Life-cycle interpretation

ISO, "Etivironmentai management—Lite cycle assessment—Life cycle interpretation ilSO/DlS 14043). 

Life Cycle Interpretation. The results obtained within the Life Cycle Inventory and/or the Life Cycle Impact Assessment are interpreted in the light of the Goal and Scope Definition (e.g., by means of sensitivity or uncertainty analyses) in order to draw conclusions and make recommendations. ... 

ISO 14043 2000 (2000) Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Life Cycle Interpretation. European Commitee for Standardisation, Brussels, Belgium. 

ISO (2000) ISO 14043 Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Life cycle interpretation. International Organisation for Standardisation, Geneva... 

ISO ISO 14043 Environmental Management Systems—Life Cycle Assessment—Life Cycle Interpretation ISO 14043 2000(E) International Organization for Standardization Geneva, March 1, 2000, 2000. 

ISO 14043 (2000) Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Life Cycle Interpretation. 1st ed. (International Organization for Standardization). 

ISO 14043 2000 Life cycle assessment - Life cycle interpretation... 

Life-Cycle Interpretation is the phase of life-cycle assessment in which the findings of either the inventory analysis or the impact assessment, or both, are combined in consistence with the defined goal and scope in order to reach conclusions and recommendations. 

The main objectives of life cycle interpretation are to analyze results, reach conclusions, state limitations, and provide recommendations. The essential aim is to gain as much insight as possible about the processes throughout the life cycle to identify opportunities to reduce impacts. The interpretation covers the process activity as defined with the goal and scope of the study and released to the intended audiences. 

Life cycle interpretation occurs at every stage in an LCA [3]. It serves to evaluate the study in order to derive reeommendations and conclusions. The last component of an LCA is to find the ways to improve or to redesign the production processes, or to reduce the costs and the materials used. Several relevant aspects, such as environmental, financial, convenience, and safety, are usrrally incorporated for irrrprovement assessment or irrterpretation. 

In the last step, results have to be summarized and discussed as a basis for conclusions and recommendations. Limitations are to be detected. Sensitivity analysis can be used as an appropriate tool for this purpose. Iteration between life cycle interpretation and the other LCA phases often occurs to refine results, further explore sensitivities, or clarify critical problems unveiled in the analysis. 

Life cycle interpretation is the final phase of the EGA procedure, in which the results of an LCI or an LCIA, or both, are summarised and discussed as a basis for conclusions, recommendations and decision-making in accordance with the goal and scope definition. When LCA results are used to support decisions, they help consider potential trade-offs and prevent the shifting of burdens across different impact categories or stages in the product life cycle. 

Element 4, the life cycle interpretation, is where conclusions are drawn from the life cycle inventory and impact assessment, and recommendations are made for system improvement. 

The life cycle interpretation is the final step of the LCA where conclusions are drawn from both the life cycle inventory analysis and the life cycle impact assessment or, in the case of life cycle inventory studies, from the inventory analysis only. As an outcome of the interpretation stage, recommendations can be formulated which, for example, may be directed to producers or policy makers. 

A LCA consists of four independent elements that is, (i) the definition of goal and scope, (ii) the life cycle inventory analysis, (iii) the LCIA, and (iv) the life cycle interpretation. The definition of the goal and scope (i) includes a decision about the functional unit that forms the basis of comparison, the product system to be studied, system boundaries, allocation procedures, assumptions made, and limitations. 

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