The deveogarnent of lie eycie assessment methods and applications

摘要: Momentum is gaining towards understanding the environmental impacts of human activities~ where they occur and to what degree. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has much to offer in this regard, provided there is sufficient methodological rigour, standardisation and data to enable genuinely comparative studies and reliable results to be generated. Despite an internationally agreed scientific approach enshrined in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards (14040 series), there remain various routes to consider the material and energy flows across processes in a supply chain—and therefore various possible outcomes of this con-sideration. As LCA practice has developed through a combination of empirical and theoretical advances, so this development has influenced both contemporary LCA studies and the range of approaches used today.Interest in the application of LCA has grown steadily …