EVALUATING THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF SERVICE SECTOR INDUSTRIES

The overall goal of this research is to evaluate and quantify the environmental impacts of service industries through the application of life cycle assessment (LCA). Service industries represent the majority of the United States economy, accounting for nearly 75% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), however, their environmental implications have often been overlooked as they are deemed cleaner by comparison to their manufacturing counterparts. \ud In order to identify which aspects of services are responsible for significant environmental loadings, and determine which areas have the most room for improvement the impacts need to be assessed using methods such as life cycle assessment. This research uses hybrid life cycle assessment to establish a framework for evaluating the impact of service industries. The evaluated service industries, professional services (consulting) and healthcare, combined account for more than 20% of the US GDP.\ud The results of the professional service assessment demonstrated the environmental significance of travel and transportation as well as building premise impacts on the overall impacts of the service. Of the total annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the professional services firm evaluated, 40% were a result of transportation while 24% were attributable to the impacts of the building premises, both primarily driven through the combustion of fossil fuels. Business travel and employee commuting were both about 20% of the annual GHG emissions for the firm, numbers that could be reduced greatly by purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles and instituting telecommuting programs. Improving fleet fuel economy through purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles and allowing 50% of the work force to telecommute one time per week resulted in a 5% decrease in the firms overall annual GHG emissions.\ud This research also evaluated the impacts of healthcare services, focusing on determining the life cycle impacts of single-use disposable products in a hospital operating room setting. The research evaluated the impacts of the production and disposal of the single use disposable products used in multiple hysterectomy procedures. The research found that the major impacts of the products were a result of material production, which accounted for between 88-97% of the environmental impacts of products.\u