That sounds like you would be trying to do economic analysis/decision making using something like bills of material (+labor, externalities etc.). I can see how that would eliminate certain irrationalities, as you say. However, I am having a hard time imagining how one would use a the TEMS cost of a product in practice.
For example, why would it be more useful (or differently useful) to estimate a the TEMS cost of a water bottle instead of calculating the social cost (sum of private costs and external costs like EOL)?
That sounds like you would be trying to do economic analysis/decision making using something like bills of material (+labor, externalities etc.). I can see how that would eliminate certain irrationalities, as you say. However, I am having a hard time imagining how one would use a the TEMS cost of a product in practice.
For example, why would it be more useful (or differently useful) to estimate a the TEMS cost of a water bottle instead of calculating the social cost (sum of private costs and external costs like EOL)?
Regarding use in practice—in a database accessible from one source linked to the product via the label, or on the product page.
Something like:
Product A
Production Cycle:
T34, E45, M23, S15
Externality Watchlist:
CO2 = 300kg
P = 150kg
Utility
T3, E22, M4, S4
EOL Cycle:
T15, E25, M35, S10
Alerts:
Company B of product production line implicated in Ohio train wreck with (TEMS) externality outputs.
///
Then maybe you could click on the individual letter-number pairs to get more info on the underlying values. Something along those lines.
Regarding the second question, precisely because the social cost is prone to dollar value distortions.