Automotive Environmental Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic accounting method to evaluate the environmental impact of products from “cradle to grave” and can be applied to automobiles. It considers the material and energy inputs as well as waste and emission outputs over the automobile's complete life cycle, from raw material extraction, vehicle manufacturing, operation, and eventual end‐of‐life treatment. The four general steps in carrying out anLCAare: (i) goal and scope definition, (ii) life cycle inventory data collection, (iii) impact assessment, and (iv) interpretation of results. UsingLCA, it has been found that for a conventional gasoline automobile with an internal combustion engine, its long operation or use phase dominates its life cycle impact. Around 70% of an average US car's life cycle greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to arise while it is being driven. Targeting ways to improve the automobile's fuel efficiency is therefore useful in reducing its overall environmental impact.