Life Cycle Assessment of the District Heating Distribution System in China — Network Construction
In China, the environmental impact from the construction of the distribution system is seldom discussed. In this study, the environmental impact from construction of district pipes is considered. The purpose is to identify environmental significant parts in the construction of district pipes and to use the results in the actual projects including once more parts of the district distribution system have been investigated with LCA methodology.(Methods) Construction of district pipe networks according to the technical specification was studied. The total consumption of energy and materials was calculated based on budget norm for projects. The functional unit used in the study is construction of 100 metres of pipe system. The studied pipes are: pipe of the dimension DN100, DN200 (Seamless steel tubes) and DN500 (spirally welded steel tubes) .Urban environment surroundings were studied. A short description of the inventory, some inventory results and a life cycle impact assessment are presented. Based on the concept of the End-point damage weighting method, the total environment load is given.