New spatiotemporally resolved LCI applied to photovoltaic electricity

Available on: http://www.lcm2011.org/papers.html?file=tl_files/pdf/poster/day1/Beloin-Saint-Pierre-New_spatiotemporally_resolved_LCI_applied-604_b.pdfInternational audienceWe present a new Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) calculation methodology that we call ESPA (Enhanced Structure Path Analysis). The ESPA method is aiming at calculating spatiotemporally defined LCIs while minimizing the difficulties of spatiotemporal information database management. The ESPA methodology uses the Structure Path Analysis capacity to describe completely the supply chain which enables the linkage of temporal distributions defined in the database. An example of electricity production by a multi-crystalline silicon 3 kWp installation is used to describe the ESPA capabilities in details. This new methodology underlines the need for the LCA community to discuss how temporal information should be described in future database. If used to its full potential, the ESPA methodology should enable a significant improvement in the representativeness of LCA results