A simplified LCA (life cycle assessment) is an evaluation of a product’s environmental impact across its entire life — material extraction, manufacturing, use, end of life — carried out in a lightweight form in order to steer a design choice, without the methodological rigour of a full standardised LCA.
In the project
On a mechatronics project, the simplified LCA is used to compare structuring options from an environmental angle when the stakes reach beyond electronics and software alone (choice of a structural material, of a manufacturing process). On the eco-design side, it serves to inform a trade-off and record it, not to produce an exhaustive study. The split is clear. What can be quantified on the electronics and software side (power draw, component lifetime, copper mass) is carried in house. The rest (raw material impact, manufacturing energy, material end of life) is delegated.
The full method (scope, functional unit, inventory, indicators, ISO 14040 / 14044 standards) belongs to the life cycle and materials assessment course. This wiki keeps its use as a project-scale trade-off tool and refers to that course for any LCA run by the book.
See also
- Eco-design — the cross-cutting thread that mobilises the LCA and delegates it
- Eco-criteria matrix — the environmental trade-off tool built into the decisions themselves
- Integration and testing — where the real LCA on the prototype closes the eco-design arc
- LCA / materials course (colleagues) — the full ISO 14040 method