Life Cycle Based Design and Product Development: Application of LCA to Lithuanian Industry

Abstract

The paper is based on some of the results of the project "Implementation of Green Product Development in the Baltic Sea Region and Establishment of Green Company Clusters in Latvia, Lithuania and Russia with Strong Links to Sweden". Life cycle assessment (LCA), as a tool for environmental evaluation of the product system has never been used before in Lithuanian industry. The main goal of this study has been to make an attempt of introducing LCA to the product development process. In the first phase LCA is applied to a selected group of products in different industry sectors. In the second phase the LCA results are used for readjusting the product, its eco-design or its environmental performance declaration development. Despite the limited capacity and lack of incentives, the companies have been satisfied with the project results in terms of the acquired knowledge, particularly in respect to the opportunities for cleaner production innovations.

The paper presents a new calculation model used in LCA research, a LCA model of an environmental impact of electricity production in Lithuanian national electricity grid and discusses the experience gained in successful implementation of LCA tools in Lithuanian industry