Environmental Life Cycle Assessment

Catalog description

The Earth has finite resources and ecological limits. Meeting the basic needs of a growing population—such as food, water, energy, and housing—while staying within planetary limits requires us to understand and mitigate the environmental impacts of engineered systems. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the analytical framework that enables this understanding. LCA provides a systematic way to quantify the environmental and human health impacts of a product, process, or service across its entire life cycle from raw material extraction, through manufacturing, distribution, use, and end-of-life. In this course, we will study methods and tools for environmental and economic analysis, with an emphasis on large-scale civil systems. By the end of this course, students will: Understand the core principles of life cycle thinking and sustainability; Learn not what to think, but how to think critically and ask the right questions; Gain practical experience with current methods, software tools, and datasets—such as openLCA and the Federal LCA Commons—needed to quantify and mitigate environmental impacts; Develop an understanding of the environmental and economic consequences of large-scale engineered systems, including buildings and infrastructure, energy, and transportation; and Develop the ability to conduct full LCAs, including inventory development, impact assessment, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, and life cycle costing. Prior background in general chemistry, environmental science, basic statistics, and spreadsheet-based analysis is expected.