Page 34 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

2

An Overview of the Life Cycle Assessment

Method - Past, Present, and Future

Reinout Heijungs and Jeroen B. Guinee
Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University,
Leiden, The Netherlands

Abstract
This chapter gives an overview of the mainstream method behind Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA). It does so on the basis of the generally accepted principles, canon-
ized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The first part of the
chapter is an overview devoted to the method itself and the current state of the prac-
tice. The second part provides a sketch of the historical development that led toward
the method. The chapter concludes with a description of present developments that
are influencing the evolving method.

Keywords: Life cycle assessment, method, ISO, life cycle inventory, life cycle impact
assessment

2.1 The Present-Day LCA Method

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) refers to the process of compiling and evaluat-
ing the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product
system throughout its life cycle [1]. But LCA also refers to the result of this pro-
cess. In this chapter, we will focus on the process, i.e. the method that is used
to obtain an "LCA result/ 7
LCA has come a long way, and it continues to change. Since a decade
or so ago, there has been a broadly accepted set of principles that can be
claimed as the present-day LCA framework. This section reviews this LCA
framework, without going into depth, and without going into the newer
developments.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has issued a series
of standards and technical reports for LCA, referred to as the 14040 series. This
series consists of the documents listed in Table 2.1.

Mary Ann Curran (ed.) Life Cycle Assessment Handbook: A Guide for Environmentally
Sustainable Products, (15-42) © 2012 Scrivener Publishing LLC
15