What is LCA?

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method. It evaluates the environmental impact of a product quantitatively through a life cycle perspective. The following example will give you the essence of this method.

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Let say that an electric vehicle, as illustrated above, is our product. We claim that our product has “zero emissions”. Briefly, we argue that electric vehicles are more environmentally friendly than gasoline vehicles. However, is this claim exactly correct? Let us test the argument using the LCA method.

To prove it, we compare the environmental impact of the two products along the “life cycle stage” of each product. A series of “life cycle stages” of a product is called a “product system”, as illustrated by the picture below.

Gasoline vehicles

Electric vehicles

The red circle, based on the above illustration, shows the “life cycle stage” which gives the most significant impact, called a “hotspot”. The picture tells us that electric vehicles have the advantage of “zero emissions” compared to gasoline vehicles when operating. However, if the electric vehicle uses coal electricity as its energy source, there will be a phenomenon called “burden-shifting” instead of “pollution reduction”.

The burden shifts from exhaust gas emissions from gasoline vehicles operations to coal power plant emissions. So, by using the LCA method, one can evaluate the environmental impact of a product from a broader perspective, which is very helpful in a decision-making context.

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