Life Cycle Optimization of Residential Air Conditioner Replacement

chart. Replacing a product with a more efficient one can result in a lower total burden at theend of the period. This can be observed when comparing B 1 to B 4 . A key point to consider isthat the relative results from the various paths are dependent on the time period beingconsidered. For instance, one could imagine that if the time period being considered in Figure2.2 were extended, the burden associated with B 2 could surpass the burden of B 3 .Figure 2.2: A Schematic Diagram Demonstrating Various Burden Outcomes from ProductUse and Replacement (Kim H. C., 2003)The goal of life cycle optimization is to determine the best path of replacement to minimize theparticular burdens being examined. With the creation of dynamic life cycle inventories and theuse of dynamic programming algorithms the system life cycle can be optimized by selecting thebest replacement schedule for the system. This approach was initially developed to study thereplacement of a mid‐size automobile (Kim, Keoleian, Grande, & Bean, 2003) and later used tostudy the replacement of household refrigerators (Kim, Keoleian, & Horie, 2006) and clotheswashers (Bole, 2006).