Accounting
- Carbon accounting and removal
- LCA and environmental impacts
- TEA, cost and cash flow
MODULE 04
Climate, Environmental & Economic Outcomes
Which consequences matter, compared with what, and for whom?
Assess carbon, life-cycle burdens, cost, soil, uncertainty and trade-offs with explicit boundaries and counterfactuals.
Open lesson →
MODULE 04Decision quality
- Counterfactuals and additionality
- Uncertainty and sensitivity
- Multi-objective trade-offs
CURRICULUM
6 lessons
204 min
01Carbon accounting, boundaries and counterfactualsIntermediate · 32 minCarbon claims depend on what flows are counted, over what time, compared with which alternative and under whose attribution.02Carbon removal, additionality and durabilityAdvanced · 34 minRemoval requires atmospheric origin, additional net transfer into storage, quantified leakage and credible durability with reversal management.03Life-cycle assessmentIntermediate · 36 minLCA connects a decision question to a functional unit, system inventory, impact assessment and interpretation across a product life cycle.04Techno-economic analysis, cost and cash flowIntermediate · 36 minTEA translates a process design and financing assumptions into cost, price and return metrics while exposing performance and scale drivers.05Soil carbon and greenhouse-gas mitigationIntermediate · 32 minSoil outcomes depend on carbon inputs and decomposition together with nitrous oxide, methane, yields, nutrients, water and management history.06Trade-offs, sensitivity and multi-objective outcomesAdvanced · 34 minOutcome assessment reveals where cost, climate, water, land, health, resource efficiency and distribution improve together—or conflict.
EVIDENCE LIBRARY
Research, models & tools
A curated starting shelf for this teaching area.
TOOLS
Related tools
LLNL and partner institutions
Roads to Removal
A regionally explicit assessment of U.S. carbon-dioxide-removal opportunities, capacities and costs.
- Use it when
- Which removal options may fit particular regions and constraints?
- Limits
- It is an assessment, not a prescriptive local plan; community and project evidence remain necessary.
Inputs, outputs & scope
- Inputs
- Regional biomass, soils, geology, transport, energy and socioeconomic context.
- Outputs
- Regional capacity, cost, infrastructure and impact assessments.
- Typical applications
- BiCRS, soil carbon, transport networks and regional CDR portfolios.
GreenDelta
openLCA
An open-source desktop platform for constructing life-cycle inventories and impact assessments.
- Use it when
- How can a product system, exchanges, allocation and impact methods be assembled and audited?
- Limits
- Software does not supply a defensible boundary or dataset license; modelling choices still require documentation and review.
Inputs, outputs & scope
- Inputs
- Process inventories, flows, databases, functional unit, system model and impact method.
- Outputs
- Inventory results, characterized impacts, contribution analysis and scenario comparisons.
- Typical applications
- Transparent teaching models, product LCA, hotspot analysis and critical-review packages.
Brightway project
Brightway
An open-source Python framework for matrix-based LCA, scenario analysis and advanced computational workflows.
- Use it when
- How can reproducible LCA calculations be automated, parameterized and extended?
- Limits
- Requires programming and careful database management; computational flexibility can amplify undocumented assumptions.
Inputs, outputs & scope
- Inputs
- Technosphere and biosphere matrices, demand, characterization methods and scenario parameters.
- Outputs
- LCI/LCIA matrices, contribution tables, uncertainty and parameterized scenario results.
- Typical applications
- Research-grade reproducible LCA, Monte Carlo analysis and coupling with optimization or process models.
U.S. Department of Energy
TECHTEST
A spreadsheet-based early-stage tool combining simplified techno-economic and life-cycle analysis.
- Use it when
- Which performance factors dominate the potential cost and energy profile of an emerging technology?
- Limits
- A screening tool does not replace a detailed process design, project finance model or critical review.
Inputs, outputs & scope
- Inputs
- Technology performance, lifetime, energy and cost assumptions, and a benchmark.
- Outputs
- Screening-level cost, energy and scenario comparisons.
- Typical applications
- Early R&D prioritization, benchmark comparison and scenario screening.
USDA NRCS / Colorado State University
COMET-Farm
A web tool for estimating farm-scale greenhouse-gas emissions and soil-carbon changes under management scenarios.
- Use it when
- How might a farm's current and alternative practices differ in GHG emissions and carbon sequestration?
- Limits
- Screening estimates depend on user inputs and model applicability; they do not replace project-specific measurement and verification.
Inputs, outputs & scope
- Inputs
- Location, soils, crops, livestock, energy use and detailed management histories or scenarios.
- Outputs
- Comparative farm GHG estimates and soil-carbon changes by scenario.
- Typical applications
- Management screening, farm carbon planning and contextualizing residue or soil-carbon decisions.
Colorado State University
DayCent
A daily time-step ecosystem model for carbon and nitrogen flows among soil, vegetation and atmosphere.
- Use it when
- How do management and environmental conditions affect soil carbon and greenhouse-gas fluxes?
- Limits
- Parameterization and validation determine credibility; model structure cannot replace field evidence.
Inputs, outputs & scope
- Inputs
- Climate, soil properties, vegetation, land use and management schedules.
- Outputs
- Carbon and nitrogen pools, productivity, water states and trace-gas fluxes.
- Typical applications
- Soil-carbon baselines, residue-removal scenarios and agricultural GHG accounting.
CASE STUDIES
Examples from Wang Group
2022Outcomes
Novel carbon-negative methane production via integrating anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis of organic fraction of municipal solid waste
Illustrates an integrated organic-waste pathway where process coupling and the counterfactual waste fate determine the carbon claim.
2021Conversion
Synergistic effects in the copyrolysis of municipal sewage sludge digestate and salix: Reaction mechanism, product characterization and char stability
Shows why co-pyrolysis synergy must be read together with product characterization and char stability.
2022Outcomes
Pyrolysis of engineered beach-cast seaweed: Performances and life cycle assessment
A useful LCA case because engineered beach-cast seaweed makes collection, pretreatment and alternative management part of the boundary.
2025Deployment
Assessing the Techno-Economic Feasibility of Bamboo Residue-Derived Hard Carbon
Connects regional bamboo-residue supply, process assumptions and discounted cash flow to a deployability question for hard carbon.
2023Outcomes
Carbon-negative valorization of biomass waste into affordable green hydrogen and battery anodes
A multi-product biomass case that invites separate checks of carbon accounting, coproduct allocation and affordability claims.
REFERENCES
References & further reading
- International Organization for Standardization (2006). ISO 14040:2006 Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework.Open source ↗
- Leinonen (2022). A general framework for including biogenic carbon emissions and removals in the life cycle assessments for forestry products.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-022-02086-1 ↗
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2022). Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change — Chapter 6, Energy Systems.Open source ↗
- Garcia et al. (2020). Accounting for biogenic carbon and end-of-life allocation in life cycle assessment of multi-output wood cascade systems.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122795 ↗
- Brunner, Hausfather and Knutti (2024). Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for Paris climate goals.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01808-7 ↗
- Lefebvre et al. (2023). Biomass residue to carbon dioxide removal: quantifying the global impact of biochar.https://doi.org/10.1007/s42773-023-00258-2 ↗
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and partner institutions (2023). Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States.Open source ↗
- Matuštík, Pohořelý and Kočí (2022). Is application of biochar to soil really carbon negative? The effect of methodological decisions in Life Cycle Assessment.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151058 ↗
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2006). Life Cycle Assessment: Principles and Practice.Open source ↗
- GreenDelta (2026). openLCA 2 manual.Open source ↗
- Brightway project (2026). Brightway LCA Software Framework documentation.Open source ↗
- Bastidas-Oyanedel and Schmidt (2018). Increasing Profits in Food Waste Biorefinery—A Techno-Economic Analysis.https://doi.org/10.3390/en11061551 ↗
- Yao, Staples, Malina and Tyner (2017). Stochastic techno-economic analysis of alcohol-to-jet fuel production.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-017-0702-7 ↗
- U.S. Department of Energy (2026). Techno-EconomiC Heuristic Tool for Early-Stage Technologies (TECHTEST).Open source ↗
- Shule Wang, Yuming Wen, Ziyi Shi, Ilman Nuran Zaini, Pär Göran Jönsson, Weihong Yang (2022). Novel carbon-negative methane production via integrating anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis of organic fraction of municipal solid waste.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.115042 ↗
- Shule Wang, Per Mandfloen, Pär Jönsson, Weihong Yang (2021). Synergistic effects in the copyrolysis of municipal sewage sludge digestate and salix: Reaction mechanism, product characterization and char stability.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116687 ↗
- Yuming Wen, Shule Wang, Ziyi Shi, Yanghao Jin, Jean-Baptiste Thomas, Elias Sebastian Azzi, Daniel Franzén, Fredrik Gröndahl, Andrew Martin, Chuchu Tang, Wangzhong Mu, Pär Göran Jönsson, Weihong Yang (2022). Pyrolysis of engineered beach-cast seaweed: Performances and life cycle assessment.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2022.118875 ↗
- Senqiang Qin, Chenghao Yu, Yanghao Jin, Gaoyue Zhang, Wei Xu, Ao Wang, Mengmeng Fan, Kang Sun, Shule Wang (2025). Assessing the Techno-Economic Feasibility of Bamboo Residue-Derived Hard Carbon.https://doi.org/10.3390/app15137113 ↗
- Hanmin Yang, Anissa Nurdiawati, Ritambhara Gond, Shiwei Chen, Shule Wang, Bin Tang, Yanghao Jin, Ilman Nuran Zaini, Ziyi Shi, Wujun Wang, Andrew Martin, Reza Younesi, Linda Sandström, Pär G Jönsson, Weihong Yang, Tong Han (2023). Carbon-negative valorization of biomass waste into affordable green hydrogen and battery anodes.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.096 ↗