Towards Net Zero: Life Cycle Assessment as a decision making tool for low carbon solutions
This UCL East Lunch Hour Lecture will introduce Life Cycle thinking and explore how Life Cycle Assessment can provide a framework for comparing strategies and technologies.
Towards Net Zero: Life Cycle Assessment as a decision making tool for low carbon solutions
09 Dec 2021, 13:00 – 14:00
About the lecture:
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology for quantifying the environmental impacts associated with goods or services and supporting decision-making processes. The talk will begin with a brief introduction on life cycle thinking, environmental sustainability and LCA. Taking examples from a variety of research undertaken by the group, this talk will explore how LCA can provide a framework for comparing strategies and technologies. Examples will cover plastic waste management, energy systems and construction.
Please note that this lecture is taking place online only and we will circulate a link to join the event in good time beforehand.
Professor Paola Lettieri is Director of UCL’s new Campus in Stratford, UCL East, and Professor of Chemical Engineering. She joined UCL in 2001 – after spending 5 years in R&D at BP Chemicals, as a Research Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the first female engineer to be awarded such a prestigious award. She is an international expert in fluidisation and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with applications to the chemical, nuclear, waste management and energy sector. The work of her life cycle assessment group has aided the development and scale up of industrial energy from waste processes, influenced plastic waste management strategies, and determined the radiological impact of spent nuclear fuel reprocessing for the first time. She was the recipient of a prestigious Senior Research Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering/The Leverhulme Trust for her work on nuclear waste management and LCA. She has published more than 250 papers. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Charnett is a Research Fellow within the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Metals on behalf of the UCL Chemical Engineering LCA Group. She has an MPhil in biochemical engineering and specialises in applying life cycle thinking to analyse the environmental impacts of products and systems - with life cycle assessments (LCAs). Her work focuses on the application of LCA across multiple sectors, including forestry, consumer/packaging, construction, and healthcare, and advises on the sustainability of new interventions and/or implementations to our current systems. Working in a multidisciplinary manner, her LCA work aims to provide an evidence base for governmental and industrial policy-making.
