Week 12 - Materials

Life cycle analysis (LCA) is an environmental management tool increasingly used to understand and compare how a product or service is provided from "cradle to grave".  The technique examines every single stage of the life cycle from raw material acquisition, through manufacture, distribution, use, possible reuse/recycling and then final disposal.  In addition, every operation or unit process within a stage is included. For each operation within a stage, the inputs (raw materials, resources and energy and outputs (emissions to air and water and solid waste are calculated.  Theses inputs and outputs are then aggregated over the life cycle.  The environmental issues associated with these inputs are then evaluated in the Life Cycle Impact Assessment.  This provides a general overview of the product system and other assessment tools can then be combined with this information to evaluate the product or service over the entire life cycle. (Image courtesy of sustainability.ualberta.ca)