The impact of community sustainability: A life cycle assessment of three ecovillages

Abstract

This study uses life cycle assessment (LCA) to develop a comprehensive model of the environmental impacts of residents of three ecovillages (Sirius Community, Earthaven, and Ecovillage at Ithaca) across four areas of activity: home energy use, transportation energy use, food consumption, and waste disposal. In addition, a model of the average U.S. resident was developed to provide a basis for comparison. Using models for residents of each ecovillage and the average U.S. resident allows the investigation of the impacts of different practices at each ecovillage while also demonstrating that ecovillage residents have substantially lower environmental impacts than the average U.S. resident. The combination of the comprehensive results provided by the LCA and the examination of multiple ecovillages provides a rich understanding of the impacts of these communities and their potential as models for the development of more sustainable communities.