Life Cycle Assessment: An Overview

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic approach to quantifying the environmental impacts—including resources consumed and wastes produced—associated with the entire life cycle of a product, from the production or extraction of the raw materials used in its creation, to its end-of-use disposition. LCAs are often used to better understand how choices made in a product’s design (e.g., materials, assembly, energy sources, energy efficiency) would affect its overall environmental impact. This note provides an overview of the different types of LCAs, LCA methodology, and LCA tools and databases.