Life Cycle Assessment of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle that Employs Hydrogen Fuel Cell

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the adoption of autonomous vehicles for marine and submarine missions. The advancement of emerging imaging, navigation, and communication technologies has greatly expanded the range of operational capabilities and opportunities available. The ENDURUNS project is a European research endeavor focused on identifying strategies for achieving minimal environmental impact. To measure these facts, this article evaluates the product impacts employing the Life Cycle Assessment methodology for the first time, following the ISO 14040 standard. In this analysis, the quantitative values of Damage and Environmental Impact using the Eco-Indicator 99 methodology in SimaPro software are presented. The results report that the main contributors in environmental impact terms have been placed during the manufacturing phase. Thus, one of the challenges is accomplished, avoiding the use phase emissions that are the focus to reduce nowadays in the marine industry.