Postgraduate Course: Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment (Online) (EFIE11427)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Life cycle assessment: How do we know the environmental and social impacts of a product or service? How can we calculate the system-wide change in environmental or social impacts caused by consumption or production decisions, including product design decisions. This course will introduce life cycle assessment (LCA), explore different types of LCA, and discuss the appropriate uses of these methods. The course develops 'hard skills' for how to undertake an LCA, and critical skills for appraising the strengths and weaknesses of LCA. |
| Course description |
Life cycle assessment is an analytical method that aims to provide information on the environmental and social impacts of products and services. The method is used extensively within industry, policymaking, and academia, and has been formalised in international standards, guidance documents, and legislation. Nevertheless, the method also continues to evolve, with on-going debates about its appropriate use and methodological development.
This course introduces the concept of life cycle assessment, how to do an LCA, and also aims to provoke critical reflection on the appropriate use of the method. Within the academic literature and LCA practice there is an important distinction between 'attributional' and 'consequential' LCA, and the course explores the practical, ethical, and theoretical implications of this distinction.
The course covers:
1) Attributional LCA
2) Consequential LCA
3) Life cycle inventory
4) Life cycle impact assessment
5) LCA databases and software
6) Ethical issues related to LCA
7) Absolute environmental sustainability assessment
8) Limitations and appropriate uses of LCA
9) Beyond LCA - mitigation outcome assessment
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed. There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 12,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following assessment components:
1) Individual LCA Critique (40%)
Students will be asked to critically discuss the limitations and appropriate uses of attributional and consequential LCA. Multimodal submission allowed (essay, video with slide deck, podcast).
Word limit: 1,000 words or 8 minutes for video/podcast.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2
2) Individual Consequential Life Cycle Assessment (60%)
Completion of a consequential LCA using designated spreadsheet software. The submission should be an Excel spreadsheet. Students will be asked to select a product from a list provided, to source secondary data for constructing a life cycle inventory, and to undertake a consequential life cycle impact assessment.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 2 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Formative feedback will be given on the in-class group/individual Excel-based exercise for implementing an LCA. This will be directly relevant to the assessed LCA exercise. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically discuss the key concepts within life cycle assessment.
- Apply software and/or databases to undertake a life cycle assessment.
- Critically evaluate the appropriate uses and limitations of attributional and consequential life cycle assessment.
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Reading List
Required:
Brander, M. (2022), 'The most important GHG accounting concept you may not have heard of: the attributional-consequential distinction', Carbon Management, Taylor & Francis, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 337-339, doi: 10.1080/17583004.2022.2088402.
Brander, M., Burritt, R.L. and Christ, K.L. (2019), 'Coupling attributional and consequential life cycle assessment: A matter of social responsibility', Journal of Cleaner Production, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 215, pp. 514-521, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.066.
Hauschild, M., Rosenbaum, R.K., Olsen, S.I. and Al., E. (2017), Life Cycle Assessment - Theory and Practice, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3.
International Organization for Standardization. (2006), ISO 14044 - Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and Guidelines, Geneva, Switzerland.
Recommended:
Andreasi Bassi, S., Tonini, D., Ekvall, T. and Astrup, T.F. (2021), 'A life cycle assessment framework for large-scale changes in material circularity', Waste Management, Elsevier Ltd, Vol. 135 No. March, pp. 360-371, doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.09.018.
Bjørn, A., Diamond, M., Owsianiak, M., Verzat, B. and Hauschild, M.Z. (2015), 'Strengthening the link between life cycle assessment and indicators for absolute sustainability to support development within planetary boundaries', Environmental Science and Technology, American Chemical Society, 2 June, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5b02106.
Ekvall, T., Tillman, A.-M. and Molander, S. (2005), 'Normative ethics and methodology for life cycle assessment', Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 13 No. 13-14, pp. 1225-1234, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.05.010.
Ekvall, T. and Weidema, B.P. (2004), 'System boundaries and input data in consequential life cycle inventory analysis', The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 161-171, doi: 10.1007/BF02994190. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Life Cycle Assessment,Circular Economy,Resource Efficiency,EFI,PG |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Matthew Brander
Tel:
Email: Matthew.Brander@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Abby Gleave
Tel: (0131 6)51 1337
Email: abby.gleave@ed.ac.uk |
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