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Improving Life Cycle Assessment by Considering Worker Health and Comparing Alternatives Based on Relative Efficiency

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Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2012

Abstract

Designing automobiles to support sustainability requires assessment of life cycle economic, environmental, and social impacts. Environmental and economic performance is increasingly evaluated with life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis. Analytical methods are needed to assess the associated life cycle social impacts. Additional sustainability criteria will make it more difficult to compare alternatives and select the “best” option. To enhance the evaluation of social impacts, a method for considering life cycle worker health impacts is proposed. To reduce reliance on subjective weighting, an approach using data envelopment analysis is proposed for comparing alternatives across multiple sustainability criteria. Conceptual approaches for both are presented as part of a case study focused on lightweighting vehicles through material selection.

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Correspondence to S. Lloyd .

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg

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Lloyd, S., Scanlon, K., Lengacher, D. (2012). Improving Life Cycle Assessment by Considering Worker Health and Comparing Alternatives Based on Relative Efficiency. In: Subic, A., Wellnitz, J., Leary, M., Koopmans, L. (eds) Sustainable Automotive Technologies 2012. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24145-1_40

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24145-1_40

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-24144-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-24145-1

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