Envirology

life cycle assessment (LCA) is the compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle

Life Cycle Inventory involves data collection and modelling of the product system, as well as description and verification of data. This encompasses all data related to environmental (e.g. CO2) and technical (e.g. intermediate chemicals) quantities for all relevant and within-study-boundaries unit processes that comprise the product system. The collected data must be related to the functional unit defined in the goal and scope definition. The result of the inventory is an LCI which provides information about all inputs and outputs in the form of elementary flows to and from the environment from all the unit processes involved in the study. The inventory analysis involves the actual collection of data and the calculation procedures. The relevant inputs and outputs of the analysed product system are quantified and produced as a table. (ISO 14041)