Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment

1. Introduction to Environmental Life Cycle Assessment
2. The Idea and Principles of LCA
3. LCA: Goal and Scope of the Study
4. Life Cycle Inventory – General Idea
5. Scope of an LCA
6. Identifying the Boundaries of Analysis
7. System Boundaries
8. Life Cycle Inventory
9. Life Cycle Inventory – General Idea
10. Life Cycle Inventory – Important Considerations
11. Life Cycle Inventory – Modeling the System and Results
12. Life Cycle Inventory – Modeling the System and Results
13. Impact Assessment
14. Life Cycle Impact Assessment
15. Life Cycle Impact Assessment: Environmental impacts
16. Life Cycle Impact Assessment: Basis: The Inventory Table
17. Characterization of Environmental Impacts
18. Calculating Environmental Impacts
19. Environmental Concerns over the Life Cycle
20. Interpretation of the Results
21. Interpretation - Objectives
22. Interpretation - Elements
23. Summary of Life Cycle Assessment

This simplified arbitrary process route releases emissions to the environment. These emissions have been identified within the Life Cycle Inventory step. The assessment of their effects on the environment requires to:

1. Sum the masses of the emissions of the same substance (e.g. Process A releases 0.03 kg CO₂, process B releases 0.2 kg CO₂: the route releases 0.23 kg CO₂) and classify them by their contribution to impact categories (e.g. GWP, AP).
2. Multiply them with their characterization factors for the respective impacts categories. Note that one emission may have several characterization factors for different impact categories (e.g. NO_x for AP and EP: see graphic on previous page).
3. Calculate the Indicator result for the impact categories by summing the single contributions.
   

References

• Eyerer, P,  Ganzheitliche Bilanzierung, Springer-Verlag, 354059356X 
• Rubin, ES,  Introduction to Engineering and the Environment, McGraw-Hill, 0072354674 
• ISO 14040-Series,  Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment, ISO,  
• Meadows, DL,  Die Grenzen des Wachstums, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 3421026335 
• Enquete-Kommission "Schutz des Menschen und der Umwelt" des Deutschen Bundestages (Hrsg.),  Verantwortung für die Zukunft : Wege zum nachhaltigen Umgang mit Stoff- und Materialströmen, Economica-Verlag GmbH, 3870815035