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What are EPDs
What is LCA?
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Life Cycle Assessment – or LCA – is a biography of a product. The technical definition of an LCA is found in ISO Standard14040, which defines LCA as “compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle.” A product LCA is a scientifically-robust measurement of a product's exchanges with the environmental throughout its full life cycle.
It includes information on:
  • Raw material sourcing (extraction & processing)
  • Transportation – raw materials to manufacturing plant
  • Manufacturing processes
  • Shipping materials and transportation modes
  • On-site construction/installation
  • Use & maintenance
  • End of life recycling/disposal/repurposing
A product LCA includes all relevant environmental impacts, in particular those defined by the U. S. EPA and comparable government agencies around the world to be threatening to life on our planet:
 
  • Global warming
  • Acid rain
  • Water pollution
  • Fossil fuel depletion
  • Indoor air quality
  • Habitat alteration
    		•
  • Water use
  • Ambient air pollution
  • Ecological toxicity
  • Human health
  • Ozone depletion
    		•
     

    Developing an LCA consists of three basic phases: 1) Goal and Scope Phase; 2) Life Cycle Inventory phase; and 3) Impact Assessment Phase. Each phase of development is critically important to the overall success and credibility of the assessment. These three phases are followed by a fourth, the Interpretation,- a crucial step as it involves use of the product data collected and calculated in an appropriate manner.

     
     
    While LCAs have many uses, the primary use of LCAs has been for internal evaluation of a product's performance and possible product improvement. Since an LCA encompasses the impacts from cradle-to-grave, it provides a holistic understanding of where the largest impacts occur.  It enables the users to determine where to focus on product v improvements to achieve the most sustainable results.
     
    If LCAs are to be used for product evaluation and selection, they should be third-party verified by a professional with expert knowledge of the relevant industry to ensure that they meet best practices in completeness, comparability and transparency.
    • LCA is complete when all of a product’s exchanges with the environment have been captured.
    • LCA is comparable when the scope of data to be collected is fulfilled
    • LCA is transparent when a professional reviewer can clearly see the source of the data and how it has been analyzed to produce the results communicated in the resulting document(s).
     
     
     

    The Green Standard
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      Deborah Dunning
    President & CEO
      Wes Evans
    Director of Training
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