LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY

The basis of a LCA study is an inventory of all the inputs and outputs of industrial processes that occur during the life cycle of a products. The processes include the production, the distribution, use and final disposal phases of the products.

Process inputs can be divided into two kinds:
1. Inputs of raw materials and energy resources (environmental input)

2. Inputs of products, semi-finished products or energy, which are outputs from other processes (economic input)

Similarly, there are two kinds of output:

1. Outputs of emissions (environmental output)
2. Output of a product, a semi-finished product or energy (economic output)