Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive approach for assessing products and industrial systems. LCA considers all stages involved in the life of a product ranging from raw mineral extraction to final disposal. LCA also considers factors such as energy use and pollution emissions resulting from the production process. The purpose of LCA is to allow for a complete assessment of the cumulative impacts from a product’s entire life cycle. The knowledge produced with LCA provides a more accurate picture of the trade-offs, particularly environmental, involved in the production of good. LCA is a well-developed technique that involves several specific steps including:

1. Goal Definition and scoping - This step identifies the context and sets the boundaries of analysis.
2. Inventory Analysis - This step makes an accounting of natural resource and energy use and waste and pollution production.
3. Impact Assessments - Impacts on people and environment are assessed in this step.
4. Interpretation - Outcome of previous steps is assessed to make a recommendation on the preferred option. This step should also include discussion of assumptions and uncertainty involved with the results.

LCA by itself does not identify production processes that are most cost effective or efficient. Economics methods can be used to make estimates of the value of assessed impacts, which can be used to make comparable judgments on the preferred option.