Journal of Chongqing University: English Edition
Vol. 6 No. 1
March 2007
Article ID: 1671-8224(2007)01- 0035-06
To cite this article: Zhang Ya-ping, Zuo Yu-hui. Construction of life cycle assessment software system platform [J]. J Chongqing Univ: Eng Ed (ISSN 1671-8224),
2007, 6 (1): 35-40.
Construction of life cycle assessment software system platform
ZHANG Ya-ping
a
, ZUO Yu-hui
National Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China
Received 8 October 2006; revised 15 November 2006
Abstract: There has not been life cycle assessment (LCA) software applicable to China’s products. To faciliate the develop-
ment of LCA software system in China, we built an object-oriented LCA software system plantform based on LCA international
standards ISO 14040 to ISO 14043 and the commonness of diverse products. The system includes six modules: disassembly
module, data collection module, arithmetic module, drawing module, database module and control module. It evaluates all
economic and environmental impacts during the whole life cycle of a product. The integrated life cycle inventory database
system allows dynamic expansion, which makes the effort required for data collection reduce with the increase of the system’s
application. With the improvement of human environmental-awareness, the demand of environment-friendly products is
increasing, and ecological design of products has become a critical part in products development. Consummation of the LCA
software system will provide a powerful tool for designing and developing Chinese ecological products.
Keywords: life cycle assessment; object-oriented; database; software system
CLC number: X3 Document code: A
1 Introduction
a
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to evaluate the
environmental effects of a product, process or an
activity within the entire life cycle from raw materials
acquisition, manufacturing, use and transportation to
final disposal. It is a comprehensive and systematical
method for evaluating the full environmental
consequences of product systems which covers not
only the interior of enterprises but also all social
sectors [1]. Therefore, it is all-inclusive and demands
the devotion of huge workload. Implementing life
cycle assessment requires a great quantity of data. On
average a project of life cycle assessment needs as
many as 100 000 data whose acquisition, analytics
and classification cost a great deal of time and energy.
a
ZHANG Ya-ping (张亚平): Female; Born 1979; PhD candidate;
Research fields: life cycle assessment, environ-mental
planning; E-mail:
zuosharleen@sina.com
The complexity of most life cycle assessment, variety
of data sources and onerousness of data transactions
mean that computer software would be an effective
tool which can not only process data accurately and
quickly but also store information for other uses.
The LCA database system, as the core of LCA
software system, stores a large quantity of product
inventory data and basic data which simplifies the
task of data collection and reduces the workload of
life cycle assessment for products of the same kind.
Moreover, the LCA software system facilitates people
in carrying out LCA projects and improves the
efficiency and accuracy, which helps promote
implementation of LCA when designing and
developing new products and processes.
LCA research started earlier abroad than in China.
Many LCA software systems have been developed
and commercially available. Among those software,
such special software as CMLCA
by Center of
Environmental Science of Leiden University in
Holland [2], ECO-it and ECO-99
by Product Ecology
Economics & Management Sciences