Life Cycle Asessment

Goal Definition

initial phase of LCA in which the purpose of the study is defined including the intended application and audience, the reason for the study, the commissioner and person carrying out the study

Scope Definition

second phase of LCA in which the product system is defined and the system boundary is set

Intermediate flows

flows within the system boundary

Elementary Flows

inputs or outputs to or from the environment, outside of the system boundary

Functional Unit

common reference used to relate inputs and outputs

Reference Flow

amount of product needed to deliver the performance set out by the functional unit

Inventory Analysis

phase of the LCA in which data is collected producing a list of quantified elementary flows for the product system

Impact Assesment

phase of LCA in which the physical flows are translated into an environmental impact, included normalization, weighting and grouping

Interpretation

Final phase of LCA in which the results are interpreted in order to answer the questions set out in the goal definition phase with conclusions, limitations and a recommendation included