Life-Cycle Assessment as a Decision-Making Tool

9 Life-Cycle Assessment as a Decision-Making Tool 

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is an additional assessment approach for making environmental decisions. LCA can be defined as an inventory of all the steps in the development, manufacture, use, and disposal of a product or a commodity with a determination of the environmental consequences (Todd and Curan 1999). The purpose of an LCA is to provide information to a decision maker so that choices can be made in the design of a manufacturing process to minimize environmental impacts or risks. 

In keeping track of the manufacturing process, the inputs and outputs comprise the inventory aspect of the LCA process. The inventory should include each aspect of the process, the amounts, and final disposition, and the eventual use and disposal of the manufactured material. 

The impact segment of the LCA process is an attempt to understand the potential effects that each segment will have upon the environment. The impacts should include not just toxicology, but physical alterations of habitat, water use, land use, and other factors. Factors that can be taken into account during the impact analysis can also include recycling compatibility, energy use, and product reuse. 

The LCA process begins with a phase similar to ecological risk assessment by defining the goals and scope of the assessment. The initial steps are (Todd and Curan 1999)  

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