Methods for Quantifying Life Cycle Impact

The recent efforts in formulating a standard life cycle assessment (LCA) have focused on three issues. The first one is to define what are the impact categories we should look at when we assess a product life cycle. Another issue is that if there are scientific sound approaches to quantify and valuate the impact. Thirdly, can we develop a streamlined life cycle assessment? The Natural Resource Damage Assessment Model (NRDAM) was developed by the U.S. Department of Interior and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to assess the natural resource damage resulting from release of hazardous material into the aquatic environment. This paper presents the quantification and economic valuation algorithms used in NRDAM to propose a similar approach in developing a streamlined LCA for a regional application.