Tomorrow
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Life
cycle assessment (LCA) is built around the idea that every activity involved
in producing, maintaining, consuming and disposing of a product affects
the environment. This is considerably more than the way we currently
look at our environmental impact, and takes into account all related impacts.
Over the next 20 years, SaskPower must decide how to replace or refurbish about two-thirds of our aging generation fleet. The first decision will come in mid-2007, when we select the next major generation project. With coal-fired generation units lasting 45-55 years and hydroelectric plants lasting up to 100, decisions on what our next generation asset should be require serious attention. Once we make supply decisions, we have to live with the decisions for many years.
Life cycle assessment will give us the information we need to help make the right decisions for our future. Each technology has its own unique environmental positives and negatives – we need to understand what those impacts truly are.
LCA will help us rate the environmental performance of any given technology. Discussions of future power supply will be supported by scenario-based analysis and our understanding of the impact our decisions will have on the environment.
