LCA comparability and the waste index

Abstract

There are several problems with the current Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods. One of the most serious problems, in our opinion, is incomparability of results. Several industry representatives have expressed that without comparability and benchmarkability LCA will not survive long in the commercial world. It is therefore paramount that comparability is achieved. Incomparability stems from the usage of different functional units, unit processes and, most notably, different impact categorizations. We propose a new index - the Waste Index (WI) that does not rely upon any of these techniques, but rather measures an imbalance in Nature and relies upon thermodynamics and chemistry - resulting in comparability.