Life cycle analysis
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The procedures of life cycle analysis are part of the ISO 14000 environmental management standards.
In the context of the energy industry, life cycle analysis refers to the holistic approach of including all tangible and perhaps some intangible costs of energy production from the initial project conception to the final step of returning the land to its original or next use state. Examples of tangible costs, aside from the obvious things like facility construction, may include such things as fuel source development and post extraction land remediation as well as waste disposal. Intangible things may include estimates of impact due to release of carbon into the environment or costs due to unusually long licensing processes or political resistance for new or innovative methods of energy production. In the past, costs due to plant decommissioning and the like were not generally figured into return on investment calculations due to lax regulatory requirements. This practice allowed some energy producers to hide the true lifetime costs of energy production thus projecting a false image of profitability. An example of this cost might be the funding needed to reclaim strip-mined areas of the American Appalachian Mountains.
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[edit] Well-to-Wheel
The term well-to-wheel is often used to refer to life cycle analysis applied to the overall efficiency of fuels used for transportation. The analysis is often broken down further into the stages such as "well-to-station" and "station-to-wheel or "well-to-tank" and "tank-to-wheel".
[edit] Cradle-to-Grave
The term cradle-to-grave is often used to refer to life cycle analysis applied to the overall performance starting upstream at the cradle of material and energy inputs extracted from the earth and ending at the grave of the life cycle with matter returning to earth. All inputs and outputs are considered for all the phases of the life cycle.
[edit] Cradle-to-Gate
The term Cradle-to-Gate is often used to refer to life cycle analysis applied to the overall efficiency of a product or service up to the point where it is produced (or delivered). It shows the environmental performance as it is, like the contents of your peanut butter jar. This type of LCA is often used for environmental product declarations, EPD.
[edit] Cradle-to-Cradle
The term 'cradle-to-cradle is often used to refer to a way of thinking about life cycles. If the grave of one cycle can be the cradle of its own or another, the life cycles are connected renderring them cradle-to-cradle.
