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Environmental life cycle assessment with support of fuzzy-sets

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Abstract

The application of the methodology Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is time-consuming and expensive. A definite interpretation, furthermore, is not always derivable from the determined results. The reason for the leeway of interpretation is frequently due to the imprecision and uncertainty of the ingoing data. An improved clearance of interpretation is to be expected by an ecological evaluation of methodology with the support of fuzzy-sets. The influence of uncertainties of ingoing data on evaluation results becomes transparent through a representation as fuzzy-sets. Thus, the interpretation of an uncertainty of assessment results is reduced in comparison to usual procedures for environmental LCA thus far. Time and cost saving is to be expected from the fact that the extensive quantification of many energy and mass flows is replaced by a fuzzy-set supported iteration loop, with which only the exact quantification of a few important flows is necessary.

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Correspondence to Achim Schwan.

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Weckenmann, A., Schwan, A. Environmental life cycle assessment with support of fuzzy-sets. Int. J. LCA 6, 13–18 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02977589

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