Page 24 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

6 M.Z. Hauschild et al.

systems, buildings, food and waste management. Eleven chapters present, within
each their technological area, the main types of findings from published LCA
studies, identifying methodological considerations that are particularly relevant and
highlighting potential pitfalls when performing or using LCA studies within that
area.
The fourth part consists of a Cookbook which takes you through all the phases
of the LCA once more, but this time with concrete actions to undertake when
performing an LCA. The ambition with the cookbook is to provide you with the
recipes for performing an LCA. Where Part II answers the numerous ‘why’
questions, the Cookbook answers the ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions. It is intended to
guide you through the many steps, activities and decisions that are needed to
perform an LCA. The Cookbook follows the main structure of the ISO 14044
standard and gives detailed instructions on all the central activities, based on se-
lection of those provisions and actions in the ILCD Handbook that are generally
needed in order to perform an LCA.
The fifth part of the book is an appendix collection with supporting material for
use in LCA teaching like a reporting template offering the student a recommended
structure for an LCA report, an example of a complete LCA report on a case study
based on student results from an LCA course, and an overview and comparison of
existing life cycle impact assessment methods to compliment the methodology
chapter on this phase of the LCA.

1.3 How to Use This Book?

As you will see, you may use this book as a textbook, focusing on the description of
the theory in Part II. All the basic elements of the methodology are presented in
chapters with clearly defined learning objectives. An exemplary LCA case study
weaves through the methodology chapters and is used, where relevant, to give
practical examples of the presented methodological elements. The case study is
compiled at the end in a full LCA report in Part V of the book, illustrating the use of
the reporting template and serving as an example for students of how a good student
LCA report may look. You can select chapters from Part III of the book on the LCA
applications that are relevant in your didactic context, and you can use the
Cookbook in Part IV and the reporting template and example LCA report in Part V
for support to perform a real LCA if this is part of your learning. Each chapter of the
book was written in a way that allows it to also function as stand-alone material for
studying the respective aspects that it presents. The chapters can thus also be read
on their own in order to deepen your knowledge on their specific topics.
Once you have taken the learning from the book, you can use the Cookbook as a
manual on how to perform an LCA. The cookbook is based on the ILCD
guideline and it is thus not a universally endorsed LCA method—in fact, such a
method does not exist beyond the ISO standards. We have, however, found that this
guideline is useful as a reference because of its very detailed prescriptions. In cases