Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Cycle Assessment (cycle + assessment)
Kinds of Cycle Assessment Selected AbstractsMaximizing resource recovery from waste streamsENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 4 2003Tim Grant Resource conservation and waste management have become two sides of the same argument. According to the Institutefor Local Self Reliance in the US., the recycling revolution begun in the l960s was a reaction "to the levels of waste in our economy and the pollution and suffering these habits cause worldwide" [1,2]. However, the recycling targetsetting of the early 1990s was focused on diversion from landfill, and it has taken another 10 years for the focus to shift back to the resource values approach, driven largely by the application of Life Cycle Assessment to the waste management system. This paper examines materials in the waste stream to determine the "value proposition" in each material group, and to examine options for efficient resource use and recovery. Specifically, it discusses waste management issues associated with clean fill, food waste, timber waste, concrete and bricks, green waste, paper and board, metals, plastics, and glass. [source] Implementing life cycle assessment in product developmentENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 4 2003Gurbakhash Singh Bhander The overall aim of this paper is to provide an understanding of the environmental issues involved in the early stages of product development, and the capacity of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) techniques to address these issues. The paper aims to outline the problems for the designer in evaluating the environmental benignity of a product from the outset, and to provide a framework for decision support based on the performance evaluation at different stages of the design process. The barriers that prevent product developers from using LCA are presented, as well as opportunities for introducing environmental criteria in the design process by meeting the designer's information requirements at the different life cycle stages. This can lead to an in-depth understanding of the attitudes of product developers towards the subject area, and an understanding of possible future directions for product development. This paper introduces an Environmentally Conscious Design method, and presents trade-offs between design degrees of freedom and environmental solutions. Life cycle design frameworks and strategies are also addressed. The paper collects experiences and ideas around the state-of-the-art in eco-design, from literature and personal experience, and provides eco-design life cycle assessment strategies. The end result of this presentation is to define the requirements for performance measurement techniques, and the environment needed to support life cycle evaluation throughout the evaluation of early stages of a product system. [source] LCAccess: A global directory of life cycle assessment resourcesENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 1 2003Mary Ann Curran LCAccess is an EPA-sponsored Web site intended to promote the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in business decision-making by facilitating access to data sources useful in developing a life cycle inventory (LCI). While LCAccess does not, itself, contain data, it is a searchable global directory of potential data sources, and serves as a central source for LCA information. [source] Life cycle assessment: An international experienceENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 2 2000Mary Ann Curran Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to evaluate environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying relevant inputs and outputs of the defined system and evaluating their potential impacts. This article outlines the four components that comprise LCA (goal definition, inventory, impact assessment and interpretation) and addresses various applications of LCA within industry and government. Included are references to several resources that may be used to better understand and apply LCA, such as books, journals, software programs and internet websites. [source] Food Waste Management by Life Cycle Assessment of the Food ChainJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 3 2004THOMAS OHLSSON ABSTRACT: In the past, environmental activities in the food industry used to be focused on meeting the requirements set by authorities on waste and sewage disposal and, more recently, regarding emissions to air. Today environmental issues are considered an essential part of the corporate image in progressive food industries. To avoid sub-optimization, food waste management should involve assessing the environmental impact of the whole food chain. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an ISO-standardized method to assess the environmental impact of a food product. It evaluates the resources used to perform the different activities through the chain of production from raw material to the user step. It also summarizes the emission/waste to air, water, and land from the same activities throughout the chain. These emissions are then related to the major environmental concerns such as eutrophication, acidification, and ecotoxicity, the factors most relevant for the food sector. The food industry uses the LCAs to identify the steps in the food chain that have the largest impact on the environment in order to target the improvement efforts. It is then used to choose among alternatives in the selection of raw materials, packaging material, and other inputs as well as waste management strategies. A large number of food production chains have been assessed by LCAs over the years. This will be exemplified by a comparison of the environmental impact of ecologically grown raw materials to those conventionally grown. Today LCA is often integrated into process and product development, for example, in a project for reduction of water usage and waste valorization in a diversified dairy. [source] Integration of Life Cycle Assessment Into Agent-Based ModelingJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Toward Informed Decisions on Evolving Infrastructure Systems Summary A method is presented that allows for a life cycle assessment (LCA) to provide environmental information on an energy infrastructure system while it evolves. Energy conversion facilities are represented in an agent-based model (ABM) as distinct instances of technologies with owners capable of making decisions based on economic and environmental information. This simulation setup allows us to explore the dynamics of assembly, disassembly, and use of these systems, which typically span decades, and to analyze the effect of using LCA information in decision making. We were able to integrate a simplified LCA into an ABM by aligning and connecting the data structures that represent the energy infrastructure and the supply chains from source to sink. By using an appropriate database containing life cycle inventory (LCI) information and by solving the scaling factors for the technology matrix, we computed the contribution to global warming in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents in the form of a single impact indicator for each instance of technology at each discrete simulation step. These LCAs may then serve to show each agent the impact of its activities at a global level, as indicated by its contribution to climate change. Similar to economic indicators, the LCA indicators may be fed back to the simulated decision making in the ABM to emulate the use of environmental information while the system evolves. A proof of concept was developed that is illustrated for a simplified LCA and ABM used to generate and simulate the evolution of a bioelectricity infrastructure system. [source] A bi-criterion optimization approach for the design and planning of hydrogen supply chains for vehicle useAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2010Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez Abstract In this article, we address the design of hydrogen supply chains for vehicle use with economic and environmental concerns. Given a set of available technologies to produce, store, and deliver hydrogen, the problem consists of determining the optimal design of the production-distribution network capable of satisfying a predefined hydrogen demand. The design task is formulated as a bi-criterion mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem, which simultaneously accounts for the minimization of cost and environmental impact. The environmental impact is measured through the contribution to climate change made by the hydrogen network operation. The emissions considered in the analysis are those associated with the entire life cycle of the process, and are quantified according to the principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). To expedite the search of the Pareto solutions of the problem, we introduce a bi-level algorithm that exploits its specific structure. A case study that addresses the optimal design of the hydrogen infrastructure needed to fulfill the expected hydrogen demand in Great Britain is introduced to illustrate the capabilities of the proposed approach. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010 [source] Optimal design and planning of sustainable chemical supply chains under uncertaintyAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez Abstract This article addresses the design of sustainable chemical supply chains in the presence of uncertainty in the life cycle inventory associated with the network operation. The design task is mathematically formulated as a bi-criterion stochastic mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) that simultaneously accounts for the maximization of the net present value and the minimization of the environmental impact for a given probability level. The environmental performance is measured through the Eco-indicator 99, which incorporates the recent advances made in Life Cycle Assessment. The stochastic model is converted into its deterministic equivalent by reformulating the probabilistic constraint required to calculate the environmental impact in the space of uncertain parameters. The resulting deterministic bi-criterion MINLP problem is further reformulated as a parametric MINLP, which is solved by decomposing it into two sub-problems and iterating between them. The capabilities of the proposed model and solution procedure are illustrated through two case studies for which the set of Pareto optimal, or efficient solutions that trade-off environmental impact and profit, are calculated. These solutions provide valuable insights into the design problem and are intended to guide the decision maker towards the adoption of more sustainable design alternatives. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009 [source] Life Cycle Assessment , Principles, Practice and ProspectsAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010FABIANO De AQUINO XIMENES No abstract is available for this article. [source] Environmental performance of lignocellulosic bioethanol production from Alfalfa stemsBIOFUELS, BIOPRODUCTS AND BIOREFINING, Issue 2 2010Sara González-García Abstract A ,well-to-wheel' analysis was conducted for bioethanol obtained from alfalfa stems by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. This analysis was compared with two blends of conventional gasoline with bioethanol (E10 and E85), all used in a mid-size car. A biochemical process including enzymatic hydrolysis and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation was considered. The life cycles of the fuels include gasoline production, alfalfa agriculture, lignocellulosic bioethanol production, blend production, and finally the use of fuels. The production of the alfalfa plant has two products: high-protein leaves for animal feed (the main driving force) and high-fiber stems. In this study, we assumed two allocation procedures based on mass and protein content, the latter reflecting the greater value of the leaves. According to the results, the use of bioethanol-based fuels leads to reduced global warming potential. A reduction in fossil fuel extraction of up to 72% could be achieved when pure bioethanol is used as transport fuel. On the contrary, bioethanol fuels are not the most suitable option when assessing acidification, eutrophication, and photochemical oxidant formation impact categories, mainly due to the higher impact from the upstream processes (specifically agricultural activities). LCA methodology helped to identify the key areas in the bioethanol production where researchers and technicians need to work to improve the environmental performance, paying special attention to enzyme production, onsite energy generation and distillation processes as well as agricultural activities. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [source] A life cycle assessment of mechanical and feedstock recycling options for management of plastic packaging wastesENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 2 2005Floriana Perugini Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is generally considered one of the best environmental management tools that can be used to compare alternative eco-performances of recycling or disposal systems. It considers the environment as a whole, including indirect releases, energy and material consumption, emissions in the environment, and waste disposal and follows each activity from the extraction of raw materials to the return of wastes to the ground (cradle-to-grave approach). The study refers to the whole Italian system for recycling of household plastic packaging wastes. The aim was to quantify the overall environmental performances of mechanical recycling of plastic containers in Italy and to compare them with those of conventional options of landfilling or incineration and of a couple of innovative processes of feedstock recycling, low-temperature fluidized bed pyrolysis, and high-pressure hydrogenation. The results confirm that recycling scenarios are always preferable to those of nonrecycling. They also highlight the good environmental performance of new plastic waste management schemes that couple feedstock and mechanical recycling processes. © 2005 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2005 [source] LCC,The economic pillar of sustainability: Methodology and application to wastewater treatmentENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 4 2003Gerald Rebitzer Industrial applications of supply chain cost management, along with life cycle costing of goods and services, are increasing. Several industrial sectors, in particular the automotive, electronics, and primary materials, have engaged in programs to coordinate upstream and downstream activities to reduce environmental burdens. At the same time, there is an increasing need to pass on information on product, material, and energy flows along the supply chain, as well as to provide data on the use and end-of-life phases of goods and services. Therefore, methods to analyze, assess, and manage these flows, from an economic as well as an environmental perspective, are of essential importance, particularly in established large-scale industries where suppliers are increasingly challenged to provide comprehensive cost and environmental information. In this context, a life cycle costing analysis (LCC), conducted as part of life cycle management activities, can provide important opportunities. Therefore, this paper focuses on a life cycle assessment (LCA)-based LCC method, which utilizes an LCA model as a basis for cost estimations in product development and planning. A case study on life cycle costing of wastewater treatment illustrates the practical use and benefits of the method. [source] Implementing life cycle assessment in product developmentENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 4 2003Gurbakhash Singh Bhander The overall aim of this paper is to provide an understanding of the environmental issues involved in the early stages of product development, and the capacity of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) techniques to address these issues. The paper aims to outline the problems for the designer in evaluating the environmental benignity of a product from the outset, and to provide a framework for decision support based on the performance evaluation at different stages of the design process. The barriers that prevent product developers from using LCA are presented, as well as opportunities for introducing environmental criteria in the design process by meeting the designer's information requirements at the different life cycle stages. This can lead to an in-depth understanding of the attitudes of product developers towards the subject area, and an understanding of possible future directions for product development. This paper introduces an Environmentally Conscious Design method, and presents trade-offs between design degrees of freedom and environmental solutions. Life cycle design frameworks and strategies are also addressed. The paper collects experiences and ideas around the state-of-the-art in eco-design, from literature and personal experience, and provides eco-design life cycle assessment strategies. The end result of this presentation is to define the requirements for performance measurement techniques, and the environment needed to support life cycle evaluation throughout the evaluation of early stages of a product system. [source] Life cycle assessment: An international experienceENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY, Issue 2 2000Mary Ann Curran Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to evaluate environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying relevant inputs and outputs of the defined system and evaluating their potential impacts. This article outlines the four components that comprise LCA (goal definition, inventory, impact assessment and interpretation) and addresses various applications of LCA within industry and government. Included are references to several resources that may be used to better understand and apply LCA, such as books, journals, software programs and internet websites. [source] Atmospheric impact of bioenergy based on perennial crop (reed canary grass, Phalaris arundinaceae, L.) cultivation on a drained boreal organic soilGCB BIOENERGY, Issue 3 2010NARASINHA J. SHURPALI Abstract Marginal organic soils, abundant in the boreal region, are being increasingly used for bioenergy crop cultivation. Using long-term field experimental data on greenhouse gas (GHG) balance from a perennial bioenergy crop [reed canary grass (RCG), Phalaris arundinaceae L.] cultivated on a drained organic soil as an example, we show here for the first time that, with a proper cultivation and land-use practice, environmentally sound bioenergy production is possible on these problematic soil types. We performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) for RCG on this organic soil. We found that, on an average, this system produces 40% less CO2 -equivalents per MWh of energy in comparison with a conventional energy source such as coal. Climatic conditions regulating the RCG carbon exchange processes have a high impact on the benefits from this bioenergy production system. Under appropriate hydrological conditions, this system can even be carbon-negative. An LCA sensitivity analysis revealed that net ecosystem CO2 exchange and crop yield are the major LCA components, while non-CO2 GHG emissions and costs associated with crop production are the minor ones. Net bioenergy GHG emissions resulting from restricted net CO2 uptake and low crop yields, due to climatic and moisture stress during dry years, were comparable with coal emissions. However, net bioenergy emissions during wet years with high net uptake and crop yield were only a third of the coal emissions. As long-term experimental data on GHG balance of bioenergy production are scarce, scientific data stemming from field experiments are needed in shaping renewable energy source policies. [source] Life cycle assessment in management, product and process design, and policy decision making: A conference reportINTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2005Joyce Cooper On 24 September 2003, life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners and decision makers gathered at the InLCA/LCM Conference in Seattle, Washington, USA (see http://www.lcacenter.org/lnLCA-LCM03/index.html) to discuss the role of LCA in management, product design, process development, and regulatory/policy development decisions and to compare life cycle-based methods and tools with traditional product evaluation methods and tools. This article is a summary of that meeting and was prepared by the organizers as an overview of the many different technical, regulatory policy, and decision-making policy perspectives presented to an international gathering of participants representing academia and the industrial and regulatory communities. [source] Environmental and sustainability aspects of hydrogen and fuel cell systemsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 1 2007Ibrahim DincerArticle first published online: 1 AUG 200 Abstract Discussed in this paper are current environmental problems, potential solutions to these problems, possible future hydrogen energy-utilization patterns for better environment and sustainable development through life cycle assessment (LCA), and how the principles of thermodynamics via exergy can be beneficially used to evaluate hydrogen and fuel cell systems and their role in sustainable development. Throughout the paper current and future perspectives of hydrogen and fuel cell systems based on exergetic, LCA and sustainability aspects development are considered. The results will likely be useful to scientists, researchers and engineers as well as policy and decision makers. Two case studies on the LCA aspects of hydrogen and fuel cell systems are presented to highlight the importance of the hydrogen and fuel cell systems and show that these can help achieve better environment and sustainability. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Life cycle assessment of a PPV plant applied to an existing SUW management systemINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 5 2003Francesco Di Maria Abstract The huge amount of wastes produced by modern and developed countries involves important aspects of economical, social and technical fields and also of the environment. For this reason, different technologies have been proposed for trying to reduce the impact of waste management and disposal. Generally waste management system consists of different steps like selective collection, recycling and reuse operation, energy recovery from waste and landfilling. A new technology proposed for thermal waste treatment is the plasma pyrolysis vetrification (PPV). This system seems to have interesting perspective due to the possibility of thermal treatment of dangerous slag or waste producing inactivate vetrified substances that can be landfilled or used as building materials with no impact on the environment. In this study, the effect of the application of a PPV plant on an existing waste management system was evaluated with a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis. All the activities connected to the existing system have been carefully analysed by collecting a large quantity of experimental data. Some assumptions have been made, in particular, on the PPV plant performance. LCA analysis results illustrate how the environmental benefits arising from the adoption of the new technology, concerns only few aspects of the whole system. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Food Waste Management by Life Cycle Assessment of the Food ChainJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 3 2004THOMAS OHLSSON ABSTRACT: In the past, environmental activities in the food industry used to be focused on meeting the requirements set by authorities on waste and sewage disposal and, more recently, regarding emissions to air. Today environmental issues are considered an essential part of the corporate image in progressive food industries. To avoid sub-optimization, food waste management should involve assessing the environmental impact of the whole food chain. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an ISO-standardized method to assess the environmental impact of a food product. It evaluates the resources used to perform the different activities through the chain of production from raw material to the user step. It also summarizes the emission/waste to air, water, and land from the same activities throughout the chain. These emissions are then related to the major environmental concerns such as eutrophication, acidification, and ecotoxicity, the factors most relevant for the food sector. The food industry uses the LCAs to identify the steps in the food chain that have the largest impact on the environment in order to target the improvement efforts. It is then used to choose among alternatives in the selection of raw materials, packaging material, and other inputs as well as waste management strategies. A large number of food production chains have been assessed by LCAs over the years. This will be exemplified by a comparison of the environmental impact of ecologically grown raw materials to those conventionally grown. Today LCA is often integrated into process and product development, for example, in a project for reduction of water usage and waste valorization in a diversified dairy. [source] Alternatives for Reducing the Environmental Impact of the Main Residue From a Desalination PlantJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Montse Meneses Summary One of the most important problems today is the scarcity of fresh water safe enough for human, industrial, and agricultural use. Desalination is an alternative source of fresh water supply in areas with severe problems of water availability. Desalination plants generate a huge amount of brine as the main residual from the plant (about 55% of collected seawater). Because of that, it is important to determine the best environmental option for the brine disposal. This article makes a global environmental analysis, under Spanish conditions, of a desalination plant and an environmental assessment of different final brine disposals, representing a range of the most common alternatives: direct disposal, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outflow dilution, and dilution with seawater. The environmental profile of the plant operation and a comparison of the brine final disposal alternatives were established by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. From an analysis of the whole plant we observed that the highest environmental impact was caused by energy consumption, especially at the reverse osmosis stage, while the most relevant waste was brine. From an analysis of brine final disposal we have elaborated a comparison of the advantages and detriments of the three alternatives. As all of them might be suitable in different specific situations, the results might be useful in decisions about final brine disposal. [source] Hybrid Framework for Managing Uncertainty in Life Cycle InventoriesJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Eric D. Williams Summary Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used to inform decisions related to environmental technologies and polices, such as carbon footprinting and labeling, national emission inventories, and appliance standards. However, LCA studies of the same product or service often yield very different results, affecting the perception of LCA as a reliable decision tool. This does not imply that LCA is intrinsically unreliable; we argue instead that future development of LCA requires that much more attention be paid to assessing and managing uncertainties. In this article we review past efforts to manage uncertainty and propose a hybrid approach combining process and economic input,output (I-O) approaches to uncertainty analysis of life cycle inventories (LCI). Different categories of uncertainty are sometimes not tractable to analysis within a given model framework but can be estimated from another perspective. For instance, cutoff or truncation error induced by some processes not being included in a bottom-up process model can be estimated via a top-down approach such as the economic I-O model. A categorization of uncertainty types is presented (data, cutoff, aggregation, temporal, geographic) with a quantitative discussion of methods for evaluation, particularly for assessing temporal uncertainty. A long-term vision for LCI is proposed in which hybrid methods are employed to quantitatively estimate different uncertainty types, which are then reduced through an iterative refinement of the hybrid LCI method. [source] Hierarchical Activity Model for Risk-Based Decision MakingJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Integrating Life Cycle, Plant-Specific Risk Assessments Summary For the practical implementation of the assessment of environmental impact, actual procedures and data requirements should be clarified so that industrial decision makers understand them. Researchers should consider local risks related to processes and environmental impact throughout the life cycle of products simultaneously to supervise these adverse effects appropriately. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool for quantifying the potential impact associated with a product life cycle. Risk assessment (RA) is a widely used tool for identifying chemical risks in a specific situation. In this study, we integrate LCA and RA for risk-based decision making by devising a hierarchical activity model using the type-zero method of integrated definition language (IDEF0). The IDEF0 activity modeling language has been applied to connect activities with information flows. Process generation, evaluation, and decision making are logically defined and visualized in the activity model with the required information. The activities, information flows, and their acquisitions are revealed, with a focus on which data should be collected by on-site engineers. A case study is conducted on designing a metal cleaning process reducing chemical risks due to the use of a cleansing agent. LCA and RA are executed and applied effectively on the basis of integrated objective settings and interpretation. The proposed activity model can be used as a foundation to incorporate such assessments into actual business models. [source] Life Cycle Attribute AssessmentJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Case Study of Quebec Greenhouse Tomatoes Summary Practitioners of life cycle assessment (LCA) have recently turned their attention to social issues in the supply chain. The United Nations life cycle initiative's social LCA task force has completed its guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products, and awareness of managing upstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues has risen due to the growing popularity of LCA. This article explores one approach to assessing social issues in the supply chain,life cycle attribute assessment (LCAA). The approach was originally proposed by Gregory Norris in 2006, and we present here a case study. LCAA builds on the theoretical structure of environmental LCA to construct a supply chain model. Instead of calculating quantitative impacts, however, it asks the question "What percentage of my supply chain has attribute X?" X may represent a certification from a CSR body or a self-defined attribute, such as "is locally produced." We believe LCAA may serve as an aid to discussions of how current and popular CSR indicators may be integrated into a supply chain model. The case study demonstrates the structure of LCAA, which is very similar to that of traditional environmental LCA. A labor hours data set was developed as a satellite matrix to determine number of worker hours in a greenhouse tomato supply. Data from the Quebec tomato producer were used to analyze how the company performed on eight sample LCAA indicators, and conclusions were drawn about where the company should focus CSR efforts. [source] Integration of Life Cycle Assessment Into Agent-Based ModelingJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Toward Informed Decisions on Evolving Infrastructure Systems Summary A method is presented that allows for a life cycle assessment (LCA) to provide environmental information on an energy infrastructure system while it evolves. Energy conversion facilities are represented in an agent-based model (ABM) as distinct instances of technologies with owners capable of making decisions based on economic and environmental information. This simulation setup allows us to explore the dynamics of assembly, disassembly, and use of these systems, which typically span decades, and to analyze the effect of using LCA information in decision making. We were able to integrate a simplified LCA into an ABM by aligning and connecting the data structures that represent the energy infrastructure and the supply chains from source to sink. By using an appropriate database containing life cycle inventory (LCI) information and by solving the scaling factors for the technology matrix, we computed the contribution to global warming in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents in the form of a single impact indicator for each instance of technology at each discrete simulation step. These LCAs may then serve to show each agent the impact of its activities at a global level, as indicated by its contribution to climate change. Similar to economic indicators, the LCA indicators may be fed back to the simulated decision making in the ABM to emulate the use of environmental information while the system evolves. A proof of concept was developed that is illustrated for a simplified LCA and ABM used to generate and simulate the evolution of a bioelectricity infrastructure system. [source] Environmental Impact and Added Value in Forestry Operations in NorwayJOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Ottar Michelsen Summary The forestry sector is experiencing an increasing demand for documentation about its environmental performance. Previous studies have revealed large differences in environmental impact caused by forestry operations, mainly due to differences in location and forestry practice. Reliable information on environmental performance for forestry operations in different regions is thus important. This article presents a case study of forestry operations in Norway. Environmental impact and value added of selected operations were assessed. This was done with a hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. Main results, including a sensitivity analysis, are presented for a set of four impact categories. The production chain assessed included all processes from seedling production to the delivery of logs to a downstream user. The environmental impact was mainly caused by logging, transport by forwarders, and transport by truck. These three operations were responsible for approximately 85% of the total environmental impact. The contribution to value added and total costs were more evenly distributed among the processes in the value chain. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the difference in environmental impact between the worst case scenario and the best case scenario was more than a factor of 4. The single most important process was the transport distance from the timber pile in the forest to the downstream user. The results show that the environmental impact from forestry operations in boreal forests was probably underreported in earlier studies. [source] Energy Efficient Emulsion Polymerization StrategiesMACROMOLECULAR REACTION ENGINEERING, Issue 1 2008Monika Goikoetxea Abstract Polymerization strategies aiming at further reducing the environmental impact of the already "green" emulsion polymerization process were investigated. Life cycle assessment showed that non-isothermal strategies starting at low temperature resulted in an environmental impact lower than the isothermal ones. Nevertheless, the major part of the environmental impact was due to raw materials. The effect of the polymerization strategy on polymer microstructure was investigated. [source] Application of life cycle assessment to improve the environmental performance of a ceramic tile packaging systemPACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, Issue 2 2006M. D. Bovea Abstract The overall goal of this study was to evaluate the environmental performance of the process currently used to package and palletize ceramic floor and wall tiles, and to propose and analyse improvements from an environmental point of view. After developing a life cycle inventory of the primary and tertiary packaging, the life cycle assessment was applied according to mandatory and optional elements of ISO 14042. The results are presented in three parts: the first quantifies the environmental behaviour of the current packaging system, the second examines strategies focused on minimizing the environmental burdens of such critical elements, and the third quantifies the environmental improvements, compared with the initial situation, that are obtained with the application of each improvement. The simultaneous incorporation of all the proposed improvements into the packaging system can reduce impact within the 18,45% range, depending on the impact method that is applied. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Life cycle environmental performance and improvement of a yogurt product delivery systemPACKAGING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, Issue 2 2004Gregory A. Keoleian Abstract A life cycle assessment was conducted to evaluate the environmental performance of the yogurt product delivery system used by Stonyfield Farm. A life cycle model was developed which included material production, manufacturing and disposition for primary and secondary packaging, as well as the related transportation links between these stages and filling, retail and the point of consumption. Product delivery systems (PDS) that utilized 4, 6, 8 and 32,oz polypropylene (PP) cups and 2,oz linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) tubes were analysed. Ten strategies for improving the environmental performance of these systems were proposed and their impacts on the total life cycle burden were analysed. The life cycle energy consumption for the 2, 4, 6, 8 and 32,oz containers was 4050, 4670, 5230, 4390 and 3620,MJ/1000,lb yogurt delivered to market, respectively. Material production of the primary packaging accounted for 58% of the life cycle energy, while Distribution 3 (yogurt delivery to distributors/retailers) alone accounted for one-third of the life cycle total energy. The life cycle solid waste profile showed that as the container size decreased, the solid waste burden increased, from 27.3,kg (32,oz) to 42.8,kg (6,oz) per 1000,lb yogurt delivered to market. This relationship was even more pronounced for the 4,oz (47.5,kg) and 2,oz (56.2,kg) product delivery systems. The greatest potential improvements in the environmental performance of the PDS are achievable through redesigning the primary packaging and using alternative manufacturing techniques for the yogurt cups. Shifting from injection moulding to thermoforming of 32,oz container reduces the life cycle energy and solid waste by 18.6% and 19.5%, respectively, primarily due to light-weighting. Elimination of lids for 6,oz and 8,oz containers provided similar benefits. Consumers purchasing yogurt in 32,oz instead of 6,oz containers can save 14.5% of the life cycle energy and decrease solid waste by 27.2%. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Environmental impacts of a Japanese dairy farming system using whole-crop rice silage as evaluated by life cycle assessmentANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 6 2008Akifumi OGINO ABSTRACT The objectives of this study were to assess and compare the environmental impacts of two types of dairy farming systems, one of which makes use of whole-crop rice silage and the other of which is conventional, using life cycle assessment (LCA). The functional unit was defined as 1 kg of 4% fat-corrected milk (FCM). The processes associated with the dairy farming life cycle, such as feed production, feed transport, animal management including biological activity of the animal, and waste treatment were included within the system's boundaries. Environmental impacts of the rice silage-using and conventional dairy farming systems were 987 and 972 g CO2 equivalents for global warming, 6.87 and 7.13 g SO2 equivalents for acidification, 1.19 and 1.23 g PO4 equivalents for eutrophication, and 5.53 and 5.81 MJ for energy consumption, respectively. Our results suggest that the dairy farming system using rice silage in Japan has smaller environmental impacts for acidification, eutrophication, and energy consumption, and a larger impact for global warming compared with conventional farming. Further interpretation integrating these impact categories suggested 1.1% lower environmental impact of the rice silage-using dairy farming system as a whole. [source] Evaluating environmental impacts of the Japanese beef cow,calf system by the life cycle assessment methodANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2007Akifumi OGINO ABSTRACT The objectives of this study were to evaluate the environmental impacts of a beef cow,calf system using a life cycle assessment (LCA) method and to investigate the effects of scenarios to reduce environmental impacts on the LCA results. The functional unit was defined as one marketed beef calf, and the processes associated with the cow,calf life cycle, such as feed production, feed transport, animal management, the biological activity of the animal and the treatment of cattle waste were included in the system boundary. The present results showed that the total contributions of one beef calf throughout its life cycle to global warming, acidification, eutrophication and energy consumption were 4550 kg of CO2 equivalents, 40.1 kg of SO2 equivalents, 7.0 kg of phosphate (PO4) equivalents and 16.1 GJ, respectively. The contribution of each process to the total environmental impact in each environmental impact category showed a similar tendency to the contribution of each process in each environmental category reported in the case of the beef fattening system as a whole. The results from this analysis showed that shortening calving intervals by 1 month reduced environmental impacts by 5.7,5.8% in all the environmental impact categories examined in the current study, and increasing the number of calves per cow also reduced environmental impacts in all the categories, although the effects were smaller. [source] | ||||||||||||||||