A systematic review on uncertainty appraisal and sensitivity analysis in life cycle-assessment
| Main Authors: | Samuele Lo Piano, Lorenzo Benini |
|---|---|
| Format: | info publication-preprint Journal |
| Terbitan: |
, 2021
|
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/4471237 |
Daftar Isi:
- In this contribution we review the approaches for uncertainty appraisal in life-cycle assessment literature. We cover both the acknowledgement of the stochastic and epistemic dimensions of uncertainty in uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, and knowledge quality assessment, respectively. Our findings reveal that uncertainty is appraised only in a minor fraction of LCA studies, with the majority of the contributions covering only the life-cycle inventory stage. Less attention has been devoted to the goal and scope definition and the life-cycle impact assessment stages. Additionally, uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis are frequently run independently from each other as if they were related to different uncertainty spaces. We also identify scope for improvement in the appraisal of epistemic uncertainty and the probability distribution of the uncertain factors. Recommended state-of-the-art practices in uncertainty appraisal are largely ignored in the majority of the studies. We conclude by highlighting studies in which sensible practices have been adopted, by identifying open challenges and by suggesting possible ways forward.