Computing Footprints Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Computing Footprints - Essay Example One of the articles had the main punch line that three sectors of economy viz., housing, transport, and food together account for 50% of household spending on the average, and at the same time account for 70-75% of climate change and often other impacts. The rest of the paper is more on the methodology side, essentially supporting this finding. This finding is valid for different countries, different cities, and even different continents. Further, it is also valid across different methodologies and in particular across the two methodologies of LCA, viz., input and output base study, which is also called the ‘top-down’ approach and process life cycle inventory database study, termed the ‘bottom-up’ approach. While both methodologies are for life cycle assessment, the top-down study is more popular. Emphasizing the differences between top down and bottom up studies, Prof. Norris explained that the top-down approach uses input and output data based on consumption. Within the input and output data base study, we compare purchasing categories. The top-down study is based on uniform data source, uniform coverage, and approach, while the bottom-up study has to combine data from different studies and methodologies.