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LCACCESS: AN ON-LINE DIRECTORY FOR GLOBAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT INFORMATION AND DATA
Citation:
Curran*, M A. AND T. J. Skone. LCACCESS: AN ON-LINE DIRECTORY FOR GLOBAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT INFORMATION AND DATA. Presented at Greening of Industry Network (GIN) Conference, San Francisco, CA, October 12 - 14, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Evaluating environmental impacts holistically from raw material acquisition, through manufacture, use and disposal using a life cycle perspective is continually being viewed by environmental managers and decision-makers as an important element in achieving environmental sustainability. The use of a holistic, life cycle approach will help decision-makers in industry and government avoid the unintended trading offc of one environmental problem for another. However, a major barrier to using life cycle assessment is the difficult y in obtaining viable data, called the life cycle inventory (LCI), for completing the analysis. Various governments, research organizations, and consultants around the world are working toward addressing this need. This paper provides a brief overview of where these activities are occurring.
The USEPA's National Risk Management Research Lab (NRMRL) is also active in the development of publicly-accessible and reliable LCA data. A key actitvity by NRMRL in LCI development is the creation of web-based on-line directory. The directory is located within the Agency's website, called LCAccess, which was designed to support those who wish to better understand the life cycle concept and learn how to apply it to environmental management. LCAccess serves as a central source for LCA information. It describes EPA's role in life cycle assessment, the benefits of life cycle assessment, what life cycle assessment is, a brief overview of how to conduct a life cycle assessment, how to find data sources, available resources, on-going efforts in the field. 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.