共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 915 毫秒
1.
Oyeshola F. Kofoworola Shabbir H. Gheewala 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2008,13(6):498-511
Background, aim, and scope To minimize the environmental impacts of construction and simultaneously move closer to sustainable development in the society,
the life cycle assessment of buildings is essential. This article provides an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of
a typical commercial office building in Thailand. Almost all commercial office buildings in Thailand follow a similar structural,
envelope pattern as well as usage patterns. Likewise, almost every office building in Thailand operates on electricity, which
is obtained from the national grid which limits variability. Therefore, the results of the single case study building are
representative of commercial office buildings in Thailand. Target audiences are architects, building construction managers
and environmental policy makers who are interested in the environmental impact of buildings.
Materials and methods In this work, a combination of input–output and process analysis was used in assessing the potential environmental impact
associated with the system under study according to the ISO14040 methodology. The study covered the whole life cycle including
material production, construction, occupation, maintenance, demolition, and disposal. The inventory data was simulated in
an LCA model and the environmental impacts for each stage computed. Three environmental impact categories considered relevant
to the Thailand context were evaluated, namely, global warming potential, acidification potential, and photo-oxidant formation
potential. A 50-year service time was assumed for the building.
Results The results obtained showed that steel and concrete are the most significant materials both in terms of quantities used, and
also for their associated environmental impacts at the manufacturing stage. They accounted for 24% and 47% of the global warming
potential, respectively. In addition, of the total photo-oxidant formation potential, they accounted for approximately 41%
and 30%; and, of the total acidification potential, 37% and 42%, respectively. Analysis also revealed that the life cycle
environmental impacts of commercial buildings are dominated by the operation stage, which accounted for approximately 52%
of the total global warming potential, about 66% of the total acidification potential, and about 71% of the total photo-oxidant
formation potential, respectively. The results indicate that the principal contributor to the impact categories during the
operation phase were emissions related to fossil fuel combustion, particularly for electricity production.
Discussion The life cycle environmental impacts of commercial buildings are dominated by the operation stage, especially electricity
consumption. Significant reductions in the environmental impacts of buildings at this stage can be achieved through reducing
their operating energy. The results obtained show that increasing the indoor set-point temperature of the building by 2°C,
as well as the practice of load shedding, reduces the environmental burdens of buildings at the operation stage. On a national
scale, the implementation of these simple no-cost energy conservation measures have the potential to achieve estimated reductions
of 10.2% global warming potential, 5.3% acidification potential, and 0.21% photo-oxidant formation potential per year, respectively,
in emissions from the power generation sector. Overall, the measures could reduce approximately 4% per year from the projected
global warming potential of 211.51 Tg for the economy of Thailand.
Conclusions Operation phase has the highest energy and environmental impacts, followed by the manufacturing phase. At the operation phase,
significant reductions in the energy consumption and environmental impacts can be achieved through the implementation of simple
no-cost energy conservation as well as energy efficiency strategies. No-cost energy conservation policies, which minimize
energy consumption in commercial buildings, should be encouraged in combination with already existing energy efficiency measures
of the government.
Recommendations and perspectives In the long run, the environmental impacts of buildings will need to be addressed. Incorporation of environmental life cycle
assessment into the current building code is proposed. It is difficult to conduct a full and rigorous life cycle assessment
of an office building. A building consists of many materials and components. This study made an effort to access reliable
data on all the life cycle stages considered. Nevertheless, there were a number of assumptions made in the study due to the
unavailability of adequate data. In order for life cycle modeling to fulfill its potential, there is a need for detailed data
on specific building systems and components in Thailand. This will enable designers to construct and customize LCAs during
the design phase to enable the evaluation of performance and material tradeoffs across life cycles without the excessive burden
of compiling an inventory. Further studies with more detailed, reliable, and Thailand-specific inventories for building materials
are recommended. 相似文献
2.
3.
Goal, Scope and Background Assessing future energy and transport systems is of major importance for providing timely information for decision makers.
In the discussion of technology options, fuel cells are often portrayed as attractive options for power plants and automotive
applications. However, when analysing these systems, the LCA analyst is confronted with methodological problems, particularly
with data gaps and the requirement of an anticipation of future developments. This series of two papers aims at providing
a methodological framework for assessing future energy and transport systems (Part 1) and applies this to the two major application
areas of fuel cells (Part 2).
Methods To allow the LCA of future energy and transport systems forecasting tools like, amongst others, cost estimation methods and
process simulation of systems are investigated with respect to the applicability in LCAs of future systems (Part 1). The manufacturing
process of an SOFC stack is used as an illustration for the forecasting procedure. In Part 2, detailed LCAs of fuel cell power
plants and power trains are carried out including fuel (hydrogen, methanol, gasoline, diesel and natural gas) and energy converter
production. To compare it with competing technologies, internal combustion engines (automotive applications) and reciprocating
engines, gas turbines and combined cycle plants (stationary applications) are analysed as well.
Results and Discussion Principally, the investigated forecasting methods are suitable for future energy system assessment. The selection of the best
method depends on different factors such as required ressources, quality of the results and flexibility. In particular, the
time horizon of the investigation determines which forecasting tool may be applied. Environmentally relevant process steps
exhibiting a significant time dependency shall always be investigated using different independent forecasting tools to ensure
stability of the results.
The results of the LCA (Part 2) underline that principally, fuel cells offer advantages in the impact categories which are
typically dominated by pollutant emissions, such as acidification and eutrophication, whereas for global warming and primary
energy demand, the situation depends on a set of parameters such as driving cycle and fuel economy ratio in mobile applica-tions
and thermal/total efficiencies in stationary applications. For the latter impact categories, the choice of the primary en-ergy
carrier for fuel production (renewable or fossil) dominates the impact reduction. With increasing efficiency and improving
emission performance of the conventional systems, the competition regarding all impact categories in both mobile and stationary
applications is getting even stronger.
The production of the fuel cell system is of low overall significance in stationary applications, whereas in automotive applications,
the production of the fuel cell power train and required materials leads to increased impacts compared to internal combustion
engines and thus reduces the achievable environmental impact reduction.
Recommendations and Perspectives The rapid technological and energy economic development will bring further advances for both fuel cells and conventional energy
converters. Therefore, LCAs at such an early stage of the market development can only be considered preliminary. It is an
essential requirement to accompany the ongoing research and development with iterative LCAs, constantly pointing at environmental
hot spots and bottlenecks. 相似文献
4.
Life cycle assessment of primary magnesium production using the Pidgeon process in China 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Feng Gao Zuoren Nie Zhihong Wang Xianzheng Gong Tieyong Zuo 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2009,14(5):480-489
Background, aims, and scope China has been the largest primary magnesium producer in the world since year 2000 and is an important part of the global
magnesium supply chain. Almost all of the primary magnesium in China is produced using the Pidgeon process invented in the
1940s in Canada. The environmental problems of the primary magnesium production with the Pidgeon process have already attracted
much attention of the local government and enterprises. The main purposes of this research are to investigate the environmental
impacts of magnesium production and to determine the accumulative environmental performances of three different scenarios.
System boundary included the cradle-to-gate life cycle of magnesium production, including dolomite ore extraction, ferrosilicon
production, the Pidgeon process, transportation of materials, and emissions from thermal power plant. The life cycle assessment
(LCA) case study was performed on three different fuel use scenarios from coal as the overall fuel to two kinds of gaseous
fuels, the producer gas and coke oven gas. The burden use of gaseous fuels was also considered.
Methods The procedures, details, and results obtained are based on the application of the existing international standards of LCA,
i.e., the ISO 14040. Depletion of abiotic resources, global warming, acidification, and human toxicity were adopted as the
midpoint impact categories developed by the problem-oriented approach of CML to estimate the characterized results of the
case study. The local characterization and normalization factors of abiotic resources were used to calculate abiotic depletion
potential (ADP). The analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the weight factors. Using the Umberto version 4.0, the
emissions of dolomite ore extraction were estimated and the transportation models of the three scenarios were designed.
Results and conclusions The emissions inventory showed that both the Pidgeon process of magnesium production and the Fe–Si production were mainly
to blame for the total pollutant emissions in the life cycle of magnesium production. The characterized results indicated
that ADP, acidification potential, and human toxicity potential decreased cumulatively from scenarios 1 to 3, with the exception
of global warming potential. The final single scores indicated that the accumulative environmental performance of scenario
3 was the best compared with scenarios 1 and 2. The impact of abiotic resources depletion deserves more attention although
the types and the amount of mineral resources for Mg production are abundant in China. This study suggested that producer
gas was an alternative fuel for magnesium production rather than the coal burned directly in areas where the cost of oven
gas-produced coke is high. The utilization of “clean” energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases and acidic gases emission
were the main goals of the technological improvements and cleaner production of the magnesium industry in China.
Recommendation and perspective This paper has demonstrated that the theory and method of LCA are actually helpful for the research on the accumulative environmental
performance of primary magnesium production. Further studies with “cradle-to-cradle” scheme are recommended. Furthermore,
other energy sources used in magnesium production and the cost of energy production could be treated in further research. 相似文献
5.
Estimating the Greenhouse Gas Balance of Individual Gas‐Fired and Oil‐Fired Electricity Plants on a Global Scale
下载免费PDF全文
![点击此处可从《Journal of Industrial Ecology》网站下载免费的PDF全文](/ch/ext_images/free.gif)
Mara Hauck Zoran J.N. Steinmann Aafke M. Schipper Freek Gorrissen Aranya Venkatesh Mark A.J. Huijbregts 《Journal of Industrial Ecology》2017,21(1):127-135
Life cycle greenhouse gas (LC‐GHG) emissions from electricity generated by a specific resource, such as gas and oil, are commonly reported on a country‐by‐country basis. Estimation of variability in LC‐GHG emissions of individual power plants can, however, be particularly useful to evaluate or identify appropriate environmental policy measures. Here, we developed a regression model to predict LC‐GHG emissions per kilowatt‐hour (kWh) of electricity produced by individual gas‐ and oil‐fired power plants across the world. The regression model uses power plant characteristics as predictors, including capacity, age, fuel type (fuel oil or natural gas), and technology type (single or combined cycle) of the plant. The predictive power of the model was relatively high (R2 = 81% for predictions). Fuel and technology type were identified as the most important predictors. Estimated emission factors ranged from 0.45 to 1.16 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalents per kilowatt‐hour (kg CO2‐eq/kWh) and were clearly different between natural gas combined cycle (0.45 to 0.57 kg CO2‐eq/kWh), natural gas single cycle (0.66 to 0.85 kg CO2‐eq/kWh), oil combined cycle power plants (0.63 to 0.79 kg CO2‐eq/kWh), and oil single cycle (0.94 to 1.16 kg CO2‐eq/kWh). Our results thus indicate that emission data averaged by fuel and technology type can be profitably used to estimate the emissions of individual plants. 相似文献
6.
Goal, Scope and Background The energy systems included in the ecoinvent database v1.1 describe the situation around year 2000 of Swiss and Western European power plants and boilers with the associated energy chains. The addressed nuclear systems concern Light Water Reactors (LWR) with mix of open and closed fuel cycles. The system model ‘Natural Gas’ describes production, distribution, and combustion of natural gas. Methods Comprehensive life cycle inventories of the energy systems were established and cumulative results calculated within the ecoinvent framework. Swiss conditions for the nuclear cycle were extrapolated to major nuclear countries. Long-term radon emissions from uranium mill tailings have been estimated with a simplified model. Average natural gas power plants were analysed for different countries considering specific import/export of the gas, with seven production regions separately assessed. Uncertainties have been estimated quantitatively. Results and Discussion Different radioactive emission species and wastes are produced from different steps of the nuclear cycle. Emissions of greenhouse gases from the nuclear cycle are mostly from the upstream chain, and the total is small and decreasing with increasing share of centrifuge enrichment. The results for natural gas show the importance of transport and low pressure distribution network for the methane emissions, whereas energy is mostly invested for production and long-distance pipeline transportation. Because of significant differences in power plant efficiencies and gas supply, country specific averages differ greatly. Conclusion The inventory describes average worldwide supply of nuclear fuel and average nuclear reactors in Western Europe. Although the model for nuclear waste management was extrapolated from Swiss conditions, the ranges obtained for cumulative results can represent the average in Europe. Emissions per kWh electricity are distributed very differently over the natural gas chain for different species. Modern combined cycle plants show better performance for several burdens like cumulative greenhouse gas emissions compared to average plants. Recommendation and Perspective Comparison of country-specific LWRs or LWR types on the basis of these results is not recommended. Specific issues on different strategies for the nuclear fuel cycle or location-specific characteristics would require extension of analysis. Results of the gas chain should not be directly applied to areas other than those modelled because emission factors and energy requirements may differ significantly. A future update of inventory data should reconsider production and transport from Russia, as it is a major producer and exporter to Europe. The calculated ranges of uncertainty factors in ecoinvent provide useful information but they are more indications of uncertainties rather than strict 95% intervals, and should therefore be applied carefully. 相似文献
7.
Goal, Scope and Background Assessing future energy and transport systems is of major importance for providing timely information for decision makers.
In the discussion of technology options, fuel cells are often portrayed as attractive options for power plants and automotive
applications. However, when analysing these systems, the LCA analyst is confronted with methodological problems, particularly
with data gaps and the requirement of forecasting and anticipation of future developments. This series of two papers aims
at providing a methodological framework for assessing future energy and transport systems (Part 1) and applies this to the
two major application areas of fuel cells (Part 2).
Methods To allow the LCA of future energy and transport systems, forecasting tools like, amongst others, cost estimation methods and
process simulation of systems are investigated with respect to the applicability in LCAs of future systems (Part 1). The manufacturing
process of an SOFC stack is used as an illustration for the forecasting procedure. In Part 2, detailed LCAs of fuel cell power
plants and power trains are carried out including fuel (hydrogen, methanol, gasoline, diesel and natural gas) and energy converter
production. To compare it with competing technologies, internal combustion engines (automotive applications) and reciprocating
engines, gas turbines and combined cycle plants (stationary applications) are also analysed.
Results and Discussion Principally, the investigated forecasting methods are suitable for future energy system assessment. The selection of the best
method depends on different factors such as required ressources, quality of the results and flexibility. In particular, the
time horizon of the investigation determines which forecasting tool may be applied. Environmentally relevant process steps
exhibiting a significant time dependency shall always be investigated using different independent forecasting tools to ensure
stability of the results.
The results of the LCA underline that, in general, fuel cells offer advantages in the impact categories usually dominated
by pol-lutant emissions, such as acidification and eutrophication, whereas for global warming and primary energy demand, the
situation depends on a set of parameters such as driving cycle and fuel economy ratio in mobile applications and thermal/total
efficiencies in stationary applications. For the latter impact categories, the choice of the primary energy carrier for fuel
production (renewable or fossil) dominates the impact reduction. With increasing efficiency and improving emission performance
of the conventional systems, the competition in both mobile and stationary applications is getting even stronger. The production
of the fuel cell system is of low overall significance in stationary applications, whereas in vehicles, the lower life-time
of the vehicle leads to a much higher significance of the power train production.
Recommendations and Perspectives In future, rapid technological and energy economic development will bring further advances for both fuel cells and conventional
energy converters. Therefore, LCAs at such an early stage of the market development can only be considered preliminary. It
is an essential requirement to accompany the ongoing research and development with iterative LCAs, constantly pointing at
environmental hot spots and bottlenecks. 相似文献
8.
Life Cycle assessment of bio-ethanol derived from cellulose 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Objective, Scope, Background A comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment was conducted on bio-ethanol produced using a new process that converts cellulosic biomass
by enzymatic hydrolysis. Options for sourcing the feedstock either from agricultural and wood waste, or, if the demand for
bio-ethanol is sufficient, from cultivation are examined. The main focus of the analysis was to determine its potential for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions in a 10% blend of this bio-ethanol with gasoline (E10) as a transportation fuel.
Methods SimaPro 4.0 was used as the analysis tool, which allowed a range of other environmental impacts also to be examined to assess
the overall relative performance to gasoline alone. All impacts were assigned to the fuel because of uncertainties in markets
for the by-products. This LCA therefore represents a worst case scenario.
Results, Conclusion It is shown that E10 gives an improved environmental performance in some impact categories, including greenhouse gas emissions,
but has inferior performances in others. Whether the potential benefits of the bio-ethanol blend to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions will be realized is shown to be particularly sensitive to the source of energy used to produce the process steam
required to break down the cellulose to produce sugars and to distil the final product. One key area where improvements in
environmental performance might be derived is in enzyme production.
Recommendations and Outlook The LCA profile helps to highlight those areas where positive and negative environmental impacts can be expected. Technological
innovation can be directed accordingly to preserve the benefits while minimizing the negative impacts as development progresses
to commercial scales. 相似文献
9.
Life cycle assessment of fuel ethanol from cassava in Thailand 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
Thu Lan T. Nguyen Shabbir H. Gheewala 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2008,13(2):147-154
Goal and Scope A well-to-wheel analysis has been conducted for cassava-based ethanol (CE) in Thailand. The aim of the analysis is to assess
the potentials of CE in the form of gasohol E10 for promoting energy security and reducing environmental impacts in comparison
with conventional gasoline (CG).
Method In the LCA procedure, three separate but interrelated components: inventory analysis, characterization and interpretation
were performed for the complete chain of the fuel life cycle. To compare gasohol E10 and CG, this study addressed their impact
potentials per gasoline-equivalent litre, taking into account the performance difference between gasohol and gasoline in an
explosion motor.
Results and Discussions The results obtained show that CE in the form of E10, along its whole life cycle, reduces certain environmental loads compared
to CG. The percentage reductions relative to CG are 6.1% for fossil energy use, 6.0% for global warming potential, 6.8% for
acidification, and 12.2% for nutrient enrichment. Using biomass in place of fossil fuels for process energy in the manufacture
of ethanol leads to improved overall life cycle energy and environmental performance of ethanol blends relative to CG.
Conclusions and Outlook The LCA brings to light the key areas in the ethanol production cycle that researchers and technicians need to work on to
maximize ethanol’s contribution to energy security and environmental sustainability
ESS-Submission Editor: Mark Goedkoop (goedkoop@pre.nl) 相似文献
10.
Beyond Global Warming Potential: A Comparative Application of Climate Impact Metrics for the Life Cycle Assessment of Coal and Natural Gas Based Electricity
下载免费PDF全文
![点击此处可从《Journal of Industrial Ecology》网站下载免费的PDF全文](/ch/ext_images/free.gif)
DeVynne Farquharson Paulina Jaramillo Greg Schivley Kelly Klima Derrick Carlson Constantine Samaras 《Journal of Industrial Ecology》2017,21(4):857-873
In the ongoing debate about the climate benefits of fuel switching from coal to natural gas for power generation, the metrics used to model climate impacts may be important. In this article, we evaluate the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of coal and natural gas used in new, advanced power plants using a broad set of available climate metrics in order to test for the robustness of results. Climate metrics included in the article are global warming potential, global temperature change potential, technology warming potential, and cumulative radiative forcing. We also used the Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse‐gas Induced Climate Change (MAGICC) climate‐change model to validate the results. We find that all climate metrics suggest a natural gas combined cycle plant offers life cycle climate benefits over 100 years compared to a pulverized coal plant, even if the life cycle methane leakage rate for natural gas reaches 5%. Over shorter time frames (i.e., 20 years), plants using natural gas with a 4% leakage rate have similar climate impacts as those using coal, but are no worse than coal. If carbon capture and sequestration becomes available for both types of power plants, natural gas still offers climate benefits over coal as long as the life cycle methane leakage rate remains below 2%. These results are consistent across climate metrics and the MAGICC model over a 100‐year time frame. Although it is not clear whether any of these metrics are better than the others, the choice of metric can inform decisions based on different societal values. For example, whereas annual temperature change reported may be a more relevant metric to evaluate the human health effects of increased heat, the cumulative temperature change may be more relevant to evaluate climate impacts, such as sea‐level rise, that will result from the cumulative warming. 相似文献
11.
Background, Aim and Scope The objective of this life cycle assessment (LCA) study is to develop LCA models for energy systems in order to assess the
potential environmental impacts that might result from meeting energy demands in buildings. The scope of the study includes
LCA models of the average electricity generation mix in the USA, a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plant, a solid
oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cogeneration system; a microturbine (MT) cogeneration system; an internal combustion engine (ICE) cogeneration
system; and a gas boiler.
Methods LCA is used to model energy systems and obtain the life cycle environmental indicators that might result when these systems
are used to generate a unit energy output. The intended use of the LCA analysis is to investigate the operational characteristics
of these systems while considering their potential environmental impacts to improve building design using a mixed integer
linear programming (MILP) optimization model.
Results The environmental impact categories chosen to assess the performance of the energy systems are global warming potential (GWP),
acidification potential (AP), tropospheric ozone precursor potential (TOPP), and primary energy consumption (PE). These factors
are obtained for the average electricity generation mix, the NGCC, the gas boiler, as well as for the cogeneration systems
at different part load operation. The contribution of the major emissions to the emission factors is discussed.
Discussion The analysis of the life cycle impact categories indicates that the electrical to thermal energy production ratio has a direct
influence on the value of the life cycle PE consumption factors. Energy systems with high electrical to thermal ratios (such
as the SOFC cogeneration systems and the NGCC power plant) have low PE consumption factors, whereas those with low electrical
to thermal ratios (such as the MT cogeneration system) have high PE consumption factors. In the case of GWP, the values of
the life cycle GWP obtained from the energy systems do not only depend on the efficiencies of the systems but also on the
origins of emissions contributing to GWP. When evaluating the life cycle AP and TOPP, the types of fuel as well as the combustion
characteristics of the energy systems are the main factors that influence the values of AP and TOPP.
Conclusions An LCA study is performed to eraluate the life cycle emission factors of energy systems that can be used to meet the energy
demand of buildings. Cogeneration systems produce utilizable thermal energy when used to meet a certain electrical demand
which can make them an attractive alternative to conventional systems. The life cycle GWP, AP, TOPP and PE consumption factors
are obtained for utility systems as well as cogeneration systems at different part load operation levels for the production
of one kWh of energy output.
Recommendations and Perspectives Although the emission factors vary for the different energy systems, they are not the only factors that influence the selection
of the optimal system for building operations. The total efficiencies of the system play a significant part in the selection
of the desirable technology. Other factors, such as the demand characteristics of a particular building, influence the selection
of energy systems.
The emission factors obtained from this LCA study are used as coefficients of decision variables in the formulation of an
MILP to optimize the selection of energy systems based on environmental criteria by taking into consideration the system efficiencies,
emission characteristics, part load operation, and building energy demands. Therefore, the emission factors should not be
regarded as the only criteria for choosing the technology that could result in lower environmental impacts, but rather one
of several factors that determine the selection of the optimum energy system.
ESS-Submission Editor: Arpad Horvath (horvath@ce.berkeley.edu) 相似文献
12.
Goal and Scope The potential environmental impacts associated with two landfill technologies for the treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW),
the engineered landfill and the bioreactor landfill, were assessed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) tool. The system
boundaries were expanded to include an external energy production function since the landfill gas collected from the bioreactor
landfill can be energetically valorized into either electricity or heat; the functional unit was then defined as the stabilization
of 600 000 tonnes of MSW and the production of 2.56x108 MJ of electricity and 7.81x108 MJ of heat.
Methods Only the life cycle stages that presented differences between the two compared options were considered in the study. The four
life cycle stages considered in the study cover the landfill cell construction, the daily and closure operations, the leachate
and landfill gas associated emissions and the external energy production. The temporal boundary corresponded to the stabilization
of the waste and was represented by the time to produce 95% of the calculated landfill gas volume. The potential impacts were
evaluated using the EDIP97 method, stopping after the characterization step.
Results and Discussion The inventory phase of the LCA showed that the engineered landfill uses 26% more natural resources and generates 81% more
solid wastes throughout its life cycle than the bioreactor landfill. The evaluated impacts, essentially associated with the
external energy production and the landfill gas related emissions, are on average 91% higher for the engineered landfill,
since for this option 1) no energy is recovered from the landfill gas and 2) more landfill gas is released untreated after
the end of the post-closure monitoring period. The valorization of the landfill gas to electricity or heat showed similar
environmental profiles (1% more raw materials and 7% more solid waste for the heat option but 13% more impacts for the electricity
option).
Conclusion and Recommendations The methodological choices made during this study, e.g. simplification of the systems by the exclusion of the identical life
cycle stages, limit the use of the results to the comparison of the two considered options. The validity of this comparison
could however be improved if the systems were placed in the larger context of municipal solid waste management and include
activities such as recycling, composting and incineration. 相似文献
13.
Chalita Liamsanguan Shabbir H. Gheewala 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2007,12(7):529-536
Background, Aims and Scope During the combustion of municipal solid waste (MSW), energy is produced which can be utilized to generate electricity. However,
electricity production from incineration has to be evaluated from the point view of the environmental performance. In this
study, environmental impacts of electricity production from waste incineration plant in Thailand are compared with those from
Thai conventional power plants.
Methods The evaluation is based on a life cycle perspective using life cycle assessment (LCA) as the evaluation tool. Since MSW incineration
provides two services, viz., waste management and electricity production, the conventional power production system is expanded
to include landfilling without energy recovery, which is the most commonly used waste management system in Thailand, to provide
the equivalent function of waste management.
Results The study shows that the incineration performs better than conventional power plants vis-à-vis global warming and photochemical
ozone formation, but not for acidification and nutrient enrichment.
Discussion There are some aspects which may influence this result. If landfilling with gas collection and flaring systems is included
in the analysis along with conventional power production instead of landfilling without energy recovery, the expanded system
could become more favorable than the incineration in the global warming point of view. In addition, if the installation of
deNOx process is employed in the MSW incineration process, nitrogen dioxide can be reduced with a consequent reduction of acidification
and nutrient enrichment potentials. However, the conventional power plants still have lower acidification and nutrient enrichment
potentials.
Conclusions The study shows that incineration could not play the major role for electricity production, but in addition to being a waste
management option, could be considered as a complement to conventional power production. To promote incineration as a benign
waste management option, appropriate deNOx and dioxin removal processes should be provided. Separation of high moisture content waste fractions from the waste to be
incinerated and improvement of the operation efficiency of the incineration plant must be considered to improve the environmental
performance of MSW incineration.
Recommendations This study provides an overall picture and impacts, and hence, can support a decision-making process for implementation of
MSW incineration. The results obtained in this study could provide valuable information to implement incineration. But it
should be noted that the results show the characteristics only from some viewpoints.
Outlook Further analysis is required to evaluate the electricity production of the incineration plant from other environmental aspects
such as toxicity and land-use. 相似文献
14.
An end‐point life cycle impact assessment is used to evaluate the damages of electricity generation from fossil fuel‐based power plants with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology. Pulverized coal (PC), integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), and natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power plants are assessed for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, pipeline transport, and storage in a geological formation. Results show that the CCS systems reduce the climate change‐related damages but increase the damages from toxicity, acidification, eutrophication, and resource consumption. Based on the currently available damage calculation methods, it is concluded that the benefit of reducing damage from climate change is larger than the increases in other damage categories, such as health effects from particulates or toxic chemicals. CCS significantly reduces the overall environmental damage, with a net reduction of 60% to 70% in human health damage and 65% to 75% in ecosystem damage. Most of the damage is due to fuel production and combustion processes. The energy and infrastructure demands of CCS cause increases in the depletion of natural resources by 33% for PC, 19% for IGCC, and 18% for NGCC power plants, mostly due to increased fossil fuel consumption. 相似文献
15.
J. Mason Earles Anthony Halog Peter Ince Kenneth Skog 《Journal of Industrial Ecology》2013,17(3):375-384
Consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) has emerged as a tool for estimating environmental impacts of changes in product systems that go beyond physical relationships accounted for in attributional LCA (ALCA). This study builds on recent efforts to use more complex economic models for policy‐based CLCA. A partial market equilibrium (PME) model, called the U.S. Forest Products Module (USFPM), is combined with LCA to analyze an energy demand scenario in which wood use increases 400 million cubic meters in the United States for ethanol production. Several types of indirect economic and environmental impacts are identified and estimated using USFPM‐LCA. A key finding is that if wood use for biofuels increases to high levels and mill residue is used for biofuels and replaced by natural gas for heat and power in forest products mills, then the increased greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas could offset reductions obtained by substituting biofuels for gasoline. Such high levels of biofuel demand, however, appear to have relatively low environmental impacts across related forest product sectors. 相似文献
16.
Environmental performance assessment of hardboard manufacture 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Sara González-García Gumersindo Feijoo Petri Widsten Andreas Kandelbauer Edith Zikulnig-Rusch Ma Teresa Moreira 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2009,14(5):456-466
Background, aim and scope The forest-based and related industries comprise one of the most important industry sectors in the European Union, representing
some 10% of the EU's manufacturing industries. Their activities are based on renewable raw material resources and efficient
recycling. The forest-based industries can be broken down into the following sectors: forestry, woodworking, pulp and paper
manufacturing, paper and board converting and printing and furniture. The woodworking sector includes many sub-sectors; one
of the most important is that of wood panels accounting for 9% of total industry production. Wood panels are used as intermediate
products in a wide variety of applications in the furniture and building industries. There are different kinds of panels:
particleboard, fibreboard, veneer, plywood and blockboard. The main goal of this study was to assess the environmental impacts
during the life cycle of wet-process fibreboard (hardboard) manufacturing to identify the processes with the largest environmental
impacts.
Methods The study covers the life cycle of hardboard production from a cradle-to-gate perspective. A hardboard plant was analysed
in detail, dividing the process chain into three subsystems: wood preparation, board forming and board finishing. Ancillary
activities such as chemicals, wood chips, thermal energy and electricity production and transport were included within the
system boundaries. Inventory data came from interviews and surveys (on-site measurements). When necessary, the data were complemented
with bibliographic resources. The life cycle assessment procedure followed the ISO14040 series. The life cycle inventory (LCI)
and impact assessment database for this study were constructed using SimaPro Version 7.0 software.
Results Abiotic depletion (AD), global warming (GW), ozone layer depletion (OLD), human toxicity (HT), ecotoxicity, photochemical
oxidant formation (PO), acidification (AC) and eutrophication (EP) were the impact categories analysed in this study. The
wood preparation subsystem contributed more than 50% to all impact categories, followed by board forming and board finishing,
which is mainly due to chemicals consumption in the wood preparation subsystem. In addition, thermal energy requirements (for
all subsystems) were fulfilled by on-site wood waste burning and, accordingly, biomass energy converters were considered.
Several processes were identified as hot spots in this study: phenol-formaldehyde resin production (with large contribution
to HT, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and PO), electricity production (main contributor to marine aquatic ecotoxicity), wood
chips production (AD and OLD) and finally, biomass burning for heat production (identified as the largest contributor to AC
and EP due to NO
X
emissions). In addition, uncontrolled formaldehyde emissions from manufacturing processes at the plant such as fibre drying
should be controlled due to relevant contributions to terrestrial ecotoxicity and PO. A sensitivity analysis of electricity
profile generation (strong geographic dependence) was carried out and several European profiles were analysed.
Discussion Novel binding agents for the wood panel industry as a substitute for the currently used formaldehyde-based binders have been
extensively investigated. Reductions of toxic emissions during drying, mat forming and binder production are desirable. The
improved method would considerably reduce the contributions to all impact categories.
Conclusions The results obtained in this work allow forecasting the importance of the wood preparation subsystem for the environmental
burdens associated with hardboard manufacture. Special attention was paid to the inventory analysis stage for each subsystem.
It is possible to improve the environmental performance of the hardboard manufacturing process if some alternatives are implemented
regarding the use of chemicals, electricity profile and emission sources in the production processes located inside the plant.
Recommendations and perspectives This study provides useful information for forest-based industries related to panel manufacture with the aim of increasing
their sustainability. Our research continues to assess the use phase and final disposal of panels to complete the life cycle
assessment. Future work will focus on analysing the environmental aspects associated with plywood, another type of commonly
used wood panel. 相似文献
17.
18.
Patrick R. O'Donoughue Garvin A. Heath Stacey L. Dolan Martin Vorum 《Journal of Industrial Ecology》2014,18(1):125-144
This research provides a systematic review and harmonization of the life cycle assessment (LCA) literature of electricity generated from conventionally produced natural gas. We focus on estimates of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted in the life cycle of electricity generation from natural gas‐fired combustion turbine (NGCT) and combined‐cycle (NGCC) systems. The smaller set of LCAs of liquefied natural gas power systems and natural gas plants with carbon capture and storage were also collected, but analyzed to a lesser extent. A meta‐analytical process we term “harmonization” was employed to align several system boundaries and technical performance parameters to better allow for cross‐study comparisons, with the aim of clarifying central tendency and reducing variability in estimates of life cycle GHG emissions. Of over 250 references identified, 42 passed screens for technological relevance and study quality, providing a total of 69 estimates for NGCT and NGCC. Harmonization increased the median estimates in each category as a result of several factors not typically considered in the previous research, including the regular clearing of liquids from a well, and consolidated the interquartile range for NGCC to 420 to 480 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt‐hour (g CO2‐eq/kWh) and for NGCT to 570 to 750 g CO2‐eq/kWh, with medians of 450 and 670 CO2‐eq/kWh, respectively. Harmonization of thermal efficiency had the largest effect in reducing variability; methane leakage rate is likely similarly influential, but was unharmonized in this assessment as a result of the significant current uncertainties in its estimation, an area that is justifiably receiving significant research attention. 相似文献
19.
In France, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transport have grown steadily since 1950 and transport is now the main source of emissions. Despite technological improvements, urban sprawl increases the environmental stress due to car use. This study evaluates urban mobility through assessments of the transport system and travel habits, by applying life cycle assessment methods to the results of mobility simulations that were produced by a Land Use and Transport Interactions (LUTI) model. The environmental impacts of four life cycle phases of urban mobility in the Lyon area (exhausts, fuel processing, infrastructure and vehicle life cycle) were estimated through nine indicators (global warming potential, particulate matter emissions, photochemical oxidant emissions, terrestrial acidification, fossil resource depletion, metal depletion, non-renewable energy use, renewable energy use and land occupancy). GHG emissions were estimated to be 3.02 kg CO2-eq inhabitant−1 day−1, strongly linked to car use, and indirect impacts represented 21% of GHG emissions, which is consistent with previous studies. Combining life cycle assessment (LCA) with a LUTI model allows changes in the vehicle mix and fuel sources combined with demographic shifts to be assessed, and provides environmental perspectives for transport policy makers and urban planners. It can also provide detailed analysis, by allowing levels of emissions that are generated by different categories of households to be differentiated, according to their revenue and location. Public policies can then focus more accurately on the emitters and be assessed from both an environmental and social point of view. 相似文献
20.
Nellemieke Mohr Arjen Meijer Mark A. J. Huijbregts Lucas Reijnders 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2009,14(3):225-235
Background, aim, and scope The environmental burden of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules is currently largely determined by the cumulative input of fossil
energy used for module production. However, with an increased focus on limiting the emission of CO2 coming from fossil fuels, it is expected that renewable resources, including photovoltaics, may well become more important
in producing electricity. A comparison of the environmental impacts of PV modules in case their life cycle is based on the
use of PV electricity in contrast to conventional electricity can elucidate potential environmental drawbacks in an early
stage of development of a solar-based economy. The goal of this paper is to show for ten impact categories the environmental
consequences of replacing fossil electricity with solar electricity into the life cycle of two types of PV modules.
Materials and methods Using life cycle assessment (LCA), we evaluated the environmental impacts of two types of PV modules: a thin-film GaInP/GaAs
tandem module and a multicrystalline silicon (multi-Si) module. For each of the modules, the total amount of fossil electricity
required in the life cycle of the module was substituted with electricity that is generated by a corresponding PV module.
The environmental impacts of the modules on the midpoint level were compared with those of the same modules in case their
life cycle is based on the use of conventional electricity. The environmental impacts were assessed for Western European circumstances
with an annual solar irradiation of 1000 kWh/m2. For the GaInP/GaAs module, the environmental impacts of individual production steps were also analysed.
Results Environmental burdens decreased when PV electricity was applied in the life cycle of the two PV modules. The impact score
reductions of the GaInP/GaAs module were up to a factor of 4.9 (global warming). The impact score reductions found for the
multi-Si module were up to a factor of 2.5 (abiotic depletion and global warming). Reductions of the toxicity scores of both
module types were smaller or negligible. This is caused by a decreased use of fossil fuels, on the one hand, and an increased
consumption of materials for the production of the additional solar modules used for generating the required PV electricity
on the other. Overall, the impact scores of the GaInP/GaAs module were reduced more than the corresponding scores of the multi-Si
module. The contribution analysis of the GaInP/GaAs module production steps indicated that for global warming, the cell growth
process is dominant for supply with conventional electricity, while for the solar scenario, the frame becomes dominant. Regarding
freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity scores associated with the life cycle of the GaInP/GaAs module, the cell growth process is
dominant for supply with conventional electricity, while the reactor system for the cell growth with the associated gas scrubbing
system is dominant for the solar scenario.
Discussion There are uncertainties regarding the calculated environmental impact scores. This paper describes uncertainties associated
with the used economic allocation method, and uncertainties because of missing life cycle inventory data. For the GaInP/GaAs
module, it was found that the global warming impact scores range from −66% to +41%, and the freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity
scores (for an infinite time horizon) range from −40% to +300% compared to the default estimates. For both impact categories,
the choices associated with the allocation of gallium, with the electricity mix, with the conversion efficiency of the commercially
produced GaInP/GaAs cells, and with the yield of the cell growth process are most influential. For freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity,
the uncertainty concerning the lifetime of the reactor system for the GaInP/GaAs cell growth process and the gas scrubbing
system is particularly relevant.
Conclusions Use of PV electricity instead of fossil electricity significantly reduces the environmental burdens of the GaInP/GaAs and
the multi-Si module. The reductions of the toxicity scores, however, are smaller or negligible. Toxicity impacts of the GaInP/GaAs
cells can be reduced by improvement of the yield of the cell growth process, a reduced energy demand in the cell growth process,
reduction of the amount of stainless steel in the cell growth reactor system and the gas scrubbing system, and a longer lifetime
of these systems.
Recommendations and perspectives Because the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of fossil-fuel-based electricity have an important share
in global warming on a world-wide scale, switching to a more extensive use of solar power is helpful to comply with the present
international legislation on the area of global warming reduction. As reductions in toxicity impact scores are smaller or
negligible when fossil electricity is replaced by PV electricity, it is desirable to give specific attention to the processes
which dominantly contribute to these impact categories. Furthermore, in this study, a shift in ranking of several environmental
impacts of the modules has been found when PV electricity is used instead of fossil electricity. The results of a comparative
LCA can thus be dependent of the electricity mix used in the life cycles of the assessed products.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献