The experience of conducting an LCA study is like fishing in a sea abundant with numbers, it’s just a matter of knowing where to look and having the right net to capture them. Here’s a website full of numbers for you to browse: http://www.worldometers.info/
The Carbon Disclosure Project just released their 2010 supply chain report. They report favorable news as CDP Members are eager to collaborate with their Suppliers, and are taking steps to move forward and overcome obstacles: 89% already have a strategy in place to engage with Suppliers on GHG emissions and climate change. Within the next 12 months, the use of supplier relationship management processes will increase significantly, and the importance of carbon versus classic procurement targets is expected to triple during the next five years.
In the future, it will become common for Members to adjust their supply base according to lowcarbon criteria: 56% of Members state that in the future they expect to deselect Suppliers for failing to meet formal carbon management criteria, compared to just 6% today. It is clear that Suppliers are going to need to start to perform detailed assessments about their current capabilities in terms of climate change and carbon emissions management. They will also need to set ambitious targets for reducing their emissions in order to remain competitive. Details of the supply chain report can be found on the CDP website here: https://www.cdproject.net/en-US/Programmes/Pages/CDP-Supply-Chain.aspx
On Friday, a B Corporation called GoodGuide released a review that shed a negative light on the popular motorized hamsters called Zhu Zhu Pets as well as several other popular Christmas toys. Goodguide gave this hot holiday toy a low relative rating of 4.5 out of a possible 10 in their Health category when compared to similar toys.
The current federal standard for both antimony and chromium is 60 ppm (parts per million). GoodGuide tests revealed the following amounts:
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Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Dragonoid 466-807 ppm Chromium
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Bakugan 7-in-1 Maxus Helios 143-756 ppm Chromium
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Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Laughing Farm 193 ppm Chromium
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Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster Mr Squiggles 93-106 ppm Antimony
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International Playthings My First Purse 76 ppm Antimony
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Many consumers misinterpreted this review as a product recall. The Missouri-based manufacturer of Zhu Zhu Pets, Cepia LLC, is disputing GoodGuide’s claim, stating that they are in compliance with all regulatory bodies.
What is “GoodGuide”? The website states that it is ”…the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home” based on life cycle assessment approaches. Their pronouncement raises several questions:
How was the quantitative rating 4.5 out of 10 precisely calculated?
Who conducted the XRF contaminant substance testing and what was the specific process?
Were the testing procedures and the results third party verified per ISO for comparative assertions disclosed to the public?
GoodGuide has several stellar members on their board of advisors. GoodGuide was founded by Dara O’Rouke, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley and is now comprised of industry experts, scientists, consumer researchers and technologists from Amazon, Google, eBay, PayPal, Intuit, MIT and the University of California. Given the recent uproar of climate scientists acting less than forthcoming, let’s hope that the good guys at GoodGuide are correct.
Life Cycle Assessment is an objective process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process, or activity by identifying energy and materials used and wastes released to the environment, and to evaluate and implement opportunities to affect environmental improvements. (SETAC, 1990)
The set of Environmental Life Cycle Assessment Links have been assembled in part as a contribution to further the science and implementation of LCA. Select the area of interest on the selction bar to search your area of interest. This website is a co-product of my graduate research at Tufts University and came into existence during the discovery phase of my doctoral studies in 1994. Now that I have completed my studies, I continue to update this portal to continue to promote the use of LCA.
My Contact information is:
Thomas Gloria, Ph.D.
t.gloria “at” life-cycle.org