Caring for the environment is a priority for societies nowadays. Massive production lines are having a great impact on our planet. Either good or bad. That impact needs to be measured. If negative it needs to be diminished. If positive it needs to become an example type of production. This is where the Life Cycle Analysis of production comes in.
The Life Cycle Analysis of Production is a process used to assess and measure the environmental impact that the different stages of production have from the moment the raw material is extracted all the way to the moment of the product getting completed.
This process is the most common way for designers to help critique a product. This analysis can help a lot in avoiding a narrow outlook on environmental issues by:
- Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases;
- Evaluating the potential impacts associated with identified inputs and releases;
- Interpreting the results to help make a more informed decision.
The Life Cycle Analysis of a product has four main phases:
- Goal and Scope
- Life cycle inventory
- LCI Methods
- Life Cycle assessment
After the final phase comes the interpretation process. All the data collected in the first four phases are gathered and analyzed, thus providing researchers with a specific result. Is the production line environmentally friendly or not? If it is not, designers will try to find the parts that are causing harm to the environment and fix them.
If the analysis proves that the process is environmentally friendly, it can become a model process for the production of a specific product or line of product in an industry.
Every industry has the need for the Life Cycle Analysis process of production. Especially the major industrial sectors.
The European Union supports actions that are being taken in the industrial field to make the production environmentally friendly. It is important to consider that the manufacturing sector is the one affecting the environment the most and thus needs to change.
Through the implementation of EU Project like for example the BIMclay project, we can see that actions for an environmentally friendly production process are being enhanced. There is more information out there considering the Life Cycle Analysis for the production line. You can find that information and educate yourselves on the important good practices that can help us save our planet.
