Researchers are combining TEA with life cycle analysis (LCA) to provide a comprehensive evaluation of biorefinery technologies (Hill et al, 2006). These techniques share a symbiotic relationship in that they enhance findings from each discipline. TEA can quantify the economic costs associated with environmental impacts, and LCA determines the environmental effects related to TEA assumptions.

LCA researchers estimate the environmental impacts associated with biorefinery operations. Sometimes, the environmental impacts can be readily quantified in economic terms — water treatment of process effluent, for example. It is much harder to determine the economic cost of other types of environmental impacts like those associated with global climate change. TEAs can help determine the proper incentives or penalties required to encourage or mitigate these environmental impacts.

System boundaries are an important consideration for both TEA and LCA. TEAs are typically confined to the boundaries of a specific process, but can extend to include global economic activity. LCA research on the other hand encourages the expansion of system boundaries to properly account for environmental impacts. Therefore there are important tradeoffs involved in combining both techniques. In general, data availability weighs heavily on the choice of system boundaries.

There is an increasing awareness of the environmental impacts of industrial activity. The long-term implications of commissioning biorefinery projects require careful study of both economic and environmental risks. Knowledge gained from future biorefinery projects will enhance our understanding of both risks if they are investigated in a concerted fashion.