Functional Unit (FU) ensures the consideration of comparable product quantities to provide reliable Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results. Although the definition of this FU is essential, it receives only a few attention in the normative texts. A high part of subjectivity is let to the LCA practitioner. In this paper variability sources of the FU definition are identified to propose a more struct...

Spurred by European Union directives along with increased interest among US initiatives, life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming a common tool used in the measurement and evaluation of environmental performance and overall sustainability. Life cycle assessment is an analytical technique for assessing potential environmental, social, and economic burdens and impacts of a given product or process...

Solid waste is one of the unavoidable products of every society that necessitates the establishment of municipal solid waste management system. Because of variability in quantity and composition of municipal solid wastes, several management scenarios are considered. Assessing the environmental impacts of the life cycle of these scenarios will have a significant role in reducing and resolving ur...

The environmental impacts of producing asphalt mixtures with different percentages of asphalt binder replacement (ABR) are assessed using the technique of life cycle assessment (LCA). In this paper, only the material production phase of the pavement life cycle is considered. To improve the quality of the LCA, a regionalized life cycle inventory (LCI) database for the Northern Illinois region is...

Self-healing technologies provide the long-term resilience of concrete structures by enabling self-diagnose and self-repair damages (aging cracks, cyclic load damages, corrosion-induced cracks). However, self-healing require special additives materials in addition to ones conventional concrete. Hence, it is often perceived have higher environmental impacts, therefore, necessary understand same....

Particleboard is not entirely a wood replacement but particular material with its properties, making it more effective at different times than heavy or solid wood. The world’s biggest concern environmental problems formaldehyde as particulate board binder that can lead to human carcinogenic agents. A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) of particleboard production was performed using open...