ABSTRACT
Until recently, the environmental impacts of developing technologies were neither explored nor regulated until after commercialization. Thus, technological innovation has been disconnected from environmental assessment and regulation (Dewick et al. 2004; von Gleich et al. 2007). This tradition has positioned environmental governance as retrospective and reactive (Davies 2009). However, there is a growing realization that environmental intervention at the nascent stages of technology development may be more effective. Therefore, there is a critical need to transcend retrospective models of environmental assessment and regulation by applying life-cycle assessment (LCA) to technologies at these early stages (Fleischer and Grunwald 2008; Meyer et al. 2011) such that life-cycle environmental trade-offs can
11.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 247 11.1.1 Toward Anticipatory Life-Cycle Assessment ...................................248 11.1.2 Life-Cycle Assessment of Novel Nanotechnologies .........................249 11.1.3 Scale, Life-Cycle Assessment, and Thermodynamic Limits ........... 251
11.2 Case Study: Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes for Lithium Ion Batteries ....... 252 11.2.1 SWCNT Manufacturing from an Environmental Perspective ......... 253 11.2.2 Mechanisms of the HiPCO Process ................................................. 253 11.2.3 Degree of Perfection of the HiPCO Process .................................... 253 11.2.4 Analogous Experience Curve Modeling .......................................... 255 11.2.5 Use-Phase Performance Bounding of SWCNT Anode Lithium
Ion Batteries ...................................................................................... 255 11.2.6 Discussion and New Directions ........................................................ 257
11.3 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 258 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 258 References .............................................................................................................. 258
be explored in modeling scenarios before signicant investments in infrastructure create technological lock-in or result in stranded costs.
