Life cycle inventory

Umberto Arena, Filomena Ardolino and Francesco Parrillo

Chapter 103 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, 2026, pp 382-387 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) aims at identifying, evaluating, and quantifying all environmental burdens, deriving from the systems under analysis, with reference to the chosen Functional Unit. LCI results can be reported as tables or quantified diagrams, by ensuring transparency and reproducibility of the analysis. Environmental burdens include all (elementary, product, and waste) flows to/from processes and can be distinguished in direct (i.e. those generated by the product systems under analysis), indirect (i.e. those generated by all other processes that interact with the system and allow it to work) and avoided (i.e. those related to co-products and to be accounted only in the case of multi-functional systems). Due to the large amount of data to be acquired and processed, LCI can be supported with other tools (such as Data Triangulation and Material/Substance Flow Analyses). Data modelling must be coherent with the chosen temporal perspective, which can be current or (brief-/long-term) future.

Keywords: LCI; Environmental Burdens; Allocation Procedure; Data collection; Data modelling; Time perspective (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035309887
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