Dr. Roland Geyer, associate professor at the UCSB’s David Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, conducted a study which evaluated the complete emissions effect that various automotive materials, such as conventional mild steel, Advanced High-Strength Steel, various composites and aluminium, have on life cycle GHG emissions. The study, recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Environmental Science and Technology, presents the first fully parameterised life cycle GHG assessment model (which transparently gives users the ability to change input assumptions) for automotive material selection decisions.
Using an LCA approach reveals that the lightest material is not necessarily the least carbon intensive. In this video, Dr. Geyer explains why.
Dr. Roland Geyer on Life Cycle Assessment from worldautosteel on Vimeo.