ERIC Number: EJ1001182
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jul
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Life Cycle Assessment Software for Product and Process Sustainability Analysis
Vervaeke, Marina
Journal of Chemical Education, v89 n7 p884-890 Jul 2012
In recent years, life cycle assessment (LCA), a methodology for assessment of environmental impacts of products and services, has become increasingly important. This methodology is applied by decision makers in industry and policy, product developers, environmental managers, and other non-LCA specialists working on environmental issues in a wide variety of sectors. Especially for chemical engineers and scientists, it is essential to have an understanding of the LCA-methodology when developing new products. Performing an LCA is time intensive and the choices and assumptions made during system modeling, especially with respect to the system boundaries, the processes to include, the used technology, and geography are often decisive for the result of an LCA study. The outcomes of an LCA have to be analyzed in a critical way, especially if they are used for business decisions and policy making. Different scenarios have to be studied. Two examples are presented where LCA-software (SimaPro5) is used. The first one is a simple analysis of a coffee machine to obtain information on the environmental impact of the processes. The second one investigates different scenarios for waste treatment of paper and cardboard. (Contains 7 figures.)
Descriptors: Sustainability, Evaluation Methods, Chemistry, Science Instruction, Environmental Education, Databases, Computer Software, College Science
Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A