Key Takeaways 

• Life cycle assessments (LCAs) help utilities evaluate environmental impacts across the full asset life cycle.
• Environmental product declarations (EPDs) and product environmental profiles (PEPs) provide documented LCA results.
• Sustainability reporting and procurement requirements are driving greater adoption of LCAs.
• LCAs support more informed utility procurement and infrastructure planning decisions.
• A life cycle approach helps organizations understand impacts from manufacturing through end-of-life treatment.
• LCAs can support sustainability goals across water, energy and smart city infrastructure.

For years, utility infrastructure decisions have been evaluated through performance, reliability and cost. Increasingly, however, utilities are being asked to consider sustainability. 

This shift is happening for a number of reasons. Reporting is becoming more formalized, procurement requirements are evolving and organizations are under growing pressure to better understand the environmental footprint of the products and technologies they deploy. What was previously viewed as a secondary consideration is becoming a measurable part of infrastructure decision-making.

To help utilities better understand the role of life cycle assessments in infrastructure planning and procurement, Itron recently published a white paper, Life Cycle Assessments: A Practical Foundation for Sustainable Water Infrastructure.

Turning Sustainability Goals into Procurement Decisions

Most utilities today have sustainability objectives. The challenge is translating those ambitions into practical procurement decisions. 

How do you compare the environmental impact of one solution versus another? How do you validate sustainability claims? And how do you incorporate those considerations alongside traditional requirements such as reliability, longevity and cost? Life cycle assessments (LCAs) are helping answer those questions.

An LCA provides the underlying analysis used to measure a product’s environmental impacts throughout its life cycle, from raw material extraction and manufacturing to transportation, operation and end-of-life treatment. By looking at the full asset life cycle, utilities can gain a more complete understanding of the footprint associated with the technologies they deploy. 

The results of that assessment are then documented in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a standardized report that communicates environmental performance using a common methodology. Several EPD programs exist around the world. At Itron, we use Product Environmental Profiles (PEPs), a specific type of EPD designed for electrical, electronic and related equipment. PEPs provide a transparent, consistent way to communicate environmental data and support more informed procurement and planning decisions. 

Why Life Cycle Assessments Matter More Than Ever

Part of the growing interest in LCAs is being driven by the changing regulatory landscape.  France, for example, now requires LCA reporting for new construction projects, and the UK requires companies to disclose their annual carbon emissions and energy use. As similar requirements continue to emerge around the world, sustainability performance is becoming more important to evaluate and harder to overlook. 

At the same time, sustainability commitments are facing greater scrutiny. Utilities are increasingly expected to demonstrate not only what their goals are, but also how they’re making progress toward them. EPDs and other declarations help provide that evidence.
Looking Beyond the Point of Installation

One of the most valuable aspects of an LCA is that it looks beyond a product's immediate use. Its environmental footprint doesn't begin when a product is installed, nor does it end when its service life is over. Manufacturing processes, transportation, maintenance requirements, operational activities and end-of-life disposal all contribute to a product's total footprint. LCAs help utilities account for these impacts across the entire asset life cycle and identify opportunities to reduce emissions, minimize waste and make more informed infrastructure decisions. 

While many current examples come from the water sector, LCAs are not limited to water infrastructure. This cross functional approach can be applied across multiple products and industries, helping organizations better understand product impacts throughout the asset lifecycle.

Laying the Foundation for Sustainable Utility Infrastructure
Sustainability considerations aren’t replacing traditional procurement criteria such as cost, reliability and performance—they’re becoming another important factor alongside them.

As organizations evaluate the next generation of infrastructure investments, access to credible environmental data can support more informed decisions about sustainability, resilience and long-term performance. 

To learn more about how life cycle assessments support sustainable infrastructure and utility procurement decisions, download our white paper, Life Cycle Assessments: A Practical Foundation for Sustainable Water Infrastructure.