Introduction to LCA

Cost: 
$500 per person (Three or more attendees from an organization receive a 10% discount.)
Medium: 
Online
Duration: 
3 hours
Certification: 
SimaPro User Certificate
Certification: 
LCA Manager Certificate
Course Objectives: 

To introduce students to the concept of life cycle thinking, and the ISO standard methodology for conducting a LCA.

This in-depth beginning LCA course will introduce students to how LCA’s are structured and findings are interpreted. This course is intended for both executives and future LCA practitioners. Students will learn each of the five iterative steps of an LCA (goal and scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment, interpretation) and how findings are tested for completeness, sensitivity and consistency. Through the course you will gain an understanding of ISO 14040/14044 standard methodology through explanation and exercises that help you gain insight into the more difficult concepts in LCA. Your instructor will be an experienced LCA/SimaPro professional.

Topics: 

Why Life Cycle Assessment

  • Brief History of LCA
  • ISO standards
  • Types of LCA’s
    1. Internal versus external
    2. Attributional versus consequential
    3. Cradle to gate/gate to gate/cradle to grave
  • Goal & Scope
    1. System function & the functional unit
    2. System boundaries & cutoff rules
    3. Allocation
  • Life Cycle Inventory
    1. Types of data – process, input/output
    2. Primary, secondary data
    3. Unit vs System data
    4. Finding data
    5. Gathering data
    6. Data sources
    7. Data Quality considerations
    8. Iterative process for filling data gaps
  • Impact Assessment
    1. Major Concepts
    2. Impact categories
    3. Mechanisms/causality chains/characterization factors
    4. Midpoint vs Endpoint methods
    5. Units of measure
    6. Characterization, damage assessment, normalization, weighting
    7. Science versus value judgments
    8. International methods
  • Interpretation
    1. ISO requirements – completeness, sensitivity, consistency checks
    2. Data Quality assessment
    3. Uncertainty (Monte Carlo or Taylor Series Expansion) analysis
    4. Comparative assertions
    5. Critical reviews
  • What is next in Life Cycle Assessment
Why Take This Course: 

As the sustainability movement continues to gain momentum, industries, corporations and governments are seeking metrics to determine which actions are environmentally friendly and which are not. People have turned to LCA as a proven, scientifically robust methodology for looking at potential environmental impacts. LCA’s anticipate the environmental consequence of an action and detail environmental trade-offs. An LCA will detect aspects of a project that are problematic and help you find areas of opportunity. This course will teach the methodological details as standardized in ISO 14040/14044, and provide the base-line knowledge required for people entering into the field of LCA.

Prerequisites: 

None.

Organization: 

The class will meet online at www.gotomeeting.com. You will be provided with an invitation and password a couple days before the class. Before the class you will receive a print-out of the presentation slides, which you can use for note taking during the class. These prove to be a great help when conducting your future LCA’s.