I teach life cycle analysis (LCA) at Yale University and I use a software called OpenLCA. You can download this software at no cost. I give examples using this software for the students to understand how it works and how to calculate the environmental impacts of each phase of the life cycle of products or processes.

Hence, my recommendation for you is to used an LCA software to demonstrate the key principles as well as the quantification of life cycle impact analysis (LCIA).

There are other LCA software but they are not free like SimaPro, GaBi, and SustainableMinds

Hope this helps answer your question.

Professor Yehia Khalil

Yale University

USA

Hi Sachin, I have recently taken an Industrial Ecology class in which we covered LCA. In addition to the great suggestions by Prof. Khalil, I recommend having the students learn by bringing into class several simple small appliances (coffee maker, toaster, printer, etc) that are broken and have teams of 3-4 pick one to learn the software on to generate a streamlined LCA and present their findings on the last day of class. That way they have ownership and will be highly motivated. I attached some of the slides from my own.

Thanks,

-Steve