GUIDANCE DOCUMENT FOR PERFORMING LCAs ON HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES

The project FC-HyGuide aims to develop a guidance manual for LCA of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen based systems and related training materials and courses. This will be in line with the ILCD Handbook. Together with specific examples the documents will offer step by step guidance for LCA practitioners in industry as well as for researchers. The concept for this guidance document relates back to an international standardized procedure: the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) System (ISO 14025). Following this procedure a flexible and modular approach can be adopted. Improving the acceptance and applicability of the guidance document, during the project a strong and active involvement of relevant stakeholders and a public consultation is foreseen.
After an expert workshop in February 2011 followed by a public consultation and a review through an advisory board the guidance documents will be published including conducted case studies and a reporting template. Datasets for conducting a LCA of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen will be provided via the project webpage. By means of training courses at international conferences the use of the guidance documents and their benefits will be explained and offered.
Two multidisciplinary consortia with eleven specifically experienced partners leading by PE INTERNATIONAL and ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) run this project. For more information see the FC-HyGuide webpage.