The first book of its kind, the Life Cycle Assessment Handbook: A Guide for Environmentally Sustainable Products will become an invaluable resource for environmentally progressive manufacturers and suppliers, product and process designers, executives and managers, and government officials who want to learn about this essential component of environmental sustainability. As the last several decades have seen a dramatic rise in the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in decision making, the interest in the life cycle concept as an environmental management and sustainability tool continues to grow. The LCA Handbook offers a look at the role that life cycle information, in the hands of companies, governments, and consumers, may have in improving the environmental performance of products and technologies. It concisely and clearly presents the various aspects of LCA in order to help the reader better understand the subject. The content of the book was designed with a certain flow in mind. After a high-level overview to describe current views and state-of-the-practice of LCA, it presents chapters that address specific LCA methodological issues including creating life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and capturing eco-systems services. These are followed by example applications of LCA in the agri-food industry; sustainable supply chain management; solid waste management; mining and mineral extraction; forest products; buildings; product innovation; and sustainable chemistry and engineering. The international success of the sustainability paradigm needs the participation of many stakeholders, including citizens, corporations, academia, and NGOs. The handbook links LCA and responsible decision making and how the life cycle concept is a critical element in environmental sustainability. It covers issues such as building capacity in developing countries and emerging economies so that they are more capable of harnessing the potential in LCA for sustainable development. Governments play a very important role with the leverage they have through procurement, regulation, international treaties, tax incentives, public outreach, and other policy tools. This compilation points to the clear trend for incorporating life cycle information into the design and development processes for products and policies, just as quality and safety concerns are now addressed throughout product design and development.

The first book of its kind, the Life Cycle Assessment Handbook: A Guide for Environmentally Sustainable Products will become an invaluable resource for environmentally progressive manufacturers and suppliers, product and process designers, executives and managers, and government officials who want to learn about this essential component of environmental sustainability.As the last several decades have seen a dramatic rise in the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in decision making, the interest in the life cycle concept as an environmental management and sustainability tool continues to grow. The LCA Handbook offers a look at the role that life cycle information, in the hands of companies, governments, and consumers, may have in improving the environmental performance of products and technologies. It concisely and clearly presents the various aspects of LCA in order to help the reader better understand the subject.The content of the book was designed with a certain flow in mind. After a high-level overview to describe current views and state-of-the-practice of LCA, it presents chapters that address specific LCA methodological issues including creating life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and capturing eco-systems services. These are followed by example applications of LCA in the agri-food industry; sustainable supply chain management; solid waste management; mining and mineral extraction; forest products; buildings; product innovation; and sustainable chemistry and engineering.The international success of the sustainability paradigm needs the participation of many stakeholders, including citizens, corporations, academia, and NGOs. The handbook links LCA and responsible decision making and how the life cycle concept is a critical element in environmental sustainability. It covers issues such as building capacity in developing countries and emerging economies so that they are more capable of harnessing the potential in LCA for sustainable development. Governments play a very important role with the leverage they have through procurement, regulation, international treaties, tax incentives, public outreach, and other policy tools. This compilation points to the clear trend for incorporating life cycle information into the design and development processes for products and policies, just as quality and safety concerns are now addressed throughout product design and development.

Preface xix1 Environmental Life Cycle Assessment: Background andPerspective 1Gjalt Huppes and Mary Ann CurranPart 1: Methodology and Current State of LCA Practice2 An Overview of the Life Cycle Assessment Method - PastPresent, and Future 15Reinout Heijungs and Jeroen B. Guinee3. Life Cycle Inventory Modeling in Practice 43Beverly Sauer4 Life Cycle Impact Assessment 67Manuele Margni and Mary Ann Curran5 Sourcing Life Cycle Inventory Data 105Mary Ann Curran6 Software for Life Cycle Assessment 143Andreas CtrothPart 2: LCA Applications7 Modeling the Agri-Food Industry with Life Cycle Assessment159Bruno Notarnicola, Giuseppe Tassielli and Pietro A. RenzulliExergy Analysis and its Connection to Life Cycle Assessment185Marc A. Rosen, Ibrahim Dincer and Ahmet OzbilenAccounting for Ecosystem Goods and Services in Life CycleAssessment and Process Design 217Erin F. Landers, Robert A. Urban and Bhavtk R. BakshtA Case Study of the Practice of Sustainable SupplyChain Management 233Annie Wetsbrod and Larry LoftusLife Cycle Assessment and End of Life Materials Management249Keith A. WeitzApplication of LCA in Mining and Minerals ProcessingCurrent Programs and Noticeable Gaps 267Dr. Mary Stewart, Dr. Peter Holt and Mr. Rob RouwetteSustainable Preservative-Treated Forest Products, Their LifeCycle Environmental Impacts, and End of Life ManagementOpportunities: A Case Study 291Christopher A. BolinBuildings, Systems Thinking, and Life Cycle Assessment 311Joel Ann ToddLife Cycle Assessment in Product Innovation 329Nuno Da SilvaLife Cycle Assessment as a Tool in Food Waste Reduction andPackaging Optimization - Packaging Innovation and Optimization in aLife Cycle Perspective 345Ole Jörgen Haussen, Hanne Moller, Erik Svanes and VibekeSchakendaIntegration of LCA and Life-Cycle Thinking within the Themes ofSustainable Chemistry & Engineering 369Shawn Hunter, Richard Helling and Dawn ShiangPart 3: LCA Supports Decision Making andSustainability18 How to Approach the Assessment? 391Jose Potting, Shabbtr Gheewala, Sebastten Bonnet and Joost vanBuuren19 Integration of MCDA Tools in Valuation of Comparative LifeCycle Assessment 413Valenttna Prado, Kristen Rogers and Thomas P. Seager PhDSocial Life Cycle Assessment: A Technique Providing a New Wealthof Information to Inform Sustainability-Related Decision Making433Catherine Benott NorrisLife Cycle Sustainability Analysis 453Alessandra Zamagni, Jeroen Guinee, Reinout Hetjungs and PaoloMasoni22 Environmental Product Claims and Life Cycle Assessment475Martha J. Stevenson and Wesley W. IngwersenPart 4: Operationalizing LCA23 Building Capacity for Life Cycle Assessment in DevelopingCountries 545Prof. Toolseeram RamjeawonEnvironmental Accountability: A New Paradigm for World Trade isEmerging 563Ann K. NgoLife Cycle Knowledge Informs Greener Products 585James FavaIndex 597