Economic Input/Output LCA

This is a quick and dirty LCA tool for calculating the emissions hot spots for a general category of products, say small appliances or footware. Created by CarnegieMellon, with a vast data base behind it, it uses the cost of the goods produced to generate a footprint based on averages. In contrast to a full LCA, which depends on specific material and location information to calculate exact LCA's, the results of the EIO-LCA are generic at best. Despite being a bit clumsy, this tool does a fairly good job of delivering basic information for identifying product life cycle hot spots.

Some tips for using it:

• Choose the correct model- purchaser dollars or producer dollars.
• If your exact product does not turn up in the search, try the drop down menus for categories and sub categories.
• Make sure you have checked the appropriate "category of results"- i.e. GHG, Water, etc.
• If you want to see the full spectrum of impact sectors you can download the complete data.
• If you want to see the data in percentages rather than metric tons, click the view graph button.

Here is the example for footwear

Try out CarnegieMellon's EIO-LCA tool

Sustainable Minds

Sustainable Minds is a comprehensive and standardized system that allows you to credibly estimate, evaluate, compare and track the life cycle environmental and human health performance of products – in the earliest stages of design. Easy to understand and use, and delivered as an on-demand, Web-based service, it is affordable for both small and large organizations.