Page 67 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

50 A. Moltesen and A. Bjørn

Fig. 5.2 (continued)

environmental burden of this consumption to a level that does not exceed carrying
capacities.
As outlined in the chapters above, and as will be further detailed in the
remaining parts of this book, LCA shows how a specific functionality can be
achieved in the most environmentally friendly way among a predefined list of
alternatives, or in which parts of the life cycle it is particularly important to improve
a product to reduce its environmental impacts, in other words, increase its
eco-efficiency. LCA can therefore be seen as a methodology that can guide deci-
sions towards improving one of the three dimensions in the IPAT equation, namely
the technology (“T”) dimension.