Life-cycle assessment (LCA, also known as life-cycle analysis, ecobalance, and cradle-to-grave analysis) is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from-cradle-to-grave
Life cycle cost analysis became popular in the 1960s when the concept was taken up by U.S. government agencies as an instrument to improve the cost effectiveness of equipment procurement. From that point, the concept has spread to the business sector, and is used there in new product development studies, project evaluations and management accounting. As there is high interest in life cycle cost analysis in maintenance, the International Electrotechnical Commission published a standard (IEC 60300) in 1996, which lies in the field of dependability management and gives recommendations how to carry out life cycle costing. This standard was renewed in July 2004