Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Goods And Services

by Hendrickson, Chris T.

• ISBN13: 9781933115238
• ISBN10: 1933115238
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This is the first comprehensive guide to green design using economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) models. It is a must-have for companies trying to improve the environmental profile of their products and processes, for regulators attempting to quantify life cycle implications of products and services, and for students and scholars of green design. Environmental life cycle assessment is often thought of as "cradle to grave" and therefore as the most complete accounting of the environmental costs and benefits of a product or service. However, as anyone who has done an environmental life cycle assessment knows, existing tools have many problems: data is difficult to assemble and life cycle studies take months of effort. A truly comprehensive analysis is prohibitive, so analysts are often forced to simply ignore many facets of life cycle impacts. But the focus on one aspect of a product or service can result in misleading indications if that aspect is benign while other aspects pollute or are otherwise unsustainable. This book summarizes the EIO-LCA method, explains its use in relation to other life cycle assessment models, and provides sample applications and extensions of the model into novel areas. A final chapter explains the free, easy-to-use software tool available on a companion website. The software tool provides a wealth of data, summarizing the current U.S. economy in 500 sectors with information on energy and materials use, pollution and greenhouse gas discharges, and other attributes like associated occupational deaths and injuries.

Author Biography

H. Scott Matthews is the research director of the Green Design Institute and a faculty member in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Lester B. Lave is University Professor and Harry B. and James H. Higgins Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University. Chris T. Hendrickson is the Duquesne Light Company Professor of Engineering, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Engineering and Research, and co-director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Part I: Introduction to the EIO-LCA Method
1. Exploring Environmental Impacts and Sustainability Through Life Cycle Assessment	3	(18)
2. Hybrid LCA Analysis: Combining the EIO-LCA Approach with Other Models	21	(8)
3. Environmental Valuation for Life Cycle Assessment	29	(13)
4. Uncertainty in Estimating Impacts	42	(7)
5. Using the Economic Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment Model	49	(16)
Part II: Example Applications
6. A Life Cycle Analysis of a Midsize Passenger Car	65	(11)
7. Comparison of Steel and Plastic Fuel Tank Systems for Automobiles	76	(10)
8. Effects of Using Nanotechnology to Stabilize Platinum Group Metal Particles in Automotive Catalysts	86	(8)
9. E-Commerce, Book Publishing, and Retail Logistics	94	(9)
10. Construction Materials for Roads and Bridges	103	(6)
11. Environmental Impacts of Services	109	(9)
12. Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Generation	118	(9)
13. Comparison of Energy Transportation Modes: Coal by Rail, Methane by Pipeline, and Electricity Transmission	127	(12)
14. Life Cycle Assessment of Residential Buildings in the United States	139	(10)
Part III: Further Developments in the EIO-LCA Method
15. Occupational Safety Risks in an Input–Output Framework	149	(11)
16. Development of Regional Economic Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment Models	160	(9)
17. A Canadian Economic Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment Model	169	(9)
18. Enterprise and Materials Flow Input–Output Analysis	178	(9)
Appendix I. Sectors and Outputs in the 1997 U.S. Benchmark EIO-LCA	187	(11)
Appendix II. Some Alternative Model Forms for EIO-LCA	198	(9)
Appendix III. Disaggregation Options for Conducting Hybrid Life Cycle Assessments	207	(6)
Appendix IV. Uncertainty in Leontief Input–Output Equations: Some Numerical Examples	213	(13)
Appendix V. Compliance of an LCA Study Conducted Using the EIO-LCA Model with the Requirements of ISO 14040, 14041, 14042, and 14043 Standards	226	(13)
References	239	(12)
Index	251	(10)
About the Authors	261