ABSTRACT

This thesis work has been realized with ENEA cooperation, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment.

The first part of the thesis concerns the study of the principal methods for the LCA analysis (Eco-Indicator99, EPS 2000 and Edip 96). The second part regards the application to the case of the production of the oats; such evaluation is led using the three studied methods.

The scheme of working of the SIMAPRO code, used to develop the LCA study, is also taken back.
The analysis has been made using the versions of the methods modified by ENEA. In particular, "Eco-indicator 99" is modified in "Eco-indicator 99 (E)CWE" to consider costs and the consumption of resources as water and energy, EPS 2000 is modified in EPS 2000 CWCO2 to consider the consumption of water, the emission of carbon dioxide and costs, Edip 96 is modified in Edip96 (dust) to consider dust.

From the LCA analysis of the production of the oats' seeds how much follows has emerged: according to the Eco-Indicator99 method the damage is equal to 0.233 Pt., according to the EPS 2000 method the damage is equal to 0.116 Pt., at last according to the Edip 96 method the damage is equal to 0.276 Pt.

The damage comes from the greater part from the herbicides and fertilizers use.
The damage is attenuated by the absorption of the CARBON DIOXIDE of the plants.
The calculation of the externalities of the costs is made at last. The externalities are those costs the producing company is not legally responsible for which.