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A life cycle inventory (LCI) study evaluates the environmental performance of the ULSAB-AVC (UltraLight Steel Auto Body - Advanced Vehicle Concepts) vehicle product system. The LCI quantifies the inputs and outputs of each life cycle stage of the ULSAB-AVC PNGV-gas engine vehicle (998 kg) over the 193,000 km service lifetime of the vehicle. The use phase of the ULSAB-AVC PNGV-diesel engine variant (1031 kg) is also quantified. The data categories measured for each life cycle phase include resource and energy consumption, air and water pollutant emissions, and solid waste production. The ULSAB-AVC LCI study is based on the methods, model and data from the 1999 study by the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP), a consortium within the United States Council for Automotive Research. This model was modified to represent the ULSAB-AVC PNGV-gas engine vehicle for each life cycle phase as well as the use phase of the PNGV-diesel engine variant.

This paper presents the International Iron and Steel Industry (IISI) Policy on LCA and describes how it has been applied to a major international project to produce life cycle inventory data for a wide range of steel industry products. This project was the first of its kind, having been conducted on a global scale. The resulting LCI data sets are used within the steel industry. An example of benchmarking is presented. The results are also provided to steel customers and other external audiences carrying out LCA studies, following an original procedure aimed at providing assistance and follow up.

A large life cycle inventory study like the one completed under the banner of the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP) can be a complex affair. Apart from the technical requirements of modeling a “generic” North American vehicle, it was necessary to bring a diverse group of stakeholders to the life cycle table and to have the stakeholders work together for a common purpose. This paper identifies six stakeholders that participated in the LCI study of a generic North American automobile and describes how the work was organized. These stakeholders, particularly the auto, steel, plastics, and aluminum industries, each had different experiences with life cycle inventory analysis, held competing interests, and perhaps entered the project with different expectations. Issues that had to be addressed include goal selection, provision of resources, division of the work among stakeholders, scheduling and related project planning, as well as the process for decision making.