Elinkaariarvon

Elinkaariarvon is a concept used in sustainability, product design, and public procurement to describe the value generated by a product or service over its entire life cycle. It integrates economic, environmental, and social aspects rather than focusing solely on purchase price or upfront cost. The idea is to capture how design choices, materials, manufacturing, use, maintenance, and end-of-life management affect total value over time.

Scope. Elinkaariarvo covers all stages of a product's life: concept and design, production, distribution, use and maintenance, and end-of-life options such as recycling, refurbishing, or disposal. It reflects not only monetary costs and revenues but also externalities like energy use, emissions, resource depletion, and social impacts.

Calculation and methods. Practically, elinkaariarvon is assessed through life cycle costing (LCC) complemented by life cycle assessment (LCA) and, when appropriate, multi-criteria decision analysis. System boundaries, time horizon, and discount rate influence results. Data sources include process data, cost data, operation and maintenance costs, and end-of-life values.

Applications and benefits. The concept supports durable, modular, and repairable design, procurement decisions favoring long-lived assets, and policies aimed at circular economy. It helps compare alternatives on a common basis across time and environmental performance.

Limitations. Uncertainties in data, valuation of non-monetary effects, and subjectivity in weighting can affect reliability. The use of discounting may undervalue long-lived assets.

See also: elinkaarianalyysi, elinkaarilaskenta, circular economy, total cost of ownership.