[ Design for Environment ] [ Life Cycle Assessment ] [ Industrial Ecology ] [ Materials Flow Analysis ]

Visit our LCA Database Projects Website

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a protocol to assess the environmental, economic, and social impacts of an industrial system. Geographic areas, business sectors, corporations or institutions, and product systems define such industrial systems. The life cycle of the industrial system extends from cradle-to-grave: from materials acquisition and production, through manufacturing, system use and maintenance, and finally through the end of the system’s life. LCA provides a method (1) to collect and manage materials and energy information for a life cycle and (2) to assess the potential environmental, economic, and social impacts of materials and energy flows. The LCA protocol is described in [1,2,3,4] to include four components:

• Goal and Scope Definition- A statement of the purpose of the study and the determination of technologies that comprise the system life cycle. 

• Inventory Analysis- A quantification of material and energy use, recovery, and waste for the technologies of the life cycle. 

• Impact Analysis- An examination of the contribution of material and energy use, recovery, and waste to impacts to the environment, economy, or society. 

• Interpretation- A technique to identify, quantify, check and evaluate the results of the inventory and impact assessments.

For more information, contact Professor Joyce Smith Cooper at cooper@me.washington.edu .

Citations

1. International Organization for Standardization. ISO 14040: Life Cycle Assessment - Principles And Framework. 1997.

2. Curran, M.A., Life-Cycle Assessment, Amazon Hill, 1996.

3. KlÖ pffer, W., O. Hutzinger, eds., LCA Documents: Life Cycle Assessment: State-of-the-Art and Research Priorities, Eco-Informa Press, 1997.

4. US Environmental Protection Agency. Life Cycle Assessment: Inventory Principles and Guidelines, EPA/600/R-92/245, 1993.