Thermodynamics based model of life cycle assessment

Abstract The basic problem of eco-materials is how to judge whether a kind of material is environmentally friendly or not, which is usually evaluated by life cycle assessment. Although some international organizations, such as ISO, SETAC, etc., have given detailed specification on life cycle assessment, life cycle assessment is still in developing and it is still filled with dispute in some important environmental problems, for example, the depletion of mineral resources. Recently, for a purpose to get more objective results of products’ environment performance, a new assessment model exergy-based model of life cycle assessment combined the traditional life cycle assessment model and some important thermodynamic concepts (emergy, exergy) is emerging. The basic research method for thermodynamics is to study the interaction between system and environment. If considering materials’ life cycle as a system, the research on materials’ environmental performance could be changed to the research on the interaction between the system of materials’ life cycle and natural environment. Introducing thermodynamic theory into life cycle assessment system not only give life cycle assessment theoretical basis but also import new ideas to some detailed problems in LCA like the depletion of mineral resources.