Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Quo vadis?

LCA - Quo vadis? discusses overarching topics, new developments and major problems of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and compares LCA with site-specific environmental management. The text profits from two years of interdisciplinary, coordinated research activities of the Priority Programme Environment of the Swiss National Science Foundation. How should system boundaries of a product life cycle be drawn? How can environmental interventions be allocated to products? How are background inventory data collected and used? How can imprecision in the LCA method be ascertained and checked? How can relevant environmental interventions be distinguished from irrelevant ones? What requirements should a software tool for LCA meet? A concept of site-specific LCA is proposed in response to criticism of the current approach of LCA. Furthermore, managerial eco-controlling - the emerging method of site-specific environmental management - is discussed. The book concludes with an outlook of possible paths in the future development of LCA.