Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Product Declarations Educational Webinars

Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Product Declarations Educational Webinars:

The Institute for Environmental Research & Education and the U.S. EPA Region 10 hosted web-based training sessions in October 2009 on the fundamentals of Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Product Declarations, and Product Category Rules.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique for analyzing the entire life cycle of a product or process. The term “life cycle” refers to the major activities in the course of the product’s life-span from its manufacture, use, and maintenance, to its final disposal, including the raw material acquisition required to manufacture the product. The first two webinars discuss the process, benefits, and limitations of life cycle assessment, life cycle inventory, and life cycle impact assessment.

Environmental product declarations (EPDs) hold out the promise of disclosure of the environmental performance of products in such a way that the consumer can make side-by-side comparisons of different products, much like a nutrition label does. Product category rules (PCRs) are a set of specific rules, requirements, and guidelines for developing EPDs for one or more product categories. The third webinar discusses EPDs, PCRs, and the requirements of international standards.

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Webinar 1: Life Cycle Assessment, Scoping, and Life Cycle Inventory
Speaker: Rita Schenck, Institute for Environmental Research & Education
Presentation: Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment Scoping & Inventory (PDF) (51 pp. 2.5MB, About PDF)
Video: Life Cycle Assessment Webinar 1 Video (WMV) (1 hour 27 minutes, 54MB)

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Webinar 2: Life Cycle Impact Assessment and Interpretation
Speaker: Rita Schenck, Institute for Environmental Research & Education
Presentation: Impact Assessment & Interpretation (PDF) (58 pp. 1.7MB, About PDF) - Note: Some images were removed from this presentation in accordance with USEPA web policy guidelines.
Video: Life Cycle Assessment Webinar 2 Video (WMV) (1 hour 25 minutes, 62MB)

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Webinar 3: Environmental Product Declarations, Product Category Rules, and applicable international standards.
Speakers: Rita Schenck, Institute for Environmental Research & Education
Amy Costello, Armstrong World Industries, Inc.
Presentation: Environmental Product Declarations and Product Category Rules (PDF) (58pp., 2.5MB)
Video: Life Cycle Assessment Webinar 3 Video (WMV) (1 hour 26 minutes, 63MB)