Oil Points - Life Cycle Evaluations without the Data Problem

Environmental aspects of products in their whole life cycle are of increasing importance in industry [1]. Therefore, several methods and tools for environmental life cycle evaluation have been developed during the last years. Formal Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the state-of-the-art in environmental evaluation, usually involves the handling of a considerable amount of data in order to obtain an assessment with sufficient coverage of all potential environmental impacts of the product. Obtaining these data is very often a major obstacle in conducting an LCA. Furthermore, this data intensity results in an equally high time consumption.Simplified, indicator-based methods have been developed to facilitate rough evaluations in relatively short periods of time [2, 3]. Unlike complex LCA methods, which are to be used by specialists, these simplified methods can be used by product developers. However, any indicator-based evaluation is dependent on the existence and availability of such indicators.In order to avoid this, the Oil Point Method (OPM) has been developed. Its application only requires limited resources while still providing a valuable evaluation. The OPM is based on primary energy considerations. Background for its development is the fact that for products with negligible toxicological implications, the majority of environmental impacts is energy-related. Here, energy considerations are a good basis for rough environmental evaluations.