SUSTAINABILITY
EU-funded projects with the aim of fostering industrial change through research and innovation .
Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ) and the Product Carbon Footprint ( PCF ) are the basis of these methodologies . They are not only used independently by companies and organisations , but also play an important role in the above-mentioned and future methods , approaches and legislation in the field of sustainability .
LCA methodology
The LCA methodology started back in the 1960s and 1970s , motivated by a desire to determine the environmental differences between different products . These studies , which now could be understood as ‘ partial ’ LCA , were focused mainly on energy but gradually introduced resource requirements , emissions to the environment and waste generation .
During the 1980s , the methodology became more widely used , reaching the first impact assessment methods , with a clear lack of standardisation , scientific consensus and theoretical framework . Despite that , different companies started to adopt it to support their market claims . In the 1990s , their use expanded further via workshops and forums , which led to an increasing number of guides and handbooks released .
The Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry played an important role in the development and harmonisation of methods , while the International Organisation for Standardisation ( ISO ) worked on their standardisation . Different calculation methods were developed , resulting in the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards .
During the period 2005-2010 the demand for LCA further increased , and new approaches started to grow . These included dynamic LCA , consequential LCA , and the implementation of economic units ( Life Cycle Costing ( LCC )), and social impacts ( Social Life Cycle assessment ( SLCA )), among others .
How LCA is used
The general LCA methodology has four steps ( Figure 2 ): goal and scope definition ; life cycle inventory ( LCI ); life cycle impact assessment ( LCIA ); and , results and conclusions . In the first step , the basis of the study is set and the intended use , objectives , calculation basis and limits determined . LCI is an intensive compilation of data of the system , taking into account all the inputs and outputs of the system built in the goal and scope chapter .
LCIA assesses the information from LCI against the environmental data from those items listed in that step . As a result , a battery of quantitative environmental potential impacts is obtained , based on the goal and scope considerations . Finally , the results and conclusion chapter makes it possible to analyse the numerical
Figure 2 - Stages of LCA methodology results obtained and extract the main findings from them .
LCA can be applied in two main ways . It can be used as informative and decision-maker manner , to determine the environmental insights of a product , technology or service . This scheme enables users to find the steps or components with highest significance ; this is called ‘ hotspot analysis ’.
Alternatively , the methodology can be used in a comparative scheme to benchmark different products or technologies : the so-called ‘ comparative assessment ’. This approach can help determine the strengths or weak points between different options . Comparative assessment can also be applied to different scenarios , shining light about environmental performance when the system is modified .
In this regard , LCA is a powerful tool when it comes to the assessment of environmental performance . Additionally , it can give added value to the companies that use it , mainly through hotspot analysis to identify the main impacts .
This may lead to energy or resource consumption that , when optimised , can result in an enhanced efficiency of the processes and facilitate cost savings . In addition , calculating and communicating the environmental performance of the products can offer big added value to the company by helping to differentiate from their competitors .
Other applications
The LCA methodology is also the base for other methodologies that are starting to be highly appreciated on the market . One is Environmental Product Declaration ( EPD ), a type III eco-label that focuses on delivering trustful studies through guidelines and representative approaches for specific productive sectors . The key factors here are the considerations , life cycle stages and impact categories to work with in order to standardise the assessments and deliver transparent claims .
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