Life Cycle Assessment

• Life cycle assessment


  An attempt to put a number on the environmental impact of a product
• Stages of a life cycle assessment

  1. Assess environmental impact of extracting and processing raw materials

  2. Assess environmental impact during product lifetime

  3. Assess environmental impact of product disposal
• Raw material extraction and processing

  • Requires large amounts of energy, often from burning fossil fuels
  • Can produce toxic waste products
• Product manufacturing


  • Requires energy
  • May release harmful waste products
• Product disposal


  • Requires energy to transport used products
  • Chemicals in products need careful disposal