Determining the environmental benefits of life cycle assessment (LCA) on example of the power industry

This paper proposes a method for determining the environmental benefits arising from the use of the combined production of electricity and heat. To determine the environmental burdens and benefits the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique is used, methodologically based on ISO 14040 series. To evaluate the process SimaPro software and the method of Eco Indicator 99 were used, which allows to get the results of the burden and benefit with taking into account three categories of damages: human health, ecosystem quality, raw materials and the eleven categories of the impact process on the environment. The object of evaluation is the process of energy production in combined heat and power plant Lubin.