Abstract
To reach the UN sustainable development goal, there is a need for comprehensive and robust tools to help decision-making identify the solutions that best support sustainable development. The decisions must have a system perspective, consider the life cycle, and all relevant impacts caused by the solution. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that has these characteristics and the ambition with this book is to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the tool and its underlying methodological considerations and potential applications. The book consists of five parts. The first part introduces LCA. The second part is a text book aiming at university students from undergraduate to PhD level, and professionals from industry and within policy making. It follows ISO 14040/14044 structure, draws upon a variety of LCA methods published over the years, especially the ILCD, and offers prescriptions and recommendations for all the most important methodological choices that you meet when performing an LCA. The third part introduces applications of LCA and life cycle thinking by policy- and decision-makers in government and industry. The fourth part is a Cookbook guiding you through the concrete actions to undertake when performing an LCA. The fifth part contains some appendices. The book can be used as a text book, the chapter can be read as stand alone, and you can use the Cookbook as a manual on how to perform an LCA.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
EC-JRC: European Commission—Joint Research Centre—Institute for Environment and Sustainability: International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook—General guide for Life Cycle Assessment—Detailed guidance. First edition March 2010. EUR 24708 EN. Luxembourg. Publications Office of the European Union (2010)
Ekvall, T., Weidema, B.P.: System boundaries and input data in a consequential life cycle inventory analysis. Int. J. LCA 9(3), 161–171 (2004). doi:10.1007/BF02994190
Hauschild, M.Z., Wenzel, H.: Environmental Assessment of Products. Vol. 2—Scientific Background, 565 pp. Chapman & Hall, UK, Kluwer, Hingham. ISBN 0412 80810 2 (1998)
Hauschild, M.Z., Goedkoop, M., Guinée, J., Heijungs, R., Huijbregts, M., Jolliet, O., Margni, M., De Schryver, A., Humbert, S., Laurent, A., Sala, S., Pant, R.: Identifying best existing practice for characterization modeling in life cycle impact assessment. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 18, 683–697 (2013)
ISO: Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Principles and Framework (ISO 14040). ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, Geneva (2006a)
ISO: Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Requirements and Guidelines (ISO 14044). ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, Geneva (2006b)
Pennington, D.W., Chomkhamsri, K., Pant, R., Wolf, M.-A., Bidoglio, G., Kögler, K., Misiga, P., Sponar, M., Lorz, B., Sonnemann, G., Masoni, P., Wang, H., Ling, L., Castanho, C., Sau Soon, C., Fieschi, M., Filareto, A., Hauschild, M.: ILCD handbook public consultation workshop—International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). Int. J. LCA 15(3), 231–237 (2010)
Sala, S., Pant, R., Hauschild, M., Pennington, D.: Research needs and challenges from science to decision support. Lesson learnt from the development of the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) recommendations for life cycle impact assessment. Sustainability 4(7), 1412–1425 (2012)
UN: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ (2017). Accessed 4 March 2017
UN WCED: Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford (1987)
Weidema, B.P., Bauer, C., Hischier, R., et al.: The Ecoinvent Database: Overview and Methodology, Data Quality Guideline for the Ecoinvent Database Version 3 (2013). www.ecoinvent.org
Wenzel, H., Hauschild, M.Z., Alting, L.: Environmental Assessment of Products. Vol. 1—Methodology, Tools and Case Studies in Product Development, 544 pp. Chapman & Hall, UK, Kluwer, Hingham (1997). ISBN 0 412 80800 5
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hauschild, M.Z., Rosenbaum, R.K., Olsen, S.I. (2018). About This Book. In: Hauschild, M., Rosenbaum, R., Olsen, S. (eds) Life Cycle Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56474-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56475-3
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)