NDLI: Eco-efficiency : Combining life cycle assessment and life cycle costs via normalization

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Kicherer, Andreas Schaltegger, Stefan Tschochohei, Heinrich Pozo, Beatriz Ferreira
Copyright Year	2007
Abstract	The eco-efficiency analysis and portfolio is a powerful decision support tool for various strategic and marketing issues. Since its original academic development, the approach has been refined during the last decade and applied to a multitude of projects. BASF, as possibly the most prominent company using and developing this tool, has applied the eco-efficiency approach to more than 300 projects in the last 7 years. One of the greatest difficulties is to cover both dimensions of eco-efficiency (costs or value added and environmental impact) in a comparable manner. This is particularly a challenge for the eco-efficiency analyses of products.In this publication, an important approach and field of application dealing with product decisions based on the combination of Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is described in detail. Special emphasis is put on the quantitative assessment of the relation of costs and environmental impacts. In conventional LCA an assessment of environmental impact categories is often made by normalization with inhabitant equivalents. This is necessary to be able to compare the different environmental impact categories, because of each different unit. For the proposed eco-efficiency analysis, the costs of products or processes are also normalized with adapted gross domestic product figures.The ratio between normalized environmental impact categories and normalized costs (R$_{E,C}$) is used for the graphical presentation of the results in an eco-efficiency portfolio. For the interpretation of the results of an eco-efficiency analysis, it is important to distinguish ratios R$_{E,C}$ which are higher than one from ratios lower than one. In the first case, the environmental impact is higher than the cost impact, while the inverse is true in the second case. This is very important for defining which kind of improvement is needed and defining strategic management decisions. The paper shows a statistical evaluation of the R$_{E,C}$ factor based on the results of different eco-efficiency analyses made by BASF. For industries based on large material flows (e.g. chemicals, steel, metals, agriculture), the R$_{E,C}$ factor is typically higher than one.This contribution shows that LCC and LCA may be combined in a way that they mirror the concept of eco-efficiency. LCAs that do not consider LCC may be of very limited use for company management. For that very reason, corporations should install a data management system that ensures equal information on both sides of the eco-efficiency coin.
Starting Page	537
Ending Page	543
Page Count	7
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09483349
Journal	The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Volume Number	12
Issue Number	7
e-ISSN	16147502
Language	English
Publisher	Ecomed
Publisher Date	2006-12-22
Publisher Place	Landsberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Eco-efficiency Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Life Cycle Cost (LCC) normalization Environment Environmental Economics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Environmental Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Incorporating costs in LCA

Toward a computational structure for life cycle sustainability analysis: unifying LCA and LCC

Assessment of toxicological risks for life cycle assessment and eco-efficiency analysis

Integrating life cycle costs and environmental impacts of composite rail car-bodies for a Korean train

Eco-efficiency analysis by basf: the method

Towards life cycle sustainability assessment: an implementation to photovoltaic modules

The requirement for congruence in normalization

Iterative screening LCA in an eco-design tool

Life cycle assessment of a basic lager beer

Eco-efficiency : Combining life cycle assessment and life cycle costs via normalization

Similar Documents

Incorporating costs in LCA

Toward a computational structure for life cycle sustainability analysis: unifying LCA and LCC

Assessment of toxicological risks for life cycle assessment and eco-efficiency analysis

Integrating life cycle costs and environmental impacts of composite rail car-bodies for a Korean train

Eco-efficiency analysis by basf: the method

Towards life cycle sustainability assessment: an implementation to photovoltaic modules

The requirement for congruence in normalization

Iterative screening LCA in an eco-design tool

Life cycle assessment of a basic lager beer

Eco-efficiency : Combining life cycle assessment and life cycle costs via normalization