Page 93 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

88 4. Life cycle sustainability assessment: An ongoing journey

FIG. 4.18 Outline of the integration of an agent-based model into LCA framework for the case study of LCSA of
buildings. In particular: (A) depicts two general LCI approaches towards data; (B) compares the static modeling with
the agent-based modeling (ABM), demonstrating the temporal, spatial, and behavioral dynamics (Wu et al., 2017).
(A) Left part of the subfigure is adapted from ISO 21931-1:2010 Fig. B.2 (ISO 2010, 19).

On the other hand, in order to promote a wider application of the LCSA framework and,
consequently, a broader diffusion of sustainability-related considerations in the design of
products and processes, a set of simplified tools would certainly be required. A set of tools
possibly fitting with this call could include indicators and scenario analysis. As highlighted
by Bell and Morse (2018), the use of indicators and indices, which is typically aimed at sim-
plifying systems and conveying complex information to the public, could be curbed to this
scope, but it would require a detailed analysis of the specificity of sectors and applications
of LCSA and it would probably not respond to “one size fits for all.” The same approach could
be applied through scenario analysis, where processes are simplified and alternative