Ecosystem Environmental Assessment

Eco-friendly Products are referred to as the goods and services that people consume and or create, which inflict minimal or no harm to the environment. To make consumers more responsive, these kinds of produce are often marked with eco-labels. Eco-label is a labeling system for consumer-related goods, excluding food and medicine-food has a different form of eco-labeling-that are made in a manner that avoids damaging the environment. The labeling of eco-friendly products has been instituted in a number of developed states to aid in the protection of the ecosystem. However, for the reason that there is no single international standard for this concept, the International Organization for Standardization regards such labels too imprecise to be significant. Thus, eco-labeling is voluntary, and not enforced by law. An example of a labeling that is obligatory is the Green Sticker, mandated by law in North America where they are tagged on major pieces of equipment and automobiles.

For research and development of new products and technology, a simple way to assessing eco-friendly products is implemented through the planning stage, the manufacturing stage, and the production stage. There is a method called Life-Cycle Assessment which is used to quantitatively calculate the ecological effects of a product through all the phases it undergoes, including material procurement, construction, circulation, use, and disposal.

The first step to assessing and achieving eco-friendly products is to have a standard Life-Cycle Assessment program. Identifying and creating a desired concept to fit in to a product before starting with its research, blueprint, and or development is a good way to go. To correctly set objectives, pick out existing products which can be compared with the new product specifications, execute the standard method of assessment needed, and utilize the outcome. When the product specifications are clear, estimate the consumption of energy and perform the assessment standards to see whether the target will be attained. In producing a product massively, perform the Life-Cycle Assessment based on real measurement statistics such as yield and energy utilization, and evaluate the ecological responsiveness of the product. Read the full story

2010 marks the year in which consumers everywhere are more conscious about what they buy and how their purchases impact our planet. Consumers now demand “green” products but there is a lot of misunderstanding in terms of how “green” a product truly is. This article provides the reader a brief introduction on Life Cycle Assessment or LCA, a tool used to understand the real environmental impact of a product. At the end of the LCA overview, the reader will be introduced to an LCA alternative that eco3P.com, the internet’s largest vendor driven eco marketplace, uses to help its vendors communicate to consumers how they identify the “greenness” of their products.

What is LCA?

LCA evaluates the environmental impact of a product from a lifecycle point of view, that is, from the birth (manufacturing) to the death (disposal, end use) of a product. LCA quantifies the environmental impact of not only the product itself, but also its manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal. Other references to LCA are: “life cycle analysis”, “cradle to grave”, “eco-balancing”,” material flow analysis “, or “product auditing”.

In order to identify which products are truly green and to quantify the carbon footprint along the supply chain, an LCA must be conducted. This can be extremely complicated because you need to take into account metrics such as the amount of energy used, raw material being sourced, and how much waste (solid, liquid, and gaseous) is generated. To simplify the analysis, the second generation impacts (i.e. the energy required to source the coal, transport the coal, and then heat the coal to create the fire used to manufacture and mould the raw material) should not be accounted for.

There are two main steps in establishing an LCA:

I won’t discuss exactly how a LCA is done, as it can be complex and time consuming. I will, however, discuss the 2 steps that are involved:

Step 1. Describe which emissions will occur and which raw materials are used during the life of a product. This is usually referred to as the inventory step.

Emissions: Carbon Dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas that is emitted and should be accounted for during the manufacturing process. Others include Nitrous Oxide, Methane, Hydrofluorocarbon gases, Perfluorocarbons, Sulphur Hexafluoride.

Raw materials: Certain raw materials that are used are harmful in various stages of a products lifecycle. Take for example Cadmium – a bluish-white metal that is found naturally in the earth’s crust. Cadmium is a pliable metal and is normally used to replace lead in products like jewellery. However, Cadmium is highly toxic and does not easily corrode. It is also a known carcinogen.

Step 2. Assess what the impacts of these emissions and raw material depletions are. This is referred to as the impact assessment step. Read the full story