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I am conducting an LCA for a product that has 5 transport distances but with the same mode of transportation (Truck). I have group these transportations into two depending on their countries (country A & B) and have summed the total weight of materials transported from each country to the final project (Country C). For the transport distances, I have calculated the weighted transport distances from each country to represent the final transport distance from that country to the final project site. For country A, the weighted distance is 730 km with 220000 kg materials, and couyntry B is 1460 km with 120000 kg of materials transported. I have calculated the mass transport (km*kg) for each route and input both routes into one process representing transportation for the LCA, however, the results seams to be exceedingly high, making it the largest source of impact in the entire LCA, even surpasing the use phase which is modeled for 25 years with more than 75000 operational hours.

Does this make seanse at all?
in openLCA by (160 points)

1 Answer

+1 vote
by (2.6k points)
You need to normalize your transport distances - that is, Country A provides 65% of the products (220 tons / 340 tons), while Country B provides 35% (120 tons / 340 tons). So for any one kg of product transport, 65% travels 730km while the 35% travels 1460 km - therefore the average kg travels 985 km, or the input should be 985 kg-km per kg product.
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