An effective way we, as individuals or organizations, can help the environment is “green purchasing” — we can choose to buy products and services with lower negative effects on the environment.
How can we know which those products are? Life cycle assessment has emerged as a robust scientific method for comparing the full range of impacts of a product, from cradle to grave — that is from the environmental impacts of the raw materials and energy used to manufacture it, of those used to operate it, and those used when disposing or recycling it at the end of its life.
For example: A coffee maker with a glass carafe takes fewer resources to manufacture than one with an insulated double-walled stainless steel carafe, and it has a lower purchase price — but, over its operating life, the insulated carafe uses much less electricity for heating. So, it may have a lower total lifecycle cost, to the environment and to the purchaser.
Standard approaches to life cycle assessment have been expensive, time consuming, and difficult to implement — even for large companies. The goal of this project is to develop a tool to make it easier for small and medium companies to compare the environmental costs of the products they need, so that they can consider those issues when making their purchasing decisions.