Page 154 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

Chapter 11

Accelerating life cycle assessment uptake: life cycle
management and ‘quick’ LCA tools

Ralph E Horne and Karli L Verghese

11.1 Introduction
Although the traditional life cycle assessment (LCA) study provides detailed assessment of the
system under study, typical limitations include long lead times in data collection and analysis.
There is then the question of how to translate the outcomes from a technical LCA report into
decisions and changes in business systems. Easier and quicker ways of doing such assessments
and producing ‘decision-ready’ LCA outputs may therefore accelerate LCA uptake under
certain circumstances. In turn, these may provide a ‘way in’ to enable life cycle thinking and
LCA results to be embedded within commercial systems. Life cycle management (LCM)
systems and ‘quick’ LCA tools are examples of potential ‘acceleration’ aids. Of course, the
effectiveness of these tools will be determined by the accuracy needs and possibilities, and the
particular decisions to be supported. They are likely to be designed for specific industry sectors
to enable relevant support needs to be met. The ultimate usefulness of these tools will be deter-
mined by a set of requirements including accuracy, functionality, reliability, validity and use-
ability (Verghese et al. 2009).
In this chapter, LCM and ‘quick’ LCA tools are examined as candidates for aiding the accel-
eration of LCA uptake, primarily in commercial settings. This examination includes a review
of the needs and roles of key stakeholder groups in affecting LCA uptake, and from this, a set
of design requirements for ‘quick’ LCA tools. Two case studies of such tools are developed to
illustrate both their form and the importance of context and stakeholders in tool development
(see Sections 11.4.1.and 11.4.2).

11.2 Life cycle management overview
While the focus of LCA over the past four decades has predominately been refining methodol-
ogy, data collection and data quality, there has been increasing interest more recently in LCM
and its ‘broader approach and focus on the application of and education on LCA and life cycle
thinking’ (Heinrich and Klopffer 2002, p. 315). According to the International Life Cycle Ini-
tiative, LCM:
is not a single tool or methodology but a management system collecting,
structuring and disseminating product-related information from various
programs, concepts and tools (Remmen et al. 2007, p. 5).

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