Environmental Engineering Reference
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agriculture, biofuels, etc.) (Asiedu and Gu 1998 ; Jones et al. 2012 ; LNRMI et al.
2014 ; Harris and Narayanaswamy 2009 ; Batchelor et al. 2011 ; Davis et al. 2008 ;
Gathorne-Hardy 2013a ; Iraldo 2014 ). In fact, in 2002, the UNEP took the initiative
to promote LCCA by providing a broader and deeper perspective to it. LCCA is
being promoted as a tool and method to achieve a green economy and to be adopted
in various infrastructures and other projects (UNEP 2012 ).
The wide spectrum of aspects and sectors LCCA is being adopted into indicates
its potential to deal with number of pertinent policy issues ranging from project
appraisal to achieving green economy, sustainable development and sustainable
service delivery. Despite its potential in comprehensive project assessment, its
application is often limited to one of three aspects [project appraisal, environmental
impact assessment, asset management (service delivery)]. In addition, the coverage
of life cycle phases in the assessment is limited (Korpi and Ala-Risku 2008 ). This is
often attributed to lack of data, in terms of quality, to make comprehensive eval-
uations, especially with regard to environmental impacts (Ayres 1995 ). Besides,
methodologies for assessing environmental impacts were also limited prior to the
1990s. As a result, studies have been limited to certain phases of life cycle, such as
research and development (R&D), production and construction (production),
operations and maintenance (O&M), and retirement and disposal costs (disposal)
rather than considering the inter-connected sectors. The development of environ-
mental economics during the last three decades has facilitated a more compre-
hensive use of LCCA. Moreover, LCCA, which has been a production engineer
'
s
assessment tool, is gaining acceptance with economists, planners,
financial man-
agers and policy makers.
2.1 LCCA: Beyond Project Appraisal
Until the beginning of the 21st century, LCCA was mainly used as a project
appraisal or cost management tool in order to make investment decisions. It is
observed that LCC is the most relevant cost management method and LCCA
promotes environmental impacts instead of being a pure cost analysis tool (Korpi
and Ala-Risku 2008 ). The increasing concern for environment and sustainable
development during the 1990s has provided a new perspective and impetus to
LCCA and its adoption. The Rio Summit in 2002 with its clear focus on global
green economy has identi
ed life cycle thinking as key to achieving sustainable
development. That is,
If the green economy is to bring the necessary changes to
guarantee a future for life on Earth, decision making on product sustainability,
investment, and policy must be made using life cycle thinking and operationalised
through life cycle management, approaches, and tools
(UNEP 2012 , p. 13).
Life cycle thinking is capable of integrating environmental, social and economic
impacts into the decision-making process thus ensuring sustainability in both public
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