Abstract
Twelve of the main European LCA software packages currently available are examined with the aim of establishing which are the most appropriate for LCAs on industrial processes. The packages performances are assessed in terms of Volume of Data Windows™ environment Network Capabilities Impact Assessment Graphical representation of the inventory results Sensitivity analysis Units Cost User Support Flow Diagrams Burdens allocation Transparency of data Input & output parameters Demo version Quality of data The review concludes with a Specification Table which summarises the facilities available on each software package. The general conclusion from this study is that for industrially based LCAs, there are four packages which may offer advantages over the rest. These are The Boustead Model, The Ecobilan Group's TEAM™, PEMS 3.0 and SimaPro 3.1.