Yes, we know LCA — in fact we’ve been performing life cycle assessment studies for years. Our GHG work is a specialized application of the broader LCA methodology.
LCA is advantagous because:
- it provides an evaluation that is centered on products & services
- it considers the whole life cycle, from “cradle to grave”, encompassing energy and material resources, manufacturing, use and end-of-life activities for a particular product system
- it quantifies multiply environmental issues, putting different indicators on one table for decisions makers: energy, air and water emissions, toxics and other impacts
- it can be used for decision-making, for example where alternative materials or alternative products are being compared side-by-side
GHGm experts are familiar with the ISO 14040 series standards (including the new ISO 14044 which is soon to be published).
We own SimaPro LCA software for LCA analysis, and have a number of sophisticated databases on-hand.