As corporations seek to improve their environmental performance, they require new methods and tools. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is one such tool that can help companies to understand the environmental impacts associated with their products, processes, and activities. LCA is controversial and still evolving as a methodology. However, the principles behind LCA thinking are being adopted rapidly by manufacturers and service organizations like as a way of opening new perspectives and expanding the debate over environmentally sound products and processes. The goal of LCA is not to arrive at the answer but, rather, to provide important inputs to a broader strategic planning process.
Life cycle analysis takes a systems approach to evaluating the environmental consequences of a particular product, process, or activity from “cradle to grave.” By taking a “snapshot” of the entire life cycle of a product from extraction and processing of raw materials through final disposal, LCA is used to assess systematically the impact of each component process. Ideally, a complete LCA would include three separate but interrelated components: an inventory analysis, an impact analysis, and an improvement analysis.
The components are defined as follows:
• Life Cycle Inventory. An objective, data-based process of quantifying energy and raw materials requirements, air emissions, waterborne effluents, solid waste, and other environmental releases incurred throughout the life cycle of a product, process, or activity.
• Life Cycle Impact Assessment. An evaluative process of assessing the effects of the environmental findings identified in the inventory component. The impact assessment should address both ecological and human health impacts, as well as social, cultural, and economic impacts.
• Life Cycle Improvement Analysis. An analysis of opportunities to reduce or mitigate the environmental impact throughout the whole life cycle of a product, process, or activity. This analysis may include both quantitative and qualitative measures of improvement, such as changes in product design, raw material usage, industrial processes, consumer use, and waste management.
Inventory Analysis
An inventory may be conducted to aid in decisionmaking by enabling companies or organizations to:
• Develop a baseline for a system’s overall resource requirements for benchmarking efforts;
• Identify components of the process that are good targets for resource-reduction efforts;
• Aid in the development of new products or processes that will reduce resource requirements or emissions;
• Compare alternative materials, products, processes, or activities within the organization; or
• Compare internal inventory information to that of other manufacturers.
MANUFACTURE AND FABRICATION
Data collected for this subsystem includes all energy, material, or water inputs and environmental releases that occur during the manufacturing processes required to convert each raw material input into intermediate materials ready for fabrication. This process may be repeated for several streams of resources as well as several intermediate cycles before final fabrication of the product.
TRANSPORTATION/DISTRIBUTION
An inventory of the related transportation activities of the product to warehouses and end-users may be simplified by using standards for the average distance transported and the typical mode of transportation used.
CONSUMER USE/DISPOSAL
Data collected for this subsystem cover consumer activities including use.
• Time of product use before it is discarded
• Inputs used in the maintenance process
• The typical frequency of repair
• Potential product reuse options
Impact Assessment and Improvement Analysis
All life cycle analyses collect inventory data on raw material consumption, energy and water use, and waste production. However, a meaningful LCA should contain more than a mere inventory of inputs and outputs — it should also consider the overall contributions and risks to the environment and public health, as well as the social, cultural, and economic impacts of each option. In short, the products and processes being assessed should be seen in the context of the society they are intended to serve.
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