2003 Volume 44 Issue 1 Pages 167-172
Weighting in LCIA (life cycle impact assessment) can be classified into two types; midpoint and endpoint. To improve the transparency and reliability of impact assessment, the development of the endpoint approach has been required internationally in recent years. A methodology that enables the assessment of physical damage for Japanese products has to be developed, because the actual damage is dependent on the emission area and exposed area. Regarding LCIA for materials, though some studies have already been performed, there is no consensus among the results of various methods because of the lack of reliability and transparency in conventional methodologies. This paper describes the results of a case study for steel sheets applying the Japanese endpoint-type LCIA method. We adopted the DALY concept to indicate the damage to human health. It is found that the subjective judgments can be reduced maximally by applying the endpoint approach.
