Life cycle assessment: past, present, and future.
Environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) has developed fast over the last three decades. Whereas LCA developed from merely energy analysis to a comprehensive environmental burden analysis in the 1970s, full-fledged life cycle impact assessment and life cycle costing models were introduced in the 1980s and 1990 s, and social-LCA and particularly consequential LCA gained ground in the first decade of the 21st century. Many of the more recent developments were initiated to broaden traditional environmental LCA to a more comprehensive Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis (LCSA). Recently, a framework for LCSA was suggested linking life cycle sustainability questions to knowledge needed for addressing them, identifying available knowledge and related models, knowledge gaps, and defining research programs to fill these gaps. LCA is evolving into LCSA, which is a transdisciplinary integration framework of models rather than a model in itself. LCSA works with a plethora of disciplinary models and guides selecting the proper ones, given a specific sustainability question. Structuring, selecting, and making the plethora of disciplinary models practically available in relation to different types of life cycle sustainability questions is the main challenge.
Life cycle sustainability assessment of products
Background Aims and ScopeSustainability was adopted by UNEP in Rio de Janeiro (1992) as the main political goal for the future development of humankind. It should also be the ultimate aim of product development. According to the well known interpretation of the original definition given in the Brundtland report, sustainability comprises three components: environment, economy and social aspects. These components or “pillars” of sustainability have to be properly assessed and balanced if a new product is to be designed or an existing one is to be improved.MethodsThe responsibility of the researchers involved in the assessment is to provide appropriate and reliable instruments. For the environmental part there is already an internationally standardized tool: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Life Cycle Costing (LCC) is the logical counterpart of LCA for the economic assessment. LCC surpasses the purely economic cost calculation by taking into account the use-and end-of-life phases and hidden costs. For this component, a guideline is being developed by SETAC as a basis for future standardization. It is a very important point that different life-cycle based methods (including Social Life Cycle Assessment ‘SLCA’) for sustainability assessment use consistent — ideally identical — system boundaries. This requirement includes that in LCC the physical life cycle (‘from cradle-to-grave’) is used instead of the frequently used marketing life cycle (‘from product development-to-end of market life’).Future DevelopmentsSLCA has been neglected in the past, but is now beginning to be developed. The central problems seem to be how to relate the social indicators (social impact assessment) to the functional unit of the product-system and how to restrict the many social indicators proposed to a manageable number. Meanwhile, qualitative and semi-quantitative approaches are used as substitutes for a full, quantitative SLCA. It is hoped that new methods will be developed and finally standardized by ISO. The combination of LCA, LCC and SLCA will provide the much needed tool for sustainability assessment of products.
information system management system cloud computing decision making information technology world wide web life cycle hidden markov model markov model wide web world wide empirical study sustainable development literature review factors affecting life cycle assessment developing country web server parallel algorithm factors influencing cycle assessment electronic commerce technology acceptance model environmental management protein structure user authentication empirical investigation technology acceptance amino acid independent set cloud computing service integrated model protein sequence protein data bank corporate governance nucleic acid set problem sustainability assessment technology adoption environmental management system mobile commerce environmental sustainability internet banking life cycle costing fast parallel maximum independent set mobile banking electronic busines independent set problem maximum independent maximal independent set business network perceived risk cloud computing adoption maximal independent internet web computing adoption workload characterization adoption model sustainability indicator fast parallel algorithm target prediction sustainability issue life cycle sustainability performance outcome top management support adoption of mobile innovation adoption corporate sustainability system adoption information technology adoption adoption decision influencing the adoption cycle sustainability tam model weighted independent set technology adoption model adoption rate sustainability reporting set packing amino acid substitution adoption behavior weighted independent commerce adoption consumer adoption adoption of internet generalized hidden markov sustainability practice banking adoption weighted set subset problem acid substitution e-business adoption product adoption perceived behavioral control natural capital mirna target prediction electronic commerce adoption mobile banking adoption adoption research toe framework ecological sustainability agricultural sustainability independent sequence internet web server technology adoption research review [publication type] united state