Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of a Surface Radar System

Abstract

This study was undertaken with the primary objective to assess the environmental impacts of a surface radar system called Arthur by applying environmental life cycle assessment (LCA). The project was initiated and spearheaded by Saab AB, the proprietor of the system. In addition to assessing its environmental impact, the project was geared towards enabling Saab AB to acquire an understanding of the LCA methodology and to determine its usefulness in their present context. The LCA was conducted following the guidelines in ISO14040. Data on the foreground system was mainly obtained from the collaboration with Saab AB, and the Ecoinvent database was utilised for obtaining data on the background system. To evaluate the potential environmental impacts, the ReCiPe method was employed, with particular emphasis on four impact categories: climate change, fossil fuel, terrestrial acidification, and surplus ore. The first three were selected for the purpose of facilitating a comparison with a previous LCA study conducted in 2015. Furthermore, an additional impact indicator for mineral resource scarcity, the crustal scarcity indicator, was applied to complement the surplus ore indicator. The results showed that the highest impacts occurred during the use phase, primarily due to the combustion of diesel fuel in the vehicle. Considering this finding, an alternative fuel, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), was also assessed. Using FAME led to a reduction in, e.g., climate change, but there was a trade- off with other impact categories, such as terrestrial acidification. The results also showed that the two components main computer and cable set have the highest potential for reducing environmental impacts, and should therefore be given the highest priority for improvement efforts. Comparing the results with those of the previously-conducted LCA on the same product system in 2015 revealed lower overall impact results in the present study. However, this does not necessarily entail a reduction in actual environmental impacts, as variations in the methodology and data could instead be the reasons. Finally, it is recommended that the collaborating company Saab AB would benefit from establishing a more comprehensive database within the organisation to improve the reliability of LCA results and reduce the time required for data collection in future LCA projects.