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Concept
Life cycle thinking
Summary
Life cycle thinking refers to the consideration of environmental impacts throughout the various stages of a product's existence and the endeavor to minimize these impacts whenever feasible. It aims to prevent the transfer of environmental burdens from one stage to another. Additionally, life cycle thinking acknowledges the role of technological advancement in addressing environmental concerns.
This approach is adopted by companies in the development of eco-friendly products, by consumers in making conscious product selections, and by governments in establishing regulatory standards to mitigate environmental effects. It involves identifying key areas for reduction while also promoting consumer awareness.
There are many different approaches to life cycle thinking that all involve looking at life cycle-generated impacts and ways to minimize these impacts. An important component is the avoidance of burden shifting, which ensures that improvements in one stage are not achieved at the expense of another stage. Impact measurement focuses on decreasing environmental impact and resource use throughout all stages of a process.
Life-cycle assessment (LCA or life cycle analysis) is a technique used to assess potential environmental impacts of a product at different stages of its life. This technique takes a "cradle-to-grave" or a "cradle-to-cradle" approach and looks at environmental impacts that occur throughout the lifetime of a product from raw material extraction, manufacturing and processing, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, disposal, and recycling.
Life cycle management is a business approach to managing the total life cycle of products and services. It follows the life cycle thinking that businesses, through the activities they must perform, have environmental, social, and economic impacts. LCM is used to understand and analyze the life cycle stages of products and services of a business, identify potential economic, social, or environmental risks and opportunities at each stage and create ways to act upon those opportunities and reduce potential risks.
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