ABSTRACT
Application of life cycle assessment (LCA) ensures that environmental impact is explicitly included in the design process, yielding the “best” alternative. The “best” choice can be difficult in the final analysis to assess, as many factors may cause an objective LCA to fall into a gray or subjective area. Graedel (1) presents an excellent methodology for streamlined LCA with a matrix approach, yielding objective results, and explores the approaches used by major manufacturers in obtaining data for the matrices. Others (2,3) present basic studies and applications, and there are many articles and texts available between basics and detailed methods. The objective of this chapter is to explore the application of LCA for waste site remediation, as an example of the extension of LCA to areas beyond manufacturing goods and consumer products.
