Life cycle assessment of the district heat distribution system

Goal, Scope and Background  

District heating, the utilization of centrally produced heat for space heating and domestic hot water generation, has the potential to contribute to the eco-efficient use of energy resources in the parts of the world where space heating is needed. In literature, environmental studies on district heating mainly consider the emissions from heat generation; the environmental impact from the distribution system is seldom discussed. This paper presents a life cycle assessment of the production of district heating pipes, based on a cradle-to-gate life cycle inventory commissioned by the Swedish District Heating Association. No external review has been performed but a reference group of district heating experts familiar with the practice was involved in the choice of cases as well as in reviewing parts of the study.     

Life cycle assessment of district heat distribution in suburban areas using PEX pipes insulated with expanded polystyrene

Goal, Scope and Background

Combined heat and power (CHP) is a strategy aimed at reducing the impact of the energy sector on the climate by more efficient use of the energy content of the fuel. The implementation of CHP requires the utilisation of the heat produced. Space heating by means of district heating is one possible use for such heat. In countries such as Sweden, where district heating is already extensively used, many multiapartment buildings are connected to district heating. For increased use, the distribution systems will have to expand into suburbs with single family homes. However, the environmental impact and cost of the district heat distribution system increase when the pipe networks are extended into such areas. This is due to the production and installation of longer pipe networks and increased heat losses from the system. Attempts have been made to find new types of pipe constructions in order to lower the costs of connecting single family homes to district heating. These should be evaluated from an environmental perspective. The EPSPEX system is a distribution system intended for suburban areas. This system consists of cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) pipes in insulating blocks of expanded polystyrene (EPS). This paper presents a life cycle assessment of the EPSPEX district heat distribution system. In a second scenario, sub-stations were added. The results indicate areas that require improvement and provide a basis for comparison with other types of district heat distribution systems.

Methods

Production, network construction and use of the district heat system were studied by means of life cycle methodology, employing specific data for the EPSPEX system and generic data for upstream impacts of the materials used. The system constructed in Vråen, Värnamo, Sweden, in 2002 was studied. The district heating used in Vråen is mainly based on biofuels. The functional unit was the use of one metre of an EPSPEX district heating system over a period of one year. The expected system life was 30 years. The results were characterised as global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential and the use of finite resources, as well as weighted by EPS 2000, ExternE and EcoIndicator 99. No external review was performed, but a reference group of district heating experts familiar with the practice has reviewed the study.

Results

Heat losses are clearly the main environmental impact in all characterisations and weightings (71–92% of the total impact), despite the fact that the heat production studied was mainly based on biomass combustion, generally perceived to be environmentally friendly. Of the system components, the production of EPS insulation blocks had the largest environmental impact.

Discussion

This impact, however, is compensated for by the fact that the need to produce less heat leads to a lower level of emissions. Several characterisation methods revealed that the production and combustion of diesel for excavating the pipe trench has a significant environmental impact. The jointing brass swaged coupling used for the PEX fluid pipes has a surprisingly high impact in terms of acidification and EPS 2000, considering the small amount of brass in the system.

Conclusions

The life cycle environmental impact is dominated by the heat production needed to compensate for heat losses from the system, despite the fact that the EPSPEX system is relatively well insulated compared to a conventional district heating system. It is possible to shut down the heating circuit and only use the hot tap water circuit during the summer months; this reduces the heat losses and is an advantageous feature of the system. The second largest environmental impact of the EPSPEX system arises from the production of the EPS insulation blocks. A decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions, especially those caused by the excavation and filling of pipe trenches, would be beneficial. A rough comparison has been made with available literature data for conventional DN25 twin pipes. The results indicate that the environmental impact of the EPSPEX system is probably lower. However, the pipes are not identical, as the water delivery capacity of the conventional pipe is slightly lower.

Recommendations and Perspectives

In Sweden, new types of pipes are being developed for district heating in suburban areas, and there is a need for an environmental comparison between such new alternatives and previous results for conventional polyurethane insulated steel pipes. This study reveals that biofuels, although perceived to be environmentally friendly, must be used with caution in order to ensure a satisfactory environmental performance. Heat loss from district heating should be minimized also when biofuels are used. The most immediate way to reduce such environmental impact is to increase the insulation. The environmental trade-off between lower heat losses achieved by the use of more insulation and the production of greater amounts of insulation material should be further studied.

     

Life cycle assessment of base–load heat sources for district heating system options

Purpose  

There has been an increased interest in utilizing renewable energy sources in district heating systems. District heating systems are centralized systems that provide heat for residential and commercial buildings in a community. While various renewable and conventional energy sources can be used in such systems, many stakeholders are interested in choosing the feasible option with the least environmental impacts. This paper evaluates and compares environmental burdens of alternative energy source options for the base–load of a district heating center in Vancouver, British Columbia (BC) using the life cycle assessment method. The considered energy sources include natural gas, wood pellet, sewer heat, and ground heat.     

Life cycle assessment of construction and renovation of sewer systems using a detailed inventory tool

Purpose

The objective was to provide comprehensive life cycle inventories for the construction and renovation of sewers. A detailed inventory was provided with multiple options of pipe materials, diameters and site-specific characteristics, and was embedded into the Excel^®-based tool SewerLCA. The tool allows for life cycle evaluation of different sewers. It was applied to determine the most important phases, processes, and related parameters involved in the construction and renovation of sewers from an environmental and economical perspective.

Methods

Comprehensive life cycle inventories (LCIs) for sewers construction and renovation were obtained by first identifying all processes involved after interviewing construction experts and reviewing sewer construction budgets from a Catalan company; and second transforming the processes into masses of materials and energy usage using construction databases. In order to run the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) the materials and energy typologies from the inventories were matched to their corresponding equivalents into available LCI databases. Afterwards the potential impacts were calculated through the use of LCIA characterization factors from ReCiPe. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was run several times to assess the construction of a 1-km-long sewer with varying pipe materials, life spans for each material, diameters, transport distances, site-specific characteristics, and pipe deposition options.

Results and discussion

The environmental impacts generated by construction and renovation of a 1 km Polyvinylchloride (PVC) pipe with a diameter of 40 cm are mainly associated with pipe laying and backfilling of the trench. The evaluation of several pipe materials and diameters shows that the exclusion of renovation would underestimate the impacts by 38 to 82 % depending on the pipe materials and diameters. Including end-of-life phase for plastic pipe materials increases climate change (up to an extra 71 %) and human toxicity (up to an extra 147 %) impacts (among all diameters). The preferred pipe materials from an environmental point of view are precast concrete and High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE). Site-specific characteristics (specially the presence of rocky soil and asphalt placement) and material life span have a high influence on the overall environmental profile, whereas changes in transport distances have only a minor impact (<4 %).

Conclusions

Environmental impacts during the construction and renovation of sewers are subject to differences in material type, site-specific characteristics and material life span. Renovation of sewers has a large influence on all potential environmental impacts and costs and, hence, should not be omitted in LCA studies. The treatment and disposal processes of plastic pipes at the end of their life has to be accounted in LCA studies.

     

Life cycle assessment of wood-based heating in Norway

Background, aim, and scope  

In this study, we evaluate the environmental effects of wood-based household heating. Wood is a significant source of household heating in Norway, and a comparative life cycle assessment of a wood-based heating system using an old and a modern stove was conducted to estimate the total life cycle benefits associated with the change from old to new combustion technology.     

Practitioners' use of life cycle costing with environmental costs—a Swedish study

Purpose  

The aim of this paper is to describe life cycle costing (LCC) practices in some Swedish organisations, investigate probable changes and determine whether and how environmental costs (internal and/or external) are considered in current LCC.     

Comparative life cycle assessment of two landfill technologies for the treatment of municipal solid waste

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.     

Energy Use and Environmental Impacts of the Swedish Building and Real Estate Management Sector

One of the key features of environmental policy integration in Sweden is sector responsibility. The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning is responsible for the building and real estate management sector and should, as a part of this responsibility, assess the environmental impacts of this sector. The aim of this study is to suggest and demonstrate a method for such an assessment. The suggested method is a life cycle assessment, based on an input‐output analysis. The method can be used for regular monitoring and for prioritization between different improving measures. For the assessment to sufficiently cover the Swedish Environmental Quality Objectives, complementary information is needed, in particular with respect to the indoor environment. According to the results, the real estate management sector contributes between 10% and 40% of Swedish energy use; use of hazardous chemical products; generation of solid waste; emissions of gases contributing to climate change; and human toxicological impacts, including nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulates. Transport and production of nonrenewable building materials contribute significantly to several of the emissions. Heating of buildings contributes more to energy use than to climate change, due to the use of renewable energy sources. To reduce climate change, measures should therefore prioritize not only heating of buildings but also the important upstream processes.     

Life cycle assessment of construction and demolition waste management systems: a Spanish case study

Purpose  

The aim of this study is to develop and analyse a life cycle inventory of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) management systems based on primary data collected directly from Spanish enterprises involved in the life cycle of this type of waste material. Special emphasis is placed on assessing the environmental profile of inert waste sorting and treatment (IWST) facilities.     

Environmental life cycle assessment of a commercial office building in Thailand

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.     

Integrating life cycle costs and environmental impacts of composite rail car-bodies for a Korean train

Background, aim, and scope  A coupled Life Cycle Costing and life cycle assessment has been performed for car-bodies of the Korean Tilting Train eXpress (TTX) project using European and Korean databases, with the objective of assessing environmental and cost performance to aid materials and process selection. More specifically, the potential of polymer composite car-body structures for the Korean Tilting Train eXpress (TTX) has been investigated. Materials and methods  This assessment includes the cost of both carriage manufacturing and use phases, coupled with the life cycle environmental impacts of all stages from raw material production, through carriage manufacture and use, to end-of-life scenarios. Metallic carriages were compared with two composite options: hybrid steel-composite and full-composite carriages. The total planned production for this regional Korean train was 440 cars, with an annual production volume of 80 cars. Results and discussion  The coupled analyses were used to generate plots of cost versus energy consumption and environmental impacts. The results show that the raw material and manufacturing phase costs are approximately half of the total life cycle costs, whilst their environmental impact is relatively insignificant (3–8%). The use phase of the car-body has the largest environmental impact for all scenarios, with near negligible contributions from the other phases. Since steel rail carriages weigh more (27–51%), the use phase cost is correspondingly higher, resulting in both the greatest environmental impact and the highest life cycle cost. Compared to the steel scenario, the hybrid composite variant has a lower life cycle cost (16%) and a lower environmental impact (26%). Though the full composite rail carriage may have the highest manufacturing cost, it results in the lowest total life cycle costs and lowest environmental impacts. Conclusions and recommendations  This coupled cost and life cycle assessment showed that the full composite variant was the optimum solution. This case study showed that coupling of technical cost models with life cycle assessment offers an efficient route to accurately evaluate economic and environmental performance in a consistent way.     

Environmental life cycle assessment of Norway lobster (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Nephrops norvegicus</Emphasis>) caught along the Swedish west coast by creels and conventional trawls—LCA methodology with case study

Background, aim, and scope  Two fishing methods, creeling and conventional trawling, are used to target Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), economically the second most important species in Swedish west coast fisheries. The goal was to evaluate overall resource use and environmental impact caused by production of this seafood with the two different fishing methods using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Materials and methods  The inventory covered the entire chain starting by production of supply materials and the fishery itself, through seafood auctioning, wholesaling, retailing, to the consumer. That portion of the life cycle occurring on land was assumed to be identical for Norway lobsters regardless as to how they were caught. The functional unit was 300 g of edible meat (i.e., Norway lobster tails), corresponding to 1 kg of whole, boiled Norway lobsters. The seafloor impact of trawling was quantified using a recently developed methodology. Results  Major differences were found between the fishing methods with regard to environmental impact: creeling was found to be more efficient than conventional trawling in all traditional impact categories and in the two additional fishery-related categories involving seafloor impact and discarding. Since the quality of the creel-caught Nephrops was higher, the difference was probably even higher than indicated here. Discussion  Major improvement potential was identified in the more widespread use of creels and species-selective trawls. The only deficiencies of creel fishing were poorer working environment and safety, and a potentially higher risk of recruitment overfishing. However, these issues could be handled by technological development and fisheries regulations and should not hamper the development of creel fishery. Conclusions  Improvement options were identified and quantified for the Swedish Nephrops fishery. The study demonstrates how LCA can be used to compare the environmental performance of different segments of a fishery. Recommendations and perspectives  Shifting to creeling and species-selective trawling would lead to considerably lower discard, fuel use, and seafloor impact while providing consumers with the same amount of Norway lobsters. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Life cycle assessment comparison of wooden and plastic pallets in the grocery industry

Wooden and plastic pallets are used extensively in global trade to transport finished goods and products. This article compares the life cycle performance of treated wooden and plastic pallets through a detailed cradle‐to‐grave life cycle assessment (LCA), and conducts an analysis of the various phytosanitary treatments. The LCA investigates and evaluates the environmental impacts due to the resources consumed and emissions of the product throughout its life cycle. The environmental impacts of the pallets are compared on a one‐trip basis and a 100,000‐trips basis. Impact categories are chosen with respect to environmental concerns. The results show that on a one‐trip basis, wooden pallets with conventional and radio frequency (RF) heat treatment incur an overall carbon footprint of 71.8% and 80.3% lower, respectively, than plastic pallets during their life cycle; and in comparison with wooden pallets treated with methyl bromide fumigation, they incur 20% and 30% less overall carbon footprint. Theoretical calculations of the resource consumption and emissions of RF treatment of pallets suggest that dielectric technology may provide a lower‐carbon alternative to both current ISPM 15‐approved treatments and to plastic pallets. Methyl bromide fumigation (15.95 kg CO₂ equivalent [eq.]) has a larger carbon footprint than conventional heat treatment (12.69 kg CO₂ eq.) of pallets. For the 100,000‐trips basis, the differences are even more significant. The results recommend that wooden pallets are more environmentally friendly than plastic pallets, and conventional and RF heat treatment for wooden pallets is more sustainable than methyl bromide fumigation treatment.     

LCA of an Italian lager beer

Background, Aim and Scope  The increasing concern about environment protection and a broader awareness of the sustainable development issues cause more and more attention to be given to the environmental impacts of products through the different phases of their life cycle. Foods are definitely among the products whose overall environmental performance can be effectively investigated resorting to LCA. A LCA case study was performed in order to detect and quantify the environmental impacts deriving from the life cycle of a lager beer produced by an Italian small brewery, investigating and comparing two packaging options: beer in 20 L returnable stainless steel kegs and beer in 33 cL one way glass bottles. Materials and Methods  The investigated system included: production and acquisition of materials and energy, brewing process, packaging, transports, beer consumption and waste disposal. Data for the study were mostly collected from the Theresianer Brewery and completed on the basis of literature information. Data uncertainty was treated with a Monte Carlo analysis. Life Cycle Inventories were constructed for 1 L of beer in bottle and 1 L of beer in keg using the LCA software SimaPro and then assessed at the endpoint level according to the Eco-Indicator’99 method. Results  Inorganic emissions, land use and fossil fuel consumptions resulted to be the most critical environmental issues of both beer life cycles. Beer in keg turned out to cause a lower environmental load along its life cycle than bottled beer; this was mainly due to the higher emissions and the higher energy consumptions allocated to the glass bottles. Moreover, beer consumption phase, glass bottle production and barley cultivation were found to be the critical stages of the beer life cycle. Discussion  The brewing process did not result as a critical stage and therefore the company dimension may not be a crucial element for the overall impact quantification. On the contrary, beer consumption may have a significant impact mainly due to the consumer displacement. Conclusions  The analysis pointed out the relevance of the beer consumption phase and of the packaging choice within the beer life cycle and allowed to detect the other critical stages of the life cycle. It is worth to notice that producers and consumers can be active and responsible actors in pursuing the collective goal of the environmental sustainability. Recommendations and Perspectives  In order to improve the environmental performance of the beer life cycle, producers should set up marketing strategies in favour of reusable packaging and consumers should prefer draught beer and reduce car use. As beer consumption phase, bottle production and recycling and barley cultivation were found to be very significant stages of the life cycle of the beer, deepening the analysis of these aspects in similar studies is suggested. ESS-Submission Editor: Dr. Rolf Frischknecht (frischknecht@ecoinvent.org)     

Understanding the future of lithium: Part 2, temporally and spatially resolved life‐cycle assessment modeling

An array of emerging technologies, from electric vehicles to renewable energy systems, relies on large‐format lithium ion batteries (LIBs). LIBs are a critical enabler of clean energy technologies commonly associated with air pollution and greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. However, LIBs require lithium, and expanding the supply of lithium requires new lithium production capacity, which, in turn, changes the environmental impacts associated with lithium production since different resource types and ore qualities will be exploited. A question of interest is whether this will lead to significant changes in the environmental impacts of primary lithium over time. Part one of this two‐part article series describes the development of a novel resource production model that predicts future lithium demand and production characteristics (e.g., timing, location, and ore type). In this article, part two, the forecast is coupled with anticipatory life‐cycle assessment (LCA) modeling to estimate the environmental impacts of producing battery‐grade lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) each year between 2018 and 2100. The result is a normalized life‐cycle impact intensity for LCE that reflects the changing resource type, quantity, and region of production. Sustained growth in lithium demands through 2100 necessitates extraction of lower grade resources and mineral deposits, especially after 2050. Despite the reliance on lower grade resources and differences in impact intensity for LCE production from each deposit, the LCA results show only small to modest increases in impact, for example, carbon intensity increases from 3.2 kg CO₂e/kg LCE in 2020 to 3.3 kg CO₂e/kg LCE in 2100.     

Life Cycle Assessment of Biomass‐based Combined Heat and Power Plants

Norway, like many countries, has realized the need to extensively plan its renewable energy future sooner rather than later. Combined heat and power (CHP) through gasification of forest residues is one technology that is expected to aid Norway in achieving a desired doubling of bioenergy production by 2020. To assess the environmental impacts to determine the most suitable CHP size, we performed a unit process‐based attributional life cycle assessment (LCA), in which we compared three scales of CHP over ten environmental impact categories—micro (0.1 megawatts electricity [MWe]), small (1 MWe), and medium (50 MWe) scale. The functional units used were 1 megajoule (MJ) of electricity and 1 MJ of district heating delivered to the end user (two functional units), and therefore, the environmental impacts from distribution of electricity and hot water to the consumer were also considered. This study focuses on a regional perspective situated in middle‐Norway's Nord‐ and Sør‐Trøndelag counties. Overall, the unit‐based environmental impacts between the scales of CHP were quite mixed and within the same magnitude. The results indicated that energy distribution from CHP plant to end user creates from less than 1% to nearly 90% of the total system impacts, depending on impact category and energy product. Also, an optimal small‐scale CHP plant may be the best environmental option. The CHP systems had a global warming potential ranging from 2.4 to 2.8 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per megajoule of thermal (g CO₂‐eq/MJ_th) district heating and from 8.8 to 10.5 grams carbon dioxide equivalent per megajoule of electricity (g CO₂‐eq/MJ_el) to the end user.     

Performance evaluation of an analytical laboratory the laboratory product model

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.     

Cumulative energy demand for selected renewable energy technologies

Calculation of Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) of various energy systems and the computation of their Energy Yield Ratio (EYR) suggests that one single renewable energy technology cannot be said to be the best. Due to the difference in availability of renewable energy sources, their suitability varies from place to place. Wind energy converters, solar water heating systems and photovoltaic systems have been analysed for different types of locations. Comparing the general bandwidth of performance of these technologies, however, the wind energy converters tend to be better, followed by solar water heating systems and photovoltaic systems. Since a major part of the methodology of findingCED is very close to that of life cycle assessment and also because of the dominance of environmental impacts caused by the energy demand in the entire life cycle of any product or system, it is suggested that theCED can be used as an indicator of environmental impacts, especially in the case of power producing systems. Keywords: Cumulative energy demand; life cycle assessment; energy yield ratio; photovoltaics; solar water heating; wind energy Abbreviations: CED — Cumulative Energy Demand; EYR — Energy Yield Ratio; LCA — Life Cycle Assessment; Photovoltaics — PV; WEC — Wind Energy Converters     

Life cycle assessment of integrated food chains—a Swedish case study of two chicken meals

Background, aims, and scope  Food is a vital human need that not only provides essential nutrition but is also a key part of our social life as well as being a valued sensory experience. However, food, or rather the production chain of food, from primary production (agriculture/aquaculture/fishing) to consumer and beyond, also results in some form of environmental impact, as does transport between steps. There are several life cycle assessment studies of food products, most of them analysing the impact of the food chain of single food items. Still, detailed studies of complete meals are less frequent in the literature. In the Swedish study presented in this article, the environmental impacts of two different chicken meals (homemade and semi-prepared) were analysed. The aim of the study was to gain knowledge of the environmental impact of integrated food chains and also to explore the effect of improvement measures in the post-farm systems. To this end, two chicken meals were chosen for analysis, with two scenarios for each meal; the first scenario reflects the present conditions of the food chain, and the second scenario incorporates a number of improvement actions in the stages after the farm. Materials and methods  Input data to the model were based mainly on previous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of Swedish food products and studies on wastage and consumer transport. Food engineering data and information from producing companies were used for modelling the industries. The improvement scenario was constructed using insight from a preceding LCA study of a meatball meal (Sonesson et al., Ambio, 34:411–418, 2005a) along with goals set out by a Swedish agreement between representatives from national and regional government, food industry sectors and retailers. The impact assessment was conducted according to Lindfors et al. (Nordic guidelines on life cycle assessment, The Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1995), and the following environmental effects were included: global warming potential, eutrophication potential, acidification potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, and use of primary energy carriers and secondary energy. Results  In terms of energy use, the largest part is used in the steps after the farm for both meal types. Hence, the changes made in the improvement scenario have a significant impact on the total energy use. For the homemade and semi-prepared meal, the reduction is 15% and 20% respectively, not only due to less consumer transport and packaging but also reduction in industry (semi-prepared). Agriculture is also a significant contributor to emissions of greenhouse gases and eutrophying emissions; for the homemade meal, around 40% of the greenhouse gases originate from agriculture, and for the semi-prepared meal, the figure is 50%. The improvement actions with the greatest reduction in greenhouse gases are, again, less consumer transport and, in the case of the semi-prepared meal, the reduction in energy use in industry. Regarding eutrophication, more than 90% of the emissions originate from agriculture. Hence, the only improvement action that has an effect here is the utilisation of raw material downstream in the production chain; a slight reduction in waste still gives a notable reduction in overall eutrophic emissions. Discussion  There are two significant areas of research to reduce the impact of meals that are not explored in this study: choice of meal components and production methods in agriculture. However, the aim with this study was to explore if there are further ways of reducing the impact without going into these very complex areas, and our conclusion is that there are effective ways in the post-farm chain to cut emissions that, together with choices of diet and agricultural research, can significantly reduce the impact of our food consumption. Conclusions  Actions in the post-farm chain that can significantly reduce the environmental impact of a meal are less food thrown away in the household, fewer car trips to the supermarket (e.g. only once a week) and, for semi-prepared food products, more efficient energy use in the food industry. The study shows that consumer actions prove just as important as industrial actions. Recommendations and perspectives  Further research is needed to understand the mechanism for the disposal of food, i.e. the reasons for food being wasted, and the relationship between shopping frequency, retail location, size of packaging, etc. in order to reduce the impact of waste and consumer transport. Responsible editor: Niels Jungbluth