Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
If selected, this assignment counts for 25% of your total course grade (outline-5%; final report-20%).
The purpose of this assignment is to: i) strengthen your academic writing capabilities; and ii) raise awareness of the environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product 's life, from “cradle to grave”. Specifically, this assignment will: familiarize you with the many stages of a product’s life (raw material extraction, materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, disposal or recycling) inform you of the potential environmental impacts associated with the different stages of a product’s life strengthen your ability to structure and write a clear, concise …show more content…
Plastic bags and plastic water bottles are not allowed as it can be too tempting to plagiarize the many online LCAs for those products.
Familiarize yourself with what 's covered in a LCA (Google ‘Life Cycle Analysis’). A good site to start is the Global Development Research Center 's page on LCA: http://www.gdrc.org/uem/lca/life-cycle.html
Conduct research on the environmental impacts at each stage of the life cycle of your chosen product from “cradle to grave.” Possible sources include: academic journals (see search resources in library) and books (see on-line library catalogue) non-government organization (NGO) web sites on the more generic aspects of a given class of products ' ecological and social impacts specific manufacturers employees or people familiar with a particular product or industry
Assignment Details
Part 1) Product Choice and Outline (5%): October 2nd (submit to me in Thursday’s class or e-mail by the end of the day). If e-mailed, label your file using the following format with YOUR name: