Energy Resource Lesson Seven : Using a Product's Life Cycle

1. How do you choose products and what do you do with them when you are done using them? Students complete the Self-assessment: Student Product Choice and Use student activity.

2. Introduce the life cycle of an apple.

Show all students six home-grown apples (or locally grown apples), a store-bought jar of applesauce, and an individual serving pack of applesauce. Use the following questions to generate a class discussion. Which product would you purchase for lunch? Why? [Answers will vary.] Which product do you think cost the least? [Home-grown apples.] Which product do you think took the least amount of energy to produce? [Home-grown apples.] Which product do you think will take the least amount of energy for disposal? [Home-grown apples.] Which product do you think has the least impact on the environment? [Home-grown apples.]

In general, products that are local, have been processed minimally, and have minimum packaging are the most environmentally friendly.

Hold up one apple. The apple is a product of a living thing. Recall from elementary school that all living things have life cycles. What are the stages of the apple’s life cycle? Draw or write-out the life cycle of an apple on the board (seed to tree to blossom to pollination to formation of apple (fruit) to fruit eaten by animals to seed deposited in soil…). What other things are needed for the formation of an apple? [Light (energy from the sun), water, nutrients (fertilizer), etc.].

Hold up the jar of applesauce. Do you think that this jar of applesauce has a life cycle? Explain to the students that just like living things, products also have life cycles and each step of the product life cycle has a name.

3. Use the classroom size Life Cycle of a CD or DVD poster to introduce students to the basic stages of life cycle assessment.

Optional: First give students the Product Life Cycle Stages Cards on the MEECS CD and have them physically arrange them in the order they think they should be arranged.

Design - Includes coming up with an idea for a product and determining what will be used to make it, how it will be made, how long it will last, etc. A product’s design affects each stage of its life cycle and, therefore, its social, economic, and environmental impact.

Materials Acquisition – The process of obtaining and transporting raw materials and previously manufactured components.

Materials Processing – The process of converting raw materials into a form that can be used to make products.

Manufacturing – The process of converting materials and other manufactured goods into a useful product.

Packaging – Packaging protects the product and can enhance its marketability.

Distribution – Products are transported to where they are sold.

Use – The intended and unintended ways the customer uses products.

Reuse/Recycling – Reusing, recycling, or remanufacturing products into new ones.

Disposal – The transportation and disposal of a product in a landfill, an incinerator, or in the environment.

4. Have students examine a CD or DVD.

What questions do you have about the life cycle of a CD? Students will be able to answer these questions later in the lesson. What materials are used to make the CD or DVD? Where did the materials come from? What types of energy are used and pollution produced in the production and transport of this product? What is the useful life of a CD or DVD? What do you do with them when you are done using them? Do you ever think about these questions when you purchase a product….

Life cycle assessment of a product can help us answer these questions and understand the economic, social, and environment impacts of our product choices.

5. What is a life cycle assessment? Display the (LCA) overhead transparency.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) looks at the economics, human impact, energy, materials, and wastes produced at each stage of a product’s life cycle from cradle (design) to grave (disposal).

How can we use a life cycle assessment? LCA informs a manufacturer if the environmental stresses associated with their product (or service) is from their supply chain, their factory, consumer use, or final disposal. The manufacturer can then focus efforts on the particular stage of a product life cycle that results in the greatest environmental impact, or they may design a product so it is more easily disassembled and reused at the end of its life. Manufacturers may also learn that they need to work more closely with their customers to limit the environmental impact of a product (or service) during consumer use. For example, a consumer can reduce the environmental impact if they wash clothes with colder water, or place dishes in the dishwasher without first rinsing.

Designers and engineers use LCA to make more economical and environmentally sustainable products, and we as consumers can use LCA to help us make more environmentally sound purchasing decisions.

6. Display the Pollution Prevention overhead transparency.

Designers and manufacturers can incorporate pollution prevention strategies (reduce, reuse, recycle) into different stages of a product’s life cycle to make products more economically and environmentally friendly. Consumers can also use pollution prevention strategies such as reduce, reuse, and recycle after the purchase of a product.

7. Students use the Life Cycle of a CD or DVD mini poster to answer the Life Cycle of a CD or DVD student activity questions.

1. Which materials are used to make CDs and DVDs? (The materials used to make CDs and DVDs include aluminum, polycarbonate, lacquer, gold, dyes, water, glass, silver and nickel.)

2. Are the materials renewable or nonrenewable? (All the materials used to make CDs and DVDs are non-renewable, except for water.)

3. Which stages of the life cycle use energy? (Energy is used at each stage of the life cycle including materials acquisition, materials processing, manufacturing, packaging, transportation/distribution, useful life (to play the CD or DVD), reuse (to play the CD or DVD), recycling, and disposal.)

4. Which stages of the life cycle do you think create wastes? (Wastes are created at each stage of the product’s life cycle.)

5. Which of the following actions uses the least amount of energy and resources: reusing the CD or DVD, recycling the CD or DVD, or disposing of the CD or DVD? (Reusing the CD or DVD uses the least amount of energy and resources.)

6. How can designers and manufacturers make a more environmentally friendly, or sustainable, CD or DVD? What changes could be made at each step 1-6 to make the product better for the environment? (Answers will vary.)

8. Homework.

Students use their responses to question 6 to design a new more environmentally friendly life cycle of a CD or DVD incorporating their ideas on large sheets of paper.

Hang the posters in the classroom for peer review.

9. Summary understandings.

We use energy directly and indirectly in the products and services we purchase and use. Product choices have direct and indirect economic, social, and environmental consequences that should be considered when making purchasing decisions.

Analyzing a product’s life cycle can help us make informed purchasing decisions and end-oflife choices (reuse, recycle, or dispose).

Pollution prevention (reduce, reuse, recycle) strategies can help us make better use of limited resources and the energy it takes to extract, transport, process, and dispose of them.

Careful purchasing along with the 3Rs can help us conserve energy and raw materials, and minimize pollution and waste.