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Life Cycle Thinking

Life Cycle for Vehicle Regulations from worldautosteel on Vimeo.

It is well known that the transportation industry is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Regulators around the world are addressing this challenge by setting progressive automotive greenhouse gas emission limits, fuel economy standards or a combination of both, concentrating on tailpipe emissions only. We are encouraged by these aggressive measures to improve the environmental impact of passenger vehicles and commend their progress.

Much of the current regulations around the world began as metrics to achieve reductions in oil consumption. They adopted miles per gallon (kilometers per liter), measured in equivalent tailpipe grams of CO2 per mile (kilometer) as the means to achieve these reductions. It was the right approach to achieve the stated objective. However, extending that same metric toward the new objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions may result in unintended consequences.

A better way of measuring automotive GHG emissions is by using life-cycle assessment (LCA), which takes into account all of the emissions created during the life of a product from raw material production to product end-of-life.  WorldAutoSteel  is committed to advocating life cycle assessment’s inclusion in the development of vehicle emissions regulations around the globe.  We feel it’s the right thing to do for the planet.  Browse the materials below to learn more about life cycle assessment and why we’re so passionate about it.