LCA: Providing Holistic Decision Support
THE INNOVATION:
Bringing environmental LifeCycle Assessment (LCA) -- a common sense, holistic approach to decision-making -- to a much broader audience.
Tom P. Gloria, Ph.D.
Managing Director
Industrial Ecology Consultants
Introduction...
As the urgency in many areas of sustainability increases, we need to be smarter, be better informed, make better decisions. LCA lets us be better informed [about the environmental impacts of the products we create] and act with more assurance.
LCA Defined....
LCA is about telling a story in numbers, supporting a broader narrative about something. “Life Cycle” is the full range of cradle to grave of products – where they come from, how they're made, how they’re used, and what happens at end of life -- or reuse, regeneration.
Unfortunately, many of our industrial processes are linear. Cradle to cradle is really the future – closing the loops.
The arc of LCA has been about systems thinking, how things are connected... So [what is needed] for the next level of LCA to really take off, is for folks to really tap into how they think about systems….from a social standpoint, a numerical standpoint, or a technical standpoint. The more we are connected, the more we think about being connected, the better off we’ll be.
What's Ahead...
The new audience that has energized LCA in recent years is the building construction industry… There’s been an enormous effort to look at Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)... It is energizing many of us in the field…[and] putting more focus on all of us about improving the methods.
Clearly, data is the Achilles Heel of LCA. We need much broader data sets, much more definitive datasets. And that comes with hard work. We have the software tools, but you can’t fool data; data is what you need.
The methodology is embedded in the current tools. But that said, getting data from across a broad section of sources [is key] and the tools need to be able to talk to those.
We all need to get better on statistics – both for our own benefit, and to sort out what’s really true.
Making it Work...
Begin by understanding the culture, understanding how decisions are currently being made, and empower the people who are making those decisions by integrating LCA into that culture…
There needs to be more effort to standardize an approach within an industry – balance the ying and yang of [customization and standardization.] What are the decision points? What players are influential?
LCA has to speak to [diverse] audiences… connecting the dots is critical. Speaking the vernacular of the decision-makers is important as well.
Expression of need: A level of assurance that they’ve made a [good] decision, they’ve considered all the important issues they need to consider. It’s about making better products. It’s about informing others of those successes.
Learn more about Tom Gloria and LCA
in Joel Makower's
treatment of the subject.
Views: 66
Today
Become more
planet friendly,
disaster resilient and
community rich.
© 2024 Created by Sue Lebeck.
Powered by
