Life cycle assessment of a domestic gas-fired water heater: Influence of fuel used and its origin.

The objective of this study is to apply a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment to a gas-fired instantaneous water heater for domestic uses in order to identify the stages and processes with the largest impacts, as well as to evaluate the influence of different fuels (natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas) and country of use when natural gas is used as fuel. Primary data supplied by a Portuguese manufacturer contributed for achieving accurate life cycle inventory data that were then modelled in SimaPro 8.5.