Life Cycle Impact Assessment LCIA

The quantitative assessment of impacts making use of natural science based indicators along a cause-effect chain is the so-called concept of category indicators, on which LCIA according to the ISO Standards is based. It implies three manda- 

After finishing characterization, all results from LCI as well as LCIA shall be compiled and presented comprehensively before proceeding by further steps. 

Three optional elements of LCIA are offered within the standards which may follow the mandatory ones normalization, grouping, and weighting. They aim to support the evaluation of the importance of each category. 

Characterization model Baseline model of 100 years of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

Characterization factor Global warming potential (GWPlOO) for each GHG (kg C02-equivalents per kg gas) 

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The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is used to assess the results of the LCA and evaluate the impact on the environment in the various impact categories. These impact categories include, for example, human health, GWP, energy, water use, eutrophication, ozone depletion, aquatic toxicity, and land use (ISO, 2006b). LCA may focus on one or more impact categories. The results may be normalized, weighted, and aggregated in optional steps of the LCIA for comparison to political objectives, for example. In addition, sensitivity analyses are often conducted over the entire LCA to evaluate the variation in the results due to selected factors. 

Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool to assess impacts of cradle-to-grave chains of products/services. In the Riskcycle framework, the focus is on additives. Additives are usually minor constituents of products, but depending on their specific properties they can be important in the total scope of impacts of such products. In the LCA literature, additives are hardly visible. Most case studies of products containing additives do not mention them. The reasons for this are unclear, but are at least partly due to the fact that information on additives is not included in standard LCA databases. This is true for both life cycle inventory (LCI) and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) databases. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude whether or not additives indeed are important contributors to environmental impacts over the life cycle. 

The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) may be restricted to one or a few impact categories, where additives do not contribute much. 

Apart from the risk assessment models, there exist models for assessing impacts to human health and the environment in LCA. Both tools [risk assessment and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA)] have different purposes and aims that are summarized in Table 1 [7]. 

The aim of the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is to facilitate the interpretation of the results of the inventory analysis. The result of the inventory analysis is an emission profile for each alternative system. In this study the emission profile is the total of all emissions to air, water and soil from the grave-to-cradle chain for the use of cushion vinyl floor covering, including the up chain processes, like electricity production and the down chain processes, like the incineration and landfill of the waste. Such an emission profile may consist of hundreds of emissions and extractions. In LCA impact assessment the total of interventions (emissions, extractions) of a process chain is evaluated in terms of environmental problems (impact categories). 

The resirlts of life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) provide relative indicators of environmental impact. Eight categories for LCIA ate defined in Table 6. Details regarding how to use life cycle impact assessment categories are provided in Bamthouse et al. (1998) and Graedel and AUenby (1995). 

A wide range of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodologies has been developed, based on midpoint and/or endpoint indicators (ILCD Handbook, 2010) ... 

Life-Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is the phase of life-cycle assessment aimed at understanding and evaluating the magnitude and significance of the potential enviromnental impacts of a product system. 

Impact Analysis. Characterizes and assesses the environmental effects using the data obtained from the inventory. It is often called the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) stage. 

In the third phase of an LCA, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), the inventory data are allocated to possible environmental impacts. Thereby, different... 

The LCA study of ethanol focused on the evaluation of (GHG) emissions. Meanwhile, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) studied the impacts (eg, global warming potential, ozone depletion, acidification potential) resulting from the LCI study. Finally, depending on the results obtained in the LCI and/or LCIA, many suggestions and recommendations can be offered. GHG emissions of biofuels are expressed per MJ of unit output. 

The objective of Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) is to further process and interpret the results of LCI in terms of their potential impact on the environment and the society. LCIA consists of three mandatory stages ... 

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