Handbook on Life Cycle Assessment: Operational Guide to the ISO Standards: 7 (Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, 7) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1402005571 ISBN 13: 9781402005572

Publisher: Springer, 2002

Synopsis

Environmental policy aims at the transition to sustainable production and consumption. This is taking place in different ways and at different levels. In cases where businesses are continuously active to improve the environmental performance of their products and activities, the availability of knowledge on environmental impacts is indispensable. The integrated assessment of all environmental impacts from cradle to grave is the basis for many decisions relating to achieving improved products and services. The assessment tool most widely used for this is the environmental Life Cycle Assessment, or LCA. Before you is the new Handbook of LCA replacing the previous edition of 1992. New developments in LCA methodology from all over the world have been discussed and, where possible, included in this new Handbook. Integration of all developments into a new, consistent method has been the main aim for the new Handbook. The thinking on environment and sustainability is, however, quickly evolving so that it is already clear now that this new LCA Handbook does not embrace the very latest developments. Therefore, further revisions will have to take place in the future. A major advantage of this Handbook is that it now also advises which procedures should be followed to achieve adequate, relevant and accepted results. Furthermore, the distinction between detailed and simplified LCA makes this Handbook more broadly applicable, while guidance is provided as to which additional information can be relevant for specialised applications.

About this title

Review

From the reviews:

"The Handbook on Life-Cycle Assessment is a guidance document and handbook, one that covers everything from the best choice of methods for all phases of an LCA study to detailed scientific discussion on methodological issues. ... The information given ... is very detailed. ... It provides 225 pages of tables of conversion factors, characterization factors, normalization factors, and so on. ... readers are entitled to high expectations given the impressive team of authors behind this book, and the assumed intended audience will not be disappointed." (Lars-Gunnar Lindfors, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 7 (2), 2003)

Synopsis

The general aim of this Handbook on LCA is to provide a stepwise 'cookbook' with operational guidelines for conducting an LCA study step-by-step, justified by a scientific background document, based on the ISO Standards for LCA. The different ISO elements and requirements are made operational to the 'best available practice' for each step. This book will appeal to persons from a wide range of scientific disciplines working in industry, in government, as consultants, or at university, who are interested in learning more about LCA and in performing LCA studies. It will be of especial interest to students and researchers in the field of LCA, industrial ecology, and those interested in environmental sciences in general. CML is strongly involved in the development of a standard methodology to determine environmental impacts of products, i.e., LCA. This is done within international fora such as the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1402005571
• ISBN 13: 9781402005572
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 704
• Editor: Guinée Jeroen B.