What is a life cycle assesment?
“Life cycle assessment or LCA is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service”
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Foreground
background
Although a basic LCA study provides insight into the environmental impact of a product or service, it typically does not account for future external changes that will affect its impact. However, we have models that can help determine these future uncertainties, such as the increase in green energy, resource scarcity, and production scale-up effects. If these factors are considered early in the design phase, the design can be directed towards a sustainable and future-proof direction.
Goal and scope definition
in the first step, the topic of the study is defined, together with the targeted application of the results, the level of ambition, etc. Crucial in this step is to define a functional unit. Why is this important? In an LCA we do not compare products based on their physical properties, but on their function in a specific application. For example, instead of comparing 1 kg of wood with 1 kg of concrete, one could define a functional unit of ‘one dwelling’ and compare a timber frame with a concrete structure.
Life cycle inventory
Next, we gather information about what is consumed to make the product or process, throughout its entire life cycle from production to disposal. This includes raw materials, energy usage, transportation, and waste.
Impact assessment
to quantify the environmental impact, we link the collected data with their corresponding emission factors. The best known are indicators for global warming potential (CO2-equivalents), but we account for other indicators as well (e.g. eco-toxicity, resource depletion, land-use, etc.)
Interpretation
In this final step, we interpret the results. Are there certain parts of the product's life cycle that have a bigger impact? What can we do to reduce these impacts? Based on the interpretation, we can suggest ways to make the product or process more environmentally friendly. This could mean using different materials, changing the way it's made, or even how it's used.