LCA has evolved from its origins in energy analysis in the 1960s and 70s into a wide ranging tool used to determine impacts of products or systems over several environmental and resource issues. The approach has become more prevalent in research, industry and policy. Its use continues to expand as it seeks to encompass impacts as diverse as resource accounting and social well being. Carbon policy for bioenergy has driven many of these changes. Enabling assessment of complex issues over a life cycle basis is beneficial, but the process is sometimes difficult. LCA's use in framing is increasingly complex and more uncertain, and in some cases, irreconcilable. The charged environment surrounding biofuels and bioenergy exacerbates all of these. Reaching its full potential to help guide difficult policy discussions and emerging research involves successfully managing LCA's transition from attributional to consequential and from retrospective to prospective. This paper examines LCA's on-going evolution and its use within bioenergy deployment. The management of methodological growth in the context of the unique challenges associated with bioenergy and biofuels is explored. Changes seen in bioenergy LCA will bleed into other LCA arenas, especially where it is important that a sustainable solution is chosen.

中文翻译：

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生命周期评估的不断变化的性质。

LCA 已从 1960 年代和 70 年代的能源分析起源发展成为一种广泛的工具，用于确定产品或系统对多个环境和资源问题的影响。这种方法在研究、工业和政策中变得更加普遍。随着它寻求涵盖资源核算和社会福祉等多种影响，它的使用继续扩大。生物能源的碳政策推动了许多这些变化。在生命周期基础上对复杂问题进行评估是有益的，但该过程有时很困难。LCA 在框架中的使用越来越复杂，越来越不确定，在某些情况下是不可调和的。围绕生物燃料和生物能源的充电环境加剧了所有这些。充分发挥其潜力以帮助指导困难的政策讨论和新兴研究涉及成功管理 LCA 从归因到结果以及从回顾到前瞻性的转变。本文探讨了 LCA 的持续发展及其在生物能源部署中的应用。探讨了在与生物能源和生物燃料相关的独特挑战的背景下对方法学增长的管理。生物能源 LCA 的变化将渗透到其他 LCA 领域，尤其是在选择可持续解决方案很重要的领域。探讨了在与生物能源和生物燃料相关的独特挑战的背景下对方法学增长的管理。生物能源 LCA 的变化将渗透到其他 LCA 领域，尤其是在选择可持续解决方案很重要的领域。探讨了在与生物能源和生物燃料相关的独特挑战的背景下对方法学增长的管理。生物能源 LCA 的变化将渗透到其他 LCA 领域，尤其是在选择可持续解决方案很重要的领域。