Evaluation of Four Tools for Environmental Impact Life Cycle Assessment in Sustainable Product Development

Paper in proceeding, 2010

Reliable environmental impact life cycle assessment (LCA) is a major striking research area in sustainable product development. This paper is to answer “what capabilities and limitations do current LCA tools in sustainable product development have?” In this paper four different LCA tools are studied, their capabilities and limitations presented and various comparisons are made. In addition, a case study on road pavements represents the importance of comprehensive LCA. The case questions the validity of single environmental impact LCA approaches and the reliability of partial LCA. The paper concludes by addressing a number of concerns about LCA tools and methods.