Working definitions for the terms that recur across this project: the circular economy, water resource recovery and reuse, and the life cycle methods -- LCA, LCC and S-LCA -- that AWARE combines into one sustainability assessment. They are written for a general reader rather than for specialists.
Showing entries beginning with C.
CAPEX is the upfront investment -- building the plant, membranes, pumps, pipes. OPEX is the running cost -- energy, chemicals, staff, maintenance, sludge disposal. Water reuse technologies often trade one…
The total greenhouse gas emissions and removals over a product's life cycle, expressed in CO₂ equivalent, standardised for products in ISO 14067. It is an LCA restricted to a single…
A number expressing how much a unit of a given flow contributes to an impact category, relative to a reference substance. In climate change, for example, 1 kg of methane…
A model of production and consumption that keeps materials and products in use for as long as possible through sharing, leasing, reuse, repair, refurbishment and recycling, in contrast to the…
Outputs of the same process that each have value. A co-product is one of several outputs that justify running the process; a by-product is a secondary output that arises anyway…
An appraisal that compares all the costs and benefits of an option in monetary terms, including external ones, to decide whether society is better off with it. Where LCC asks…
A study scope that follows a product through its entire life cycle, from resource extraction to final disposal. Narrower scopes are common: cradle-to-gate stops when the product leaves the factory,…
An independent check that an LCA follows the relevant standards and that its methods, data and interpretation are sound and transparent. Under ISO 14044 it is mandatory, by a panel…
Rules stating which small flows may be left out of a study -- for instance any input contributing less than 1% of total mass or energy. They keep data collection…
Definitions are written for this site in plain language. The selection of terms was checked against the Life Cycle Initiative terminology (UNEP), the ILCA Common Glossary and the SimaPro LCA glossary, and against ISO 14040/14044, ISO 14046, ISO 14075 and the UNEP Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (2020).
