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Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Analyzing the environmental
impacts generated over the
entire life cycle of a product
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LCA Value
Mapping a Product's Enviro-Impact
Across Its Whole Life-Cycle
By: Helen Lewis and John
Gertsakis, the authors of
Design + Environment
→
Extraction and processing of raw
materials
→
Manufacturing of the product
(and any associated packaging
and consumables)
→
Use or operation of product
→
End-of-life options (e.g.
re-use, re-manufacture,
recycling, treatment, and
disposal)
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Conducting a highly detailed,
quantitative LCA is an extremely
complex and time-consuming
process. Several industry groups
or national organizations have
sponsored broad studies of
products such as shoes,
detergents, or basic materials
like steel and cement. Due to
the level of resources required,
however, many companies choose
to either undertake qualitative
LCAs to prioritize issues or
they settle for approximate data
results that indicate the order
of magnitude of the problem.
An LCA begins with mapping the
life cycle of the product,
starting with the production of
raw materials and moving through
the various stages of production
(or manufacture), use, and
disposal. At each point, an
inventory is created that
identifies the environmental
impacts caused at that stage,
including both pollution
emissions and resource
depletion. Calculating the
impacts of operations under a
company's direct control (i.e.
typically manufacturing or
assembly of the product and
perhaps distribution) is
relatively straightforward.
However, accurately calculating
the environmental impacts at
other stages in the life cycle,
such as the manufacture of
inputs or the use of the
product, is not always possible.
Such calculations require access
to information about the
facilities or operations of
other organizations or of
individual consumers that may
not be available and can only be
estimated.
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Four Stages of the LCA
Methodology
By: Helen Lewis and John
Gertsakis, the authors of
Design + Environment
①
Definition of the goal and scope
②
Life-cycle inventory analysis
③
Life-cycle impact assessment
④
Life-cycle interpretation
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Computer-aided and AI-powered
Modeling
Life cycle assessment is usually
considered as the basic
principle for developing general
guidelines to evaluate how clean
is clean. Computer-aided LCA
modeling methodology powered by
artificial intelligence (AI)
categorizes and quantifies the
environmental attributes of a
certain product within its life
cycle into major impact groups,
such as hazardous wastes, green
energy, greenhouse-gas emission,
ozone depletion, and acid rain.
Parameters and indicators are
defined to represent the
different attributes. The LCA
methodology consists of
inventory analysis, impact
analysis and interpretation. It
is not straightforward and
requires a huge amount of data
for AI to process. It usually
needs professional service to
perform a good and reliable LCA
study.
Simplified Approach Approach to
LCA During the Product Design
Stage
Traditional life cycle
assessment (LCA) methodologies
are accurate and accepted ways
of analyzing environmental
burdens. However, a good LCA is
time-consuming, expensive, and
depends upon having clear and
reliable information about the
product. The new trend is
towards simplified LCAs instead
of undertaking complex and
detailed quantitative
evaluations.
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