Simplifying LCA Using Indicator Approaches - A Framework -

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a preferred technique for assessing the environmental impact of products considering all environmental aspects over the full product life cycle. However, a number of drawbacks limit a continual and pro-active application of LCA in the design process. Indicators have been proposed as an alternative approach to LCA. This paper provides a brief survey of indicator approaches, and distinguishes three major categories: environmental indicators, environmental impact drivers, and environmental estimators. The environmental indicator approach reduces the extensive data gathering efforts connected to tracing all life cycle processes and their related elementary flows by making use of average data for common sections of a product life cycle. Environmental impact drivers can be defined as technical product attributes for which a strong relationship with the product's environmental performance is presumed or proven. The environmental estimator approach uses these readily available environmental impact drivers, which are subsequently mutually weighted and summed in order to estimate an environmental performance indicator. Finally, a framework is presented in which the indicator approaches are considered the core of a Product Oriented Environmental Management System (POEMS). This framework is illustrated with the example of a green design and supply chain management system for railway vehicles.