TRADA Technology addresses Life Cycle Assessment

TRADA Technology has issued a new Wood Information Sheet entitled Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which can readily be applied to industrial processes, for example to understand better how a product may interact with the environment during all or part of its life cycle.

According to TRADA Technology, a better understanding of these impacts has enabled some companies to enhance their environmental credentials and to take a proactive stance, rather than simply responding to increasingly stringent regulation.

LCA accounts for material energy and waste flows associated with a product or process ‘from cradle to grave’. As long as high quality and representative data are fed into the model, LCA can offer a credible assessment of the burden placed on the environment.

The new Wood Information Sheet describes the background and applications of LCA, its limitations and various methodologies and tools, both generic and construction specific. TRADA Technology warns, however, that Life Cycle Assessment should not be confused with Life Cycle Costing (LCC), which is a financial decision-making technique that takes into account initial and future costs.

TRADA members may download Life cycle assessment in PDF format from the TRADA bookshop free of charge. Cost is £12.00 for non-members. Visit www.trada.co.uk/Bookshop or email info@:trada.co.uk .