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Developments in Impact Assessment in North America
Citation:
BARE, J. C. Developments in Impact Assessment in North America. Presented at 7th Australian Conference on Life Cycle Assessment, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA, March 09 - 10, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform EPA
Description:
Beginning with a background of recent global developments in this area, this presentation will focus on how global research has impacted North America and how North America is providing additional developments to address the issues of the global economy. Recent developments include: how impact assessment is supporting sustainability decision making, what are the recent developments in characterization, normalization, and weighting, and how can land and water use impact assessments assist in analyzing alternative energy. Specifically, the recent release of human health cancer, noncancer, and ecotoxicity characterization factors from the UNEP SETAC Life Cycle Initiative has opened dialog about the most appropriate use and role of these factors. Normalization databases were recently released with US and Canadian data allowing a better baseline and input into global normalization databases. Weighting exercises conducted under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Building for the Environment and Economic Sustainability (BEES) project are also being utilized within the US Green Building Council’s (US GBC’s) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) using primarily the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts (TRACI) impact assessment results. Finally, land and water use impact assessment research is developing with a more site-specific analysis of potential impacts.