Week 12 - Materials
Completion requirements
3. LCA
3.5. Inventory units
Data from the inventory can be used to create a number of indices. Indices are calculated in order to be able to interpret the results of the inventory sensibly (see table below) Some areas of the inventory may be found to have no direct effect on the environment. For example, if a resource is used for which the supply is plentiful then only energy consumption for extraction and manufacture may create environmental effects. As the availability of this resource decreases then the cost of exploiting this resource increases (Konig et al.2010).
| Indice | Description | Unit |
|
Non-renewable primary energy consumption |
Use of finite biotic energy resources, e.g. natural gas, oil, lignite, coal and uranium | MJ |
|
Renewable primary energy consumption |
Energy from wind and water, geothermal, solar and biomass energy | MJ |
|
Water use |
Aggregate value of ground and surface water | kg |
|
Use of natural space |
Includes both surface transformation and land use | m2per year |
| Waste | Often subdivided into (1) excavated and stockpiled waste (mainly mineral wastes or soils) (2) domestic & commercial waste and (3) special waste (inc. hazardous materials) | Various |