the impact-modeling techniques of Grid Mix Explorer (along with air and water quality) as a part of a next-generation LCA analytical framework.
NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit - Version 1.0.1
Date: 08/07/2020
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template.
Note: This zip file may take a few minutes to download.
NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database - Flue Gas Scenario Patch
Date: 07/10/2020
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database Patch is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template. The NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database Patch updates the existing openLCA file that contains data and an example system for funding recipients using openLCA to complete their LCA requirements.
NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database
Date: 07/10/2020
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template. The NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database is an openLCA software files that contains data and an example system for funding recipients using openLCA to complete their LCA requirements.
NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit - Version 1.0.0
Date: 09/20/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template.
Note: this zip file may take a few minutes to download.
NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document
Date: 08/30/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template. The NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document provides guidance to funding recipients on what shall, should, and may be included in their LCA, along with helpful information on completing their LCA.
NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet
Date: 08/30/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template. The NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet is available to funding recipients to help meet their LCA data documentation requirements, especially when using a spreadsheet model rather than LCA software to complete the LCA requirements.
NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool
Date: 08/30/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template. The NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool is used in conjunction with the NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database to create charts for the NETL CO2U LCA Report Template.
NETL CO2U LCA Report Template
Date: 08/30/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The NETL CO2U LCA Report Template is part of the NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Toolkit for Carbon Utilization funding recipients to meet their LCA requirements. The toolkit includes the following files: NETL CO2U LCA Guidance Document, NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database, NETL CO2U openLCA Results Contribution Tool, NETL CO2U LCA Documentation Spreadsheet, and NETL CO2U LCA Report Template. The NETL CO2U LCA Report Template is required to be completed by all funding recipients to consistently document the boundaries and results of their LCA.
Integrating Data Science Methods and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Application to the Power Sector - ISSST2019
Date: 06/26/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Transportation (ISSST) 2019 Conference in Portland, OR on June 26, 2019. Data science is radically transforming the scientific landscape. Data-intensive frameworks such as LCA can uniquely benefit from the establishment of large-scale and national datasets, and the use of data-science methods. Additionally, the synthesis and application of these data repositories in LCA can aid in improving emissions inventories, technological characterization of product systems, and uncertainty quantification. In this work, a series of case studies are used to explore the intersection of data science and LCA of the power sector. The objective of this work is to provide a broad cross-section of data sources, methods, and approaches that have been applied to characterize the life cycle of power systems, but are generalizable across multiple LCA research domains.
NETL CO2 Utilization LCA Guidelines - ISSST2019
Date: 06/26/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Transportation (ISSST) 2019 Conference in Portland, OR on June 26, 2019. In the interest of supporting the creation of useful LCAs of CO2 utilization projects, DOE is developing guidance, data, and tools for CO2 utilization LCA. Working with actual CO2 utilization projects funded under FOAs, DOE is providing specific guidance on methodological issues and choosing a comparison system. DOE is also providing upstream and downstream data that is relevant to CO2 utilization projects. The guidance, data, and tools will be publicly available and free.
Developing Analytical Techniques for Modeling Construction/Infrastructure of Energy Systems - ISSST2019
Date: 06/25/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Transportation (ISSST) 2019 Conference in Portland, OR on June 25, 2019. Using detailed component-level cost estimates for new fossil power plants as documented in Cost and Performance Baseline for Fossil Energy Plants Volume 1a: Bituminous Coal (PC) and Natural Gas to Electricity Revision 3, economic demands for the construction of a power plant and the manufacturing of its components are estimated. The model produces national average construction impact results for the life cycle of a power plant. This output highlights areas of further research that help to define valuable data collection efforts.
NETL CO2U LCA Toolkit Overview
Date: 04/10/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the University of Michigan CO2U LCA/TEA Workshop in Ann Arbor, MI on April 10, 2019. In the interest of supporting the creation of useful LCAs of CO2 utilization projects, DOE is developing guidance, data, and tools for CO2 utilization LCA. Working with CO2 utilization projects funded under Federal Opportunity Announcements (FOAs), DOE is providing specific guidance on methodological issues and choosing a comparison system. DOE is also providing upstream and downstream data that is relevant to CO2 utilization projects. The guidance, data, and tools will be publicly available and free.
CO2 Utilization Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) Guidance at the U.S. Department of Energy
Date: 02/27/2019
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the CO2 Utilization Summit in Houston, TX on February 27, 2019. In the interest of supporting the creation of useful LCAs of CO2 utilization projects, DOE is developing guidance, data, and tools for CO2 utilization LCA. Working with actual CO2 utilization projects funded under FOAs, DOE is providing specific guidance on methodological issues and choosing a comparison system. DOE is also providing upstream and downstream data that is relevant to CO2 utilization projects. The guidance, data, and tools will be publicly available and free.
Expanding the Inventory of Emissions in the NETL Power Plant Flexible Model - ISSST2018
Date: 06/27/2018
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Transportation (ISSST) 2018 Conference in Buffalo, NY on June 27, 2018. NETL used the National Emissions Inventory (NEI) to expand the inventory for the coal-fired and natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants in PPFM. The first approach attempted to use a computer-learning algorithm (Lasso-CV) to generate coefficients for a regression model that considered the power plant configurations. When Lasso-CV wasn’t able to generate enough successful models, NEI emissions were defined by statistical measurements of the emissions, scaled to GJ of fuel input. These two approaches are combined in the model to provide an expanded inventory for coal-fired and NGCC power plants.
Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment for Power Plant Construction
Date: 06/27/2017
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Transportation (ISSST) 2017 Conference in Chicago, IL on June 27, 2017. The presentation covers the building of the model, the NETL baseline reports as data sources for the construction model, and application of the model to fossil energy construction. It also presented a comparison of economic input-output models to process-based models, the potential for the economic models to fill data gaps in process-based construction models for construction and infrastructure, the increasing importance of construction to the life cycle of energy systems, and potential future applications of this modeling outside of fossil energy systems.
Performing LCA of Early-stage Energy Technologies at NETL - LCAXVI
Date: 09/28/2016
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This work was presented at the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) LCAXVI Conference in Charleston, SC on September 28, 2016. This presentation discusses the following considerations for prospective LCA: (1) Determine how a technology will perform when mature, (2) Define how a deployed technology will change the world around it (consequential LCA), (3) Examine how the technology will perform as the world changes around it (forecasting).
Grid Mix Explorer (Model)
Date: 01/28/2015
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The goal of the Grid Mix Explorer is to allow the user to customize the makeup of their electricity grid specific to their life cycle case or desired scenario, and to generate a life cycle inventory for that particular mix of technologies.
Grid Mix Explorer (Report)
Date: 01/28/2015
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The goal of the Grid Mix Explorer is to allow the user to customize the makeup of their electricity grid specific to their life cycle case or desired scenario, and to generate a life cycle inventory for that particular mix of technologies.
Indirect Impacts of Renewable Electricity Penetration and the Growing Importance of a Life Cycle Perspective
Date: 10/07/2014
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
In this presentation, given at the LCA XIV Conference, it is observed that the percent of direct emissions to total emissions from the U.S. electricity mix decreases by 1.34%, and indirect emissions associated with wind, solar thermal, geothermal, and natural gas increase from 2010 to 2040. As such, the field of LCA becomes more important in the next 30 years in determining both the direct and indirect GHG emissions associated with comparative energy technologies, as well as other potential environmental impacts, where differences in indirect and direct emissions would be captured in framing economy wide policies.
Value of LCA and its Applicability to Natural Gas Analysis
Date: 06/18/2014
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This presentation discusses the value of an LCA perspective on natural gas with a focus on upstream natural gas. It also discusses the current natural gas research.
Time series analysis of radiative forcing in a co-fired power system
Date: 05/20/2014
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This presentation considers the effect of GHG emission timing from of a power plant using different feedstocks -- coal, hybrid poplar, and roundwood. It also focuses on methods and aspects of the biomass systems, such as GWP metric, DLUC and ILUC, biomass uptake and emission, and modeling choice.
Estimating the GHG Footprint of Large-scale, Interconnected Energy Systems
Date: 05/20/2014
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This presentation discusses the benefits of LCA in regards to energy analysis. It compares technology options, evaluates policy impact on systems, considers coal and natural gas boundaries, and evaluates metrics.
Using Life Cycle Analysis to Inform Energy Policy
Date: 12/01/2013
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
NETL uses LCA to understand the environmental burdens of energy systems and to inform policy makers. LCA is well suited for energy analysis, but its answers can change depending on what questions are being asked. NETL approaches all LCAs using a consistent method, which ensures comparability among LCAs. The granularity and flexibility of NETL's models makes it possible to identify key contributors to the environmental burdens of a system, as well as the ability to understand how results can change with changes to a given input parameter. In addition to understanding the attributes of a given energy technology, NETL can also perform consequential modeling that allows an understanding of how a given energy technology can affect the performance of other energy technologies. The effect of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) on conventional crude oil extraction is one example of such consequential analysis.
Overview of Energy Life Cycle Analysis at NETL
Date: 10/02/2013
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This presentation describes the life cycle analysis (LCA) process at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). NETL uses LCA as a tool for evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of energy technology and policy options on a common basis. LCA includes the impacts of converting fuel to useful energy, infrastructure construction, extraction and transportation of fuel, and transport of the final energy product to the end user.
Power Systems Life Cycle Analysis Tool (Model)
Date: 06/01/2013
Contact: Justin Adder
The Power Systems Life Cycle Analysis Tool (Power LCAT) is a high-level dynamic model that calculates production costs and tracks environmental performance for a range of electricity generation technologies: natural gas combined cycle (NGCC), integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), supercritical pulverized coal (SCPC), existing pulverized coal (EXPC), nuclear, and wind (with and without backup power). All of the fossil fuel technologies also include the option of carbon capture and sequestration technologies (CCS). The model allows for quick sensitivity analysis on key technical and financial assumptions, such as: capital, O&M, and fuel costs; interest rates; construction time; heat rates; taxes; depreciation; and capacity factors. Power LCAT is targeted at helping policy makers, students, and interested stakeholders understand the economic and environmental tradeoffs associated with various electricity production options.
Power Generation Technology Comparison from a Life Cycle Perspective (Report)
Date: 06/01/2013
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This analysis provides insight into key criteria for the feasibility of seven types of energy technologies. The seven types of technologies include electricity from natural gas, co-firing of coal and biomass, nuclear fuel, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar thermal resources. The key criteria for evaluating these technologies are defined.
Power Generation Technology Comparison from a Life Cycle Perspective (Presentation)
Date: 06/01/2013
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This analysis provides insight into key criteria for the feasibility of seven types of energy technologies. The seven types of technologies include electricity from natural gas, co-firing of coal and biomass, nuclear fuel, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar thermal resources. The key criteria for evaluating these technologies are defined.
Power Generation Technology Comparison from a Life Cycle Perspective (Fact Sheet)
Date: 06/01/2013
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This analysis provides insight into key criteria for the feasibility of seven types of energy technologies. The seven types of technologies include electricity from natural gas, co-firing of coal and biomass, nuclear fuel, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and solar thermal resources. The key criteria for evaluating these technologies are defined.
Power Systems Life Cycle Analysis Tool Report
Date: 06/01/2013
Contact: Justin Adder
The Power Systems Life Cycle Analysis Tool (Power LCAT) is a high-level dynamic model that calculates production costs and tracks environmental performance for a range of electricity generation technologies: natural gas combined cycle (NGCC), integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), supercritical pulverized coal (SCPC), existing pulverized coal (EXPC), nuclear, and wind (with and without backup power). All of the fossil fuel technologies also include the option of carbon capture and sequestration technologies (CCS). The model allows for quick sensitivity analysis on key technical and financial assumptions, such as: capital, O&M, and fuel costs; interest rates; construction time; heat rates; taxes; depreciation; and capacity factors. Power LCAT is targeted at helping policy makers, students, and interested stakeholders understand the economic and environmental tradeoffs associated with various electricity production options.
The Challenge of Co-product Management for Large-scale Energy Systems—Power, Fuel and CO2
Date: 10/02/2012
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
Applying traditional co-product management methods such as physical allocation and system expansion in conventional ways can lead to large study uncertainty in LCA of large scale energy systems. The use of advanced power plants with carbon capture as a source of CO2 results in the co-production of electricity and transportation fuels (gasoline or diesel). Co-product allocation can be avoided by expanding the system to include displacement of other routes to electricity generation, but conjecture about the expanded system leads to wide uncertainty. If energy is used as a basis for co-product allocation between electricity and liquid fuel (diesel or gasoline), the differences between the useful energy in the energy products hinders comparability. Partitioning a portion of the system, in this case the power plant, to perform more accurate energy allocation is a third approach, and is possible when detailed plant schematics allow disaggregation of integrated processes.
LCA XII Presentation: From Unit Processes to Completed LCAs: NETL Life Cycle Analysis Library
Date: 10/01/2012
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This poster describes what the DOE National Energy Technology (NETL) unit process library is, how the unit processes are used in NETL life cycle analyses, and how to access it.
Exploring Economics and Environmental Performance: Power Systems Life Cycle Analysis Tool (Power LCAT) - LCA XII Presentation
Date: 10/01/2012
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This presentation poster discusses the Power Systems Life Cycle Analysis Tool (Power LCAT). The Power LCAT is a flexible model and associated tool which calculates electricity production costs and tracks life cycle environmental performance for a range of power generation technologies.
LCA XII Presentation - Role of Alternative Energy Sources: Technology Assessment Compilation
Date: 10/01/2012
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
NETL has applied a single set of methods for calculating the environmental, cost, and other aspects of seven options for baseload power generation. LCA is used to calculate environmental results, and life cycle boundaries are also applied to cost results. A set of other technical and non-technical criteria are used to gain a broad understanding of the roles of alternative energy sources in the U.S. energy portfolio.
LCA XII Presentation: Overview of Energy Life Cycle Analysis at NETL
Date: 09/27/2012
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
This presentation describes the life cycle analysis (LCA) process at NETL. NETL uses LCA as a tool and framework for evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of energy technology and policy options on a common basis. LCA includes the impacts of converting fuel to useful energy, infrastructure construction, extraction and transportation of fuel, and transport of the final energy product to the end user.
Exploring Economics and Environmental Performance: Power Systems LCA Tool
Date: 09/26/2012
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The Power LCA Tool shows environmental and cost results for NETL's LCAs of power systems, including fossil and wind power. In addition to reporting results for costs and emissions, it allows trade-off analysis between costs and emissions. It also allows the user to evaluate the sensitivity of results to changes in key parameters..
Power Systems Life Cycle Analysis Tool (Power LCAT) Technical Guide
Date: 05/01/2012
Contact: Justin Adder
Power LCAT is a high-level dynamic model that calculates production costs and tracks environmental performance for a range of electricity generation technologies. This report summarizes key assumptions and results for version 2.0 of Power LCAT. This report has three goals: to explain the basic methodology used to calculate production costs and to estimate environmental performance; to provide a general overview of the model operation and initial results; and to demonstrate the wide range of options for conducting sensitivity analysis.
NETL Upstream Dashboard Tool
Date: 08/01/2011
Contact: Matthew Jamieson
The goal of the Upstream Tool is to allow the user to customize key parameters specific to their Life Cycle case study or desired scenario, and generate customized Upstream Emissions results quickly and simply.