Page 24 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

8 1 Introduction

society which, to a great extent, relies on crude oil. To date, nothing has changed
concerning this aspect, on the contrary.
System analysis, well known only to specialists, had its breakthrough as a
commonly accepted method. The International Institute for Applied Systems
Analysis (IIASA) at Laxenburg, Vienna, was founded. In Germany, car-free Sundays
happened; an atmosphere of departure emerged, to date unimaginable, with a
plethora of ideas on how to develop alternative energy sources as well as on how
to use conventional forms of energy more efficiently. Some of them were realised,
but most of them were not (yet).

1.2.3
Energy Analysis

With this mainly energy-political background, it is not surprising that, from the
theoretical side, energy analysis or process chain analysis was developed first, which
today is an important integral part of the LCI 28) (see Chapter 3). In Germany, this
development was mainly promoted by Professor Sch¨ afer at the Technical University
Munich 29) and in industry before. 30) The (primary) energy demand summarised
through all stages of the life cycle is called cumulative energy demand (CED). 31) It
used to be an important part of the LCI in the time of the proto-LCAs and is still
used in LCAs.
By way of political solutions to the oil crisis in the 1980s, interest in LCA with
respect to its precursors declined but experienced an unexpected upswing at the
end of the decade.

1.2.4
The 1980s

Studies on LCA were sparse in the first half of the 1980s in the German language
area. Exceptions are the study of BUS, later Federal Agency for Environment,
Forestry and Agriculture, Bern, 32) which has already been named, a thesis by
33)
34)
Marina Franke at TU Berlin and the development of PLA by the ¨ Okoinstitut. PLA
surpasses LCA as it is based on a needs assessment (NA) analysing the usefulness
of a product and consumer behaviour. Here, the product-related environmental
analysis is complemented by the investigation of social aspect (SA) and economical
aspect (EA) of the product system:
PLA = NA + LCA + SA + EA

with LCA = inventory + environmental impact assessment.

28) Mauch and Sch¨ afer (1996).
29) Mauch and Sch¨ afer (1996) and Eyrer (1996).
30) Kindler and Nikles (1979, 1980).
31) VDI (1997).
32) BUS (1984).
33) Franke (1984).
34) Projektgruppe ¨ Okologische Wirtschaft (1987).