Background Information on Life Cycle Assessment

What is LCA?

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a decision making tool to identify environmental burdens and evaluate the environmental consequences of a product, process or service over its life cycle from cradle to grave (i.e. from extraction of resources through to the disposal of unwanted residuals).

For more information on the methods and frameworks for LCA click on the documents in the right hand column or the additional links below:

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Carnegie Mellon University’s Economic Input Output Life Cycle Assessment Tool - www.eiolca.net

Publications with example applications of the eiolca.net tool - http://gdi.ce.cmu.edu/gd/publicationsMainNew.htm

NREL’s LCI database - http://www.nrel.gov/lci/

ISO 14000’s LCA Standards - http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER
=37456&ICS1=13&ICS2=20&ICS3=60

EPA’s LCA website - http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/lcaccess/index.html

UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative - http://jp1.estis.net/sites/lcinit/default.asp?site=lcinit