  Phonon lifetime calculations from first principles usually rely on time
consuming molecular dynamics calculations, or density functional perturbation
theory (DFPT) where the zero temperature crystal structure is assumed to be
dynamically stable. Here a new and effective method for calculating phonon
lifetimes from first principles is presented, not limited to crystal structures
stable at 0 K, and potentially much more effective than most corresponding
molecular dynamics calculations. The method is based on the recently developed
self consistent lattice dynamical method and is here tested by calculating the
bcc phase phonon lifetimes of Li, Na, Ti and Zr, as representative examples.
