Setting boundaries to develop a LCA of an automobile: Brazilian case study

摘要

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an important tool while considering the environmental impacts. Nevertheless, setting the scope has been very complicated, especially for complex products, such as an automobile. One way of surpassing this difficultly, whenever possible, is through observing other LCAs. Our objective in this study is to set boundaries to develop a LCA and to verify releases into the air during the life cycle of an average automobile in the fleet of Brazil. The main conclusion was that the old fleet is responsible for great part of some air pollutant emissions and the deterioration of it resulted in even higher emissions.