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Reinout Heijungs René Kleijn Ester van der Voet Arjan de Koning Lauran van Oers Ayman Elshkaki Ruben Huele Gjalt Huppes Sangwon Suh Anneke Wegener Sleeswijk 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2006,11(1):19-28
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.008Goal, Scope and Background
CML has contributed to the development of life cycle decision support tools, particularly Substance / Material Flow Analysis (SFA respectively MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Ever since these tools emerged there have been discussions on how these tools relate to each other, and how they relate to more traditional tools. Remarkably little, however, has been published on these relationships from an empirical side: which combinations of tools have actually been used, and what is the added value of combining tools in practical case studies. In this paper, we report on CML's experience in this field by presenting a number of case studies with their related research questions, for which different tools were deployed.Methods
Three case studies are discussed: 1) Waste water treatment: various options for waste water treatment have been assessed on their eco-efficiency, using SFA to comment on the influence of these options on the flows of certain substances in the water system of a geographical area and a combination of LCA and life cycle costing (LCC) to assess the life-cycle impacts and costs of these options; 2) Prioritization of environmental policy measures: A methodology has been developed to prioritize environmental policy measures and investments within companies based on both the environmental impacts and the costs of these measures; and 3) Environmental weighting of materials: to add an environmental dimension to standard MFA accounts, materials were weighted with cradle-to-grave impact factors based on LCA data and impact assessment factors.Results and Discussion
For each of these cases, the research questions at stake, the tools applied, the results and the added value, limitations and problems of combining the tools are reported.Conclusions
and Perspective. Based on these experiences, it is concluded that using several tools to address a complicated problem is not only a theoretical proposal, but also something that has been applied successfully in a variety of practical situations. Furthermore, using several tools in combination does not necessarily lead to an increased information supply to decisionmakers. Instead, it may contribute to the comprehensibility and ease of interpretation of the information that would have been provided by using a single tool. Finally, it is concluded that there is not one generally valid protocol for which tools to use for which question. The essential idea of using a combination of tools is exactly the fact that research questions are not simple by nature and cannot be generalized into protocols.3.
Bo P. Weidema 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2006,11(1):89-96
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.016Goal, Scope and Background
Although both cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) have developed from engineering practice, and have the same objective of a holistic ex-ante assessment of human activities, the techniques have until recently developed in relative isolation. This has resulted in a situation where much can be gained from an integration of the strong aspects of each technique. Such integration is now being prompted by the more widespread use of both CBA and LCA on the global arena, where also the issues of social responsibility are now in focus. Increasing availability of data on both biophysical and social impacts now allow the development of a truly holistic, quantitative environmental assessment technique that integrates economic, biophysical and social impact pathways in a structured and consistent way. The concept of impact pathways, linking biophysical and economic inventory results via midpoint impact indicators to final damage indicators, is well described in the LCA and CBA literature. Therefore, this paper places specific emphasis on how social aspects can be integrated in LCA.Methods
and Results. With a starting point in the conceptual structure and approach of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), as developed by Helias Udo de Haes and the SETAC/UNEP Life Cycle Initiative, the paper identifies six damage categories under the general heading of human life and well-being. The paper proposes a comprehensive set of indicators, with units of measurement, and a first estimate of global normalisation values, based on incidence or prevalence data from statistical sources and severity scores from health state analogues. Examples are provided of impact chains linking social inventory indicators to impacts on both human well-being and productivity.Recommendation and Perspective
It is suggested that human well-being measured in QALYs (Quality Adjusted Life Years) may provide an attractive single-score alternative to direct monetarisation.4.
Sarah Cowell Katherine Begg Roland Clift 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2006,11(1):29-39
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.009Goal, Scope and Method
logy. This paper describes a case study carried out as part of a wider programme to provide support for environmental decision-making in the highway maintenance programme of a local government body: Surrey County Council (SCC). UK local authorities are required to demonstrate that sustainable development principles are addressed in service provision, by improving environmental, economic or social wellbeing and improving public consultation. A methodological approach was developed to meet these requirements by using life cycle assessment (LCA) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) through the process of decision conferencing.Results
In projects requiring strategic decisions, difficulties arise in identifying relevant sustainable development criteria and in evaluating maintenance options against these criteria where the context for decision-making is complex and characterised by uncertainty, where multiple public policy objectives compete and a number of decision-makers and key players are affected by the outcome. Clearly, a structured process is needed to engage such stakeholders in the decision process, utilising quantitative and qualitative information. The approach described proved to be capable of fulfilling these requirements.Conclusions
and Recommendations. The approach of combining LCA with MCDA through decision conferencing is capable of further development to support other strategic decision-making activities. However, this illustrative case study has revealed a need for methodological developments in LCA for local, project-level decisions.5.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.015Goal, Scope and Background
The weighting phase in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is and has always been a controversial issue, partly because this element requires the incorporation of social, political and ethical values. Despite the controversies, weighting is widely used in practise. In this paper we will present an approach for monetisation of environmental impacts which is based on the consistent use of ecotaxes and fees in Sweden as a basis for the economic values. The idea behind this approach is that taxes and fees are expressions of the values society places on resource uses and emissions. An underlying assumption for this is that the decisions taken by policy-makers are reflecting societal values thus reflecting a positive view of representative democracy.Methods
In the method a number of different ecotaxes are used. In many cases they can directly be used as valuation weighting factors, an example is the CO2-tax that can be used as a valuation of CO2-emissions. In some cases, a calculation has to be made in order to derive a weighting factor. An example of this is the tax on nitrogen fertilisers which can be recalculated to an emission of nitrogen which can be used as a weighting factor for nitrogen emissions. The valuation weighting factors can be connected to characterisation methods in the normal LCA practise. We have often used the Ecotax method in parallel to other weighting methods such as the Ecoindicator and EPS methods and the results are compared.Results and Discussion
A new set of weighting factors has been developed which has been used in case studies. It is interesting to note that the Ecotax method is able to identify different environmental problems as the most important ones in different case studies. In some cases, the Ecotax method has identified some interventions as the most important ones which lack weighting factors in other weighting methods. The midpoint-endpoint debate in the LCA literature has often centred on different types of uncertainties. Sometimes it is claimed that an advantage with having an endpoint approach is that the weighting would be easier and less uncertain. Here we are however suggesting a mid-point weighting method that we claim are no less uncertain than other often used weighting methods based on a damage assessment. This paper can therefore be seen as a discussion paper also in the midpoint-endpoint debate.Conclusion and Recommendation
The Ecotax method is ready to use. It should be further updated and developed as taxes are changed and new characterisation methods are developed. The method is not only relevant for LCA but also for other environmental systems analysis. The Ecotax method has also been used as a valuation method for Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and within the context of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).6.
Gregory A. Norris 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2006,11(1):97-104
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.017Background, Aims and Scope
Social impacts in supply chains and product life cycles are of increasing interest to policy makers and stakeholders. Work is underway to develop social impact indicators for LCA, and to identify the social inventory data that will drive impact assessment for this category. Standard LCA practice collects and aggregates inventory data of the form \units of input or output (elementary flow) per unit of process output.\ Measurement of social impacts within workplaces as well as host communities and societies poses new challenges not heretofore faced by LCA database developers. Participatory measurement and auditing of social impacts and of workplace health issues has been shown to provide important benefits relative to external auditor-based methods, including greater likelihood of detecting rights abuses, and stronger support of subsequent action for improvement. However, nonstandardized auditing and metrics poses challenges for the supply chain-wide aggregation and comparison functions of LCA. An analogous challenge arises in the case of resource extractive processes, for which the certification of best management practices provides an important and practical environmental metric. In both the social and resource extraction examples, it may be that attributes of the process are more valuable metrics to measure and incentivize than measured quantities per unit of process output. But how to measure, how to aggregate across life cycles, how to compare product life cycles, and how to incentivize progress as with product policy?Methods
A methodology is presented and demonstrated which estimates the health impacts of economic development stemming from product life cycles. This methodology does not introduce new social indicators; rather, it works with the already common LCA endpoint of human health, and introduces and applies a simplified empirical relationship to characterize the complex pathways from product life cycles' economic activity to health in the aggregate.Results
A simple case study indicates that the health benefits of economic development impacts in product life cycles have the potential to be very significant, possibly even orders of magnitude greater than the health damages from the increased pollution. While the simple macro model points up the dramatic importance of socio-economic pathways to health in product life cycles, it lacks any sensitivity to the vitally important, contextspecific attributes of the economic development associated with each process. This result begs the question of how to measure, aggregate, compare, and stimulate society-wide improvement of context-dependent attributes within and across product life cycles in LCA.Discussion
Before attempting an answer to the question noted above, a brief reconsideration is offered concerning life cycle assessment. Namely, where does it come from, and what does it bring?Recommendations and Outlook
Finally, the paper concludes by sketching a life cycle approach to promoting localized assessments, to summarizing their results over supply chains and life cycles, and to comparing product life cycles in terms of their results. Often, localized assessments will yield information on the attributes of a process, rather than (or in addition to) the traditional form of life cycle inventory information, which is \units of something per unit of process output.\ The methodology can enable product policy users to promote reporting of basic attributes of processes within supply chains, together with local measurement and reporting of context-relevant impacts. For attributes linked to progress on impacts of local and global concern, promotion of these attributes within supply chain processes will bring strong benefits. In addition, over time it may be possible for researchers to develop and refine models that estimate, based on cross-sectional and time series analysis of attributes and impacts, relationships between attributes and impacts. In any case, while local impacts across supply chains may not be precisely knowable – let alone controllable – by a microdecision maker at the time of their product-related decision, life cycle attribute analysis may give such decision makers an opportunity to empower progress throughout life cycles and supply chains, which is after all a motivating goal of LCA.7.
Goal, Scope and Background
More and more national and regional life cycle assessment (LCA) databases are being established satisfying the increasing demand on LCA in policy making (e.g. Integrated Product Policy, IPP) and in industry. In order to create harmonised datasets in such unified databases, a common understanding and common rules are required. This paper describes major requirements on the way towards an ideal national background LCA database in terms of co-operation, but also in terms of life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) and impact assessment (LCIA) methodology.Methods
A classification of disputed methodological issues is made according to their consensus potential. In LCI, three main areas of dissent are identified where consensus seems hardly possible, namely system modelling (consequential versus attributional), allocation (including recycling) and reporting (transparency and progressiveness). In LCIA the time aspect is added to the well-known value judgements of the weighting step.Results and Discussions
It is concluded that LCA methodology should rather allow for plurality than to urge harmonisation in any case. A series of questions is proposed to identify the most appropriate content of the LCA background database or the most appropriate LCI dataset. The questions help to identify the best suited approach in modelling the product system in general and multioutput and recycling processes in particular. They additionally help to clarify the position with regard to time preferences in LCIA. Intentionally, the answers to these questions are not attributed to particular goal and scope definitions, although some recommendations and clarifying explanations are provided.Recommendations and Perspective
It is concluded that there is not one single ideal background database content. Value judgements are also present in LCI modelling and require pluralistic solutions; solutions possibly based on the same primary data. It is recommended to focus the methodological discussion on aspects where consensus is within reach, sensible and of added value for all parties.8.
Thomas Nemecek Niels Jungbluth Llorenç Milà i Canals Rita Schenck 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2016,21(5):607-620
Purpose
This article introduces the special issue “LCA of nutrition and food consumption” and 14 papers selected from the Ninth LCA Food Conference in San Francisco in October 2014.Literature overview
The scientific literature in the field of food LCA has increased more than ten times during the last 15 years. Nutrition has a high contribution to the total environmental impacts of consumption. Agricultural production often dominates the impacts, but its importance depends on the type of product, its production mode, transport, and processing. Local or domestic products reduce transports, but this advantage can be lost if the impacts of the raw material production are substantially increased. Diets containing less meat tend to be more environmentally friendly. Several studies concluded that respecting the dietary recommendations for a healthy diet would reduce the overall environmental impacts in the developed countries, although this is not a universal conclusion.Contribution of this special issue
Eight papers analyze the environmental impacts of catering and in-house food consumption and impacts on sectoral and national levels; four papers presents tools and methods to better assess the impacts of nutrition and to implement the results in practical decision-making. Finally, two contributions analyze the impacts of food waste and reduction options.Challenges for the environmental assessment of nutrition
(i) Comprehensive assessment. Most studies only analyze climate impacts, although data, methods, and tools are readily available for a more comprehensive analysis. (ii) Assessment of sustainability. The social dimension remains the weakest pillar. (iii) Data availability is still an obstacle, but significant progress has been made in recent years. (iv) Lack of harmonization of methodologies makes comparisons among studies difficult. (v) Land use. Enhanced consideration of land use impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services is required in LCA. (vi) Defining the functional unit including nutritional aspects, food security, and health needs further work. (vii) Consumer behavior. Its impacts are still little assessed. (viii) Communication of the environmental impact assessment results to stakeholders including policy-makers and consumers needs additional efforts.Research needs and outlook
(i) Development of holistic approaches for the assessment of sustainable food systems, (ii) assessment of land use related impacts and inclusion of ecosystem services, (iii) exploration of LCA results for policy support and decision-making, (iv) investigation of food consumption patterns in developing and emerging countries, and (v) harmonization of databases.9.
José Potting Ole Hertel Wolfgang Schöpp Annemarie Bastrup-Birk 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2006,11(1):72-80
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/lca2006.04.014Background, Aims and Scope
In the life cycle of a product, emissions take place at many different locations. The location of the source and its surrounding conditions influence the fate of the emitted pollutant and the subsequent exposure it causes. This source of variation is normally neglected in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), although it is well known that the impacts predicted by site-generic LCIA in some cases differ significantly from the actual impacts. Environmental impacts of photochemical ozone (ground-level ozone) depend on parameters with a considerable geographical variability (like emission patterns and population densities). A spatially differentiated characterisation model thus seems relevant.Methods
and Results. The European RAINS model is applied for calculation of site-dependent characterisation factors for Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) for 41 countries or regions within Europe, and compatible characterisation factors for carbon monoxide (CO) are developed based on expert judgement. These factors are presented for three emission years (1990, 1995 and 2010), and they address human health impacts and vegetation impacts in two separate impacts categories, derived from AOT40 and AOT60 values respectively. Compatible site-generic characterisation factors for NMVOC, NOx, CO and methane (CH4) are calculated as emission-weighted European averages to be applied on emissions for which the location is unknown. The site-generic and site-dependent characterisation factors are part of the EDIP2003 LCIA methodology. The factors are applied in a specific case study, and it is demonstrated how the inclusion of spatial differentiation may alter the results of the photochemical ozone characterisation of life cycle impact assessment.Discussion
and Conclusions. Compared to traditional midpoint characterisation modelling, this novel approach is spatially resolved and comprises a larger part of the cause-effect chain including exposure assessment and exceeding of threshold values. This positions it closer to endpoint modelling and makes the results easier to interpret. In addition, the developed model allows inclusion of the contributions from NOx, which are ne- glected when applying the traditional approaches based on Photochemical Ozone Creation Potentials (POCPs). The variation in site-dependent characterisation factors is far larger than the variation in POCP factors. It thus seems more important to represent the spatially determined variation in exposure than the difference in POCP among the substances.10.
Surat Sedpho Sate Sampattagul Nattaporn Chaiyat Shabbir H. Gheewala 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2017,22(11):1773-1784
Purpose
The critical issue of waste management in Thailand has been rapidly increasing in almost all of the cities due to the economic growth and rising population that could double the amount of solid waste in landfill area. The alternative ways of waste treatment that have more efficiency and effectiveness in terms of energy, ecology, and resources become the key issue for each municipality to replace the old fashioned technology and be able to enhance the ability of solid waste problem management. Waste to energy is one of the favorable approaches to diminish the amount of waste to landfill and utilize waste for electricity. The aim of this study is to identify and quantify the life cycle impacts of the municipal solid waste (MSW) of Mae Hong Son municipality (MHSM), and the case study is the selected waste treatment technology of the Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) hybrid with 20 kW of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC).Methods
The functional unit is defined as 1 t of MSW. The energy, environment, and resource impacts were evaluated by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); ReCipe and Net Energy Consumption were referred to calculate the environmental impacts and the benefits of energy recovery of WtE technology. Exergetic LCA was used to analyze the resource consumption, especially land use change.Results and discussion
The results indicated that the environmental impacts were comparatively high at the operation stage of RDF combustion. On the other hand, the production stage of RDF illustrated the highest energy consumption. The ORC power generation mainly consumed resources from material and energy used. The ORC system demonstrated better results in terms of energy and resource consumption when applied to waste management, especially the land required for landfill. Substitution of electricity production from ORC system was the contributor to the reduction of both energy and resource consumption. Installation of spray dry and fabric filter unit to RDF burner can reduce heavy metals and some pollutants leading to the reduction of most of the impacts such as climate change, human toxicity, and fossil depletion which are much lower than the conventional landfill.Conclusions
LCA results revealed that the environmental impacts and energy consumption can be reduced by applying the RDF and ORC systems. The exergetic LCA is one of the appropriate tools used to evaluate the resource consumption of MSW. It is obviously proven that landfill contributed to higher impacts than WtE for waste management.11.
Ulrike Eberle Andreas Lange Joost Dewaele Diederik Schowanek 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2007,12(2):127-138
Background, Aims and Scope
This study aims to compare the energy requirements and potential environmental impacts associated with three different commercial laundry processes for washing microbiologically contaminated hospital and care home laundry. Thermal disinfection relies mainly on a 90°C washing temperature and hydrogen peroxide, while the chemothermal disinfection uses a combination of chemicals (mainly peracetic acid) and 70°C washing temperature. The chemical disinfection process relies on a combination of chemicals used at 40°C. Currently, chemothermal processes are the most commonly used in professional laundries. Traditional chemical processes are uncommon due to drawbacks of longer residence time and high chemical requirements. However, the innovative Sterisan chemical process based on phthalimidoperoxyhexanoic acid (PAP) – which is the key subject of this Life Cycle Assessment – was designed to overcome these technical limitations.Methods
This study is based on a screening Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) prepared in 2002 by Öko-Institut (Germany), which was carried out following the requirements of the ISO 14040 series standards. It includes energy resource consumption, water resource consumption, climate change, eutrophication and acidification potential as relevant environmental indicators. In 2004/2005, the study was further updated and broadened to include the aquatic eco-toxicity potential, photochemical oxidant formation and ozone depletion potential in order to represent the environmental burdens associated with the chemicals used.Based on available data, the system boundaries include detergent manufacturing, the professional wash process, waste water treatment, but excluding the laundry finishing process. The selected functional unit was 1kg washed hygiene laundry.Results and Discussion
The LCA indicates that the Sterisan chemical process has a lower potential environmental impact than thermal or chemothermal treatment for six out of seven key indicators. This includes a 55% lower energy and a 46% lower water consumption. The global warming potential and acidification potential are approximately halved, while the photochemical oxidant formation potential and eutrophication potential are almost reduced to one third. By contrast, for the aquatic eco-toxicity, the thermal- and chemothermal processes have an approximately 17 fold lower impact. The worse aquatic toxicity score for the Sterisan process is mainly caused by a solvent component in the formulation.Conclusion
The comparison of the thermal, chemothermal and Sterisan commercial laundry processes shows that the Sterisan process allows for very substantial reductions in energy and water consumption, as well as significant reductions in climate change, photochemical oxidant formation potential, air acidification potential and eutrophication potential. Yet, Sterisan has a clear disadvantage with regards to aquatic eco-toxicity potential.Recommendation and Perspective
Based on a current hygiene laundry volume of approx. 584000 tons of linen washed per year by commercial laundries in Germany, a full substitution of the market to the Sterisan process could potentially allow a primary energy saving of ~750000 GJ/year (roughly equivalent to the residential primary energy consumption of 23500 German citizens or the overall energy demand of approx. 6000 German citizens). In terms of improvements to the respective processes, the chemothermal and thermal process could benefit from a reduction of water volume, and change of detergent composition to reduce the eutrophication potential. As the washing temperature is an essential factor, only slight improvements for the energy consumption indicator can be obtained, e.g. by choosing green electricity and reducing the amount of water to be heated. The Sterisan process could be improved by lowering the solvent use, although for perspective, the current aquatic eco-toxicity score of the Sterisan process is still lower than that of a typical domestic laundry product.12.
Laura Binaghi Marco Del Borghi Michela Gallo 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2007,12(1):40-49
Goal, Scope and Background
The aim of the present study is to evaluate, through LCA, the potential environmental impact associated to urban waste dumping in a sanitary landfill for four case studies and to compare different technologies for waste treatment and leachate or biogas management in the framework of the EPD® system. Specific data were collected on the four Italian landfills during a five-year campaign from 2000 to 2004. This work also analyses the comparability of EPD results for different products in the same product category. For this purpose, a critical review of PSR 2003:3, for preparing an EPD on ‘Collection, transfer and disposal service for urban waste in sanitary landfills', is performed.Methods
PSR 2003:3 defines the requirements, based on environmental parameters, that should be considered in an LCA study for collecting and disposal service of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in a sanitary landfill. It defines functional unit, system boundaries towards nature, other technical systems and boundaries in time, cut-off rules, allocation rules and parameters to be declared in the EPD. This PSR is tested on four case studies representing the major landfills located from the farthest west to the farthest east side of the Ligurian Region. Those landfills are managed with different technologies as concerns waste pre-treatment and leachate or biogas treatment. For each landfill, a life cycle assessment study is performed.Results and Discussion
The comparison of the LCA results is performed separately for the following phases: Transport, Landfill, Leachate and Biogas. The following parameters are considered: Resource use (Use of non-renewable resources with and without energy content, Use of renewable resources with and without energy content, Water consumption); Pollutant emissions expressed as potential environmental impact (Global Warming Potential from biological and fossil sources, Acidification, Ozone depletion, Photochemical oxidant formation, Eutrophication, Land use, Hazardous and other Waste production). The comparison of the LCA results obtained for alternative landfill and biogas management techniques in the case studies investigated shows that the best practicable option that benefits the environment as a whole must be identified and chosen in the LCA context. For example, a strong waste pre-treatment causes a high biological GWP in the Landfill phase, but a low GWP contribution in the Biogas phase, due to the consequent low biogas production, evaluated for 30 years since landfill closure.Conclusion
The analysis of four case studies showed that, through the EPD tool, it is possible to make a comparison among different declarations for the same product category only with some modification and integration to existent PSR 2003:3. Results showed that different products have different performances for phases and impact categories. It is not possible to identify the \best product\ from an environmental point of view, but it is possible to identify the product (or service) with the lowest impact on the environment for each impact category and resource use.Recommendation and Perspective
In consequences of the verification of the comprehensiveness of existent PSR 2003:3 for the comparability of EPD, some modifications and integration to existent rules are suggested.13.
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Niels Jungbluth Regula Keller Alex König 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2016,21(5):646-653
Purpose
Private food consumption accounts for 30 % of total environmental impacts caused by the final consumption of Swiss households. The private expenses for gastronomy and hotels account for another 6 %. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate and better understand the environmental impacts of food consumption and the possibilities for a reduction of these impacts. This was the starting point for the collaboration between the canteen operator SV Group, the life cycle assessment (LCA) consultancy ESU-services, the energy supplier ewz and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Switzerland focusing on food consumption in canteens.Methods
In a first step, an LCA study was used to analyse the environmental impacts of about 20 million meals served in 240 canteens in 2011. LCA data for 160 food items were linked to the food amounts of about 10,000 articles purchased in this year. This was supplemented by data on canteen operation and resulted in a full organisational LCA.Results and discussion
The impacts of food purchases are about four times higher than the direct impacts due to the operation of the canteens. The most important product groups are meat and dairy products. Improvement potentials have been identified within 14 different themes by the project group. They include measures in the canteen operation (e.g. reduction of food waste or energy-efficient appliances); measures in the supply chain, e.g. a reduction of vegetables grown in heated greenhouses; or the abandonment of air-transported products. But also dietary choices such as a reduction of the average amount of meat per meal are considered as an option. The results and recommendations of the detailed LCA as well as information by other partners have been used by the SV Group to develop the programme ONE TWO WE. It assists the customers (companies who commission the operation of canteens in their premises) to reach improved levels of environmental performance. The programme aims for a 20 % cut on GHG emissions after full implementation in the participating canteens.Conclusions
The programme started successfully with many customers positively convinced by the proposed changes in the provision of canteen meals. An initial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to the baseline was achieved. This LCA study is a good example for the value of calculating a full organisational environmental footprint for a company in the gastronomy sector and for using the results of such a study to bring down the overall environmental impacts.15.
Background and Objective
. Values in the known weighting methods in Life Cycle Assessment are mostly founded by the societal systems of developed countries. What source of weights and which weighting methods are reliable for a big developing country like China? The purpose of this paper is to find a possible weighting method and available data that will work well for LCA practices conducted in China. Since government policies and decisions play a leading role in the process of environmental protection in developing countries, the weights derived from political statements may be a consensus by representatives of the public.Methods
'Distance-to-political target' principle is used in this paper to derive weights of five problem-oriented impact categories. The critical policy targets are deduced from the environmental policies issued in the period of the Ninth Five-year (1996-2000) and the Tenth Five-year (2001-2005) Plan for the Development of National Economy and Society of China. Policy targets on two five-year periods are presented and analyzed. Weights are determined by the quotient between the reference levels and target levels of a certain impact category.Results and Discussion
Since the Tenth Five-year Plan put forward the overall objective to reduce the level of regional pollution by 2005, the weights for AP, EP and POCP for 2000-2005 are more than 1. By comparison between the Ninth Five-year and Tenth Five-year period, the results show that the weights obtained in this paper effectively represent Chinese political environmental priorities in different periods. For the weights derived from China's political targets for the overall period 1995-2005, the rank order of relative importance is ODP>AP>POCP>EP>GWP. They are recommended to the potential users for the broader disparity among the five categories. By comparison with the weights presented by the widespread EDIP method, the result shows that there's a big difference in the relative importance of ozone depletion and global warming.-
In conclusion, the weighting factors and rank order of impact categories determined in this study represent the characteristics of the big developing country. The derived weighting set can be helpful to LCA practices of products within the industrial systems of China.16.
Joël Aubin Caroline Fontaine Myriam Callier Emmanuelle Roque d’orbcastel 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2018,23(5):1030-1041
Purpose
Bivalve production is an important aquaculture activity worldwide, but few environmental assessments have focused on it. In particular, bivalves’ ability to extract nutrients from the environment by intensely filtering water and producing a shell must be considered in the environmental assessment.Methods
LCA of blue mussel bouchot culture (grown out on wood pilings) in Mont Saint-Michel Bay (France) was performed to identify its impact hotspots. The chemical composition of mussel flesh and shell was analyzed to accurately identify potential positive effects on eutrophication and climate change. The fate of mussel shells after consumption was also considered.Results and discussion
Its potential as a carbon-sink is influenced by assumptions made about the carbon sequestration in wooden bouchots and in the mussel shell. The fate of the shells which depends on management of discarded mussels and household waste plays also an important role. Its carbon-sink potential barely compensates the climate change impact induced by the use of fuel used for on-site transportation. The export of N and P in mussel flesh slightly decreases potential eutrophication. Environmental impacts of blue mussel culture are determined by the location of production and mussel yields, which are influenced by marine currents and the distance to on-shore technical base.Conclusions
Bouchot mussel culture has low environmental impacts compared to livestock systems, but the overall environmental performances depend on farming practices and the amount of fuel used. Changes to the surrounding ecosystem induced by high mussel density must be considered in future LCA studies.17.
Sohail Yasin Nemeshwaree Behary Giorgio Rovero Vijay Kumar 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2016,21(12):1776-1788
Purpose
The purpose of this work was to present a methodology to assess the energy consumption, specifically the energy utilized in the washing and drying processes, of textile products in their use-phase with the help of statistical tools. Regardless of the environmental impacts associated with the use-phase of textile products, analysis of energy consumption in that phase is still lacking. There is a need to design methodology for identifying the hotspots and parameters influencing the energy consumption in the use-phase of textile products. A pragmatic method that consists of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) framework plus principle component analysis (PCA), extended by Procrustes analysis (PA), is used to determine the energy consumption and minimize the possible uncertainties in the use-phase of textile product systems.Methods
The LCA plus PCA-PA method employed in this work to analyze the energy consumption of textile products in the use-phase comprises two statistical tools. First, PCA was applied to find the key parameters affecting the results. As an extension of PCA, PA was performed to highlight the most prominent variables within the dataset and extract the maximum amount of information. Lastly, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was utilized for the classification of textile products on the basis of energy consumption variables and the similarity of their results.Results and discussion
Among various energy consuming parameters in the use-phase of a textile product, both geographical and physical aspects can be prominent variables that significantly can affect the results of the energy consumption. After the LCA plus PCA-PA methodology, country of the use-phase in the geographical aspect and in the physical aspect, the fiber type and weight of the products were the influential variables. Hotspots or influential parameters being identified, a number of steps can be taken that can play an important role in decreasing environmental impacts by reducing the energy consumption in the laundering process of textile products during the use-phase.Conclusions
The methodology of LCA plus PCA-PA for energy consumption in textile products was employed to study the gap in currently available assessments. Using this method, the main influencing energy consuming parameters or hotspots in the use-phase of a textile product system could easily be identified and potential improvements of sustainability can be proposed.18.
Emily Grubert 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2017,22(2):148-158
Purpose
Life cycle assessment aims to evaluate multiple kinds of environmental impact associated with a product or process across its life cycle. Objective evaluation is a common goal, though the community recognizes that implicit valuations of diverse impacts resulting from analytical choices and choice of subject matter are present. This research evaluates whether these implicit valuations lead to detectable priority shifts in the published English language academic LCA literature over time.Methods
A near-comprehensive investigation of the LCA literature is undertaken by applying a text mining technique known as topic modeling to over 8200 environment-related LCA journal article titles and abstracts published between 1995 and 2014.Results and discussion
Topic modeling using MALLET software and manual validation shows that over time, the LCA literature reflects a dramatic proportional increase in attention to climate change and a corresponding decline in attention to human and ecosystem health impacts, accentuated by rapid growth of the LCA literature. This result indicates an implicit prioritization of climate over other impact categories, a field-scale trend that appears to originate mostly in the broader environmental community rather than the LCA methodological community. Reasons for proportionally increasing publication of climate-related LCA might include the relative robustness of greenhouse gas emissions as an environmental impact indicator, a correlation with funding priorities, researcher interest in supporting active policy debates, or a revealed priority on climate versus other environmental impacts in the scholarly community.Conclusions
As LCA becomes more widespread, recognizing and addressing the fact that analyses are not objective becomes correspondingly more important. Given the emergence of implicit prioritizations in the LCA literature, such as the impact prioritization of climate identified here with the use of computational tools, this work recommends the development and use of techniques that make impact prioritization explicit and enable consistent analysis of result sensitivity to value judgments. Explicit prioritization can improve transparency while enabling more systematic investigation of the effects of value choices on how LCA results are used.19.
Ingo Meinshausen Peter Müller-Beilschmidt Tobias Viere 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2016,21(9):1231-1235
Purpose
This paper introduces the new EcoSpold data format for life cycle inventory (LCI).Methods
A short historical retrospect on data formats in the life cycle assessment (LCA) field is given. The guiding principles for the revision and implementation are explained. Some technical basics of the data format are described, and changes to the previous data format are explained.Results
The EcoSpold 2 data format caters for new requirements that have arisen in the LCA field in recent years.Conclusions
The new data format is the basis for the Ecoinvent v3 database, but since it is an open data format, it is expected to be adopted by other LCI databases. Several new concepts used in the new EcoSpold 2 data format open the way for new possibilities for the LCA practitioners and to expand the application of the datasets in other fields beyond LCA (e.g., Material Flow Analysis, Energy Balancing).20.
Lisa Marie Gruber Christian Peter Brandstetter Ulrike Bos Jan Paul Lindner Stefan Albrecht 《The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment》2016,21(5):773-784