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LCACCESS: PROMOTING THE USE OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
Citation:
Curran*, M A. AND T. J. Skone. LCACCESS: PROMOTING THE USE OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT. 95th AWMA Conference & Exhibition, Baltimore, MD, 06/23-27/2002.
Description:
Evaluating environmental impacts holistically from raw material acquisition, through manufacture, to use and disposal using a life cycle perspective is gradually being viewed by environmental managers and decision-makers as an important element in the tools that are used to achieve environmental sustainabiliry. However, a major barrrier to using such life cycle assessment tools is the difficulty in obtaining viable data for completing the analysis, called the life cycle inventory. The lack of readily-available, quality data is often a barrier to manufacturers, among others, for incorporating life cycle considerations into their decision-making process. To overcome this barrier, the USEPA/ORD created a website, called LCAccess.
LCAccess serves as a central source for life cycle assessment information. The main goal of the website is to promote the use of life cycle thinking in decision-making by facilitating access to resources and data sources useful in developing a life cycle inventory. It accomplishes this goal by providing information on EPA's role in life cycle assessment, the benefits of life cycle assessment, what is life cycle assessment, a brief overview of how to conduct a life cycle assessment, how to find data sources (through the LCI Global Directory), available resources (i.e., documents, software tools, other related links), on-going efforts in the field (e.g., EPA, other US efforts, international efforts), and upcoming events (i.e., conferences, workshops). While LCAccess does not itself contain data, it is a searchable global directory to potential data soucres. From the results of key work search on an industry sector, data profiles on individual data sources are generated to give the user an idea of what each data source contains. To find the LCAccess web-site, go to: http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/lcaccess.