Integration of Life Cycle assessment and population balance model for assessing environmental impacts of product population in a social scale case studies for the global warming potential of air conditioners in Japan

Scope In this study, a dynamic model was built in which LCA and PBM were integrated to quantitatively assess the total environmental impacts induced by the product population in a society over time. Specifically, a determination was carried out concerning how Japan’s air conditioner population is used (lifetime distribution, number of units, etc.) and an assessment was made concerning the Global Warming Potential (GWP) associated with the air conditioner population.