Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA)
A Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an investigation of the full range of
environmental impacts that result from the existence of a given product
or service, and is sometimes referred to as 'cradle-to-grave’ analysis.
In terms of agricultural produce, this refers to the impact of a crop
(for example) at all stages of its growth, processing, transport, use
(consumption) and waste disposal; although where elements of the system
are the same regardless of the production system (e.g. the energy used
in cooking), these are often omitted from studies for the sake of
simplicity (unless they are key to the purpose of the work).
In recent
years, AERU have carried out a number of projects that have adopted
elements of a LCA approach, and have developed an extensive database of
relevant emission factors etc, that makes us ideally placed to carry
out this type of work quickly and economically. Example projects
include:
Our LCA work has also been used by clients outside of the agricultural sector, including as part of a wider project examining the environmental implications of adopting a PSS (Product Service System) based approach to the supply of car seats, as part of the Re-engineering Business for Sustainability (REBUS) project.
Information
on other relevant projects can be found on our Projects page.
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