GoRolloe Life Cycle Assessment

Challenge:

Thanks to the Mayor of London’s Better Futures Programme, Imperial’s expertise has also helped GoRolloe, a start-up developing a device for bicycle wheels that filters particle matter and other pollutants from the air as the bike is riden.

Sustainability expert Dr Izhar Shah was asked to assess the environmental impact of the full life cycle of the product, taking into account the complexity of the materials used, such as polymers for the hardware.

Solution

The environmental impacts of GoRolloe’s device were calculated by environmental engineer Dr Izhar Shah – from sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing of hardware, and assembly – to consumer use and the potential for disposal or re-cycling. With the help of this study, the client was able to identify potential environmental ‘hot spots’ and improvements to be made at the design phase.

“Izhar Shah is an expert in the field of sustainability and was able to collect and compute data.”

“With this report we are able to show the manufacturing impact of GoRolloe if it were to move forward into production. This allows us to factor in the need to offset carbon emissions to operate on a net zero level.”  Kristen Tapping, Director GoRolloe

“With this study, tipping points could also be identified to enable commercial application and future investments in the air filtering capabilities of GoRolloe. Overall, the life cycle assessment of GoRolloe was very informative for the project moving forward especially in its application in real-world urban setting.” Dr Izhar Shah, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The prototype can be seen in action here.

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