Life Cycle Assessment Student Handbook

This student version of the popular bestseller, Life Cycle Assessment Handbook, is not a watered-down version of the original, but retains all of the important information and valuable lessons provided in the first book, along with helpful problems and solutions for the student learning about Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

As the last several decades have seen a dramatic rise in the application of LCA in decision making, the interest in the life cycle concept as an environmental management and sustainability tool continues to grow. The LCA Student Handbook offers a look at the role that life cycle information, in the hands of companies, governments and consumers, may have in improving the environmental performance of products and technologies. It concisely and clearly presents the various aspects of LCA in order to help the reader better understand the subject.

The international success of the sustainability paradigm needs the participation of many stakeholders, including citizens, corporations, academia, and NGOs. The handbook links LCA and responsible decision making and how the life cycle concept is a critical element in environmental sustainability. It covers issues such as building capacity in developing countries and emerging economies so that they are more capable of harnessing the potential in LCA for sustainable development. Governments play a very important role with the leverage they have through procurement, regulation, international treaties, tax incentives, public outreach, and other policy tools. This compilation of points to the clear trend for incorporating life cycle information into the design and development processes for products and policies, just as quality and safety concerns are now addressed throughout product design and development.

The Life Cycle Assessment Student Handbook is not just for students. It is also a valuable resource for practitioners looking for a desktop reference on LCA or for any engineer, manager, or policy-maker wishing to learn about LCA.

Mary Ann Curran, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Life Cycle Assessment and Management. She began working on LCA methodology in 1990 at the US EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio. An author of numerous papers and book chapters on LCA, she has been instrumental in advancing LCA awareness worldwide and has presented her LCA-related research at technical meetings around the world. She serves on the editorial boards of multiple journals on LCA and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).