Life cycle assessment measurement

All useful methods attempt to capture and describe all of the impacts during the entire life of the product or service from cradle to grave . This is the basis of the cluster of measurement tools known collectively as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). 

In Muthu s recent book by Woodhead publications (Muthu, 2014), he comprehensively reviews the methods used to calculate environmental impact of textile and clothing supply chain, including product carbon footprints, ecological footprints, and life cycle assessment. The book presents information about the textile supply chain, its environmental impact, and an overview of the methods (greenhouse gas emissions, the water and energy footprints of the industry, and depletion of resources, as weU as the use of LCA) used to measure the overall environmental impact of the textile industry. 

Weisbrod, Anne, V., Gert, Van Hoof, 2012. LCA-measured environmental improvements in Pampers diapers. The International Jounal of Life Cycle Assessment 17 (2), 145—153. 

The economy developed a wide range of instruments to measure the economic success or failure of enterprises. Similar tools are requested to quantify the ecological impacts associated with manufactured and consumed products. One of the techniques being developed for this purpose is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) a mean of environmental management systems. Since 1997 the International Standard ISO 14040 has described principles and set firameworics for conducting and reporting LCA studies. 

Life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) Systematic process for evaluating the life cycle cost of a product or service by identifying environmental consequences and assigning measures of monetary value to those craisequences (Warren and Weitz 1994 Bennett and James 1997). LCCA is a term that highlights the costing aspect of life cycle assessment (LCA) (Spitzer et al. 1993) Adding cost information to LCA... 

The authors highlighted the importance of metrics in the subject of green chemistry by pointing out that (a) a set of metrics should be developed to address all 12 green chemistry principles, (b) such a set of metrics should be easy to apply, (c) the metrics should measure progress as well as point chemists in the green direction, (d) the metrics should inform and provide momentum for both chemists and corporate managers, and (e) sustainability metrics are valuable since they focus on life cycle assessment and are thus better able to capture a broad evaluation of sustainability. 

The Swedish National Testing and Research Institute has developed a total life-cycle assessment (LCA) model directed at determining the cost of measures taken to attain a high level of fire safety. The first full application of that method was for TV sets that were V-0 or HB rated. The LCA concluded that the loading on the environment was less for the TV containing the brominated FR than for the TV set without FR. The main reason for this is the greater number of fires and the resultant environmental emissions associated with the TVs made from HB material. 

LCSA extends the environmental boundaries of traditional LCA in an attempt to incorporate the concept of sustainable development. It is defined as a method of addressing environmental, economic, and social sustainabiHty of a product system over its life cycle, indicated through the measurement of either positive or negative impacts [3]. LCA has been implemented through an integration of E-LCA, hfe cycle costing (LCC), and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) [3]. Brief definitions of E-LCA, LCC, and S-LCA are described in Table 14.1. 

Environmental or ecological footprints provide a measure of demand on the earth s resources and originally referred to human demand. Carbon footprinting is a similar measure but only in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced. These tools are intended to provide a measure of environmental impact. In essence, footprinting is a subset of life cycle assessment (LCA) that can be applied to human activities, processes, and products such as biopolymers. 

To determine the environmental impacts of a product or a process, a life cycle assessment is often conducted. Life cycle assessment provides a comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the environmental impacts of a product or process throughout its entire life cycle. LCA is a powerful and widely used tool for measuring the sustainability of an enterprise or a concept and informing decisions with respect to sustainability and environmental considerations. Guidelines for conducting an LCA are defined by the ISO 14040 series [ 1 ]. There are four main stages to an LCA ... 

LCA is a usefiil tool for measuring environmental sustainability and identifying environmental performance-improvement objectives [5]. Enviromnental sustainability is about making products that serve usefiil market and societal functions with less environmental impact than cmrently available alternatives. Moreover, environmental sustainabihty necessarily implies a commitment to continuous improvement in environmental performance. The key measurement tool for environmental sustain ility is life cycle assessment. 

The potential of compostable polymers materials depends on a further reduction in price, development of the cost of fossil resources, process optimization and scaling up supported by full life cycle assessment analysis, legislative measures, and development of composting infrastructures and the environmental awareness of consumers. 

As biopolymers capture a larger market share, the measurement of their life cycle environmental impacts will be important to enable consumers and producers to identify more sustainable methods of use, production and disposal for such products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool that quantifies the environmental sustainability of biobased polymers from cradle to grave. ... 

The key measurement tool to assess the enviromnental sustainability of a product is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Life cycle inventory analysis accounts for all inputs and outputs for a particular product and is typically practiced on a cradle-to-grave basis. A key benefit of LCA is the opportunity to benchmark performance against competitor products and processes in the marketplace, both to justify performance claims and to identify operations appropriate for performance improvement efforts. 

There are three parts to the index - there s a brand module, a facilities module and a products module. Each of these modules effeets product sustainability. Overall we re hoping to get a snapshot of the entire life cycle of a product and its impact-it is not a life cycle assessment in itself, but it does try to touch on and measure and evaluate the potential impact of every stage of the life cycle. 

Q.l.l Sustainability is only defined for environmental effects T or F Q.1.2 Life cycle assessment can be used to measure sustainability T or F Q.1.3 Sustainable products are produced with lower carbon footprint only TorF ... 

P.1.5 Life cycle assessments can be used to measure which of the following ... 

---