Rapidly expanding global population when complemented with an upgrade in individual’s living standards has deemed human dependency on material goods and services less a matter of choice than necessity. This however, does not come without negative ecological consequences since the production, distribution, use and disposal (including recycling) of such products (goods and services) exert substantial environmental impacts such as global warming, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, land degradation, atmospheric pollution, human health damage, etc., many of which are proven to be imminent threats to mankind. It has therefore become a matter of extreme importance that these impacts must be managed, and to do so effectively, the first step is their identification and quantification.
Dovetailing industry and ecology, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), also called as 'Life Cycle Assessment', is a concept and tool designed to identify and measure the environmental impacts linked with different life stages in a product’s life cycle. Following a cradle-to-grave approach, it provides an opportunity to identify the stages of ecological burden (hot-spots) in a product’s life cycle and to design interventions for a more sustainable production, distribution, consumption as well as end-of-life management.
This course is designed to introduce students to the principles and framework of LCA as guided by ISO 14040 standard and to help them learn how to practically conduct LCAs as per ISO14044 standard’s guidelines and requirements. By getting involved in fieldwork and using openly available LCA software and datasets, students will conduct simplified LCAs for self-chosen products and will investigate their environmental impacts. By doing so, students will apply and solidify their theoretical as well as practical knowledge about sustainability analytics. They will learn basics of life cycle inventory collection, impact assessment methodologies, hot spot analysis and basics of eco-designing and eco-optimization. In addition, students will learn to write official LCA reports in accordance with ISO 14040/44 standards.
Furthermore, the course will provide an opportunity for students to practice working in a team, to manage a small-scale project and to present and write academically sound project reports.