Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) assists governments, industry and consumers in understanding the complex environmental effects of products from “cradle-to-grave”; opportunities for reducing environmental burdens caused by products during their life-cycle; and making environmentally-informed production and purchasing decisions.
Is your product or service ‘green’?
The demand for green products continues to grow. The Australian market for green goods and services will reach $27 billion by the end of 2012. By meeting that demand you set yourself apart from the crowd and can compete on more than just price.
But this new demand has brought increased scrutiny from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Companies making illegitimate or misleading environmental claims can face fines in excess of $1m.
To boost sales you need to make bold claims. To avoid fines, you need to have evidence to prove them.
LCA gives you the evidence
Edge will carry out a comprehensive, cost-effective LCA. This means that we look at the complete life of your product or service. The materials, electricity and transport used, the waste products created etc.
Using this information we establish the environmental footprint using LCA. This gives you accurate data for greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, energy consumption and more.
Now you have the evidence you need. You can use it to make environmental claims about your product with complete confidence.
What’s more, you’ll see the areas in your product’s lifecycle that are most damaging. Often they will lie outside your direct control – in your supply chain. You can only influence this through your choice of feedstocks, transport or other services. With a full understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in your production and supply chain, you can make exactly the right improvements.
You’ll be able to make more powerful claims for your product and may benefit from reduced costs which frequently accompany environmental savings.
Eco-labeling helps consumers understand your message
LCA is a key to eco-labelling schemes. Your LCA will give you the facts. But these raw figures can be difficult for consumers or customers to digest.
With a credible and trusted eco-label, your customers don’t have to understand the underpinning science. They can see immediately that your product is certified ‘green’. Visit our eco-labeling page for more information.
Scoping LCA
We often see great will to do the right thing but lots of barriers such as no dedicated budget for sustainability and tight delivery deadlines. Many designers don’t feel they know enough about the LCA process or how it could guide and benefit them to more sustainable designs. Others may think the process is too complex and time-consuming, or someone else’s responsibility.
Edge can introduce environmental life cycle perspective to your project, drawing from decades of LCA expertise and access to the most comprehensive and up to date national and international data sources. Scoping LCAs are ideal to:
- determine where in the life cycle major carbon, water, energy and broader impacts are likely to occur
- provide high-level comparison of product and design options
- highlight low hanging fruit for reducing impacts
Edge have staff to respond to your immediate need for environmental design advice. Talk to real LCA experts and start develop your scoping environmental profile design decision support today. See our customised service LCA Lite for how to get started today.
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