Social Life Cycle Assessments of Solar Thermal Energy Systems in Industrial Processes

This study discusses the application of social life cycle assessment (SLCA) for a range of existing solar thermal energy (STE) systems in industrial supply chains. Current SLCA frameworks documented in the scientific literature address various social issues which impact supply chain stakeholders. Practitioners typically addressed employees of the STE providers in SLCA framework, measuring social issues such as fair payment and employee Health and Safety (H&S) by administrating employee questionnaires and collecting data on employee salary. In contrast, relationships between external supply chain actors, such as that of the technology's end-users with the STE providers, were qualitatively assessed by conducting interviews with their respective management boards. All findings were reported as inventory data. The evaluation of inventory data is done using Type 1 SLCA characterisation models, which measures a crucial SLCA parameter defined as ‘social performance’. The literature demonstrated that this parameter can be used to assess the STE provider’s level of compliance to social policy, taking regional and universal social standards as neutral criteria to grade the level of employee pay and working hours. Qualitative feedback from social audits formed the other part of this assessment, while qualitative analysis of interview dialogue and employee survey results provided further insight into social welfare. Our study of the literature, however, revealed that the current use of SCLA methodological protocol provides limited insight into an organisation’s social performance. This knowledge gap was found to be rooted in the limited scope of assessment for policy compliance and social welfare adopted by current practitioners. To address this gap, our research aims to develop a novel SLCA methodology, tailored to provide an in-depth model of social performance for newly developed STE systems. The framework will be invaluable for resource allocation and decision making on the development and implementation of STE systems.