Life cycle assessment study of color computer monitor

The environmental performance of a color computer monitor is investigated by implementing a Life Cycle Assessment. The goal of this study is to collect LCI data of foreground systems, to identify hot spots, and to introduce life cycle thinking at the product design stage. Secondary data are used in the background system, and site-specific data are collected in the foreground system. Results show that the use phase is the most contributing phase. The operating mode and the energy saving mode during the overall use phase contribute to the total by 59% and by 9.9%, respectively. In the production phase, the cathode ray tube assembly process and the printed circuit board assembly process are the most contributing processes. The sensitivity analysis on the use pattern scenario shows that the contribution ratio of the use phase ranges from 32% to 84%. Even in the home use case, which is the best case scenario, the use phase is one of the most contributing processes to the environmental performance of the color computer monitor. There is no significant difference in the choice of the impact assessment methodologies for identifying the improvement opportunities. For the external use of Life Cycle Assessment in a short-run product for the market, it is recommended that Life Cycle Assessment should be carried out in parallel with the product design stage. It is also necessary to have a pre-existing, in-house database for a product group in order to accelerate life cycle procedures.