THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Faculty of Engineering
GSOE9340 – Life Cycle Engineering
Assignment One – Term 2, 2025
Assignment Weight: 30%
Due Date: Friday, Week 4, 27 June 2024, by 11:59 PM
Reference Emissions
The reference year global emissions are estimated to be 52.069 GtCO₂-eq/year.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to develop an understanding of the first step of operationalizing the Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) framework—the total space allocation for a selected industry, organization, and product, based on the allocation principles discussed in Week 2.
This exercise aims to familiarize you with how environmental space is allocated to achieve the 2°C reduction goal, and with relevant decarbonization pathways.
Upon completing this assignment, you will be able to:
- Determine the environmental space allocated (emission budget) for a sector, organization, and product.
- Identify the reduction required to meet the 2°C climate goal.
Task Instructions
This assignment requires the use of Week 1 and Week 2 lecture materials.
Before attempting the tasks below:
- Select an industry sector, a company, and a product you want to investigate.
- Ideally, these should relate to your technical background.
- Note: This is a rolling assignment; your chosen product will be used again in Assignments 2 and 3.
The global safe operating space (SoSPlanet) by 2050 is 8.327 GtCO₂-eq/year, based on IPCC’s SSP1-1.9 scenario (IPCC, 2018).
Using this figure, and your chosen sector, company, and product, complete the following:
Tasks
1. SoS for Sector and Company (7 points)
- Determine the Safe Operating Space (SoSsector) and SoScompany for the reference year 2020, using one allocation principle from Week 2.
- Clearly justify your choice of allocation principle.
2. SoS for Product (7 points)
- Using another allocation principle from Week 2, determine the SoSproduct for the year 2020.
- Clearly justify your choice of allocation principle.
3. Volume Growth Estimation (5 points)
- Determine the estimated annual volume growth of your chosen organization and product from 2020 to 2050, using publicly available data.
- If no data is available, you may apply simple regression analysis based on historical data.
- Provide the dataset or regression model used.
- Present the results in a graph.
4. Change in SoSproduct Over Time (4 points)
- Determine the change in SoSproduct from 2020 to 2050.
- Provide the data set or regression model used.
- Show the results using a graph.
5. Critical Reflection (7 points)
- Comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the SoS allocation methods used.
- Discuss the potential implications for your organization, sector, and the planet.
Important Notes
- You may make assumptions if needed, but they must be clearly stated.
- All tasks carry different weightings (see point allocations above).
- Everything must be clearly documented. If it is not included in your report, it does not exist.
- Your intention is not evidence—you must demonstrate results through replicable calculations and analysis.
Submission Requirements
Your report must include:
- Detailed references for all background data used.
- Rigorous data analysis based on lecture principles.
- Formulas for each allocation method used (sector, company, product), with clear explanation of calculations.
- Volume prediction formulas, yearly predicted volumes (2020–2050), and calculation method for annual growth.
- Graphs to illustrate:
- Annual volume growth (Task 3)
- Change in SoSproduct (Task 4)
- Complete calculations shown alongside graphs to ensure results are replicable.
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