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TRACI - THE TOOL FOR THE REDUCTION AND ASSESSMENT OF CHEMICAL AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Citation:
Bare*, J C., G. Norris, D W. Pennington*, AND T. E. McKone. TRACI - THE TOOL FOR THE REDUCTION AND ASSESSMENT OF CHEMICAL AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS. R. Lifset (ed.), JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 6(3-4):49-78, (2002).
Impact/Purpose:
Journal Article to inform the public.
Description:
TRACI, The Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts, is described along with its history, the underlying research, methodologies, and insights within individual impact categories. TRACI facilitates the characterization of stressors that may have potential effects, including ozone depletion, global warming, acidification, eutrophication, tropospheric ozone (smog) formation, ecotoxicity, human particulate effects, human carcinogenic effects, human non-carcinogenic effects, fossil fuel depletion, and land use effects. Impact categories were selected, available methodologies were reviewed, and categories were prioritized for further research. Impact categories were characterized at the midpoint level, for various reasons, including a higher level of consensus concerning the modeling at this point in the cause-effect chain. Research in the following impact categories - acidification, smog formation, eutrophication, land use, human cancer and human noncancer - was conducted to construct the best methodologies for representing potential effects in the US. Probabilistic analyses allowed the determination of the appropriate level of sophistication and spatial resolution necessary for impact modeling for each category, yet the tool was designed to accommodate the current inconsistency in practice (e.g., site specific information is often not available.). The methodologies underlying TRACI reflect state-of-the-art developments and best-available practice for LCIA in the US, and will be the focus of this paper.
