Life-cycle analysis of environmental and social impacts

2 Life-cycle analysis of environmental and social impacts 

The life-cycle assessment of hydrogen production is, in the cases where conventional fuels are converted into hydrogen, similar to many existing stud- 

For fuel cell conversion of hydrogen, the industrial progress is such that meaningful life-cycle studies can start to be made on a fairly detailed basis. A concrete example of this will be given. 

Finally, a life-cycle analysis of an entire system is described, choosing a passenger car as an important example. This involves both the analysis of the car manufacture, including the specific additions to traditional cars necessary for fuel cell operation, and also the infrastructure impacts and contributions from the fuel provision and from the final disposal of the product. 

The short summary of the life-cycle method preceding the actual analyses is necessary, because life-cycle analysis is not a standard calculation. In the literature, one finds various definitions ranging from restricted net energy analyses over environmental impact studies to the full consideration of both environmental and social impacts. It is the latter methodology, more fully described in Sorensen (2004a), which will be employed here. 

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