10.2.2

Difficulties with LCA

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Difficulties Associated with Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs)

Some elements of LCAs are easy to measure, such as energy use. Other elements can be more difficult to estimate. LCAs can also be manipulated by not including all of a product's environmental impacts.

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Subjective elements

  • Most LCAs have subjective parts to them (i.e. parts that are based on personal opinion). This means that they can be biased.
    • For example, quantifying (deciding the size) of the environmental impact of pollutants involves personal judgement.
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Missing details

  • Sometimes, LCAs will choose to ignore certain environmental impacts of a product. We call these selective LCAs.
  • These can be exploited by biased companies to create positive advertising.

Jump to other topics

1Atomic Structure

2Chemical Bonding

3Quantitative Chemistry

4Chemical Changes

5Energy Changes

6The Rate & Extent of Chemical Change

7Organic Chemistry

8Chemical Analysis

9Chemistry of the Atmosphere

10Using Resources

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