What Is A Life Cycle Assessment, And Why Is It Important?
What Is A Life Cycle Assessment, And Why Is It Important?
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic approach to assessing the environmental impacts of products over their entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to production, use and disposal.
It considers the impact of resource use and emissions on air, water, and land and any potential health impacts on humans and other living creatures. Considering these factors helps us make more informed decisions on the products we purchase and how they should be used or disposed of.
The information gathered can then be used to develop efficient strategies that reduce energy use and pollution while maximizing economic benefits.
LCA plays an important role in helping us create sustainable communities by promoting responsible decision-making concerning product design, manufacture, distribution, and end-of-life management.
What Are The Benefits Of Life Cycle Assessment?
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) offers several advantages, such as quantifying carbon emissions and other environmental impacts, identifying opportunities to enhance environmental performance, assisting in environmental marketing efforts, and providing numerical data for environmental attributes.
What Are The Five Stages Of A Life Cycle Assessment?
The five stages of a product life cycle are: From Cradle To Grave. The first step on the journey is raw material extraction, where resources are extracted from their natural state to create new products.
Next comes manufacturing & processing, where those materials are transformed into something useful and usable. Transportation is next, with transportation being necessary to get your product from point A (where it was made) to point B (where it will be consumed).
Usage & retail follows that; this refers to how long your product will be used before it needs to be replaced or recycled. Finally, waste disposal means what happens when your product has reached its end of life and needs to be disposed of properly.
What Are The Two Main Types Of Life Cycle Assessments?
There are two main types of life cycle assessments: process-based LCA and economic-input output LCA (EIO-LCA). Process-based LCAs are centered on scientifically analyzing the actual process (i.e. mass/material balance, scientific characteristics).
EIO-LCAs use a combination of economic processes and input/output data to determine whether or not a certain product is more environmentally friendly than another one.
