What does life cycle assessment evaluate?

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic approach to evaluating the environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life, from raw material extraction through production, use, and disposal. Option B accurately captures the essence of LCA as it focuses specifically on the environmental impact throughout the lifespan of a battery. This includes assessing factors such as resource depletion, emissions, energy consumption, and waste generation over the entire lifecycle of the battery, which is crucial for understanding its overall sustainability.

In contrast, the other options do not align with the core purpose of a life cycle assessment. While financial performance, market trends, and energy efficiency are important considerations in building services engineering, they do not encompass the comprehensive environmental evaluation that LCA provides. Thus, B is the most relevant answer to what life cycle assessment evaluates.