A consumption mix is a Determining product output from a Market activity. It represents the blended product that results when a market combines similar intermediate product outputs from multiple supplying activities and makes this mixture available to consuming activities within a product system.
In Life Cycle Assessment modelling, market activities aggregate products from various suppliers and distribute them to consumers. The consumption mix is the result of this aggregation. When multiple transforming activities produce similar or functionally equivalent products, a market activity collects these outputs and provides a single, mixed product stream that other activities can draw upon as an input.
As a determining product, changes in demand for the consumption mix will directly affect the production volumes of the activities involved in its supply. This distinguishes it from by-products and reflects its role as a market-driven product output. The composition of a consumption mix depends on the market shares and production volumes of all the supplying activities that feed into the market activity.
The consumption mix is important for modelling realistic supply chains in LCA, where consumers typically draw from a mixed market reflecting the weighted average of available suppliers rather than sourcing from a single supplier. This ensures that Life Cycle Inventory results account for the diversity of supply sources and their relative contributions to the products consumed within the system boundaries.
The consumption mix differs from a production mix in that it specifically represents the output available for consumption from a market activity, whereas production mix refers more broadly to the production-volume-weighted average of suppliers within a geographical area.
As Chief Operating Officer, Iris leads our organisational development and oversees day-to-day operations. Before joining 2-0, she worked in the biotechnology sector. As an LCA consultant, Iris has devoted her expertise primarily to the domains of sustainable agriculture and food production. She is dedicated to teaching LCA and is responsible for our educational efforts. Iris holds an M.Sc. in Biology – Biotechnology from the University of Copenhagen.
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Glossary terms are clearer once you have seen them applied. Our guide to what LCA is and how it works walks through the complete methodology: goal and scope, inventory modelling, impact assessment, and interpretation.
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