Life Cycle Assessment
AHEC is facilitating the movement towards a new science-centred approach to green specification and design using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is a scientific method to measure and evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product or activity, by systematically describing and assessing the energy and materials used and released to the environment over the life cycle.
The science of LCA is nothing new, the first such studies being undertaken in the energy sector during the 1970s. However LCA is now being given a whole new impetus with rising interest in sustainable design and mounting concern for climate change. The European Commission has concluded that Life Cycle Assessment is the best framework currently available to assess and compare the environmental impacts of products [1].
AHEC is investing in probably the largest Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study ever undertaken in the international hardwood sector. AHEC is commissioning PE International, a leader in the field of LCA, to undertake the work beginning in mid-2010. The study will provide comprehensive information about the environmental impacts of processes used to extract, process, fabricate, transport, install, maintain, replace, and dispose of American hardwood products and their competitors.
The AHEC-commissioned study will conform to the ISO14040 series of standards for LCA and will also include, as a discrete component, assessment of the “carbon footprint” of American hardwoods in conformance to emerging international carbon footprint standards. Progress reports on the study will be posted regularly to this website.
[1] European Commission Communication on Integrated Product Policy (COM (2003)302).