Introduction to Life Cycle Assessments: A Primer for Business Owners

INTRODUCTION TO LIFE CYCLE
ASSESSMENTS:
A PRIMER FOR BUSINESS OWNERS

SSC White Paper

Introduction to Life Cycle Assessments:
A Primer for Business Owners

Before you can begin to efficiently and
effectively green your business, it is
essential to conduct an LCA. The LCA
will clarify your company’s current
impacts and set out steps to prioritize
your next initiatives and what goals
will make the biggest difference. Many
businesses are now using the LCA to
keep up with the green market and
this white paper lays out the LCA
process in detail to aid you in both
conducting and deciphering an LCA.
This paper will help you identify an
appropriate strategy while illustrating
the different approaches you have
available to choose from.

www.sustainabilityconsulting.com
Copyright © 2012, Strategic Sustainability Consulting. All rights reserved.


This presentation provides a summary of the white paper Introduction
to Life Cycle Assessments: A Primer for Business Owners, which
provides information on the LCA process to aid you in both
conducting and deciphering an LCA. This paper will help you identify
an appropriate strategy while illustrating the different approaches you
have available to choose from.



The white paper provides information on:
 Defining a Life Cycle Assessment
 Why the LCA is Important
 Who is Utilizing the LCA
 The Process: Four Phases Explained
 The Full Service Approach
 The Self-Assessment Approach
 Questions to Ask Yourself Moving
Forward

Download this complimentary white
paper to learn more!


Defining the LCA

 A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
is a tool that allows companies
to evaluate the level of
environmental impact
produced by their services or
products.
 The LCA looks at the entire life
cycle of the product, including
the sourcing of raw
materials, manufacturing, distri
bution, transportation, and
end-of-life disposal.


Defining the LCA

Many companies use an LCA to
develop a sustainability strategy
that improves operational
performance, and as a commercial
and promotional tool.


The Importance of the LCA

An LCA can help a company identify areas for improvement in both
performance and efficiency, and thus help reduce costs. Additionally, this
assessment can help provide substantive support for marketing claims made
by a company and thus help improve corporate image.
By performing an LCA, a company also gains a set of metrics by which it can
compare year-to-year performance as well as the performance of suppliers
and partners.


The Importance of the LCA

To learn more, download the complimentary white paper in it’s entirety by
visiting the SSC website today:

Introduction to Life Cycle Assessments in Business Contexts


Who is Using the LCA?

Companies across a myriad of Apple used an LCA to
industries are engaging in LCAs determine the origin of its
and integrating the results into greenhouse gas emissions.
Regarding
their business operations. manufacturing, Apple
Some of the largest and most developed
smaller, thinner, and lighter
influential companies have products, necessitating
taken proactive steps to lessen fewer materials and
their environmental impact subsequently fewer carbon
through LCAs. emissions.


The Process

Phase I Phase II
• Defines the purpose, goal, and boundaries • Collects data and performs inventory
of the assessment analysis
• Lays out the parameters of the study and • A labor-intensive data collection of
indicates to whom the assessment will be quantitative and qualitative data for every
delivered unit process system related to the product
• The goal and scope define exactly what is • In most cases, this stage of the LCA will
being studied, which functional areas are include a flow model of the activities being
being analyzed, and which precise inputs assessed and will accurately depict the
and outputs are related to the product or inputs and outputs addressed in Phase I
service. • The results of Phase II take the form of a Life
• Phase I also lays out the environmental Cycle Inventory, from which some initial
impact categories to be included as well as interpretations can be made.
the limitations and assumptions of the
study.


The Process

Phase III Phase IV
• Evaluate environmental effects including the
classification of results • Interpret results and identify key issues
• Designed to evaluate the significance of the • Results of the three previous stages are
results of the environmental impacts verified, quantified, analyzed, and evaluated
discovered in Phase II • Includes a final summary that outlines the
• Selects environmental impact categories to significant issues identified in the
demonstrate how each category affects the process, limitation inherent to the study, a
environment, as well as which human set of conclusions, and recommendations
activities contribute to each category
• Sorts the inventory into the environmental
impact categories
• Characterizes the inflows and outflows into
a common metric unit that can then be
summed into an overall total impact number


Different Approaches

The next step is to decide how to approach performing an LCA.
There are two main methods for engaging in an LCA: using a
full-service tool that requires either training or hiring a third-
party firm to perform the assessment, or purchasing do-it-
yourself software and performing the assessment yourself.



Full Service Approaches
SimaPro:
GaBi:
This tool allows companies to
The GaBi assessment tool supports a
perform an LCA on products with
large amount of data and provides
complex life cycles. The tool is able
companies with solutions related to
to set parameters, return interactive
process optimization, cost
results, and provide access to a large
control, environmental criteria, and
database. Some main benefits of the
external representation of results.
SimaPro tool include an intuitive and
The tool allows for the use of
easy to learn interface, the ability to
parameters in the calculations as well
immediately compare two or more
as the ability to create various
products, the capability to
diagrams from flexible inputs and
parameterize your model, and a
outputs.
sophisticated impact assessment.



Self-Assessment: Industry Specific
The Global Emission Model for Integrated
BEES 4.0 is software aimed at Systems is a life cycle analysis program
designers, builders, and product and database for energy, material, and
manufacturers as a way to balance the transport systems. The database offers
environmental and economic performance information on fossil
of building products. fuels, renewables, processes for electricity
and heat, raw materials, and transports .

The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated IDEMAT is a tool for material selections in
Emissions, and Energy use in the design process. It provides a database
Transportation (GREET) model allows with technical information about
researchers to evaluate various engine and materials, processes, and
fuel combinations on a consistent fuel- components, and allows users to compare
cycle basis. information .



Self-Assessment: Cross Industry
ECO-it 1.4 software comes with over 500
Sustainable Minds is limited to one
ReCiPe environmental impact and carbon
approach, in which all the environmental
footprint (CO2) scores for commonly used
impacts are rolled into a single number or
materials such as
indicator. This simplifies the results and
metals, plastics, paper, board, and
provides clear information to act
glass, as well as for
upon, which is very useful for LCA
production, transport, energy, and waste
beginners.
treatment processes.

TEAM™ is a professional tool for
WISARD™ is an LCA software tool designed evaluating the life cycle environmental and
to help inform decision making and cost profiles of products and technologies.
evaluate policy options concerning the It contains a comprehensive database of
disposal of household waste. over 600 modules with worldwide
coverage.


The Bottom Line

• What do I want to accomplish?
• How detailed of an analysis do I
After understanding the need?
LCA process and various • How strict are the levels of
compliance in my particular
approaches, simply industry?
• Do I need a product that emphasizes
answer a few reflective optimization and cost reduction?
questions and you will be • Do I want a product that assists in
the design process?
well on your way to a • How flexible do I want to be in my
assessment output?
greener future! • Will I require a product that will help
in the marketing or communications
aspects of my company?


Download the complimentary white paper in it’s
entirety by visiting the SSC website today:
Introduction to Life Cycle Assessments in Business
Contexts

What are your thoughts? Join the
conversation on twitter @jenniferwoofter!

Introduction to Life Cycle Assessments: A Primer for Business Owners

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Introduction to Life Cycle Assessments: A Primer for Business Owners