"Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service."
Analyzing the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle—from raw material extraction to disposal—in order to identify areas for improvement.
Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment: A basic overview of the concepts and principles involved in conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Goal Definition and Scope: Defining the objective of LCA and determining the scope of the assessment. This involves understanding the intended application and limitations of the LCA.
Life Cycle Inventory: Collecting and compiling data on the inputs and outputs of the system or product being assessed. This includes identifying the borders of the system, selecting functional units, and gathering data on raw materials, energy and emissions from all stages of the product's life cycle.
Life Cycle Impact Assessment: Assessing the environmental impacts of the life cycle inventory data using methods such as midpoint and endpoint impact assessments. This step determines the environmental hotspots, or significant environmental impacts, of the product life cycle.
Interpretation and Communication: Interpreting the LCA results, identifying areas for improvement, and communicating the findings to stakeholders. This step involves making decisions based on the LCA results and incorporating them into sustainability strategies.
Operational Eco-efficiency: Analyzing the performance and efficiency of the system using methods such as energy and material flows analysis, and feedback loops. This step involves identifying opportunities for improving the environmental performance of the system or product by minimizing waste, reducing energy consumption, and optimizing processes.
Social and Economic Life Cycle Assessment: Assessing the social and economic impacts of the product system or service, such as impacts on human health, labor conditions, and economic wellbeing.
ISO Standards for LCA: An overview of international standards for LCA, such as ISO 14040, 14044. Understanding the requirements and guidelines for conducting a robust and credible LCA.
Product Environmental Footprint: An overview of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method developed by the European Union to harmonize environmental assessment methods and assist companies in reducing the environmental impact of their products.
Carbon Footprinting: An overview of carbon footprinting, which focuses on identifying and quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product, service or activity. Understanding methods such as PAS 2050, GHG Protocol, and the Carbon Trust Footprint Label.
Cradle-to-Grave: This type of assessment considers the environmental impact of a product from its creation to disposal.
Cradle-to-Cradle: This assessment approach focuses on reuse and recycling designs with the aim of creating a closed-loop system where there is no waste.
Eco-efficiency: This is a business-oriented approach that reduces environmental impacts and improve overall efficiency of product systems.
Carbon Footprint: This type of assessment calculates greenhouse gas emissions for products or entire organizations.
Water Footprint: This type of assessment calculates the amount of water used in the production of a product or throughout its life cycle.
Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA): This type of assessment analyses the social impact of a product across its entire life cycle, focusing on working conditions, human rights, and community impacts.
Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (O-LCA): This type of assessment evaluates the environmental and social impacts of an entire organization.
Green Building Life Cycle Assessment: This type of assessment focuses on the environmental impact of a building throughout its life cycle, from construction to demolition.
Product Environmental Footprint (PEF): This is a European Union standardized approach to measure and communicate the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle.
Sustainability Standards Assessment: This is an evaluation framework that assesses the adherence of a product to a specific set of environmental or social standards.
"Environmental impacts are assessed from raw material extraction and processing (cradle), through the product's manufacture, distribution and use, to the recycling or final disposal of the materials composing it (grave)."
"An LCA study involves a thorough inventory of the energy and materials that are required across the industry value chain of the product, process or service."
"LCA calculates the corresponding emissions to the environment, thus assessing cumulative potential environmental impacts."
"The aim is to document and improve the overall environmental profile of the product."
"The widely recognized procedures for conducting LCAs are included in the 14000 series of environmental management standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), in particular, in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044."
"ISO 14040 provides the 'principles and framework' of the Standard."
"ISO 14044 provides an outline of the 'requirements and guidelines'."
"ISO 14040 was written for a managerial audience."
"ISO 14044 was written for practitioners."
"LCA studies the environmental aspects and potential impacts throughout a product's life cycle (i.e., cradle-to-grave) from raw materials acquisition through production, use and disposal."
"The general categories of environmental impacts needing consideration include resource use, human health, and ecological consequences."
"Criticisms have been leveled against the LCA approach, both in general and with regard to specific cases (e.g., in the consistency of the methodology, particularly with regard to system boundaries, and the susceptibility of particular LCAs to practitioner bias with regard to the decisions that they seek to inform)."
"Without a formal set of requirements and guidelines, an LCA can be completed based on a practitioner's views and believed methodologies."
"An LCA completed by 10 different parties could yield 10 different results."
"The ISO LCA Standard aims to normalize this."
"The guidelines are not overly restrictive."
"The general categories of environmental impacts needing consideration include resource use, human health, and ecological consequences."
"LCA calculates the corresponding emissions to the environment."
"The aim is to document and improve the overall environmental profile of the product."