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1.
Andreas Jørgensen Matthias Finkbeiner Michael S. Jørgensen Michael Z. Hauschild 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2010,15(4):376-384
Background, aim and scope
A relatively broad consensus has formed that the purpose of developing and using the social life cycle assessment (SLCA) is to improve the social conditions for the stakeholders affected by the assessed product’s life cycle. To create this effect, the SLCA, among other things, needs to provide valid assessments of the consequence of the decision that it is to support. The consequence of a decision to implement a life cycle of a product can be seen as the difference between the decision being implemented and ‘non-implemented’ product life cycle. This difference can to some extent be found using the consequential environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA) methodology to identify the processes that change as a consequence of the decision. However, if social impacts are understood as certain changes in the lives of the stakeholders, then social impacts are not only related to product life cycles, meaning that by only assessing impacts related to the processes that change as a consequence of a decision, not all changes in the life situations of the stakeholders will be captured by an assessment following the consequential ELCA methodology. This article seeks to identify these impacts relating to the non-implemented product life cycle and establish indicators for their assessment. 相似文献2.
Chiu Chuen Onn Sumiani Yusoff 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2010,15(9):985-993
Background, aim, and scope
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an emerging supporting tool designed to help practitioner in systematically assessing the environmental performance of selected product’s life cycle. A product’s life cycle includes the extraction of raw materials, production, and usage, and ends with waste treatment or disposal. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) as a part of LCA is a method used to derive the environmental burdens from selected product’s stages. LCIA is structured in classification, characterization, normalization and weighting. Presently most of the LCIA practices use European database to establish the characterization, normalization and weighting value. However, using these values for local LCA practice might not be able to reflect the actual Malaysian’s environmental scenario. The aim of this study is to create a Malaysian version of normalization and weighting value using the pollution database within Malaysia. 相似文献3.
Frank Werner Hans-Jörg Althaus Klaus Richter Roland W. Scholz 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2007,12(3):160-172
Background
In product life cycle assessment (LCA), the attribution of environmental interventions to a product under study is an ambiguous task. This is due to a) the simplistic modeling characteristics in the life cycle inventory step (LCI) of LCA in view of the complexity of our techno-economic system, and b) to the nontangible theoretical nature of the product system as a representation of the processes ‘causally’ linked to a product. Ambiguous methodological decisions during the setup of an LCI include the modeling of end-of-life scenarios or the choice of an allocation factor for the allocation of joint co-production processes. An important criterion for methodological decisions — besides the conformity with the relevant series of standards ISO 14 040 — is if the improvement options, which can be deduced from the LCI, are perceived by the decision-maker as to redirect the material flows at stake into more sustainable paths. 相似文献4.
Linda M. Gustafsson Pål Börjesson 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2007,12(3):151-159
Background, Aims and Scope Using renewable feedstock and introducing biocatalysts in the chemical industry have been suggested as the key strategies
to reduce the environmental impact of chemicals. The Swedish interdisciplinary programme ‘Greenchem’, is aiming to develop
these strategies. One target group of chemicals for Greenchem are wax esters which can be used in wood surface coatings for
wood furniture, etc. The aim of this study was to conduct a life cycle assessment of four different wood surface coatings,
two wax-based coatings and two lacquers using ultra violet light for hardening (UV lacquers). One of the two wax-based coatings
is based on a renewable wax ester produced with biocatalysts from rapeseed oil, denoted ‘green wax’, while the other is based
on fossil feedstock and is denoted ‘fossil wax’. The two UV lacquers consist of one ‘100% UV’ coating and one ‘water-based
UV’ coating. The scope was to compare the environmental performance of the new ‘green’ coating with the three coatings which
are on the market today.
Methods The study has a cradle-to-grave perspective and the functional unit is ‘decoration and protection of 1 m2 wood table surface for 20 years’. Extensive data collection and calculations have been performed for the two wax-based coatings,
whereas mainly existing LCI data have been used to characterise the production of the two UV lacquers.
Results For all impact categories studied, the ‘100% UV’ lacquer is the most environmentally benign alternative. The ‘water-based
UV’ is the second best alternative for all impact categories except EP, where the ‘fossil wax’ is slightly better. For GWP
the ‘fossil wax’ has the highest contribution followed by the ‘green wax’. For AP and EP it is the ‘green wax’ that makes
the highest environmental impact due to the contribution from the cultivation of the rapeseed and the production of the rapeseed
oil. For POCP the ‘fossil wax’ makes the highest contribution, slightly higher than the contribution from the ‘green wax’.
Also the energy requirements for the ‘100% UV’ lacquer is much lower than for the other coatings. The results from the toxicological
evaluation conducted in this study, which was restricted to include only the UV lacquers, are inconclusive, giving different
results depending on the model chosen, EDIP97 or USES.
Discussion The result in this study shows that the environmental benefits of using revewable feedstock and processes based on biocatalysis
in the production of wax esters used in wood surface coatings are rather limited. This is due to the high environmental impact
from other steps in the life cycle of the coating.
Conclusions Overall the ‘100% UV’ lacquer seems to be the best alternative from an environmental point of view. This study shows that
the hot spots of the life cycle of the coatings are the production of the ingredients, but also the application and drying
of the coatings. The toxicity assessment shows the need for the development of a new model, a model which finds common ground
in order to overcome the current situation of diverging results of toxicity assessments. The results in this study also point
to the importance of investigating the environmental performance of a product based on fossil or renewable feedstock from
a life cycle perspective.
Recommendations and Perspectives The results in this study show that an efficient way to improve the wood coating industry environmentally is to increase the
utilization of UV lacquers that are 100% UV-based. These coatings can also be even further improved by introducing biocatalytic
processes and producing epoxides and diacrylates from renewable raw material instead of the fossil-based ones produced with
conventional chemical methods in use today. In doing this, however, choosing a vegetable oil with good environmental performance
is important. An alternative application of the ‘green wax’ analysed in this study may be as an ingredient in health care
products, for example, which may result in greater environmental benefits than when the wax is used inwood coating products.
The results in this study illustrate the importance of investigating the environmental performance of a product from cradle-to-grave
perspective and not consider it ‘green’ because it is based on renewable resources. 相似文献
5.
Goal and Scope The goal of this study is to explore the potentials and limitations of using LCA as the basis for setting ecolabelling criteria
in developing countries. The practicality of using LCA for this purpose, as required by ISO 14020, has been criticised as
lacking in transparency and scientific rigour. Furthermore, ecolabelling is not widespread in developing countries. The application
of LCA has therefore been illustrated by using the specific case of shrimp aquaculture in Thailand, as a basis for ecolabelling
criteria for a typical product intended for export from a developing country.
Method For the LCA case study, the functional unit is the standard consumer-package size, containing 1.8 kg of frozen shrimp produced
by conventional intensive aquaculture in Thailand, subject to an appropriate environmental management system. The impact assessment
method used in this study is CML 2 Baseline 2000.
Results According to the results from the LCA study, farming appears to be the key life cycle stage generating the most significant
environmental impacts: abiotic depletion and global warming, which arise mainly from the use of energy; and eutrophication
caused by wastewater discharged from the shrimp ponds. It is possible to cover these impacts by quantitative ecolabelling
criteria. Other important impacts could not be quantified by the LCA: depletion of wild shrimp broodstock, impacts of trawling
on marine biodiversity and the choice of suitable farm sites. These impacts, which are also related to the farming stage,
must be covered by 'hurdle criteria'.
Conclusions and recommendations. For the present case, LCA provides a basis for quantifying a number of important ecolabelling criteria
related to the use of abiotic resources and to emissions. Other important issues, connected with the use of biotic natural
resources and land, are not quantifiable by current LCA methodology, but were also revealed and clarified by using an LCA
framework for the analysis. Thus, focussing the assessment on life cycle considerations, as required by ISO 14024, was effective
in identifying all key environmental issues. In the light of this case study, main limitations and barriers associated with
the application of LCA to setting ecolabelling criteria particularly in developing countries are discussed, including recommendations
on how to overcome them. 相似文献
6.
According to the approach developed by Thomas A. Sebeok (1921–2001) and his ‘global semiotics,’ semiosis and life converge.
This leads to his cardinal axiom: ‘semiosis is the criterial attribute of life.’ His global approach to sign life presupposes
his critique of anthropocentrism and glottocentrism. Global semiotics is open to zoosemiotics, indeed, even more broadly,
biosemiotics which extends its gaze to semiosis in the whole living universe to include the realms of macro- and microorganisms.
In Sebeok’s conception, the sign science is not only the study of communication in culture, but of communicative behaviour
from a biosemiotic perspective. 相似文献
7.
A survey of unresolved problems in life cycle assessment 总被引:2,自引:2,他引:0
John Reap Felipe Roman Scott Duncan Bert Bras 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2008,13(4):290-300
Background, aims, and scope Life cycle assessment (LCA) stands as the pre-eminent tool for estimating environmental effects caused by products and processes
from ‘cradle to grave’ or ‘cradle to cradle.’ It exists in multiple forms, claims a growing list of practitioners, and remains
a focus of continuing research. Despite its popularity and codification by organizations such as the International Organization
for Standards and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, life cycle assessment is a tool in need of improvement.
Multiple authors have written about its individual problems, but a unified treatment of the subject is lacking. The following
literature survey gathers and explains issues, problems and problematic decisions currently limiting LCA’s goal and scope
definition and life cycle inventory phases.
Main features The review identifies 15 major problem areas and organizes them by the LCA phases in which each appears. This part of the
review focuses on the first 7 of these problems occurring during the goal and scope definition and life cycle inventory phases.
It is meant as a concise summary for practitioners interested in methodological limitations which might degrade the accuracy
of their assessments. For new researchers, it provides an overview of pertinent problem areas toward which they might wish
to direct their research efforts.
Results and discussion Multiple problems occur in each of LCA’s four phases and reduce the accuracy of this tool. Considering problem severity and
the adequacy of current solutions, six of the 15 discussed problems are of paramount importance. In LCA’s first two phases,
functional unit definition, boundary selection, and allocation are critical problems requiring particular attention.
Conclusions and recommendations Problems encountered during goal and scope definition arise from decisions about inclusion and exclusion while those in inventory
analysis involve flows and transformations. Foundational decisions about the basis of comparison (functional unit), bounds
of the study, and physical relationships between included processes largely dictate the representativeness and, therefore,
the value of an LCA. It is for this reason that problems in functional unit definition, boundary selection, and allocation
are the most critical examined in the first part of this review.
相似文献
Bert BrasEmail: |
8.
Thorough environmental observation and a series of life cycle consideration have been performed to underpin the development
of the environmental criteria of a new EU Eco-label product group following the voluntary and selective European Environmental
Award Scheme based on Regulation EC 1980/ 2000. Since April 2002, the European Eco-label is available for the Hard Floor Coverings
product group, subsequently also called ‘HFC’. The Eco-label translates environmental awareness on products for indoor and
outdoor covering materials such as ceramic and clay tiles, concrete paving units, terrazzo, agglomerated and natural stones
into a new market-based environmental policy tool. As a matter of fact, the HFC ecological criteria development has been positively
concluded based on a the study of the Italian National Environment Protection Agency (ANPA, Agenzia Nazionale per la Protezione
dell’Ambiente) with the technical support of Life Cycle Engineering (Turin, Italy), that had been entrusted with this task
by the European Commission, DG Environment. The stakeholders involved in the ‘Ad Hoc Working Group’ activities included European
Eco-label Competent Bodies, some of the most important manufacturers, consumers and environmental associations at a European
level. In December 2001, after eighteen months of concerted work with all the interested parties in the European Union Eco-label
Board (EUEB), the final vote of criteria by Member States enabled the publication of the EU-wide valid criteria and the elaboration
of an application pack (user manual) in late March 2002. 相似文献
9.
James A. Fava 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2002,7(4):196-198
Building awareness of life-cycle thinking and its value will be an important first step towards creating more sustainable
forms of consumption and production. We have come a long way—even though the public may not have heard of it as ‘life-cycle
thinking’. Articles in the popular press, which elude to life-cycle implications, are beginning to surface. For example, George
F. Will (Newsweek, May 6, 2002) describes the ‘most politically correct product’ as being Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. But he
also goes on to mention that their ice cream is “made in a factory that depends on electricity-guzzling refrigeration, and the a gallon of ice cream requires eight gallons
of milk. While making that much milk, a cow consumes a lot of water plus three pounds of grain and hay, which is produced
with tractor fuel, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides, and is transported with truck or train fuel.” 相似文献
10.
A survey of unresolved problems in life cycle assessment 总被引:5,自引:3,他引:2
John Reap Felipe Roman Scott Duncan Bert Bras 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2008,13(5):374-388
Background, aims, and scope Life cycle assessment (LCA) stands as the pre-eminent tool for estimating environmental effects caused by products and processes
from ‘cradle to grave’ or ‘cradle to cradle.’ It exists in multiple forms, claims a growing list of practitioners and remains
a focus of continuing research. Despite its popularity and codification by organizations such as the International Organization
for Standardization and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, life cycle assessment is a tool in need of
improvement. Multiple authors have written about its individual problems, but a unified treatment of the subject is lacking.
The following literature survey gathers and explains issues, problems and problematic decisions currently limiting LCA’s impact
assessment and interpretation phases.
Main features The review identifies 15 major problem areas and organizes them by the LCA phases in which each appears. This part of the
review focuses on the latter eight problems. It is meant as a concise summary for practitioners interested in methodological
limitations which might degrade the accuracy of their assessments. For new researchers, it provides an overview of pertinent
problem areas toward which they might wish to direct their research efforts. Having identified and discussed LCA’s major problems,
closing sections highlight the most critical problems and briefly propose research agendas meant to improve them.
Results and discussion Multiple problems occur in each of LCA’s four phases and reduce the accuracy of this tool. Considering problem severity and
the adequacy of current solutions, six of the 15 discussed problems are of paramount importance. In LCA’s latter two phases,
spatial variation and local environmental uniqueness are critical problems requiring particular attention. Data availability
and quality are identified as critical problems affecting all four phases.
Conclusions and recommendations Observing that significant efforts by multiple researchers have not resulted in a single, agreed upon approach for the first
three critical problems, development of LCA archetypes for functional unit definition, boundary selection and allocation is
proposed. Further development of spatially explicit, dynamic modeling is recommended to ameliorate the problems of spatial
variation and local environmental uniqueness. Finally, this paper echoes calls for peer-reviewed, standardized LCA inventory
and impact databases, and it suggests the development of model bases. Both of these efforts would help alleviate persistent
problems with data availability and quality.
相似文献
Bert BrasEmail: |
11.
Geoffrey M. Rynja David C. Moy 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2002,7(6):359-362
Background, Intention, Goal and Scope The analytical laboratory is traditionally considered to be a service provider. This has resulted in laboratory environmental
management being considered mostly from a pollution prevention and waste minimization perspective. There is a recognized need
to view environmental performance of a laboratory service provider from a broader perspective. This broader perspective is
inclusive of sampling, analysis and the potential for impacts to arise from the use of output information products. A generic
methodology for the measurement and benchmarking of the overall environmental performance of an analytical laboratory and
its outputs using the Laboratory Product Model (LPM) is described. Environmental performance indicators, relating to inputs
and processing are proposed.
Objectives The project seeks to broaden the focus of environmental performance away from the individual analytical unit processes to
a more encompassing ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach incorporating sample collection and results reporting and use. To support this
approach, a functional unit of output for a laboratory has to be defined.
Methods A life cycle assessment approach, incorporating life cycle inventory considerations, is applied within the LPM conceptual
framework.
Results and Discussion This approach facilitates a shift in thinking from laboratory service to the life cycle of laboratory product inputs and outputs.
It enables LCA methodologies to be applied to environmental performance through the application of the LPM. The definition
of a laboratory product output facilitates benchmarking and comparison of laboratories.
Conclusions The LPM approach assigns a critical role to the laboratory for the sustainability of the laboratory operations from sample
collection, through analysis to the use of its product outputs.
Recommendations and Outlook The application of the LPM offers a top down approach for the evaluation of the environmental performance of an analytical
laboratory. It is expected to provide a useful tool for assessing and benchmarking the environmental performance of analytical
laboratories. 相似文献
12.
If the complexity of real, socio-economic systems is acknowledged, life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) in life cycle assessment
(LCA) cannot be considered as unambiguous, objective, and as an exclusively data and science based attribution of material
and energy flows to a product. The paper thus suggests a set of criteria for LCI derived from different scientific disciplines,
practice of product design and modelling characteristics of LCI and LCA. A product system with its respective LCI supporting
the process of effective and efficient decision-making should ideally be: a) complete, operational, decomposable, non-redundant,
minimal, and comparable; b) efficient, i.e., as simple, manageable, transparent, cheap, quick, but still as ‘adequate’ as
possible under a functionalistic perspective which takes given economic constraints, material and market characteristics,
and the goal and scope of the study into account; c) actor-based when reflecting the decision-makers’ action space, risk-level,
values, and knowledge (i.e. mental model) in view of the management rules of sustainable development; d) as site- and case-specific
as possible, i.e. uses as much site-specific information as possible. This rationale stresses the significance of considering
both (i) material and energy flows within the technosphere with regard to the sustainable management rules; (ii) environmental
consequences of the environmental interventions on ecosphere. Further, the marginal cost of collecting and computing more
and better information about environmental impacts must not exceed the marginal benefits of information for the natural environment.
The ratio of environmental benefits to the economic cost of the tool must be efficient compared to other investment options.
As a conclusion, in comparative LCAs, the application of equal allocation procedures does not lead to LCA-results on which
products made from different materials can be compared in an adequate way. Each product and material must be modelled according
to its specific material and market characteristics as well as to its particular management rules for their sustainable use.
A generic LCA-methodology including preferences on methodological options is not definable. 相似文献
13.
Michael Röhrlich Mark Mistry Per N. Martens Stefan Buntenbach Martin Ruhrberg Matthias Dienhart Sebastian Briem Rainer Quinkertz Zeynel Alkan Kurt Kugeler 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2000,5(6):369-373
For the utilisation of an energy carrier such as lignite, the whole life cycle including necessary energy supply processes
have to be considered. Therefore using the ‘Cumulative Energy Demand’ (CED) is especially suited to determine and compare
the energy intensity of processes.
The goal of the CED is to calculate the total primary energy input for the generation of a product, taking into account the
pertinent front-end process chains. So the CED is in many steps similar to the LCA, especially in the ‘inventory analysis
step’.
The statements of the CED for energy supply-systems are concerned with the (primary) energy-efficiency of the energy supply
and pointing out the life cycle steps with high energy-resources demand. Due to the great environmental impacts of energy
supply and use which have to be laboriously assessed in LCA, the CED provides a useful, additional, energy-related ‘screening-indicator’
to LCA.
This case study analyses the extraction of lignite in an opencast mine in West-Germany as the first step of energy carrier
provision. Our data for the inventory analysis arise from a measuring campaign about the period of one year. The results underline
the great energy demand of lignite extraction in West-Germany.
With reference to the energy contents of lignite, the fraction of primary energy demands for its’ mining amounts to about
6.2%. This accounts to 93.8 % of the lignite energy content being available as usable energy for further processes, which
is obviously worse than other studies have shown. 相似文献
14.
This article investigates the impact of transnational environmental organizations on rural people involved in conservation
by exploring the impacts of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) ivory trade
ban on Namibia’s elephant conservation policy. This case study examines how rural African people are put into categories of
‘conservation heroes’ or ‘environmental villains’ by local conservation practitioners, government officials in Namibia and
transnational conservation actors. Findings indicate that the approach of state officials and conservation organizations (CO)
results in incomplete representations of both rural African people and the cultural importance these people attach to elephants.
The article concludes that current environmental narratives associated with rural African people have been used as powerful
‘tools of persuasion’ at the state and international level to support and legitimate conservation policy and resource use
in relation to the concerns of transnational environmental actors to the exclusion of rural African people. 相似文献
15.
Traditional life-cycle assessment begins with a product and examines its environmental impacts throughout its life cycle.
An alternative approach is to proceed in reverse: to examine the need that the product is designed to fulfill, to determine
the minimal environmental impacts that could be engendered by filling that need, and thereby to design the “ideal green product”
for the purpose. This approach, termed reverse life-cycle assessment (RLCA), is demonstrated by examining the environmental
impacts attributable to a generic washing machine of current design, and then by reviewing other ways in which the provisioning
of clean clothing may be accomplished. RLCA, as used here, is shown to encourage systems thinking and to identify opportunities
for innovation in design and in marketing of environmentally-responsible products in ways that would be unlikely to arise
from a traditional LCA. 相似文献
16.
Llorenç Milà i Canals Xavier Domènèch Joan Rieradevall Rita Puig Pere Fullana 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2002,7(1):39-46
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been used to detect the environmental ‘hot spots’ in the chrome-tanned bovine leather industry. We have studied those stages in the life cycle of leather, which occur ‘from cradle to gate’. The production chain studied starts with the agricultural products (fertiliser and pesticide production is also included) needed for cattle raising, it is followed by the slaughterhouse, and ends at the tanning industry gate. Main chemicals and waste flows in and out of this chain have also been included in the analysis. One of the main conclusions is that the tannery is an important stage in most of the impact categories, mainly due to the landfilling of the tannery wastes. Agriculture and — to a lesser extent — cattle raising also play a very important role in most of the impact categories; the former, due to the related energy consumption and use of fertilisers, and the latter due to the emissions associated with animal care. The Autonomous Government of Catalonia is using the results of this study to establish the environmental criteria that a leather product must fulfil in order to attain the Catalan eco-label. 相似文献
17.
Aline Cobut Robert Beauregard Pierre Blanchet 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2013,18(3):722-742
Purpose
Growing public concern about the current state of our planet led to the creation of numerous regulations, standards, and certifications for the protection of humans and the environment. Ecolabels were defined for products such as cleaning products, paints, and many others. Wood building products are no exception. The objective of this study is to analyze the existing ecolabelling programs for appearance wood products in nonresidential applications and to evaluate them relatively to their effective role in environment protection or reduction of environment footprint.Methods
The research was conducted on the most common International Organization for Standardization (ISO) type I ecolabels in North America, the European Union, and Japan. Certification schemes applicable to appearance wood products for nonresidential applications were considered. In a life cycle assessment perspective, certification criteria were compared regarding their ability to consider and integrate environment impacts.Results and discussion
A wide range of ecolabels can apply to appearance wood products, from indoor air quality to wood from sustainable forest management. Moreover, it has been found that among all certification schemes studied, those integrating the whole life cycle were the most relevant.Conclusions
The remaining limitation of ISO type I ecolabels is the lack of environmental information enabling the differentiation between products bearing the same ecolabel. This can be overcome by ISO type III environmental product declarations. Thus, allowing a better understanding of the implications related with the use of wood products compared to other materials in the nonresidential building sector. 相似文献18.
When looking at a product’s life cycle, emissions and resource uses, as well as the resulting impacts, usually occur at different
points in time. For instance, construction materials are often ‘stored’ in buildings for many decades before they are recycled
or disposed of. The goal of the LCA Discussion Forum 22 was to present and discuss arguments pro and contra a temporally differentiated
weighting of impacts. The discussion forum started with three talks that illustrated the importance of temporal aspects in
LCI and LCIA. The following two presentations discussed the economical principles of discounting, the adequacy of this concept
within LCA, and the ethical questions involved. After one further short presentation, three groups were formed that discussed
questions about temporally-differentiated weighting, and consequences for LCI as well as LCIA (damage assessment and final
weighting). The discussion forum ended with the following conclusions: (a) long-term impacts should be considered in LCA,
and (b) long-term emissions should be inventoried separately from short-term emissions. There was no consensus on whether
short-term and long-term impacts should be weighted equally. Some prefer to weigh short-term emissions higher, because they
are considered to be closer. Consistent and approved forecasts should be used when considering future changes in environmental
conditions in LCI and LCIA. 相似文献
19.
Cristina Gazulla Marco Raugei Pere Fullana-i-Palmer 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2010,15(4):330-337
Background, aim, and scope
This paper presents the results of the LCA of wine production in the region of La Rioja (Spain). The aim of this study was twofold: to identify the most critical life cycle stages of an aged Spanish wine from the point of view of the associated environmental impacts and to compare its environmental performance with that of other wines and beers for which comparable information could be found in the scientific literature. All the product’s life cycle stages were accounted for, namely: grapes cultivation (viticulture), wine making and bottling, distribution and sales, and disposal of empty bottles. 相似文献20.
Radu Popa 《Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere》2010,40(2):183-190
The criteria used for defining life are influenced by various philosophical visions about life, ranging from holism to reductionism
and from mechanistic-reductionism to vitalism. Using different scenarios about the origin and evolution of life as well as
properties of energy-dissipative systems, artificial life simulations and basic tenets of xenobiology, guidelines can be established
for formulating a definition of life. A definition of life is proposed that is parametric, non-Earth-centric, quantitative
and capable of discriminating ‘living entities’ from ‘life’. Living entities are defined as self-maintained systems, capable
of adaptive evolution individually, collectively or as a line of descend. Life is a broader concept indicating that the capacity
to express these attributes is either virtual or actual. At least four major phase transitions can be recognized during the
origin of life (reflexive activity; self-regulated homeostasis; the advent of informatons and the origin of adaptive evolution);
these make the origin and evolution of early life an example of ‘punctuated gradualism’. Such phase transitions can be used
to identify a boundary in early evolution where life began. This contribution identifies the step in the evolution of a dynamic
system when digital control of the system’s state becomes dominant over analogical control, and genetic information is irreversibly
used for adaptive evolution, as the boundary between non-living and living systems. 相似文献