Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Conceptual Model of LCA

Description

This lecture introduces the conceptual model of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), focusing on the technosphere and ecosphere, elementary flows, elementary processes, and product systems. It explains the interactions between human activities and the natural environment, emphasizing the importance of defining product systems in LCA.

Official source

Related concepts (18)

Conceptual schema

A conceptual schema or conceptual data model is a high-level description of informational needs underlying the design of a database. It typically includes only the main concepts and the main relationships among them. Typically this is a first-cut model, with insufficient detail to build an actual database. This level describes the structure of the whole database for a group of users. The conceptual model is also known as the data model that can be used to describe the conceptual schema when a database system is implemented.

Life-cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case of a manufactured product, environmental impacts are assessed from raw material extraction and processing (cradle), through the product's manufacture, distribution and use, to the recycling or final disposal of the materials composing it (grave).

Conceptual blending

In cognitive linguistics, conceptual blending, also called conceptual integration or view application, is a theory of cognition developed by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner. According to this theory, elements and vital relations from diverse scenarios are "blended" in a subconscious process, which is assumed to be ubiquitous to everyday thought and language. Much like memetics, it is an attempt to create a unitary account of the cultural transmission of ideas.

Stock and flow

Economics, business, accounting, and related fields often distinguish between quantities that are stocks and those that are flows. These differ in their units of measurement. A stock is measured at one specific time, and represents a quantity existing at that point in time (say, December 31, 2004), which may have accumulated in the past. A flow variable is measured over an interval of time. Therefore, a flow would be measured per unit of time (say a year). Flow is roughly analogous to rate or speed in this sense.

Conceptual metaphor

In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another. An example of this is the understanding of quantity in terms of directionality (e.g. "the price of peace is rising") or the understanding of time in terms of money (e.g. "I spent time at work today"). A conceptual domain can be any mental organization of human experience.

Related lectures (11)

Implementation Research Outcomes: Distinguish Efficacy from Effectiveness

Explores the difference between intervention efficacy and implementation effectiveness in research outcomes.

Functional Unit: Definition and Examples

Covers the concept of functional unit in life cycle analysis, including its definition and practical examples.

Life Cycle Representation

Covers life cycle analysis, process tree representation, and examples like the assessment of a cup of hot water.

Applying Life Cycle Perspective

Introduces the aspects of applying the life cycle perspective in product analysis.

Life Cycle Assessment: Environmental Impact Evaluation