Errors in Decision Making, Using
Ecobalance—LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment)
Viktoria Arnold
Abstract The world began to talk about the life cycle of a product in the 1960s. One
of the first, who published his work on this subject, was Harold Smith. He calculated the cumulative energy consumption for production of chemical products. From
1997 till 2002 were created the standards in International Standards Organization
(ISO) 14000 based on the LCA methodology. Since then, the ecobalance (LCA) has
become an indispensable tool for decision-making in favor of environmental protection for all areas of human activities. However, due to the methodology is complex,
often happens, that a deeper look reveals that the assessment was performed incorrectly. The methodology requires a definition of a goal and, in accordance with it,
a delineation of boundaries for the assessment. Often this boundaries leads to the
choice incorrect source data, then to a wrong decision and, as a result, to a more
negative impact on the environment. This paper provides examples of ecobalance
assessments, where were made wrong decisions. The article considers reasons for
this phenomenon and suggests options to avoid such cases.
Keywords LCA · Ecobalance · Sustainable decision · Ökologischer rucksack ·
Goal and scope definition · Inventory analysis · Impact assessment · Interpretation
1 Introduction
During the work in the field of environmental research, the author often meets such
decisions, as:
• Do not fly by plane
• Buy drinks in refillable bottles
• Ride a bike instead of cars
• Close coal power plants to reduce CO 2 emissions, etc.
V. Arnold (B)
Workgroup Construction Recycling, Brandenburg University of Technology,
Siemens-Halske-Ring 8, 03046 Cottbus, Germany
e-mail: arnold@b-tu.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities and Sustainable Communities:
Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30306-8_22
375
Ecobalance—LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment)
Viktoria Arnold
Abstract The world began to talk about the life cycle of a product in the 1960s. One
of the first, who published his work on this subject, was Harold Smith. He calculated the cumulative energy consumption for production of chemical products. From
1997 till 2002 were created the standards in International Standards Organization
(ISO) 14000 based on the LCA methodology. Since then, the ecobalance (LCA) has
become an indispensable tool for decision-making in favor of environmental protection for all areas of human activities. However, due to the methodology is complex,
often happens, that a deeper look reveals that the assessment was performed incorrectly. The methodology requires a definition of a goal and, in accordance with it,
a delineation of boundaries for the assessment. Often this boundaries leads to the
choice incorrect source data, then to a wrong decision and, as a result, to a more
negative impact on the environment. This paper provides examples of ecobalance
assessments, where were made wrong decisions. The article considers reasons for
this phenomenon and suggests options to avoid such cases.
Keywords LCA · Ecobalance · Sustainable decision · Ökologischer rucksack ·
Goal and scope definition · Inventory analysis · Impact assessment · Interpretation
1 Introduction
During the work in the field of environmental research, the author often meets such
decisions, as:
• Do not fly by plane
• Buy drinks in refillable bottles
• Ride a bike instead of cars
• Close coal power plants to reduce CO 2 emissions, etc.
V. Arnold (B)
Workgroup Construction Recycling, Brandenburg University of Technology,
Siemens-Halske-Ring 8, 03046 Cottbus, Germany
e-mail: arnold@b-tu.de
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Universities and Sustainable Communities:
Meeting the Goals of the Agenda 2030, World Sustainability Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30306-8_22
375