GCSE Chemistry Revision — Life Cycle Assessment
Revise Life Cycle Assessment for GCSE Chemistry with a topic explanation, worked example and common mistakes. Check the board notes for specification differences.
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What is Life Cycle Assessment?
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a systematic process to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product through all the stages of its life, from raw material extraction (cradle) to final disposal (grave). It considers the inputs of energy and materials and the outputs of waste and pollution at each stage.
Board notes: Life Cycle Assessment is a higher-tier topic for all exam boards. You need to understand the purpose and stages of an LCA and be able to critically evaluate them, appreciating the difficulties in making objective comparisons.
Step-by-step explanationWorked examples
Worked example
An LCA for a plastic bag would assess the environmental impact of extracting the crude oil, the energy used in polymerisation and manufacturing, the transport to the shop, its use, and its disposal to landfill or incineration. This would be compared to an LCA for a paper bag, which would consider growing trees, paper production, etc.
Practise this topic
Start with low-focus cards for Life Cycle Assessment, then move into full exam-style practice when you want the heavier session.
Common mistakes
- 1Focusing only on one aspect of the life cycle, such as its use or disposal, and ignoring the impacts of its manufacture and transport.
- 2Forgetting to consider all the different types of environmental impact, such as water use, pollution, and habitat destruction, not just the carbon footprint.
- 3Finding it difficult to compare different products because the data can be subjective or incomplete. Allocating numerical values to environmental impacts is challenging.
Life Cycle Assessment exam questions
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Frequently asked questions
What are the main stages of a life cycle assessment?
The main stages are: 1. Extracting and processing raw materials. 2. Manufacturing and packaging. 3. Use and operation during its lifetime. 4. Disposal at the end of its useful life, including transport and distribution at all stages.
Why are LCAs sometimes controversial?
LCAs can be difficult to carry out and may require making assumptions, so they are not always purely objective. The results can be manipulated to support a particular viewpoint, for example, by choosing specific boundaries for the assessment.