C14.5 Life cycle assessments

Question 1

What is the purpose of the Life Cycle Assessment?

Answer 1

➢ Used to assess the impact on the environment

Question 2

How can impacts on the environments be caused by?

Answer 2

➢ Getting and processing the raw materials
➢ Making the product
➢ Maintaining the product
➢ Disposing of a product at the end of its useful life

Question 3

How is an LCA carried out?

Answer 3

➢ Listing all the energy and material inputs and all the outputs into the environment
➢ Evaluating the potential environmental impacts from these inputs and outputs
➢ Interpreting the results to help make decisions about using one material

Question 4

What does an LCA provide?

Answer 4

➢ Starts with the process of gathering raw materials needed to make the products
➢ Ends of when the materials are returned to the environment
➢ Provides an estimate of the total environmental impact resulting from all stages in the products life cycle

Question 5

What does the outputs involve?

Answer 5

➢ Atmospheric emissions
➢ Waterborne wastes
➢ Solid wastes
➢ Energy dissipation to the surroundings

Question 6

How can the stages in an LCA be summed as?

Answer 6

➢ Raw material extraction
➢ Manufacture
➢ Use/Reuse/Maintenance
➢ Recycle/Waste management

Question 7

What will LCAs highlight?

Answer 7

➢ Environmental and health impacts when comparing products and processes
➢ Do not take into account differences in the cost or performance

Question 8

What are the disadvantages of using LCAs?

Answer 8

➢ Assigning numerical values to the relative effects of pollutants involves subjective judgments, so LCAs using this approach must make this uncertainty clear