light products - Illuminating Engineering Society

What is Life Cycle Assessment
LCA is a systematic process of analyzing the environmental impacts of a
product, system or service, throughout the product life cycle from “cradle
to grave” or “cradle-to-cradle.” This analysis includes the different
phases of resources extraction, manufacture, distribution, installation, use
and disposal. ISO and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry (SETAC), among others, have developed standards for conducting
LCA.
Unlike single attribute metrics such as recycled content, the output of
LCA provides quantitative data on fundamental impact categories such
as global warming or ecological toxicity.At present there is not consensus
on a complete list of all impact categories, but the most often recognized
impact categories are listed below as defined by the U.S.
Environmental Performance Agency’s program called TRACI for Tool for
the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental
Impacts, see http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/std/sab/traci/
Impact Category
Global Warming Potential
Acidification
Eutrophication
Ozone Depletion
Smog
Ecotoxicity
Human Health
Fossil Fuel
Land Use
Water Use
Criteria Air Pollutants
Possible End Points
Malaria, coastal area damage,
agricultural, forest damage
Plant, animal, ecosystem
Plant, animal, ecosystem
Skin cancer cataracts, material
damage, crop damage
Human mortality, asthma, plant
damage
Plant, animal, ecosystem
Variety of specific human cancers
Fossil fuels shortages leading to
use of other energy sources
Threatened and
endangered species
Water shortages
Disability-adjusted life years,
toxicological human health effects
Each impact category is characterized by an equivalent emission of a
causal substance. For instance, since CO 2 emissions are the largest cause
of global warming, Global Warming Potential (GWP), is measured in
equivalent emissions of CO 2 with emissions other than CO 2 effecting
global warming being converted to an equivalent effect of emitted CO 2 .
First note that impact categories
listed in the first column are defined
in terms of fundamental attributes,
such as Global Warming Potential
(GWP) and Ozone Depletion
Potential (ODP), as opposed to secondary
variables like recycled content
or even energy efficiency. In other
words, we intuitively accept that
lower energy consumption correlates
to “better” environmental performance,
but in fact it is reductions in
power plant emissions contributing
to global warming and acidification,
among others, that are the actual
benefits to the environment.
Also note that the units for each
impact category are listed in the second
column and are different for each
impact category. For instance GWP is
measured in kg of CO 2 whereas ODP
is measured in kg of CFC-11. As a
new metric, these units will take
some time to get assimilated. Lastly,
note how this information groups
impacts into different phases of the
product’s life cycle: Production and
Use. It is easy to see how the Use
phase of energy-using products, such
as lighting, can largely outweigh the
Production phase. (Keep in mind this
table is only an excerpt from a larger
document on the EPD of this product,
and additional information is provided
about the End-of-Life phase as
well as other aspects of the environmental
performance.)
BEES
The National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) developed an
approach for providing LCA-based
environmental and economic performance
information for building products
called BEES (short for Building
for Environmental and Economic
Sustainability, see www.bfrl.nist.gov-
/oae/software/bees.html). Available on
the BEES website is a free downloadable
program which allows building
designers to compare environmental
performance of products which have
been submitted to an LCA performed
through a NIST vendor.
Manufacturers must pay NIST to perform
the LCA on a product-by-product
basis, but products can be selected
to represent a family of similar
products. Currently there are over
200 building products in the BEES 3.0
December 2005 LD+A 15