Measuring Environmental Performance in the Early Phases of Product Design Using Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a worldwide-established tool for the evaluation of environmental sustainability. Although LCA-methods have been developed and improved, it is still difficult to interpret the results correctly. Just like the holistic consideration of the product system during the inventory analysis, results of the impact assessment have to be analysed from different points of view. Actual studies show that general assertions have to be scrutinized. To understand the correlations of a product's environmental performance every life cycle stage has to be submitted to a careful examination