抄録
Although conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool to evaluate environmental impacts of products, there are
some cases where it cannot provide sufficient information for environmental policy making due to the analytical perspective.
The objective of this study is to develop a new method that contributes to making policy on the introduction of
environmentally sound products into a society from mid- and long-term viewpoints. An inter-temporal linear programming
model was developed that determines an optimal schedule for the introduction of environmentally sound products to
minimize the cumulative environmental burden over time on a social scale. The cumulative burden is calculated across the
life cycle of all the products in a society considering the lifetime distribution of the products. The model was applied to
explore an optimal introduction of green cars and the maximum CO2 reduction potential under socio-economic constraints in
Japan. The empirical study found that optimal configuration within limited budget consists of not only more high-efficient
cars such as hybrids and electrics but also diesels. That is, it is effective for minimization of CO2 emissions that the limited
budget is not concentrated on the best car but widely distributed some types of green cars.
