Lifecycle assessment or analysis (LCA) is a performance metric for characterizing the resource use and material throughput for a particular commodity along all stages of the product life cycle form raw material extraction, through the manufacturing process, to the end-of-life of a product. LCA starts by defining the goals and scope of the system under investigation and defining the systems boundaries. Next, an inventory of material and energy flows is collected along the entire commodity chain. Finally, each of the inventories is assessed against specific environmental impact categories and indicators. Efforts can then be made to reduce impacts where the most impact can be achieved. LCA can be used to encourage product stewardship from cradle to cradle, utilizing material reuse and recycling. LCA can also be used to market your product against other similar products.
Our Lifecycle analysis services can help your organization identify potential for improvement of energy and greenhouse gas emission efficiency in all stages of operations.
Listen to a recent Commonwealth Club podcast on sustainability and the value chain
Take a look at a good example of an LCA done by Apple Computers here.
Here is an example of a comparison between a traditional and an LED lightbulb, from a lifecycle standpoint
