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 + "  
"/ A life cycle assessment (LCA, also
2, " 2 E, 
8 " ,8 known as life cycle


 ,  ,  " 
 + analysis, ecobalance, and cradle-to-



 "(%%"
" grave analysis) is a technique to assess
 each and every impact associated with
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 and maintenance, and disposal or
2",, " ", " " recycling). LCA¶s can help avoid a
Ê-,- E narrow outlook on environmental,
  " ,-  
 
 
" social and economic concerns.
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V
2
  well as depletion of minerals and fossil
fuels.
The goal of LCA i to compare the full
range of environmental and social The procedures of life cycle
damages assignable to products and assessment (LCA) are part of the ISO
services, to be able to choose the least 14000 environmental management
burdensome one. At present it is a way standards: in ISO 14040:2006 and
to account for the effects of the 14044:2006.
cascade of technologies responsible for
goods and services. It is limited to that,
though, because the similar cascade of




impacts from the commerce
responsible for goods and services is Illustration of LCA phases. These are
unaccountable because what people do often interdependent in that the results
with money is unrecorded. As a of one phase will inform how other
consequence LCA succeeds in phases are completed
accurately measuring the impacts of
the technology used for delivering
products, but not the whole impact of
making the economic choice of using
it.

The term 'life cycle' refers to the notion

that a fair, holistic assessment requires
the assessment of raw
material production, manufacture,
distribution, use and disposal including
all intervening transportation steps
necessary or caused by the product's
existence. The sum of all those steps ±
or phases ± is the life cycle of the
product. The concept also can be used
to optimize the environmental
performance of a single product According to the ISO 14040[4] and
(ecodesign) or to optimize the 14044[5] standards, a Life Cycle
environmental performance of a Assessment is carried out in four
company. distinct phases.

Common categories of assessed 

damages are global
warming (greenhouse gases),

V
acidification
(soil and ocean), smog, ozone layer In order to make efficient use of time
depletion,eutrophication, eco- and resources and outline how the
toxicological and human- study will be conducted and what final
toxicological pollutants, habitat results will be obtained, the following
destruction, desertification, land use as six decisions must be made at the
beginning of the LCA process:
x


  x
    CO2 ) and technical (e.g., intermediate
chemicals) quantities for all relevant
x



 
 

 


 unit processes within the study


  

 
   


 boundaries that compose the product

 system. Examples of inputs and
outputs quantities include inputs of
x
 


   
 




materials, energy, chemicals and 'other'
x
 


       
± and outputs of air emissions, water



 


emissions or solid waste. Other types
x


    
 of exchanges or interventions such
as radiation or land use can also be
x
 


    
    included.
 


   

Usually, Life Cycle Assessment
?n the first phase, the LCA-practitioner inventories and modeling are carried
formulates and specifies the goal and out using a dedicated software
scope of study in relation to the package, such as SimaPro or GaBi[7][8].
intended application. The object of The National Renewable Energy
study is described in terms of a so- Laboratory and partners created the
called 


 

. Apart from United States Life Cycle ?nventory
describing the functional unit, the goal
and scope should address the overall
approach used to establish the system
boundaries.
The system boundary determines
which unit processes are included in
the LCA and must reflect the goal of
the study. ?n recent years, two
additional approaches to system
delimitation have emerged. These are
often referred to as µconsequential¶
modeling and µattributional¶ modeling.
Finally the goal and scope phase
includes a description of the method
applied for assessing potential
environmental impacts and which
impact categories that are included.

(LC?) Database to help LCA
practitioners understand environmental
impact through individual gate-to-gate,
cradle-to-gate and cradle-to-grave
accounting of the energy and material
flows into and out of the environment
that are associated with producing a
material, component, or assembly.[9].
All LCA software attempts to analy e
every stage of the product's life cycle,
based on data input by the decision-
maker. Again, a life cycle analysis is
only as valid as its data. Thus, it is
necessary for the decision-maker to
first have an extensive knowledge or
access to the details of the product
"cradle-to-grave": resource extraction,
product manufacture, use, and
disposal.

2
The second phase of Life Cycle
?nventory (LC?) involves data
collection and modeling of the product
system, as well as description and
verification of data. This encompasses
all data related to environmental (e.g.,
Depending on the software package
employed, it is possible to model not
only the environmental impacts of each
stage in the product's life, but also the
underlying costs and social impacts.
The software program can be designed
to assess the life cycle holistically or
with a specific aspect in mind, such as
optimal recyclability or waste Cycle ?nterpretation is a systematic
minimi ation. technique to identify, quantify, check,
and evaluate information from the
Ê  
       results of the life cycle inventory (LC?)





 



   
 and/or the life cycle impact assessment
  




  
 



   
 






 



 Ê   


 
 The purpose of performing life cycle

 
 c? 
   


 


 interpretation is to determine the level
  

 
 

   of confidence in the final results and
 
  


     
 
 communicate them in a fair, complete,
  




 
    

 and accurate manner.
 

 

 

?


      
 



xc






  
  



    
 ?


  
  
 c  
 

2 



   
   
The third phase 'Life Cycle ?mpact  
 


  

  
Assessment' is aimed at evaluating the

contribution to impact categories such
as global warming, acidification, etc.
The first step is termed
characteri ation. Here, impact
potentials are calculated based on the
LC? results. The next steps are
normali ation and weighting, but these
are both voluntary according the ?SO
standard. Normali ation provides a
basis for comparing different types of
environmental impact categories (all
impacts get the same unit). Weighting
implies assigning a weighting factor to
each impact category depending on the
relative importance. The weighting
2
step is not always necessary to create a
so called ³single indicator´. See for
instance the prevention based model of
the eco-costs.
 
The phase stage 'interpretation' is an
analysis of the major contributions,
sensitivity analysis and uncertainty
analysis. This stage leads to the
conclusion whether the ambitions from
the goal and scope can be met. Life
   
This is accomplished by identifying the
data elements that contribute
significantly to each impact category,
evaluating the sensitivity of these
significant data elements, assessing the
completeness and consistency of the
study, and drawing conclusions and
recommendations based on a clear
understanding of how the LCA was
conducted and the results were
developed.
2 
Based on a survey of LCA
practitioners carried out in
[10]
2006 most life cycle assessments
are carried out with dedicated software
packages. 58% of respondents
used GaBi Software, developed by PE
?nternational, 31%
used SimaPro developed by PRé
Consultants, and 11% a series of other
tools. According to the same survey,
LCA is mostly used to support
business strategy (18%) and R&D
(18%), as input to product or process during the consumer phase of these
design (15%), in education (13%) and jeans with 80% of this impact is
for labeling or product declarations stemming just from using a dryer to
(11%). dry them instead of air drying.
Several online sources for performing
LCAs are available. Three of these are
The importance of LCA study is in BEES, Athena, and Economic ?nput-
progress and can be measured by the Output LCA (E?O-LCA).
companies implementing these studies:
Ë 3M
Ë Agfa
Ë Alcan
Ë BlueScope Steel
Ë BCorporation [11] 
 2 
Ë CANFOR
Ë Continental A life cycle analysis is only as valid as
Ë Daimler its data; therefore, it is crucial that data
Ë Electrolux used for the completion of a life cycle
Ë Fujitsu analysis is accurate and current. When
Ë General Motors comparing different life cycle analyses
Ë Hewlett Packard with one another, it is crucial that
Ë Gennecott Utah Copper equivalent data is available for both
Ë Levi products or processes in question. ?f
Ë Loup Valley Dairy one product has a much higher
availability of data, it cannot be justly
Ë Nissan
Ë Procter & Gamble compared to another product which has
less detailed data.
Ë Rio Tinto Borax
Ë Toyota
Ë Volvo
Ë Unilever The validity of data should always be a
Ë Wharington concern with life cycle analyses. Since
An example of LCAs application to we are living in a global world and
labelling is the ?nternational economy, new processes,
Organi ation of Standardi ation's manufacturing methods, and materials
"ecolabelling" program, which are introduced to various processes and
identifies environmental preference for products. Therefore, it is important to
a product or service based on life cycle have current data when performing a
considerations. Specifically, type ??? LCA. ?f data from 5 to 10 years in the
"ecolabelling" requires an LCA with past is used, the LCA will not be
parameters set by a third party in order accurate, because the quantitative
to elucidate environmental data for the analysis will not reflect the current
product or service. methods utili ed in the process or
product.

Another example of an application of

LCAs being performed in industry is Therefore, drawing conclusions from a
through Levi 501 jeans. Through a life report using such data will be
cycle assessment, Levi Jeans found ineffective, since the data is
that 60% of their climate impact occurs unavailable. Some products, whose
processes have not changed in 5 to 10  

years (if there are any) will be exempt
from this. When analy ing electronics, 
such as cell phones or computers, for
example, the most current data is !""#
necessary. Since new computer and Cradle-to-grave is the full Life Cycle
cell phone models are created every Assessment from manufacture
few months, the results of a life cycle ('cradle') to use phase and disposal
analysis of a 3-year-old computer phase ('grave'). For example, trees
system will often not be applicable to produce paper, which can be recycled
current systems. into low-energy
production cellulose (fiberised
paper) insulation, then used as an
One of the most important parts of energy-saving device in the ceiling of a
LCA data analysis is determining the home for 40 years, saving 2,000 times
most costly portion of the life cycle. the fossil-fuel energy used in its
The life cycle considered usually production. After 40 years
consists of four stages: embedded the cellulose fibers are replaced and
energy due to processing raw the old fibers are disposed of, possibly
materials, materials processing and incinerated. All inputs and outputs are
manufacturing, product use, and considered for all the phases of the life
product disposal. ?f the most costly of cycle...
these four stages can be determined,
then impact on the environment can be
efficiently reduced by focusing on !""#
making changes of that particular
phase. Cradle-to-gate is an assessment of
a 
 product life cycle from
manufacture ('cradle') to the factory
gate (i.e., before it is transported to the
ë 
 






 consumer). The use phase and disposal

    
 

  
 phase of the product are usually


      



 omitted. Cradle-to-gate assessments

   
 
 
   are sometimes the basis for


  




    environmental product declarations

 
  
    
 (EPD) defined as "quantified




 
  environmental data for a product with









  




 pre-set categories of parameters based


 

 



 
  on the ?SO 14040 series of standards,

 

    
 
 but not excluding additional


 
Ê 



 environmental information".[19]
       
  


    
 


 


 



 
!""!
Cradle-to-cradle is a specific kind of
 cradle-to-grave assessment, where the
end-of-life disposal step for the
 product is a recycling process. ?t is a
method used to minimi e the

environmental impact of products by
employing sustainable production,
operation, and disposal practices and
aims to incorporate social
responsibility into product
development.[20] From the recycling
process originate new, identical
products (e.g., asphalt pavement from
discarded asphalt pavement, glass
bottles from collected glass bottles), or
different products (e.g., glass wool
insulation from collected glass bottles).
Products can now obtain a cradle-to-
cradle certification level.[21] Cradle-to-
cradle certification evaluates products
based on 5 categories including
material health, material reutili ation,
renewable energy use water
stewardship, and social responsibility.
The ideal cradle-to-cradle product
would have little to no human health
risk, be recycled in a closed loop
design, be created using solar or other
renewable energy, have no impact on
local water sources, and be designed in
a way that respects the rights of the
people of our planet.[22]
V""#
Gate-to-gate is a partial LCA looking
at only one value-added process in the
entire production chain. Gate-to-gate
modules may also later be linked in
their appropriate production chain to
form a complete cradle-to-gate
evaluation.[23]
$""%&
Well-to-wheel is the specific LCA of
the efficiency of fuels used for road
transportation. The analysis is often
broken down into stages titled "well-
to-station", or "well-to-tank", and
"station-to-wheel, or "tank-to-wheel".
The first stage, which incorporates the
feedstock and fuel processes is
sometimes called the "upstream" stage,
while the latter stage that deals with
vehicle operation is sometimes called
the "downstream" stage.
The factor "Tp = Petroleum refining
and distribution efficiency = 0.830"
from the DOE regulation accounts for
the "well-to-station" portion of the
gasoline fuel cycle in the USA. To
convert a standard Monroney
sticker value to a full cycle energy
equivalent, convert with Tp. For
example, the Toyota Corolla is rated at
28 mpg station-to-wheel. To get the
full cycle value, multiply mpg by
Tp=0.83 to account for the refining and
transportation energy use - 23.2 mpg
full cycle.
The same adjustment applies to all
vehicles fueled completely
with gasoline, therefore, Monroney
sticker numbers can be compared to
each other with or without the
adjustment. A recent study examined
well-to-wheels energy and emission
effects of various vehicle and fuel
systems.The well-to-wheel variant has
a significant input on a model
developed by the Argonne National
Laboratory. The Greenhouse gases,
Regulated Emissions, and Energy use
in Transportation (GREET) model was
developed to evaluate the impacts of
new fuels and vehicle technologies.
The model evaluates the impacts of
fuel use using a well-to-wheel
evaluation while a traditional cradle-
to-grave approach is used to determine
the impacts from the vehicle itself. The
model reports energy use, greenhouse
gas emissions, and six additional
pollutants such as volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) and carbon
monoxide (CO).
 regulating provisioning and cultural
services.
 '(''  

Economic input±output LCA (E?O-
LCA) involves use of aggregate sector-
level data on how much environmental
impact can be attributed to each sector 2
 2   V
of the economy and how much each  2 
sector purchases from other
sectors. Such analysis can account for Life cycle energy analysis (LCEA) is
long chains (for example, building an an approach in which all energy inputs
automobile requires energy, but to a product are accounted for, not only
producing energy requires vehicles, direct energy inputs during
and building those vehicles requires manufacture, but also all energy inputs
energy, etc.), which somewhat needed to produce components,
alleviates the scoping problem of materials and services needed for the
process LCA; however, E?O-LCA manufacturing process. An earlier term
relies on sector-level averages that may for the approach was 




.
or may not be representative of the
With LCEA, the  




specific subset of the sector relevant to
a particular product and therefore is

 is established.
not suitable for evaluating the
environmental impacts of products.
Additionally the translation of
economic quantities into
environmental impacts is not validated.
  V) 
 

 ?t is recogni ed that much energy is

lost in the production of energy
2V 222 commodities themselves, such
as nuclear
While a conventional LCA uses many energy, photovoltaic electricity or
of the same approaches and strategies high-quality petroleum products. p
as an Eco-LCA, the latter considers a 

content
  

 

 
much broader range of ecological    


 




impacts. ?t was designed to provide a  during extraction and conversion,
guide to wise management of human directly or indirectly. A controversial
activities by understanding the direct early result of LCEA claimed that
and indirect impacts on ecological manufacturing solar cells requires
resources and surrounding ecosystems. more energy than can be recovered in
Developed by Ohio State University using the solar cell. The result was
Center for resilience, Eco-LCA is a refuted[28]. Another new concept that
methodology that quantitatively takes flows from life cycle assessments
into account regulating and supporting is Energy Cannibalism.
services during the life cycle of
economic goods and products. ?n this
approach services are categori ed in
four main groups: supporting, Energy Cannibalism refers to an effect
where rapid growth of an entire
energy-intensive industry creates a
need for energy that uses (or
cannibali es) the energy of existing
power plants. Thus during rapid
growth the industry as a whole
produces no energy because new
energy is used to fuel the embodied
energy of future power plants. Work
has been undertaken in the UG to
determine the life cycle energy
(alongside full LCA) impacts of a
number of renewable technologies.
  V  
?f materials are incinerated during the
disposal process, the energy released
during burning can be harnessed and
used for electricity production. This
provides a low-impact energy source,
especially when compared with coal
and natural gas[31] While incineration
produces more greenhouse gas
emissions than landfilling, the waste
plants are well-fitted with filters to
minimi e this negative impact. A
recent study comparing energy
consumption and greenhouse gas
emissions from landfilling (without
energy recovery) against incineration
(with energy recovery) found
incineration to be superior in all cases
except for when landfill gas is
recovered for electricity production.[32]
 inputs is ignored,
2
A criticism of LCEA is that it attempts
to eliminate monetary cost analysis,
that is replace the currency by which
economic decisions are made with an
energy currency. ?t has also been
argued that energy efficiency is only
one consideration in deciding which
alternative process to employ, and that
it should not be elevated to the only
criterion for determining
environmental acceptability; for
example, simple energy analysis does
not take into account the renewability
of energy flows or the toxicity of waste
products; however the life cycle
assessment does help companies
become more familiar with
environmental properties and improve
there environmental system.[33].
?ncorporating Dynamic LCAs of
renewable energy technologies (using
sensitivity analyses to project future
improvements in renewable systems
and their share of the power grid) may
help mitigate this criticism.
A problem the energy analysis method
cannot resolve is that different energy
forms (heat, electricity, chemical
energy etc.) have different quality and
value even in natural sciences, as a
consequence of the two main laws
of thermodynamics. A thermodynamic
measure of the quality of energy
isexergy. According to the first law of
thermodynamics, all energy inputs
should be accounted with equal
weight, whereas by the second
law diverse energy forms should be
accounted by different values.
The conflict is resolved in one of these
ways:
Ë value difference between energy
Ë a value ratio is arbitrarily assigned
(e.g., a joule of electricity is 2.6
times more valuable than a joule of
heat or fuel input),
Ë the analysis is supplemented by
economic (monetary) cost analysis,
Ë exergy instead of energy can be the
metric used for the life cycle
analysis .


* soybean biodiesel because
Life-cycle analysis is a powerful tool
for analy ing commensurable aspects
of quantifiable systems. Not every
factor, however, can be reduced to a
number and inserted into a model.
Rigid system boundaries make
accounting for changes in the system
difficult. This is sometimes referred to
as theboundary critique to systems
thinking. The accuracy and availability
of data can also contribute to
inaccuracy. For instance, data from
generic processes may be based on
averages, unrepresentative sampling,
or outdated results.
Additionally, social implications of
products are generally lacking in
LCAs. Comparative life-cycle analysis
is often used to determine a better
process or product to use. However,
because of aspects like differing
system boundaries, different statistical
information, different product uses,
etc., these studies can easily be swayed
in favor of one product or process over
another in one study and the opposite
in another study based on varying
parameters and different available
data[37]. There are guidelines to help
reduce such conflicts in results but the
method still provides a lot of room for
the researcher to decide what is
important, how the product is typically
manufactured, and how it is typically
used.
it can
account for an ecology of
contexts interacting and changing
through time. This analysis tool should
not be used instead of life-cycle
analysis, but rather, in conjunction
with life-cycle analysis to produce a
well-rounded assessment.

?n recent years, the literature on life
cycle assessment of energy
technology has begun to reflect the
interactions between the
current electrical grid and
future energy technology. Some papers
have focused on energy life cycle,
while others have focused on carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The essential critique given by these
sources is that when
considering energy technology, the
growing nature of the power grid must
be taken into consideration. ?f this is
not done, a given class of energy
technology may emit more carbon
dioxide over its lifetime than it
mitigates.

The Agroecology tool "agroecosystem

analysis" offers a framework to
incorporate incommensurable aspects
of the life cycle of a product (such as
social impacts, and soil and water
implications)[38]. This tool is
specifically useful in the analysis of a
product made from agricultural
materials such as corn ethanol or
B?BL?OGRAPHY
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costing.htm
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99+++/+  -/ 9+"  ,  , "/"http://www.isograph-
software.com/lcwover.htm
á Life-cycle costing: using activity-based costing and Monte Carlo methods to manage
future costs by Jan Emlemsvag [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=OQ-
lQ61lYU4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q
&f=false]
á Types of Accounting Costing Systems (May 5, 2008) by Tiffany Bradford
[http://www.suite101.com/content/lifecycle-costing-a52266]
á 2

 

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á Life cycle costing: techniques, models, and applications By B. S. Dhillon
[http://books.google.co.in/books?id=eP4Sq3KUBkYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=life+c
ycle+costing&source=bl&ots=oUw8-
KB5W9&sig=ubaMiJkii2MJo3vTqHmwJXli5YY&hl=en&ei=OlfQTLi1EsqXceOqva8C&
sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAw#v=onepag
e&q&f=false]
á Life cycle assessment w.r.t. wikipedia [http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_cycle_assessment]
 REPORT ON LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS

Life cycle analysis is also known as life cycle assessment (LCA) or cradle-to-grave analysis.
?t is the investigation and the valuation of the environmental impacts of a given product or a
service.
?n LCA, we compare the full range of environmental and social damages by products and
services and choose the one which has the least impact. µLife cycle¶ refers to a fair and
holistic assessment of each step in delivering the product. ?t involves the assessment of raw
material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal including all transportation
steps necessary. This is being applied in various companies like Levi 501 jeans, Toyota,
P&G, etc. The µecolabelling¶ program of ?nternational Organi ation of Standardi ation
identifies the environmental preference for a product based on life cycle considerations.
There are 4 phases in which life cycle analysis is carried out.
1. V!+ ?t outlines how the study will be conducted, how much time and
resources will be needed and what final results will be obtained.
2. 2+ ?t involves data collection and modeling of the product system.
?t includes all data related to environmental (e.g., CO2, o
one layer depletion) and
technical (e.g., intermediate chemicals) quantities relevant to the functional unit
defined in the goal and scope definition.
3. 2+ ?mpact potentials are calculated here by
normali ation and weighting. Normali ation provides a basis for comparing different
types of environmental impact categories (all impacts get the same unit). Weighting
implies assigning a weighting factor to each impact category depending on the
relative importance.
4. + This involves an analysis of the major contributions and sensitivity
analysis of the significant data elements. We have to ensure that the results meet the
goal of the study.

LCAs are majorly carried out by using speciali ed dedicated software packages. Two widely
used softwares are GaBi developed by PE ?nternational and SimaPro developed by Pre
Consultants.
Data plays the most crucial role in LCA. The data used in analysis has to be accurate and
current. Also, equal amount of data should be available to compare one life cycle analysis
with the other. When analy ing electronics, such as cell phones or computers, for example,
the most current data is necessary. We also determine the most costly portion of the life cycle
(embedded energy due to processing raw materials, materials processing and manufacturing,
product use and product disposal) and then try to reduce the impact on environment by
focusing on making changes in that phase.
Life cycle assessment has various variants:
á Cradle-to-grave (from manufacture to disposal phase)
á Cradle-to-gate (from manufacture to factory gate i.e. before it reaches customer)
á Cradle-to-cradle (where disposal step for the product is a recycling process)

There are several criticisms for LCA also.

á LCA is powerful tool for analysing commensurable aspects of quantifiable systems.
Not every factor, however, can be reduced to a number and inserted into a model.
á Rigid system boundaries make accounting for changes in the system difficult.
á Comparative LCA is used to determine a better process or product to use. However,
because of aspects like differing system boundaries, statistical information, product
uses, etc., these studies can easily be swayed in favor of one product or process over
another in one study and the opposite in another study based on varying parameters
and different available data