The new UK Government life cycle analysis (LCA) of PVC and alternatives has been unable to find a way to address the main issue surrounding the use of the material - the impact of toxic pollutants generated throughout its life cycle. This means the LCA adds little information of use to the current debate on policy measures needed to reduce the environmental impact of PVC.
However, even without taking into account environmental impacts of major pollutants, the report finds PVC to be the worst of the options it considered for windows and floors. This is because timber and linoleum use less energy, contribute less to global warming gases, use fewer non-renewable resources and generate less waste. In fact the LCA depends almost entirely on energy consumption, as nearly all of the six impact assessment categories (Greenhouse effect, air acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, photochemical oxidant formation, water eutrophication and non-renewable resource depletion) follow from this.
