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Teaching Life Cycle Assessment in Universities in North America

Integration of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the life cycle concept into college and university curriculum occurs at three levels: (1) as courses dedicated solely to LCA, (2) as part of courses focusing on environmental considerations in business, engineering, science, and public policy, and (3) into general curriculum. The first two levels have recently benefited from increases in funding, the emergence of environmentally focused centers of research and education excellence, and the emergence of environmentally focused multidisciplinary degree programs. Within the third level, are potentially “hidden” LCA teaching activities: activities of faculty focusing their research and educational programs in areas not directly related to the environment who has identified LCA as an important assessment tool.  It is difficult to characterize such “hidden”, potentially numerous, activities. 

Faculty members at universities throughout North America are working to prepare students to meet the growing need for those trained in Industrial Ecology and related fields. LCA is an important component of this training. To gain a better understanding of their activities related to LCA, an informal questionnaires was distributed in December 1998 to those receiving the Journal of Industrial Ecology and others teaching at the university level in the U.S. and Canada. An assessment of the results is presented in:

Cooper, J.S., J. Fava, 2000, "Teaching Life Cycle Assessment in Universities in North America," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Volume 3, Number 2, 13-17. 

UPDATE AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Since the publication of  "Teaching Life Cycle Assessment in Universities in North America," many new activities integrating LCA into curriculum have come about.  An update on course availability and teaching resources is provided below.

Course Availability

Our 1998 survey identified 29 courses in 19 institutions in the US and Canada in which LCA played a role.  Using the Internet as a guide, we more recently identified 31 colleges and universities teaching LCA in almost 50 Courses, listed in Table 1. 

Teaching Resources

The majority of respondents to the 1998 survey found the resources available insufficient to teach LCA.  Textbooks, case studies, homework and exercises, impact information, and software were listed as needed resources.  An update is provided below on textbooks, case studies and exercises and software. 

Textbooks

Like LCA courses, textbooks focus solely on LCA or offer LCA as a module within another topic. Example textbooks are characterized in Table 2. Those dedicated solely to LCA are listed first, followed by environmentally focused books that contain a chapter or several chapters on the topic.  

In spite of the increased availability of LCA textbooks, some schools have still find the selection of available textbooks do not meet their needs.  For example, class readers, compilations of articles and book chapters, are used at Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and many other schools.

Case Studies and Exercises

In addition to new textbooks, the availability of case studies and exercises is also important.  The use of case studies and in-class exercises in teaching, a mainstay in business education, is seeing increased use in other areas of instruction.  This is a result of research in learning and teaching methods that illustrates differences in how students learn and limitations in the more traditional, less participatory, lecture methods. Reasons for the use of case studies cited by the respondents of the 1998 survey include their brevity, because they have been developed into educational modules, simply because the data have been published, or because the subject matter is familiar to the professor. 

Many LCA case studies are being developed by faculty for use in their courses or as part of funded educational initiatives and by LCA practitioners interested in dissemination of the methodology and results.  The latter can be found in abundance in LCA and related journals and conference proceedings.  The former, designed for use exercises in or out of the classroom, are less abundant.  Four are listed in Table 3. 

Software

The use of LCA software in the classroom does not appear to be prevalent.  Notable among LCA software users are those at the University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute. David Allen of the University of Texas circumvents constraints associated with inventory data collection by providing inventory data for LCA case studies and using a public domain release of SimaPro™, a software-database system developed by PRé Consultants. Used both at Carnegie Melon and Harvard, the Carnegie Melon Environmental Input-Output LCA tool allows students to estimate the overall environmental impacts from producing a certain dollar amount of any of 500 commodities or services in the United States. At Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Ronald Kander uses LC Advantage™, a software system developed at the US Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, for both class exercises and a class project ( http://dvorak.mse.vt.edu/faculty/kander/mse2984/   ).

For more information or to add updates or corrections, contact Associate Professor Joyce Smith Cooper at cooper@me.washington.edu .  Thanks!

Table 1. Courses with LCA as a Component

Universities and Colleges

Faculty

Schools and Departments

Names of Courses

Carnegie Melon

Lester Lave

Graduate School of Industrial Administration

Business, Government and Strategy

Columbia University

Nickolas Themelis; Iddo K. Wernick

Earth and Environmental Engineering, Henry Krumb School of Mines

Industrial Ecology of Earth Resources; Industrial Ecology for Manufacturing; Applied Industrial Ecology

Dalhousie University

Raymond P. Cote

School for Resource and Environmental Studies

Industrial Ecology; Management and the Natural Environment

Dartmouth College

Ken Baker; Benoit Cushman-Roisin

Tuck School; Thayer School of Engineering

Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing and Design; Industrial Ecology

Georgia Institute of Technology

Farrokh Mistree; Janet K. Allen; Bert Bras

George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

Designing Sustainable Engineering Systems; Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacture

Harvard

John D. Spengler; Petros Koutrakis, Robert B. Pojasek, Gregory A. Norris; Patrick Hofstetter

School of Public Health, Natural Sciences                                       

Industrial Ecology and Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Management

James Madison University

Steven P. Frysinger

College of Integrated Science and Technology

Environmental Management

Lundquist College of Business

Michael V. Russo

Management Department

Strategies for Environmental Management

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Joel Clark, V. Norberg-Bohm

Civil and Environmental Engineering, Urban Studies and Planning

Industrial Ecology; Technology, Industry, and Ecology

Miami University

Allan M. Springer

Paper and Science Engineering

Material and Energy Balance

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Pete Lederman, Reggie J. Caudill

Environmental Policy Studies

Policy and the Environment; Multi Lifecycle Engineering

Oklahoma University

Robert Anex, Nikolaos Peroulis

Science and Public Policy Program

Design for Environment; Modeling Earth’s Changing Climate: Science and Policy

Rutgers University

Clinton J. Andrews

Department of Urban Planning

Industrial Ecology

Tufts

Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos

 

Chemical Engineering

Technological Processes and the Environment; Paving the Road to Zero Emission Vehicles

University of Calgary

Dixon Thompson, Lisa-Henri Kirkland

Faculty of Environmental Design

Environmental Management (2 classes); Product and Technology Assessment; ISO 14000: A Practical Introduction

University of California at Berkeley

Arpad Horvath

Civil Engineering

Civil Systems and the Environment

University of Maine

Marquita Hill

Department of Chemical Engineering

Issues in Environmental Pollution; Pollution Prevention in Industrial Operations

University of Michigan

Greg Keoleian

School of Natural Resources and Environment

Industrial Ecology

University of North Carolina

Stuart Hart

Kenan Flagler Business School

 

University of Pennsylvania

Paul R. Kleindorfer

The Warton School, Operations and Information Management

Environmental and Risk Management

University of Texas

David Allen

Department of Chemical Engineering

Design for Environment

University of Toronto

Miriam Diamond

Geography

Environmental Management for Sustainable Development (part of a 2 course series)

University of Victoria

Martin Hocking

Department. of Chemistry

Introduction to the Chemical Process Industries

University of Virginia

Susan Carlson-Skalak

Mechanical Engineering

Product and Technology Life Cycle

University of Washington

David Briggs; Joyce Smith Cooper

College of Forestry; Department of Mechanical Engineering

Life Cycle Assessment; Sustainability and Design for Environment

University of Windsor

Michael Wang

Department of Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing Systems Engineering

 

University of Wisconsin

Patrick Eagan, Betsy David, Tom Eggert

Engineering Professional Development,

Mechanical Engineering,

Institute for Environmental Studies, Environmental Management and Public Policy

Design for Environment;  Emerging Issues In Environmental Protection:

Environmental Management And Public Policy

University Waterloo

Murray Height

Faculty of Environmental Studies

Waste Management and Planning

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Ronald G. Kander

Materials Science and Engineering

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment

Widener University

Jerry Maffia

Chemical Engineering

Chemical Engineering Principles; Engineering Economics; Process Design Methods

Yale University

Tom E. Graedel, Marian R. Chertow

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Industrial Ecology

 

Table 2. Example LCA Textbooks

Example Textbooks

Inclusion of LCA

Exercises, Case Studies, or other Special Features

Use

Price

CATEGORY: LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

 

 

 

 

Vigon, B.W. (editor), Life-Cycle Assessment : Inventory Guidelines and Principles, CRC Press, 1994.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$55

Graedel, T.E., Streamlined Life-Cycle Assessment, Prentice Hall, 1998.

dedicated to LCA

includes cases, exercises, and a solution manual

Columbia University

$46

Curran, M.A., Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment, McGraw Hill Text, 1996.

dedicated to LCA

 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

$80

Schaltegger, S. (Editor), Life Cycle Assessment (Lca)--Quo Vadis? Birkhauser, 1997.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

Out of print

Nigge, K.M., Life Cycle Assessment of Natural Gas Vehicles : Development and Application of Site-Dependent Impact Indicators, Springer Verlag, 2000.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

Out of print

United Nations, Life Cycle Assessment: What is it and How to do it, United Nations Environment Programme, 1999

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$40-50

Hofstetter, P., Perspectives in Life Cycle Impact Assessment : A Structured Approach to Combine Models of the Technosphere, Ecosphere, and Valuesphere, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$160

Keoleian, G.A., D. Menerey, Product Life Cycle Assessment to Reduce Health Risks and Environmental Impacts, Noyes Publications, 1994.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$48

Fava, J.A., B. Jones, R. Denison, M. A. Curran, B. Vigon, S. Selke (Editors), Technical Framework for Life-Cycle Assessment, SETAC Foundation for Environmental Education, Incorporation, 1991.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$35

Ciambrone, D.F., Environmental Life Cycle Analysis, Lewis Publishers, 1997.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$65

Johnson, G., Life Cycle Assessment, Pira Publishing 1997.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$90

Chapman, H. (Editor), Environmental Assessment of Products, Chapman & Hall, ????

dedicated to LCA

 

 

???

Wenzel, H.,  L. Alting,  M. Hauschild, Environmental Assessment of Products : Methodology, Tools and Case Studies in Product Development, Vol. 1, Chapman & Hall, 2000?

dedicated to LCA

 

 

$80 (edu. Price)

White, P., M. Fanke, P. Hindle, Integrated Solid Waste Management: A Life Cycle Inventory. Chapman & Hall, 1999.

dedicated to LCA

includes software to support inventory assessment

University of Pennsylvania

$180

Jensen, A.A., J. Elkington, K. Christiansen, L. Hoffmann, B.T. Møller, A. Schmidt, F. van Dijk, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) A guide to approaches, experiences and information sources. European Environment Agency, 1997.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

???

Weidema, B.P., Environmental Assessment of Products. A Textbook. 3rd Edition, UETP-EEE, 1997.

dedicated to LCA

 

 

 

Category: Industrial Ecology

 

 

 

 

Graedel, T.E., B.R. Allenby, Industrial Ecology. Prentice Hall, 1995.

the life cycle is an important theme

includes cases, exercises, and a solution manual

Dartmouth College; Oklahoma University; University of Virginia; Yale University; University of Wisconsin; James Madison University; Columbia University

$56

Graedel, T.E., B.R. Allenby, Industrial Ecology and the Automobile. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997.

the life cycle is an important theme

cases, exercises, and a solution manual

Oklahoma University; James Madison University

$37

Socolow, R., C. Andrews, F. Berkhout, V. Thomas, Editors, Industrial Ecology and Global Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

the life cycle is an important theme

cases, exercises, and a solution manual

Rutgers University

$40

CATEGORY: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

 

 

 

 

Russo, M. (Editor),