This text is part of the special section 20 years of CIRAIG
We know that our daily habits and actions count in our environmental footprint. But to be able to measure the precise impact of our water bottle or our electric car, for example, we have to establish indicators and place these objects or technologies in their global context. Decisive questions on which researchers at the International Reference Center on the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services (CIRAIG) are working.
“The idea is that everyone can use the same metrics, to be able to compare the figures,” explains Anne-Marie Boulay. The water footprint expert and professor at Polytechnique Montréal participates in several international working groups, including MariLCA (Marine Impacts in Life Cycle Assessment), supported by the Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovation (FSLCI) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which is particularly interested in the environmental impacts of marine plastic litter. Its objective: to develop international consensus to adopt common measures.
The impact of plastics
Anne-Marie Boulay’s research is part of what is called life cycle analysis (LCA). This evaluation method makes it possible to carry out the environmental assessment of a product, a service or a process over its entire life cycle. “We look at all the emissions generated and resources consumed by a disposable plastic bag, for example, during its life cycle (extraction of raw materials, manufacture, use, end of life) and we transform them into potential impacts on human health. and the ecosystem, ”explains the professor. These values are then compared to those of other options, such as a biodegradable, paper or cotton bag.
To obtain these cutting-edge and unprecedented data, the MariLCA working group has been working for two years on the development of impact calculation models, which did not exist for plastics and microplastics. A preliminary version is currently in the testing phase. “I particularly examine the physical effect of ingested microplastics, taking into account the ecotoxicological data available”, explains the researcher, who is coordinating a team of soon five doctoral and post-docs working on this important health issue.
Measure the water footprint
Before taking an interest in plastics, Anne-Marie Boulay developed her expertise in a field relating to another important global issue: water scarcity. Like the carbon footprint, the water footprint reflects the impact on water of a given activity by considering the entire production chain. “When I started my doctoral work, more than ten years ago, we did not have a method for integrating the impacts of water consumption into LCA”, explains the researcher, who has developed a model. to take into account the impacts of evaporation and the unavailability of the water consumed on ecosystems and human users.
Then, by chairing the international research group WULCA on the use of water in LCA, Anne-Marie Boulay led the development of the international consensus on the recommended methodology for calculating water footprints. She is currently working to refine and update this method. “We are making additional developments to quantify uncertainties or examine forecasts with scenarios of global warming”, explains the researcher.
Starting from our needs
Manuele Margni is also an expert in life cycle analysis. But the CIRAIG professor, holder of mathematical and industrial engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, is also interested in what is called systems thinking. “Life cycle analysis involves looking at an object or technology through its value chain from production to end-of-life management. With a systemic vision, we reason with the aim of satisfying demand at the scale of a territory [province, pays ou autre] by a bunch of solutions, ”says the researcher.
This vision focused on demand and the availability of resources makes it possible to assess the potential of a technology – the electric car for example – by integrating the economic, environmental, technical, social and regulatory constraints of this energy transition solution.
“The systems vision allows us to identify the limits of our system. Admittedly, an electric car used in Quebec emits 65% less greenhouse gases compared to a thermal car over its life cycle. But do we have enough electricity in Quebec to achieve all of the transportation electrification objectives, guarantee growing demand and export electricity abroad? A systemic vision makes it possible to analyze the optimal mix of energy conversion and storage technologies to meet demand, ”explains Manuele Margni.
Help decision makers
CIRAIG’s research focuses on the development of tools to analyze and compare different value chains and provide cutting-edge technical data that will give decision-makers the knowledge necessary to make informed energy choices. “We are collaborating with a laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to develop a research program integrating our expertise on sustainability metrics and a systemic vision on the understanding of energy and material flows, in order to think about optimal mixes technology necessary for the transition, at the scale of a territory ”, continues Manuele Margni.
About ten companies, including Michelin and LVMH, are participating in this work through an industrial research chair, which will expand in the form of an “International research consortium on life cycle analysis. and sustainable transition ”for five years starting in January. “This allows us to understand the needs of private industry and identify research that will meet them,” says Manuele Margni, for whom relevance is a constant challenge. “In the world of university research, there is the risk that we produce knowledge without necessarily worrying about its usefulness, which can be more or less virtuous”, explains the one who has chosen to put his skills at the service of the transition energy while remaining attentive to concrete needs.