Educational Procurement Journal - September 2007 - (Page 13) Life Cycle Assessment as an Evaluation Tool A product’s potential impact on the environment includes: • Product design and construction (e.g., materials used in manufacture); • Packaging, packing and crating; • Transportation and delivery; • Operation and maintenance; and • End-of-life disposal. These components make up the life cycle of a product. The International Standards Organization (ISO) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) series (14040-14049) ensures improving entire systems, not fixing one environmental problem and causing another (e.g., decreasing air pollution but increasing water pollution). Whenever any product communication claims to be green, sustainable or environmentally preferable, international law requires the statement(s) to be backed by LCA. Experts from industry, government and business organizations realize that making life cycle assessment as part of the way products and services are delivered and acquired will help lessen or reverse the demands on the environment. There is a wide availability of standards that measure sustainability. Examples include the Forest Stewardship Council Certified Wood, Clean Vehicles, Certified Organic Labeling, Certified Green e Power and the U.S. Green Building Council LEED Rating System. Product-specific standards can be found at the Web site of The Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (see sidebar). The LCA Tool requirements cover an extensive array of environmental concerns. Areas covered include climate change, acid rain, other air emissions, water pollution, natural resource depletion, solid waste, indoor air quality for building projects, stratospheric ozone depletion, smog, ecological toxicity, human toxicity, inflows and outflows, use and habitat alteration. Evaluation of each area is extensive. Over 60 chemicals contributing to climate change are measured for their impact potential. More than 10 gases are evaluated to determine the acid rain contributions in a product’s life cycle. Ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrocarbons and metals are measured to determine their contribution to water pollution. The weight of nonrecyclable solid waste is tracked for products over a 50-year period to determine soil and groundwater contamination. There is extensive data analysis for the environmental impact of flooring and carpeting, relating mostly to indoor air quality. The EPA LCA for human toxicity evaluates over 100 pollutants that are identified in the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and others. Inflows and outflows measure raw materials, purchased energy, purchased fuels, products, pollutants, solid waste and recovered matter. The use phase evaluates the life of the product, weight and density, if the product is recyclable, distance transported and mode of transport. All the data are compiled and interpreted for environmental assessment, good or bad. Now you ask, for example, which is better: paper or Styrofoam? According to a group of University of California San Diego students, Styrofoam might be the friendlier choice. Web-Based References and Resources USEPA EPP www.epa.gov/epp/index.htm ACLCA www.lcacenter.org SETAC www.setac.org UNEP DTIE www.uneptie.org greengoods www.greengoods.nsw.gov.au ISO www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage MTS http://mts.sustainableproducts.com/standards.htm Sustainable Products Corporation www.sustainableproducts.com/susproddef.html Linda Collins is the Director of Procurement and Contract Services at the University of California San Diego and, as the Chief Procurement Officer for the campus, is responsible for Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing, Small Business Office, Business Contracts and Subcontract/Sub Award administration. Linda is actively involved in many procurement re-engineering and electronic commerce efforts at UCSD with the goal of designing improved services to campus customers and suppliers. e-Mail: lcollins@ucsd.edu www.naepnet.org EDUCATIONAL PROCUREMENT JOURNAL 13 http://www.epa.gov/epp/index.htm http://www.lcacenter.org http://www.setac.org http://www.uneptie.org http://www.greengoods.nsw.gov.au http://www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage http://mts.sustainableproducts.com/standards.htm http://www.sustainableproducts.com/susproddef.html http://www.naepnet.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.