Symbiotic Engineering has extensive experience in conducting life cycle assessments (LCAs) in accordance with the ISO 14040 series of standards to evaluate the environmental impacts of products and process. Symbiotic Engineering uses the professional LCA software SimaPro 7.2 and its associated data sets to customize analyses for clients. Symbiotic has conducted LCAs ranging in scope from screening LCAs that take a couple of weeks and give clients a sense of the key environmental decision points related to the development of their products to multiple month, in depth, peer-reviewed analyses of major proposed international initiatives. Symbiotic conducts studies for internal client review, for federal government funding opportunities, and for external publication.

Project Experience

• Lead author on National Renewable Energy Laboratory technical reports
• Analyses of international and domestic scenarios
• Multiple peer reviewed reports

Examples:

• Meta-analysis and harmonization of coal-fired electricity generation LCAs
• Jatropha biodiesel production in India
• Bio-butanol production using power plant carbon capture and concentrating solar bioreactors
• Biodiesel production from advanced castor bean cultivation in the U.S. and Brazil
• Bio-acrylic acid production

Greening by the Numbers® - Our Approach to Life Cycle Assessment

Greening by the Numbers encapsulates Symbiotic Engineering’s philosophy that sustainability and greening initiatives should be rigorously quantified using verifiable methodologies and robust analyses. We believe that all analyses should be conducted using a life cycle perspective that accounts for impacts that cascade throughout connected systems. We approach sustainability from both the top-down on an aggregate level and the bottom-up on the individual level. Our top-down approach gives cities, companies, developers, and program managers powerful tools to quantify, track, evaluate, visualize, and report on the effectiveness of their sustainability initiatives. Our bottom-up approach provides the tools and mechanisms to enhance community engagement in order to maximize the benefits of sustainability programs