Dfm - 97 - 119 an Activity - Based Life - Cycle Assessment Method

In this paper, a new activity-based method for the concurrent assessment and tracing of costs, energy consumption and waste generation for usage in Life-Cycle Design is presented. The method is based on Activity-Based Costing (ABC). By utilizing ABC we are able to assess and trace accurately overhead and direct costs, energy and waste generation.. The inherent uncertainty is modeled in terms of fuzzy numbers, but solved numerically using the Monte Carlo simulation technique, which allows us to perform a sensitivity analysis. This enables us to not only estimate the costs, energy consumption and waste generation, but also trace the largest contributors. The capability to trace the contributors is perhaps the most significant feature especially when the method is employed for design. To illustrate the usage of this method, a simple case study is provided in which we explore the life-span costs, energy consumption and waste generation of a oil/gas exploration platform supply vessel operating in the North Sea.