The environmental and human health impacts of engineering activities have reshaped the way engineers make decisions. Increasingly, engineering decision-making is taking into consideration the full life cycle implications of engineering activities. This paper details the development and application of a national economic input-output-based life cycle assessment model, a tool for guiding engineering decision-making, for the Canadian economy. The model consists of 61 industries and 103 commodities and incorporates economic and environmental-resource data, including marginal resource consumption, energy use, releases of National Pollutant Release Inventory compounds, and emissions of greenhouse gases. The model is useful for evaluating various development strategies and analyzing the potential di- rect and indirect impacts of alternative public policies on the Canadian economy and environment. The model is ap- plied to various sectors of the Canadian economy, and the life-cycle implications of demands for different commodities are determined, including demand for electricity and construction materials for highway design. Resume : Les impacts sur la sante environnementale et humaine des activites d'ingenierie influencent la maniere dont les ingenieurs prennent leurs decisions. De plus en plus, les prises de decision en ingenierie tiennent compte des implications des activites d'ingenierie durant tout leur cycle de vie. Le present article detaille le developpement et l'utilisation du mo- dele national d'evaluation du cycle de vie bases sur les gains et pertes economiques pour l'economie canadienne, un outil utilise pour guider la prise de decision en ingenierie. Le modele comporte 61 industries et 103 produits et incorpore des donnees sur l'economie, l'environnement ou les ressources, incluant la consommation de ressources accessoires, l'utilisation de l'energie, l'emission de composes se trouvant dans l'Inventaire national des rejets de polluants, et les emis- sions de gaz a effet de serre. Le modele est utile pour evaluer diverses strategies de developpement et analyser les im- pacts directs et indirects potentiels de politiques gouvernementales diverses sur l'economie et l'environnement au Canada. Nous appliquons le modele a divers secteurs de l'economie canadienne et nous determinons les implications du cycle de vie des demandes de differents produits, incluant la demande pour l'electricite et les materiaux de construction pour la conception des autoroutes. Mots cles : analyse-evaluation du cycle de vie, developpement durable, gains-pertes economiques.
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