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  • © 2018

Life Cycle Assessment

Theory and Practice

  • Provides a comprehensive and pedagogic introduction to LCA methodology
  • Helps the reader understand the role of LCA in a future sustainable economy
  • Repository of LCA information covering a broad range of application fields
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (40 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xx
  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. About This Book

      • Michael Z. Hauschild, Ralph K. Rosenbaum, Stig Irving Olsen
      Pages 3-8
    3. Main Characteristics of LCA

      • Anders Bjørn, Mikołaj Owsianiak, Christine Molin, Alexis Laurent
      Pages 9-16
    4. LCA History

      • Anders Bjørn, Mikołaj Owsianiak, Christine Molin, Michael Z. Hauschild
      Pages 17-30
    5. LCA Applications

      • Mikołaj Owsianiak, Anders Bjørn, Alexis Laurent, Christine Molin, Morten W. Ryberg
      Pages 31-41
    6. LCA and Sustainability

      • Andreas Moltesen, Anders Bjørn
      Pages 43-55
  3. Methodology

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 57-57
    2. Introduction to LCA Methodology

      • Michael Z. Hauschild
      Pages 59-66
    3. Goal Definition

      • Anders Bjørn, Alexis Laurent, Mikołaj Owsianiak, Stig Irving Olsen
      Pages 67-74
    4. Scope Definition

      • Anders Bjørn, Mikołaj Owsianiak, Alexis Laurent, Stig Irving Olsen, Andrea Corona, Michael Z. Hauschild
      Pages 75-116
    5. Life Cycle Inventory Analysis

      • Anders Bjørn, Andreas Moltesen, Alexis Laurent, Mikołaj Owsianiak, Andrea Corona, Morten Birkved et al.
      Pages 117-165
    6. Life Cycle Impact Assessment

      • Ralph K. Rosenbaum, Michael Z. Hauschild, Anne-Marie Boulay, Peter Fantke, Alexis Laurent, Montserrat Núñez et al.
      Pages 167-270
    7. Uncertainty Management and Sensitivity Analysis

      • Ralph K. Rosenbaum, Stylianos Georgiadis, Peter Fantke
      Pages 271-321
    8. Life Cycle Interpretation

      • Michael Z. Hauschild, Alexandra Bonou, Stig Irving Olsen
      Pages 323-334
    9. Critical Review

      • Ralph K. Rosenbaum, Stig Irving Olsen
      Pages 335-347
    10. Use of Input–Output Analysis in LCA

      • Tuomas J. Mattila
      Pages 349-372
    11. Life Cycle Costing: An Introduction

      • Jan-Markus Rödger, Louise Laumann Kjær, Aris Pagoropoulos
      Pages 373-399
    12. Social Life Cycle Assessment: An Introduction

      • Andreas Moltesen, Alexandra Bonou, Arne Wangel, Kossara Petrova Bozhilova-Kisheva
      Pages 401-422
  4. Applications

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 423-423

About this book

This book is a uniquely pedagogical while still comprehensive state-of-the-art description of LCA-methodology and its broad range of applications. The five parts of the book conveniently provide: I) the history and context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with its central role as quantitative and scientifically-based tool supporting society’s transitioning towards a sustainable economy; II) all there is to know about LCA methodology illustrated by a red-thread example which evolves as the reader advances; III) a wealth of information on a broad range of LCA applications with dedicated chapters on policy development, prospective LCA, life cycle management, waste, energy, construction and building, nanotechnology, agrifood, transport, and LCA-related concepts such as footprinting, ecolabelling,design for environment, and cradle to cradle. IV) A cookbook giving the reader recipes for all the concrete actions needed to perform an LCA. V) An appendix with an LCA report template, a full example LCA report serving as inspiration for students who write their first LCA report, and a more detailed overview of existing LCIA methods and their similarities and differences.

Reviews

“Intended to serve as a textbook and a guidance manual on how to conduct LCA’s, the target audience is a rather broad group. … this book is a welcomed addition to the current suite of literature on life cycle assessment. … the book is very well organized. The editors deserve credit for developing a logical flow of material with each section building on the last.” (Mary Ann Curran, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 23, 2018)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    Michael Z. Hauschild, Stig Irving Olsen

  • IRSTEA, UMR ITAP, ELSA Research group and ELSA-PACT, Environmental and Social Sustainability Assessment, Montpellier, France

    Ralph K. Rosenbaum

About the editors

Dr. Michael Hauschild is professor in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Environment and Resource Dimensions within Products and Systems. He is Head of the Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment at Technical University of Denmark, Department of Management Engineering. Michael Hauschild has 20 years of experience in environmental life cycle assessment of products and systems. He is co-receiver of the Nordic Council’s Great Nature and Environment Award 12 November 1997,  co-receiver of the Danish part of the European Better Environment Awards for Industry, EBEAFI ‘97, and in 2014 recipient of the Aase and Ejnar Danielsen Foundation's environmental award of quarter of a million DKK. His pioneering work in LCA has helped to define the research area at Technical University of Denmark, which today is one of the international powerhouses for quantifying sustainability. According to the bibliometric investigation (Chen et al.: A bibliometric investigation of life cycle assessment research in the web of science databases. International Journal of LCA, DOI 10.1007/s11367-014-0777-3), Technical University of Denmark is the most cited university within the LCA discipline over the last 16 years.

Since 2014 Ralph K. Rosenbaum is the Director of the Industrial Chair for Environmental and Social Sustainability Assessment “ELSA-PACT” hosted by the French National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA) in Montpellier, France. Passionate about quantitative environmental sustainability assessment including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) since 1997, Ralph Rosenbaum is an expert in environmental modelling, LCA methodology development, and teaching related to sustainability and environmental assessment. He is co-author of the consensus model for the evaluation of comparative toxicity USEtox and the LCIA methods IMPACT 2002+ and Impact World+. He is subject editor of the International Journal ofLife Cycle Assessment on the theme of impacts of chemicals on human health as well as vice-president and founding member of the International Life Cycle Academy based in Barcelona. Born in Germany, Ralph Rosenbaum finished his Environmental Engineering degree at the Technical University Berlin, Germany in 2003 and defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland in 2006. In early 2007 he joined the team of CIRAIG at the École Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada as researcher and lecturer and was then appointed Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in Copenhagen in 2010.

Dr. Stig Irving Olsen is Associate Professor in sustainable production at Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment at Technical University of Denmark, Department of Management Engineering. He has been working with environmental research for more than 25 years and became involved with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) research in 1993. His research interests and achievements varies from methodology development in LCA, particularly in the life cycle impact assessment of human health impact, to the application of LCA for decision support regarding sustainable production in industry as well as the combination of risk assessment and LCA. The use of LCA for technology assessment in emerging technologies, especially nanotechnology has been a major research field. As an educational scholar he is also concerned with education of engineering students in sustainability.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access