Final Report ICF INTERNATIONAL Lifecycle Analysis of High-Global Warming Potential Greenhouse Gas Destruction Contract Number 07-330 October 2011 Prepared for: The California Air Resources Board Prepared by Pamela Mathis ICF International 620 Folsom Street, Suite 200 San Francisco, CA 94107 415.677.7100 11-036 blank page Contract Number 07-330 ii CARB 11-036 October 2011 Disclaimer The statements and conclusions in this Report are those of the contractor and not necessarily those of the California Air Resources Board. The mention of commercial products, their source, or their use in connection with material reported herein is not to be construed as actual or implied endorsement of such products. Contract Number 07-330 i CARB 11-036 October 2011 Acknowledgments ICF International thanks Glenn Gallagher at the California Air Resources Board for his advice during this project and his commentary on its findings. ICF also thanks the following individuals and organizations for being part of its project team and assisting with the delivery of this project: Pamela Mathis (ICF International) Julia Forgie (ICF International) Mark Wagner (ICF International) Caroline Cochran (ICF International) Stefan Unnasch (Life Cycle Associates) This report was submitted in fulfillment of Project 07-330: Lifecycle Analysis of High-Global Warming Potential Greenhouse Gas Destruction by ICF International under the sponsorship of the California Air Resources Board. Work was completed as of August 23, 2011. Contract Number 07-330 ii CARB 11-036 October 2011 Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................xi Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... xiii Background ..................................................................................................................... xiii Methods xiii Results xiv Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... xiv Recommendations .......................................................................................................... xvi I. LCA on Household Refrigerators and Freezers Reaching End-of-Life ............................ 1 I.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 I.1.1. Purpose .............................................................................................................................................. 1 I.2. Background ........................................................................................................... 3 I.3. Defining Business as Usual (BAU) ......................................................................... 5 I.4. Management Options ............................................................................................. 8 I.4.1. Scenario 1: Use All DARs and CARs ....................................................................................... 9 I.4.2. Scenario 2: Use Existing and New DARs with Manual Foam Removal ...................... 10 I.4.3. Scenario 3: Use Existing and New DARs with Fully Automated Appliance Dismantling Machines .................................................................................................................. 10 I.5. Key Assumptions ................................................................................................. 11 I.5.1. Basic Assumptions ....................................................................................................................... 12 I.5.2. Estimating Emissions ................................................................................................................... 18 I.5.3. Estimating Costs ............................................................................................................................ 22 I.6. Cost Assessment ................................................................................................. 27 I.6.1. BAU Costs ....................................................................................................................................... 27 I.6.2. Scenario 1 Incremental Costs: All CARs and DARs Using Manual Foam Removal ................................................................................................... 28 I.6.3. Scenario 2 Incremental Costs: New and Existing DARs Using Manual Foam Removal ................................................................................................... 29 I.6.4. Scenario 3 Incremental Annual Costs: New and Existing DARs Using Fully Automated Machine ............................................................................................... 30 I.7. Benefits................................................................................................................ 32 I.7.1. BAU Emissions .............................................................................................................................. 32 I.7.2. Scenario 1 Emissions .................................................................................................................. 34 I.7.3. Scenario 2 Emissions .................................................................................................................. 37 I.7.4. Scenario 3 Emissions .................................................................................................................. 39 I.8. Summary of Costs and Benefits ........................................................................... 43 I.8.1. Incremental Costs ......................................................................................................................... 43 I.8.2. Incremental Benefits..................................................................................................................... 44 I.8.3. Incremental Criteria Pollutants .................................................................................................. 48 I.8.4. Cost Effectiveness ........................................................................................................................ 49 I.9. Discussion of Findings ......................................................................................... 49 I.9.1. Scope of Work Limitations .......................................................................................................... 51 I.10. Recommendations ............................................................................................... 52 I.10.1. Unintended Consequences of Regulating Foam Recovery from Appliances ............ 53 I.10.2. New Technologies at Auto Shredders and for Recovering Foam Expansion Agents ............................................................................................................. 53 I.10.3. Potential Phase-down of HFCs in Insulating Foam ........................................................... 53 I.11. References .......................................................................................................... 55 I.12. Appendix A: Lessons Learned on Appliance Recycling from Other Countries ...... 62 I.12.1. Japan ................................................................................................................................................. 62 I.12.2. United Kingdom ............................................................................................................................. 62 Contract Number 07-330 iii CARB 11-036 October 2011 Lifecycle Analysis of High-Global Warming Potential Greenhouse Gas Destruction Table of Contents I.13. Appendix B: Detailed Cost and Emission Tables ................................................. 64 I.13.1. Incremental Costs ......................................................................................................................... 64 I.13.2. GHG Emissions Avoided ............................................................................................................ 66 I.13.3. Incremental Criteria Pollutant Emissions ............................................................................... 67 I.14. Appendix C: Foam GHG Losses during Recycling and Landfilling—Assumptions and Uncertainties ................................................................................................. 69 I.14.1. Foam GHG Losses in Landfills ................................................................................................. 69 I.14.2. Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 71 I.15. Appendix D: Stakeholder Comments to Draft Version of LCA .............................. 72 I.15.1. Comments Summary: .................................................................................................................. 72 I.15.2. Comments Resulting in Qualitative Discussion: .................................................................. 72 I.16. Appendix E: Report Figures presented as Data ................................................... 74 II. LCA on Other Stationary Refrigeration/Air-Conditioning Equipment Reaching End-of-Life .........................................................................................................................79 II.1. Background ........................................................................................................