ALBERT

Description: Purpose The goal of this study is to analyze the environmental improvement brought about by an alternative system for waste management proposed by the Integral-b project, funded by the European Union (EU). Its aim is to treat both used cooking oil (UCO) and organic waste from the restaurant and catering sector in Spain, by biodiesel production and anaerobic digestion, respectively. A cogeneration engine adapted to use glycerin as a fuel is implemented. Methods The functional unit (FU) is the management of the UCO and organic waste from restaurants and catering produced per person and year in Spain. The system proposed (scenario A) is compared to a system consisting of the prevailing management options for the same kind of waste (scenario B). Apart from including biodiesel production from the UCO, this reference scenario assumes that the organic waste is allocated to different streams, according to Spanish statistics. The systems under study generate different coproducts and as such are complex; therefore, system expansion is performed. Different scenario formulations are set to analyze the influence of assumptions regarding coproduct credits in the results. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to analyze parameter uncertainty. Results and discussion The environmental benefits caused by scenario A are conditional on the choices regarding coproduct credits. Scenario A causes a reduction of the impact (43–655 %) in most of the scenario formulations when the current levels of UCO collection are considered. However, when higher levels of UCO collection are taken into account for the definition of the FU, scenario B performs better for half of the scenario formulations, due to the increase in the environmental credits from glycerin production. The only impact categories for which scenario A performs unconditionally better than scenario B are global warming and photochemical ozone creation. Parameter uncertainty appears to influence the comparative results to a lesser extent, mainly caused by the parameters involved in avoided processes. Conclusions Although system expansion appears as an option for dealing with the multifunctionality of waste management processes, uncertainty caused by choices must be assessed. Under our scenario assumptions, re-using the glycerol in the system proposed by Integral-b can be detrimental, and the reference scenario results in higher avoided burdens in some scenario formulations. Including glycerin valorization in scenario B should be considered if the biodiesel production keeps increasing in Spain. Analyzing parameter uncertainty helps to provide reliable results.

Description: Purpose Phase change materials (PCMs) hold considerable promise for thermal energy storage and reduction of temperature swings in building space, and can reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources for both heating and cooling. Previous studies have evaluated the use of PCMs for energy storage and provided some limited information on the embodied energy of the PCM; however, an important factor that has not fully been addressed until now is the environmental impact of preparation of organic PCMs. This study presents life cycle assessments (LCAs) of two organic, biosourced PCMs for their applications, focusing on embodied energy and CO 2 emissions. Methods Dodecanoic acid produced from palm kernel oil was considered as a PCM for use in a solar thermal water heating application, and ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae was considered for thermal buffering. The functional units were defined as 1 t of dodecanoic acid PCM and 1 kg of encapsulated ethyl hexadecanoate PCM, respectively. The LCA encompasses all phases in the PCM production: growth and harvesting of the feedstocks, extraction of the oil, treatment of the oil, and separation of singular components. The two PCMs were evaluated in terms of the payback times for their embodied energies and embodied CO 2 under a modeled use phase. Results and discussion The energy payback time for dodecanoic acid in a solar thermal application was found to be less than 2 years. Although production of dodecanoic acid is a net CO 2 emitter, use of this PCM in a solar thermal system can recoup the CO 2 of production in less than a year. Ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae, considered for use in a thermal buffering wallboard product, would require at least 30 years of use before its energy savings would match its embodied energy, mostly due to the drying step in the production of the PCM. However, ethyl hexadecanoate is a strong sequester of CO 2 at 7.6 t per ton of ethyl hexadecanoate. Conclusions Dodecanoic acid produced from palm kernel oil for use in a solar thermal hot water system appears to be a viable PCM. Its payback time, both for energy and carbon emissions, is under 3 years. On the other hand, the high embodied energy of ethyl hexadecanoate produced from algae gives a prohibitively long payback time for use in domestic thermal buffering applications.

Description: Purpose Current comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies claim to answer whether it is better or worse for the environment to change from old to new systems. Most commonly, the attributional LCA (ALCA) is practised despite its limitations to describe market effects. Hence, an attempt is done here to include market effects in the ALCA practice for comparisons in order to improve ALCA. The purpose is neither to investigate which LCA concept, ALCA, consequential LCA or decisional LCA, is the best for comparisons nor which is the best for decision-making. Methods Here, for the first time, a method based on marked changes which can be used for sensitivity checks of comparative ALCAs, advanced ALCA (AALCA) is presented. The new concept of global change mix factors (GCMF) is introduced. The method, based on accessible market data, is applied to previous comparative ALCAs of conductive adhesives, cooling modules used in radio base stations, office computing systems, as well as personal devices usage, here represented by multifunctional smartphones replacing other devices such as digital cameras. Results and discussion The results show that AALCA based on market data improves the understanding and can act as a sensitivity check of comparative ALCA results. For declining markets of products, with relatively high eco-environmental impacts, the difference between comparative AALCA and ALCA can be significant. As AALCA is founded in marginal electricity thinking and uses market data, there are similarities between AALCA and simplistic consequential LCA (CLCA). However, AALCA is not intended to replace CLCA or decisional LCA (DLCA). Conclusions By applying allocation factors, GCMF, based on real or future market changes, the interdependence of global markets and micro-level LCA shifts can be taken into account in comparative micro-level ALCA studies and make them more robust. Further, the sensitivity of using price units instead of physical units, as the basis for the GCMF, should be investigated. The degree to which AALCA and CLCA can complement each other should be examined. Also, the degree to which the GCMF used in AALCA-H address rebound effects should be further explored. The annual eco-environmental impacts of mobile devices towards 2020 are also of interest, and more LCA case studies are welcome.

Description: Purpose Previous estimates of carbon payback time (CPT) of corn ethanol expansion assumed that marginal yields of newly converted lands are the same as the average corn yield, whereas reported marginal yields are generally lower than the average yield (47–83 % of average yield). Furthermore, these estimates assumed that the productivity of corn ethanol system and climate change impacts per unit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain the same over decades to a century. The objective of this study is to re-examine CPT of corn ethanol expansion considering three aspects: (1) yields of newly converted lands (i.e., marginal yield), (2) technology improvements over time within the corn ethanol system, and (3) temporal sensitivity of climate change impacts. Methods A new approach to CPT calculation is proposed, where changes in productivity of ethanol conversion process and corn yield are taken into account. The approach also allows the use of dynamic characterization approach to GHGs emitted in different times, as an option. Data are collected to derive historical trends of bioethanol conversion efficiency and corn yield, which inform the development of the scenarios for future biofuel conversion efficiency and corn yield. Corn ethanol’s CPTs are estimated and compared for various marginal-to-average (MtA) yield ratios with and without considering technology improvements and time-dependent climate change impacts. Results and discussion The results show that CPT estimates are highly sensitive to both MtA yield ratio and productivity of ethanol system. Without technological advances, our CPT estimates for corn ethanol from newly converted Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land exceed 100 years for all MtA yield ratios tested except for the case where MtA yield ratio is 100 %. When the productivity improvements within corn ethanol systems since previous CPT estimates and their future projections are considered, our CPT estimates fall into the range of 15 years (100 % MtA yield ratio) to 56 years (50 % MtA yield ratio), assuming land conversion takes place in early 2000s. Incorporating diminishing sensitivity of GHG emissions to future emissions year by year, however, increases the CPT estimates by 57 to 13 % (from 17 years for 100 % MtA yield ratio to 88 years for 50 % MtA yield ratio). For 60 MtA yield ratio, CPT is estimated to be 43 years, which is relatively close to previous CPT estimates (i.e., 40 to 48 years) but with very different underlying reasons. Conclusions This study highlights the importance of considering technological advances in understanding the climate change implications of land conversion for corn ethanol. Without the productivity improvements in corn ethanol system, the prospect of paying off carbon debts from land conversion within 100 years becomes unlikely. Even with the ongoing productivity improvements, the yield of newly converted land can significantly affect the CPT. The results reinforce the importance of considering marginal technologies and technology change in prospective life cycle assessment.

Description: Purpose The security of the supply of resources is a key policy and business concern. This concern has been increasingly addressed by bodies such as the European Commission to help identify materials of potential concern in terms of economic importance and supply risks. Equally, tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) systematically compile inventories of the resources attributable to the supply of goods and services. Such well-established tools, hence, provide an important opportunity for business and governments for strategic management and for identifying improvement options that reduce reliance on so-called critical raw materials (CRMs). This paper explores current practice and the potential of LCA to help business and governments more systematically assess their supply chains. Methods Raw materials of concern to business and governments in relation to security of supply are denoted as critical . This paper highlights how such CRMs are identified in the existing methodologies. It then focuses on LCA methodology and explores its potential in providing information on CRMs at different levels: considering the flows of CRMs at inventory level, including criticality criteria in the impact assessment, and analyzing the flows of CRMs associated with the consumption of goods and services at macroeconomic scale. Results and discussion Consideration of resource security can be specifically addressed in LCA starting from the goal and scope definition. These CRMs may otherwise be neglected due to cut-off criteria based, e.g., on quantity. If systematically addressed, LCA can provide such CRM information routinely at inventory level. Inclusion of further indicators under the Area of Protection (AoP) “Resources” in LCA may also ensure such assessments more systematically address issues such as criticality. In strategic analysis, as those at macroeconomic scale, LCA results at the inventory (e.g., amounts of CRMs domestically extracted and those used for producing imported and exported intermediate products) and at impact assessment level can better support decision making. Conclusions At both microscale and macroscale, LCA might have more potential in capturing hot spots and improvement opportunities of raw materials of concern, not only in terms of scarcity. This paper highlights that LCA is well positioned for providing information on resource-related issues of concern to business and governments such as the criticality of raw materials used in the supply chains. The paper outlines the methodological developments that could enhance LCA potential to further support resource assessments to help more systematically meet such business and governmental interests.

Description: Purpose USEtox is a scientific consensus model for assessing human toxicological and ecotoxicological impacts that is widely used in life cycle assessment (LCA) and other comparative assessments. However, how user requirements are met has never been investigated. To guide future model developments, we analyzed user expectations and experiences and compared them with the developers’ visions. Methods We applied qualitative and quantitative data collection methods including an online questionnaire, semi-structured user and developer interviews, and review of scientific literature. Questionnaire and interview results were analyzed in an actor-network perspective in order to understand user needs and to compare these with the developers’ visions. Requirement engineering methods, more specifically function tree, system context, and activity diagrams, were iteratively applied and structured to develop specific user requirements-driven recommendations for setting priorities in future USEtox development and for discussing general implications for developing scientific models. Results and discussion The vision behind USEtox was to harmonize available data and models for assessing toxicological impacts in LCA and to provide global guidance for practitioners. Model developers show different perceptions of some underlying aspects including model transparency and expected user expertise. Users from various sectors and geographic regions apply USEtox mostly in research and for consulting. Questionnaire and interview results uncover various user requests regarding USEtox usability. Results were systematically analyzed to translate user requests into recommendations to improve USEtox from a user perspective and were afterwards applied in the further USEtox development process. Conclusions We demonstrate that understanding interactions between USEtox and its users helps guiding model development and dissemination. USEtox-specific recommendations are to (1) respect the application context for different user types, (2) provide detailed guidance for interpreting model and factors, (3) facilitate consistent integration into LCA software and methods, (4) improve update/testing procedures, (5) strengthen communication between developers and users, and (6) extend model scope. By generalizing our recommendations to guide scientific model development in a broader context, we emphasize to acknowledge different levels of user expertise to integrate sound revision and update procedures and to facilitate modularity, data import/export, and incorporation into relevant software and databases during model design and development. Our fully documented approach can inspire performing similar surveys on other LCA-related tools to consistently analyze user requirements and provide improvement recommendations based on scientific user analysis methods.

Description: Purpose Numerous publications in the last years stressed the growing importance of nanotechnology in our society, highlighting both positive as well as in the negative topics. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is amongst the most established and best-developed tool in the area of product-related assessment. In order to use this tool in the area of nanotechnology, clear rules of how emissions of nanomaterials should be taken into account on the level of life cycle inventory (LCI) modelling are required—i.e. what elements and properties need to be reported for an emission of a nanomaterial. The objective of this paper is to describe such a framework for an adequate and comprehensive integration of releases of nanomaterials. Methods With a three-step method, additional properties are identified that are necessary for an adequate integration of releases of nanomaterials into LCA studies. Result and discussion In the first step, a comprehensive characterisation of the release of a nanomaterial is compiled—based on reviewing scientific publications, results from expert workshops and publications from public authorities and international organisations. In the second step, this comprehensive overview is refined to a list containing only those properties that are effectively relevant for LCA studies—i.e. properties that influence the impacts in the areas of human toxicity and ecotoxicity, respectively. For this, an academic approach is combined with a second, more practical, view point, resulting together in a prioritisation of this list of properties. Finally, in a third step, these findings are translated into the LCA language—by showing how such additional properties could be integrated into the current LCA data formats for a broader use by the LCA community. Conclusions As a compromise between scholarly knowledge and the (toxicological) reality, this paper presents a clear proposal of an LCI modelling framework for the integration of releases of nanomaterials in LCA studies. However, only the broad testing of this framework in various situations will show if the suggested simplifications and reductions keep the characterisation of releases of nanomaterials specific enough and/or if assessment is accurate enough. Therefore, a next step has to come from the impact assessment, by the development of characterisation factors as a function of size and shape of such releases.

Description: Purpose This study aims to compare the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of two cellulosic bioenergy pathways (i.e., bioethanol and bioelectricity) using different references and functional units. It also aims to address uncertainties associated with a comparative life cycle analysis (LCA) for the two bioenergy pathways. Methods We develop a stochastic, comparative life cycle GHG analysis model for a switchgrass-based bioenergy system. Life cycle GHG offsets of the biofuel and bioelectricity pathways for cellulosic bioenergy are compared. The reference system for bioethanol is the equivalent amount of gasoline to provide the same transportation utility (e.g., vehicle driving for certain distance) as bioethanol does. We use multiple reference systems for bioelectricity, including the average US grid, regional grid in the USA according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and average coal-fired power generation, on the basis of providing the same transportation utility. The functional unit is one unit of energy content (MJ). GHG offsets of bioethanol and bioelectricity relative to reference systems are compared in both grams carbon dioxide equivalents per hectare of land per year (g CO 2 -eq/ha-yr) and grams carbon dioxide equivalents per vehicle kilometer traveled (g CO 2 -eq/km). For the latter, we include vehicle cycle to make the comparison meaningful. To address uncertainty and variability, we derive life cycle GHG emissions based on probability distributions of individual parameters representing various unit processes in the life cycle of bioenergy pathways. Results and discussion Our results show the choice of reference system and functional unit significantly changes the competition between switchgrass-based bioethanol and bioelectricity. In particular, our results show that the bioethanol pathway produces more life cycle GHG emissions than the bioelectricity pathway on a per unit energy content or a per unit area of crop land basis. However, the bioethanol pathway can offer more GHG offsets than the bioelectricity pathway on a per vehicle kilometer traveled basis when using bioethanol and bioelectricity for vehicle operation. Given the current energy mix of regional grids, bioethanol can potentially offset more GHG emissions than bioelectricity in all grid regions of the USA. Conclusions The reference and functional unit can change bioenergy pathway choices. The comparative LCA of bioenergy systems is most useful for decision support only when it is spatially explicit to address regional specifics and differences. The difference of GHG offsets from bioethanol and bioelectricity will change as the grid evolves. When the grids get cleaner over time, the favorability of bioethanol for GHG offsets increases.

Description: Purpose This article is the third of a series of articles presenting the results of research on the implementation of life cycle management tools in small- and medium-sized companies in Poland. The purpose of the three-part series of articles is to present the results of research on the implementation of life cycle tools in Polish small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This work is part of a project financed by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PAED) which began in February 2011. It was carried out by the Wielkopolska Quality Institute—a business environment institution associated with the Polish Centre for LCA (PCLCA). The main practical objective of the project was to support SMEs in their business development, e.g. by expanding their horizons beyond the sphere of their operation and identifying new areas for the improvement and promotion of the products and services on offer. The specific objective of the analysis involving the assessment of life-cycle costs of products and services was an attempt to answer the question to determine whether the assessment carried out in accordance with the life-cycle cost (LCC) methodology is a good tool for cost management in this type of business. Part 3 describes the results of studies on the assessment of the implementation of LCC in SMEs conducted in 50 companies involved in the project. Methods In order to assess the effectiveness of the project and the effectiveness of the implementation of LCA and LCC, a survey was conducted of small- and medium-sized businesses where the implementation works had been fully completed. In total, 50 organisations agreed to participate in the LCC survey (while 46 in the LCA—part 2 paper), which was 71 % of all the companies where the LCA and LCC studies had been carried out within the project. The survey was conducted using individual in-depth interviews. Questions to the representatives of the companies referred both to aspects of their operating in the market (characteristics of a company, its market share, management systems, environmental policy, suppliers, clients) and the implementation of their environmental service (assessment of its effectiveness, motivation, difficulties in its implementation), as well as opinions on the potential applications of LCA in their current operations. Results and discussion The experience and observations of LCC experts resulting from their cooperation with the analysed organisations are largely supported by the results of the survey. The overall impression gained from the project is that the small- and medium-sized enterprises considered have a problem with accepting and understanding the life-cycle perspective, and show limited interest in taking liability for environmental and cost aspects beyond the mandatory legal standards and boundaries of their business operations. Nevertheless, the LCC analyses aroused much bigger interest among the companies than the environmental due to the fact that the cost aspects in companies undergoing normal development are seen as an important source of information about the structure of the costs generated with respect to the products or services provided. It is important to note that a very important factor encouraging businesses to join the studies was the fact that they were cost-free. Moreover, the planned introduction of a new product onto the market was the argument that often influenced the decision to implement the LCC. The survey has shown that companies rarely perform cost analyses including all stages of the life cycle of a product or service. Although the awareness of the importance of conducting economic researches for the entire life cycle of a product or service is great, it turned out to be problematic to unambiguously define the practical use of such an analysis, at least at the present stage of development of the companies surveyed. Conclusions The results obtained in the survey indicate that in the case of simple products, with a short life cycle, complex cost analyses may seem less useful. For more complex products or services, with long periods of use, high reliability required, and high operating costs, the analyses presented are useful tools that increase the economic efficiency of the projects implemented. It appears that from the point of view of polish SMEs, the usefulness of an LCA is seen mainly from the angle of opportunities for cost reduction (preferably in business) and increased sales (marketing). A good solution would be to conduct relatively simple, but integrated LCA/LCC analyses in SMEs so that the companies would clearly see the economic effects of the proposed environmental improvements.

Description: Purpose India’s biofuel programme relies on ethanol production from sugarcane molasses. However, there is limited insight on environmental impacts across the Indian ethanol production chain. This study closes this gap by assessing the environmental impacts of ethanol production from sugarcane molasses in Uttar Pradesh, India. A comparative analysis with south-central Brazilian sugarcane ethanol is also presented to compare the performance of sugarcane molasses-based ethanol with sugarcane juice-based ethanol. Methods The production process is assessed by a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment. The multifunctionality problem is solved by applying two variants of system expansion and economic allocation. Environmental impacts are assessed with Impact 2002+ and results are presented at the midpoint level for greenhouse gas emissions, non-renewable energy use, freshwater eutrophication and water use. Furthermore, results include impacts on human health and ecosystem quality at the damage level. Sensitivity analysis is also performed on key contributing parameters such as pesticides, stillage treatment and irrigation water use. Results and discussion It is found that, compared to Brazilian ethanol, Indian ethanol causes lower or comparable greenhouse gas emissions (0.09–0.64 kgCO 2eq /kg ethanolIN , 0.46–0.63 kgCO 2eq /kg ethanolBR ), non-renewable energy use (−0.3–6.3 MJ/kg ethanolIN , 1–4 MJ/kg ethanolBR ), human health impacts (3.6 · 10 −6 DALY/kg ethanolIN , 4 · 10 −6  DALY/kg ethanolBR ) and ecosystem impairment (2.5 PDF · m 2  · year/kg ethanolIN , 3.3 PDF · m 2  · year/kg ethanolBR ). One reason is that Indian ethanol is exclusively produced from molasses, a co-product of sugar production, resulting in allocation of the environmental burden. Additionally, Indian sugar mills and distilleries produce surplus electricity for which they receive credits for displacing grid electricity of relatively high CO 2 emission intensity. When economic allocation is applied, the greenhouse gas emissions for Indian and Brazilian ethanol are comparable. Non-renewable energy use is higher for Indian ethanol, primarily due to energy requirements for irrigation. For water use and related impacts, Indian ethanol scores worse due groundwater irrigation, despite the dampening effect of allocation. The variation on greenhouse gas emissions and non-renewable energy use of Indian mills is much larger for high and low performance than the respective systems in Brazil. Conclusions Important measures can be taken across the production chain to improve the environmental performance of Indian ethanol production (e.g. avoiding the use of specific pesticides, avoiding the disposal of untreated stillage, transition to water efficient crops). However, to meet the targets of the Indian ethanol blending programme, displacement effects are likely to occur in countries which export ethanol. To assess such effects, a consequential study needs to be prepared.

Description: Purpose The possibilities for full life cycle assessment (LCA) of new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products are often limited, so simplification approaches are needed. The aim of this paper is to investigate possible simplifications in LCA of a mobile phone and to use the results to discuss the possibilities of LCA simplifications for ICT products in a broader sense. Another aim is to identify processes and data that are sensitive to different methodological choices and assumptions related to the environmental impacts of a mobile phone. Methods Different approaches to a reference LCA of a mobile phone was tested: (1) excluding environmental impact categories, (2) excluding life cycle stages/processes, (3) using secondary process data from generic databases, (4) using input-output data and (5) using a simple linear relationship between mass and embodied emissions. Results and discussion It was not possible to identify one or a few impact categories representative of all others. If several impact categories would be excluded, information would be lost. A precautionary approach of not excluding impact categories is therefore recommended since impacts from the different life cycle stages vary between impact categories. Regarding use of secondary data for an ICT product similar to that studied here, we recommend prioritising collection of primary (specific) data on energy use during production and use, key component data (primarily integrated circuits) and process-specific data regarding raw material acquisition of specific metals (e.g. gold) and air transport. If secondary data are used for important processes, the scaling is crucial. The use of input-output data can be a considerable simplification and is probably best used to avoid data gaps when more specific data are lacking. Conclusions Further studies are needed to provide for simplified LCAs for ICT products. In particular, the end-of-life treatment stage need to be further addressed, as it could not be investigated here for all simplifications due to data gaps.

Description: Purpose Waste management for end-of-life (EoL) smartphones is a growing problem due to their high turnover rate and concentration of toxic chemicals. The versatility of modern smartphones presents an interesting alternative waste management strategy: repurposing. This paper investigates the environmental impact of smartphone repurposing as compared to traditional refurbishing using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Methods A case study of repurposing was conducted by creating a smartphone “app” that replicates the functionality of an in-car parking meter. The environmental impacts of this prototype were quantified using waste management LCA methodology. Studied systems included three waste management options: traditional refurbishment, repurposing using battery power, and repurposing using a portable solar charger. The functional unit was defined as the EoL management of a used smartphone. Consequential system expansion was employed to account for secondary functions provided; avoided impacts from displaced primary products were included. Impacts were calculated in five impact categories. Break-even displacement rates were calculated and sensitivity to standby power consumption were assessed. Results and discussion LCA results showed that refurbishing creates the highest environmental impacts of the three reuse routes in every impact category except ODP. High break-even displacement rates suggest that this finding is robust within a reasonable range of primary cell phone displacement. The repurposed smartphone in-car parking meter had lower impacts than the primary production parking meter. Impacts for battery-powered devices were dominated by use-phase charging electricity, whereas solar-power impacts were concentrated in manufacturing. Repurposed phones using battery power had lower impacts than those using solar power, however, standby power sensitivity analysis revealed that solar power is preferred if the battery charger is left plugged-in more than 20 % of the use period. Conclusions Our analysis concludes that repurposing represents an environmentally preferable EoL option to refurbishing for used smartphones. The results suggest two generalizable findings. First, primary product displacement is a major factor affecting whether any EoL strategy is environmentally beneficial. The benefit depends not only on what is displaced, but also on how much displacement occurs; in general, repurposing allows freedom to target reuse opportunities with high “displacement potential.” Second, the notion that solar power is preferable to batteries is not always correct; here, the rank-order is sensitive to assumptions about user behavior.

Description: Purpose Overfishing is a relevant issue to include in all life cycle assessments (LCAs) involving wild caught fish, as overfishing of fish stocks clearly targets the LCA safeguard objects of natural resources and natural ecosystems. Yet no robust method for assessing overfishing has been available. We propose lost potential yield (LPY) as a midpoint impact category to quantify overfishing, comparing the outcome of current with target fisheries management. This category primarily reflects the impact on biotic resource availability, but also serves as a proxy for ecosystem impacts within each stock. Methods LPY represents average lost catches owing to ongoing overfishing, assessed by simplified biomass projections covering different fishing mortality scenarios. It is based on the maximum sustainable yield concept and complemented by two alternative methods, overfishing though fishing mortality (OF) and overfishedness of biomass (OB), that are less data-demanding. Results and discussion Characterization factors are provided for 31 European commercial fish stocks in 2010, representing 74 % of European and 7 % of global landings. However, large spatial and temporal variations were observed, requiring novel approaches for the LCA practitioner. The methodology is considered compliant with the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) standard in most relevant aspects, although harmonization through normalization and endpoint characterization is only briefly discussed. Conclusions Seafood LCAs including any of the three approaches can be a powerful communicative tool for the food industry, seafood certification programmes, and for fisheries management.

Description: The 54th LCA forum was held on December 5, 2013 to launch the fourth generation ecological scarcity method, applied to Switzerland. This conference report presents the highlights of the LCA forum. The ecological scarcity method belongs to the family of distance-to-target methods and is based on politically and legally defined environmental goals. The application of the method in industry and politics as well as its benefits, the main elements of the method and new elements such as the assessment of abiotic resources, global land use, noise and nuclear waste are presented. The losses (and not the extraction) of abiotic resources are characterised with the abiotic depletion potential. Land use impacts on flora and fauna biodiversity are quantified per land use type and for 14 different biomes. Transport noise is assessed based on the number of highly annoyed persons. Finally, nuclear waste is characterised using the radio toxicity index, a parameter commonly used in the nuclear industry. In three policy-making areas, LCA in general and the ecological scarcity method in particular are being applied: waste policy, biofuels tax exemption and Green Economy. Practical applications in administration and industry show that the eco-factors are considered useful in decision making because they cover a broad range of environmental impacts aggregated to a single score. The results of first applications and comparisons showed that the switch from third to fourth generation eco-factors hardly affects the results and conclusions although there are some significant changes in the eco-factor of individual pollutants. It was concluded that the fourth generation is a moderate evolution from the third generation published in 2008. It is considered crucial to allow for single-score methods as they allow to assess environmental impacts comprehensively and to identify environmental hot spots. The method presented thus is suited for a “true and fair” reporting on environmental information.

Description: Purpose Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been increasingly implemented in analyzing the environmental performance of buildings and construction projects. To assess the life cycle environmental performance, decision-makers may adopt the two life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) approaches, namely the midpoint and endpoint models. Any imprudent usage of the two approaches may affect the assessment results and thus lead to misleading findings. ReCiPe, a well-known work, includes a package of LCIA methods to provide assessments on both midpoint and endpoint levels. This study compares different potential LCIA results using the midpoint and endpoint approaches of ReCiPe based on the assessment of a commercial building in Hong Kong. Methods This paper examines 23 materials accounting for over 99 % of the environmental impacts of all the materials consumed in commercial buildings in Hong Kong. The midpoint and endpoint results are compared at the normalization level. A commercial building in Hong Kong is further studied to provide insights as a real case study. The ranking of impact categories and the contributions from various construction materials are examined for the commercial building. Influence due to the weighting factors is discussed. Results and discussion Normalization results of individual impact categories of the midpoint and endpoint approaches are consistent for the selected construction materials. The difference in the two approaches can be detected when several impact categories are considered. The ranking of materials is slightly different under the two approaches. The ranking of impact categories demonstrates completely different features. In the case study of a commercial building in Hong Kong, the contributions from subprocesses are different at the midpoint and endpoint. The weighting factors can determine not only the contributions of the damage categories to the total environment, but also the value of a single score. Conclusions In this research, the midpoint and endpoint approaches are compared using ReCiPe. Information is whittled down from the inventories to a single score. Midpoint results are comprehensive while endpoint results are concise. The endpoint approach which provides additional information of damage should be used as a supplementary to the midpoint model. When endpoint results are asked for, a LCIA method like ReCiPe that provides both the midpoint and endpoint analysis is recommended. This study can assist LCA designers to interpret the midpoint and endpoint results, in particular, for the assessment of commercial buildings in Hong Kong.

Description: Purpose A framework for the inclusion of land use impact assessment and a set of land use impact indicators has been recently proposed for life cycle assessment (LCA) and no case studies are available for forest biomass. The proposed methodology is tested for Scandinavian managed forestry; a comparative case study is made for energy from wood, agro-biomass and peat; and sensitivity to forest management options is analysed. Methods The functional unit of this comparative case study is 1 GJ of energy in solid fuels. The land use impact assessment framework of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP-SETAC) is followed and its application for wood biomass is critically analysed. Applied midpoint indicators include ecological footprint and human appropriation of net primary production, global warming potential indicator for biomass (GWP bio -100) and impact indicators proposed by UNEP-SETAC on ecosystem services and biodiversity. Options for forest biomass land inventory modelling are discussed. The system boundary covers only the biomass acquisition phase. Management scenarios are formulated for forest and barley biomass, and a sensitivity analysis focuses on impacts of land transformations for agro-biomass. Results and discussion Meaningful differences were found in between solid biofuels from distinct land use classes. The impact indicator results were sensitive to land occupation and transformation and differed significantly from inventory results. Current impact assessment method is not sensitive to land management scenarios because the published characterisation factors are still too coarse and indicate differences only between land use types. All indicators on ecosystem services and biodiversity were sensitive to the assumptions related with land transformation. The land occupation (m 2 a) approach in inventory was found challenging for Scandinavian wood, due to long rotation periods and variable intensities of harvests. Some suggestions of UNEP-SETAC were challenged for the sake of practicality and relevance for decision support. Conclusions Land use impact assessment framework for LCA and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) indicators could be applied in a comparison of solid bioenergy sources. Although forest bioenergy has higher land occupation than agro-bioenergy, LCIA indicator results are of similar magnitude or even lower for forest bioenergy. Previous literature indicates that environmental impacts of land use are significant, but it remains questionable if these are captured with satisfactory reliability with the applied LCA methodology, especially for forest biomass. Short and long time perspectives of land use impacts should be studied in LCA with characterisation factors for all relevant timeframes, not only 500 years, with a forward-looking perspective. Characterisation factors need to be modelled further for different (forest) land management intensities and for peat excavation.

Description: Purpose When product systems are optimized to minimize environmental impacts, uncertainty in the process data may impact optimal decisions. The purpose of this article is to propose a mathematical method for life cycle assessment (LCA) optimization that protects decisions against uncertainty at the life cycle inventory (LCI) stage. Methods A robust optimization approach is proposed for decision making under uncertainty in the LCI stage. The proposed approach incorporates data uncertainty into an optimization problem in which the matrix-based LCI model appears as a constraint. The level of protection against data uncertainty in the technology and intervention matrices can be controlled to reflect varying degrees of conservatism. Results and discussion A simple numerical example on an electricity generation product system is used to illustrate the main features of this methodology. A comparison is made between a robust optimization approach, and decision making using a Monte Carlo analysis. Challenges to implement the robust optimization approach on common uncertainty distributions found in LCA and on large product systems are discussed. Supporting source code is available for download at https://github.com/renwang/Robust_Optimization_LCI_Uncertainty . Conclusions A robust optimization approach for matrix-based LCI is proposed. The approach incorporates data uncertainties into an optimization framework for LCI and provides a mechanism to control the level of protection against uncertainty. The tool computes optimal decisions that protects against worst-case realizations of data uncertainty. The robust optimal solution is conservative and is able to avoid the negative consequences of uncertainty in decision making.

Description: Purpose Biopolymers are considered to be environmentally friendlier than petroleum-based polymers, but little is known about their environmental performance against petroleum-based products. This paper presents the results of a life cycle assessment (LCA) of two prototype biocomposite formulations produced by extrusion of wood fibre with either polylactic acid (PLA) or a blend of PLA and locally produced thermoplastic starch (TPS). Methods The study followed the LCA methodology outlined in the two standards set out by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO): ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 of 2006. A life cycle inventory (LCI) for the biocomposite formulations was developed, and a contribution analysis was performed to identify the significant inputs. Environmental performances of the two formulations were then compared with each other and polypropylene (PP), a petroleum-based polymer. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s impact assessment method, “TRACI: The Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts”, was combined with Cumulative Energy Demand (a European method) in order to characterize the inventory flows. Environmental impact categories chosen for the analysis were the following: global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, acidification of land and water, eutrophication, smog, human health (respiratory, carcinogenic, and non-carcinogenic) effects and ecotoxicity. Results and discussion We found that PLA is the significant input which contributes mostly to fossil fuel consumption, acidification and respiratory and smog effects. Impacts from PLA transport from the faraway source significantly added more burden to its contributions. TPS causes less environmental burden compared to PLA; the environmental performance of the biocomposite improved when a blend of PLA and TPS is used in formulating the biocomposite. The two formulations performed better than PP in all the environmental impact categories except eutrophication effects, which is important on a regional basis. Conclusions The following conclusions were drawn from this study: PLA is the environmentally significant input among the three raw materials. TPS causes less environmental burden than PLA. Environmental performance of the biocomposite improves in the life cycle energy consumption, fossil energy use, ozone depletion and non-carcinogenic impact categories when a blend of PLA and TPS is used. The biocomposite can outperform PP in all the impact categories except eutrophication effects if manufactured using hydroelectricity. The biopolymer could be a potential alternative to PP as it could cause less of a burden to the environment on a cradle-to-gate basis. Environmental impacts at the complete life cycle levels should be looked into in order to fully understand its potential.

Description: Purpose This paper compares environmental impacts of two packaging options for contrast media offered by GE Healthcare: + PLUS PAK™ polymer bottle and traditional glass bottle. The study includes all relevant life cycle stages from manufacturing to use and final disposal of the bottles and includes evaluation of a variety of end-of-life disposal scenarios. The study was performed in accordance with the international standards ISO 14040/14044, and a third-party critical review was conducted. Methods The functional unit is defined as the packaging of contrast media required to deliver one dose of 96 mL to a patient for an X-ray procedure. Primary data are from GE Healthcare and its suppliers; secondary data are from the ecoinvent database and the literature. A variety of end-of-life disposal scenarios are explored using both cutoff and market-based allocation. Impact assessment includes human health (midpoint) and ecosystems and resources (end point) categories from ReCiPe (H) and cumulative energy demand. Sensitivity analyses include (1) bottle size, (2) secondary packaging, (3) manufacturing electricity, (4) glass recycled content, (5) scrap rate, (6) distribution transport, (7) contrast media, and (8) choice of impact assessment method. Uncertainty analysis is performed to determine how data quality affects the study conclusions. Results and discussion This study indicates that the polymer bottle outperforms the glass bottle in every environmental impact category considered. Bottle components are the most significant contributors, and the vial body has the highest impacts among bottle components for both polymer and glass bottles. The polymer bottle exhibits lower impact in all impact categories considered regardless of the following: end-of-life treatment (using either cutoff or market-based allocation), bottle size, manufacturing electricity grid mix, glass recycled content, scrap rate, contrast media, distribution transport (air vs. ocean), and choice of impact assessment method. Secondary packaging can be a major contributor to impact. The polymer bottle has considerably lower impact compared to the glass bottle for all multi-pack configurations, but the comparison is less clear for single-pack configurations due to significantly higher packaging material used per functional dose, resulting in proportionally higher impacts in all impact categories. Conclusions The lower impacts of the polymer bottle for this packaging application can be attributed to lower material and manufacturing impacts, lower distribution impacts, and lower end-of-life disposal impacts. The results of this study suggest that using polymer rather than glass bottles provides a means by which to lower environmental impact of contrast media packaging.

Description: Purpose Chemicals produced via chlor-alkali electrolysis are widely used throughout the water industry worldwide, with treatment chemicals often the second largest source of environmental impacts from potable water production after electricity use. Population-driven increases in the future demand for potable water will require concomitant increases in the production of water treatment chemicals, with the associated environmental impacts of chemicals production primarily arising from the additional demand for electricity. Due to the dominance of electricity in the environmental performance of chlor-alkali chemicals, assessment of the future environmental impacts of potable water production is largely dependent on proper identification of the marginal source of electricity. In this paper, we present a consequential cradle-to-gate carbon footprint (cCF) for the most widely used chlor-alkali-produced disinfectant (sodium hypochlorite (13 % w/w )) and coagulant (ferric chloride (42 % w/w )) in Australia, with special emphasis placed upon the identification of future marginal electricity supply and the substitution of hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide during production. While this analysis is presented in an Australian context, commonalities in potable water and chlor-alkali chemical production processes internationally give the findings a broader relevance. Methods Consequential models for sodium hypochlorite (13 % w/w ) and ferric chloride (42 % w/w ) production were developed, and the identification of the marginal source of electricity was modelled using a “simple marginal technology” approach via operationalisation of the Weidema framework and a “complex marginal technology” using a partial equilibrium model. For the simple marginal technology, the levelised cost of electricity was used to select the most competitive energy generation technologies and those most relevant for the Australian market. For the complex marginal technology, the energy sector model was used to simulate the most likely electricity supply mix. Details of the different paths taken in the substitution of hydrogen gas and sodium hydroxide are also presented. To allow for proper incorporation of uncertainties arising from these key factors in the cCF, several scenarios were developed covering fuel and carbon prices for identifying the marginal supply mix of electricity, as well as the likely production routes for sodium carbonate in the context of sodium hydroxide substitution. Results and discussion cCF results of sodium hypochlorite (13 % w/w ) and ferric chloride (42 % w/w ) are presented using simple and complex marginal technologies, and the implications of choosing one marginal technology over the other in the context of water treatment chemicals are presented. For the simple marginal technology approach, the global warming potential (GWP) per megagram of chemical varied from 68 to 429 kg CO 2 -eq for sodium hypochlorite (13 % w/w ) and 59–1,020 kg CO 2 -eq for ferric chloride (42 % w/w ). For the complex marginal technology approach, the GWP per megagram of chemical varied from 266 to 332 kg CO 2 -eq for sodium hypochlorite (13 % w/w ) and 214–629 kg CO 2 -eq for ferric chloride (42 % w/w ). Insights are given in relation to the impact of the price of fossil fuels, the carbon price, and the different substitution routes. Conclusions The use of a partial equilibrium model (PEM) has enabled a better understanding of the variability of the results in this study. For example, the use of PEM for the identification of the complex marginal source of electricity shows that, for the case of Australia, any benefit from a carbon price is lost with high prices of natural gas due to the incentive to use cheaper fuels such as black and brown coal. Likewise, the use of explorative scenarios was decisive to manage the inherent uncertainty of the parameters included in the model. In relation to substitution, the case of ferric chloride (42 % w/w ) indicated that using only one substitution route was not enough to fully understand the potential continuum of cCF results. The simple marginal approach, where an exclusive marginal source of electricity or substitution route is considered, presents significant risks for the modelling accuracy of the cCF as shown here for sodium hypochlorite (13 % w/w ) and ferric chloride (42 % w/w ), therefore, it is not recommended.

Description: Purpose This article summarizes student performance and survey data from a recent massive open online course (MOOC) on life cycle assessment (LCA). Its purpose is to shed light on student learning outcomes, challenges, and success factors, as well as on improvement opportunities for the MOOC and the role of online courses in LCA education in general. Methods Student survey data and course performance data were compiled, analyzed, and interpreted for 1257 students who completed a pre-course survey and 262 students who completed a post-course survey. Both surveys were designed to assess student learning outcomes, topical areas of difficulty, changing perceptions on the nature of LCA, and future plans after completing the MOOC. Results and discussion Results suggest that online courses can attract and motivate a large number of students and equip them with basic analytical skills to move on to more advanced LCA studies. However, results also highlight how MOOCs are not without structural limitations, especially related to mostly “locked in” content and the impracticality of directly supporting individual students, which can create challenges for teaching difficult topics and conveying important limitations of LCA in practice. Conclusions Online courses, and MOOCs in particular, may present an opportunity for the LCA community to efficiently recruit and train its next generations of LCA analysts and, in particular, those students who might not otherwise have an opportunity to take an LCA course. More surveys should be conducted by LCA instructors and researchers moving forward to enable scientific development and sharing of best practice teaching methods and materials.

Description: Purpose The number of scrap tires generated in China has grown dramatically every year. Generation of ground rubber from scrap tires is the dominant management option in China. It is necessary to assess the environmental impacts of ground rubber production from scrap tires to provide technical advices on a cleaner production. Methods Production of ground rubber from recycled scrap tires consist of three steps: rubber powder preparation, devulcanization, and refining. A process life cycle assessment (LCA) of ground rubber production from scrap tires is carried out, and Eco-indicator 99 method coupled with ecoinvent database is applied to evaluate the environmental impacts of this process. Results and discussion During the ground rubber production stage, the impact factor of respiratory inorganic is the most serious one. Devulcanization has the highest environmental load of about 66.2 %. Moreover, improvement on the flue gas treatment contributes to a cleaner production and a more environmental-friendly process. Applying clean energy can largely reduce environmental load by about 21.5 %. Conclusions The results can be a guidance to reduce environmental load when producing ground rubber from scrap tires. Meanwhile, increasing energy efficiency, improving environmental protection equipment, and applying clean energy are the effective measures to achieve this goal.

Description: Purpose Due to the large environmental challenges posed by the transport sector, reliable and state-of-the art data for its life cycle assessment is essential for enabling a successful transition towards more sustainable systems. In this paper, the new electric passenger car transport and vehicle datasets, which have been developed for ecoinvent version 3, are presented. Methods The new datasets have been developed with a strong modular approach, defining a hierarchy of datasets corresponding to various technical components in the vehicle. A vehicle is therefore modelled by linking together the various component datasets. Also, parameters and mathematical formulas have been introduced in order to define the amount of exchanges in the datasets through common transport and vehicle characteristics. This supports users in the choice of the amount of exchanges and enhances the transparency of the dataset. Results The new transport dataset describes the transport over 1 km with a battery electric passenger car taking into account the vehicle production and end of life, the energy consumption due to the use phase, non-exhaust emissions, maintenance and road infrastructure. The dataset has been developed and is suitable for a compact class vehicle. Conclusions A new electric passenger car transport dataset has been developed for version 3 of the ecoinvent database which exploits modularisation and parameters with the aim of facilitating users in adapting the data to their specific needs. Apart from the direct use of the transport dataset for background data, the various datasets for the different components can also be used as building blocks for virtual vehicles.

Description: Purpose Over the last decade, the rehabilitation/renovation of existing buildings has increasingly attracted the attention of scientific community. Many studies focus intensely on the mechanical and energy performance of retrofitted/renovated existing structures, while few works address the environmental impact of such operations. In the present study, the environmental impact of typical retrofit operations, referred to masonry structures, is assessed. In particular, four different structural options are investigated: local replacement of damaged masonry, mortar injection, steel chain installation, and grid-reinforced mortar application. Each different option is analyzed with reference to proper normalized quantities. Thus, the results of this analysis can be used to compute the environmental impact of real large-scale retrofit operations, once the amount/extension of them is defined in the design stage. The final purpose is to give to designers the opportunity to monitor the environmental impact of different retrofit strategies and, once structural requirements are satisfied, identify for each real case the most suitable retrofit option. Methods The environmental impact of the structural retrofit options is assessed by means of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach. A cradle to grave system boundary is considered for each retrofit process. The results of the environmental analysis are presented according to the data format of the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) standard. Indeed, the environmental outcomes are expressed through six impact categories: global warming, ozone depletion, eutrophication, acidification, photochemical oxidation, and nonrenewable energy. Results and discussion For each retrofit option, the interpretation analysis is conducted in order to define which element, material, or process mainly influenced the LCA results. In addition, the results revealed that the recycling of waste materials provides environmental benefits in all the categories of the LCA outcomes. It is also pointed out that a comparison between the four investigated options would be meaningful only once the exact amount of each operation is defined for a specific retrofit case. Conclusions This paper provides a systematic approach and environmental data to drive the selection and identification of structural retrofit options for existing buildings, in terms of sustainability performance. The final aim of this work is also to provide researchers and practitioners, with a better understanding of the sustainability aspects of retrofit operations. In fact, the environmental impacts of the retrofit options here investigated can be used for future research/practical activities, to monitor and control the environmental impact of structural retrofit operations of existing masonry buildings.

Description: Purpose An life cycle assessment (LCA) study of a field emission display (FED) television device was established. The first objective of this study was to get an up-to-date and comprehensive picture by applying the latest developments in the area of LCA, especially concerning the use of nanoparticles. In its second part, the study shows a comparison with today’s display technologies (i.e. CRT, LCD, plasma) and the timely development of the assessment of a FED television device. Methods This LCA study covers the complete life cycle of a FED television device in accordance with the ISO 14040 standard, from the extraction of raw materials until the final end-of-life treatment in a European WEEE recycling system. Two different functional units were applied in this study: For the in-depth analysis of the FED television device, an entire device along its complete life cycle was considered as functional unit—for the subsequent comparison with today’s display technologies, “one square-inch of display during 1 h of active use” was used as an appropriate functional unit. Main data source for the FED device was patent information; ecoinvent was used as default background database. Results and discussion The in-depth analysis of this FED television device shows a clear dominance of the production phase (independently of the impact category). Within the production of such a device, the electronics part (i.e. the printed wiring boards) shows the highest contribution—while, even when focussing on the glass and its various coating layers only, the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) production has a very minor influence. The releases of CNTs during the End-of-Life treatment do not contribute in a relevant manner to the overall impact neither—even when focussing on the “ecotoxicity potential” by using conservative CFs reported for this type of releases. Last but not least, the comparison with the existing television display technologies shows that an FED device has an environmental advantage over all three other technologies using the above stated functional unit of “one square-inch of display during 1 h of active use”. Conclusions Traditional impact categories as well as the ecotoxicity factor results in clear environmental advantages for an FED television device when comparing it to the three display technologies used today. Concerning the general issue of evaluating applications of manufactured nanomaterials in LCA studies, this case study shows the high relevance of an adequate integration of nanoparticle releases into LCA studies in order to achieve an actually comprehensive evaluation.

Description: Purpose Land use is a potentially important impact category in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of buildings. Three research questions are addressed in this paper: Is land use a decisive factor in the environmental impact of buildings?; Is it important to include the primary land use of buildings in the assessment?; and How does the environmental performance of solid structure and timber frame dwellings differ when assessed by distinct available models for quantifying land use impacts? Methods This paper compares several operational land use impact assessment models, which are subsequently implemented in an LCA case study comparing a building constructed using timber frame versus a solid structure. Different models were used for addressing the different research questions. Results and discussion The results reveal that contrasting decisions may be supported by LCA study results, depending on whether or not and how land use is included in the assessment. The analysis also highlights the need to include the building land footprint in the assessment and to better distinguish building locations in current land use impact assessment models. Conclusions Selecting land use assessment models that are most appropriate to the goals of the study is recommended as different models assess different environmental issues related to land use. In general, the combination of two land use assessment methods for buildings is recommended, i.e. soil organic matter (SOM) of Milà i Canals and Eco-indicator 99.

Description: Purpose The paper provides an empirical assessment of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system based on hydrogen technologies (HT-UPS) using renewable energy sources (RES) with regard to its environmental impacts and a comparison to a UPS system based on the internal combustion engine (ICE-UPS). Methods For the assessment and comparison of the environmental impacts, the life-cycle assessment (LCA) method was applied, while numerical models for individual components of the UPS systems (electrolyser, storage tank, fuel cell and ICE) were developed using GaBi software. The scope of analysis was cradle-to-end of utilisation with functional unit 1 kWh of uninterrupted electricity produced. For the life-cycle inventory analysis, quantitative data was collected with on-site measurements on an experimental system, project documentation, GaBi software generic databases and literature data. The CML 2001 method was applied to evaluate the system’s environmental impacts. Energy consumption of the manufacturing phase was estimated from gross value added (GVA) and the energy intensity of the industry sector in the manufacturer’s country. Results and discussion In terms of global warming (GW), acidification (A), abiotic depletion (AD) and eutrophication (E), manufacturing phase of HT-UPS accounts for more than 97 % of environmental impacts. Electrolyser in all its life-cycle phases contributes above 50 % of environmental impacts to the system’s GW, A and AD. Energy return on investment (EROI) for the HT-UPS has been calculated to be 0.143 with distinction between renewable (roughly 60 %) and non-renewable energy resources inputs. HT-UPS’s life-cycle GW emissions have been calculated to be 375 g of CO 2 eq per 1 kWh of uninterruptible electric energy supplied. All these values have also been calculated for the ICE-UPS and show that in terms of GW, A and AD, the ICE-UPS has bigger environmental impacts and emits 1,190 g of CO 2 eq per 1 kWh of uninterruptible electric energy supplied. Both systems have similar operation phase energy efficiency. The ICE-UPS has a higher EROI but uses almost none RES inputs. Conclusions The comparison of two different technologies for providing UPS has shown that in all environmental impact categories, except eutrophication, the HT-UPS is the sounder system. Most of HT-UPS’s environmental impacts result from the manufacturing phase. On the contrary, ICE-UPS system’s environmental impacts mainly result from operational phase. Efficiency of energy conversion from electricity to hydrogen to electricity again is rather low, as is EROI, but these will likely improve as the technology matures.

Description: Purpose Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been identified as a major source of human health impact for many products in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). However, this result is highly dependent on the LCIA method. Based on the USEtox model, this study aims to improve health impact estimates of 16 PAHs, explore the importance of emission profiles of PAH mixture, and illustrate how these improvements affect an LCIA case study. Methods We model the influences of two factors neglected in previous LCIA methods—black carbon adsorption and photolysis degradation—providing refined intake fractions. We use epidemiological data to estimate the carcinogenic effect factor of benzo[a]pyrene, rather than extrapolating it from animal toxicity tests as in previous studies. Toxicity equivalence factors (TEFs) are employed to estimate the 16 PAHs USEtox characterization factors, expressed in cancer cases per kilogram of PAH emitted. These are applied to determine industry-specific characterization factors of PAH mixtures for the aluminum industry, for domestic combustion, and for the overall world PAH emissions. Results and discussion Black carbon adsorption extends the persistency of PAHs with four or more rings and increases their intake fractions by up to 350 % even when photolysis is considered. The epidemiologically derived carcinogenic effect factor of benzo[a]pyrene increases 61-fold compared to previous studies, with 1.2 cancer cases per kilogram of benzo[a]pyrene intake. Source-specific emission profiles of PAHs, especially the fraction of benzo[a]pyrene and dibenz[a,h]anthracene in the mixture, have high influences on the health impact of mixtures. A default characterization factor of 5.7 × 10 −5 cancer cases per kilogram emitted is derived for the world PAH mixture. The proposed health impact estimates for PAH mixtures substantially affect overall health impacts for 1 kg aluminum produced and fall intermediary between the overestimated CML 2001 and the much lower ReCiPe results. Conclusions This study improves characterization factors of PAHs by incorporating considerations of black carbon adsorption, photolysis, and epidemiological data. It is important for future LCIA practices and epidemiological studies to include emissions of individual PAHs, specifically of dibenz[a,h]anthracene in addition to benzo[a]pyrene, when assessing human health impact of PAH mixtures.

Description: Purpose The shortage of agricultural water from freshwater sources is a growing concern because of the relatively large amounts needed to sustain food production for an increasing population. In this context, an impact assessment methodology is indispensable for the identification and assessment of the potential consequences of freshwater consumption in relation to agricultural water scarcity. This paper reports on the consistent development of midpoint and endpoint characterisation factors (CFs) for assessing these impacts. Methods Midpoint characterisation factors focus specifically on shortages in food production resulting from agricultural water scarcity. These were calculated by incorporating country-specific compensation factors for physical availability of water resources and socio-economic capacity in relation to the irrigation water demand for agriculture. At the endpoint, to reflect the more complex impact pathways from food production losses to malnutrition damage from agricultural water scarcity, international food trade relationships and economic adaptation capacity were integrated in the modelling with measures of nutritional vulnerability for each country. Results and discussion The inter-country variances of CFs at the midpoint revealed by this study were larger than those derived using previously developed methods, which did not integrate compensation processes by food stocks. At the endpoint level, both national and trade-induced damage through international trade were quantified and visualised. Distribution of malnutrition damage was also determined by production and trade balances for commodity groups in water-consuming countries, as well as dependency on import ratios for importer countries and economic adaptation capacity in each country. By incorporating the complex relationships between these factors, estimated malnutrition damage due to freshwater consumption at the country scale showed good correlation with total reported nutritional deficiency damage. Conclusions The model allows the establishment of consistent CFs at the midpoint and endpoint for agricultural water scarcity resulting from freshwater consumption. The complex relationships between food production supply and nutrition damage can be described by considering the physical and socio-economic parameters used in this study. Developed CFs contribute to a better assessment of the potential impacts associated with freshwater consumption in global supply chains and to life cycle assessment and water footprint assessments.

Description: Purpose Construction, as a sector of the economy, is a significant source of negative environmental impacts. The development of sustainable construction and associated initiatives are meant to reduce that impact. Buildings, for many reasons, are the complex objects of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies, which in this case can be particularly time-, data- and cost-consuming. Therefore, an attempt was made to explore the possibility of finding a methodological compromise between a full LCA and the compulsory energy certification. Six methodological variants, so called compromise solutions (CS) were identified and assessed. This article presents the results of the research project financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (N N309 078138) and coordinated by the Wood Technology Institute in Poznan. Methods The proposed CS were hybrids utilising, to various degrees, the environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and energy certification. Life cycle impact assessments were carried out using IMPACT 2002+. Results and discussion The achieved results showed that the simplifications included in the energy certification lead to a significant drop in environmental impacts (by 77.9 % on average) in relation to the impact calculated for the full LCA. The results closest to the full LCA were achieved by the compromise solution no. 4 (CS4), where simplification included the exclusion from the life cycle of: transport processes, construction site, demolition, final disposal of waste, and the majority of elements associated with the use of the building. CS4 analysed all inventory inputs which were assessed with regard to the entire environmental profile. The following truncation levels were achieved for CS4—10.7 % (conventional masonry building), 9.9 % (passive masonry building), 8.3 % (conventional wooden building) and 7.4 % (passive wooden building), indicating that 90 % of the impact calculated for the full LCA was retained. Conclusions CS4 seems to be a rational compromise between the simplicity of the methodology and the environmental significance. With the exception of the energy usage for heating, hot water and ventilation, CS4 also proposes including, in the analysis, the production of building material and additional elements associated with the use stage, e.g. energy usage for home appliances and lighting, land occupation, water use and wastewater treatment. However, if we were to find a rational minimum, which is close to the energy certification, then a good improvement of this methodology would be to include energy usage for home appliances and lighting as well as introducing conversion indicators, based not only on the depletion of energy resources, but also factoring in global warming and respiratory effects/inorganic compounds. Moreover, it seems that the LCA methodology and, specifically, characterisation factors, are refined to such a degree and scientifically proved that it would be possible to use the knowledge with regard to LCA to establish such indicators for energy certification.

Description: Purpose In the past decade, several methods have emerged to quantify water scarcity, water availability and the human health impacts of water use. It was recommended that a quantitative comparison of methods should be performed to describe similar impact pathways, namely water scarcity and human health impacts from water deprivation. This is precisely the goal of this paper, which aims to (1) identify the key relevant modeling choices that explain the main differences between characterization models leading to the same impact indicators; (2) quantify the significance of the differences between methods, and (3) discuss the main methodological choices in order to guide method development and harmonization efforts. Methods The modeling choices are analysed for similarity of results (using mean relative difference) and model response consistency (through rank correlation coefficient). Uncertainty data associated with the choice of model are provided for each of the models analysed, and an average value is provided as a tool for sensitivity analyses. Results The results determined the modeling choices that significantly influence the indicators and should be further analysed and harmonised, such as the regional scale at which the scarcity indicator is calculated, the sources of underlying input data and the function adopted to describe the relationship between modeled scarcity indicators and the original withdrawal-to-availability or consumption-to-availability ratios. The inclusion or exclusion of impacts from domestic user deprivation and the inclusion or exclusion of trade effects both strongly influence human health impacts. At both midpoint and endpoint, the comparison showed that considering reduced water availability due to degradation in water quality, in addition to a reduction in water quantity, greatly influences results. Other choices are less significant in most regions of the world. Maps are provided to identify the regions in which such choices are relevant. Conclusions This paper provides useful insights to better understand scarcity, availability and human health impact models for water use and identifies the key relevant modeling choices and differences, making it possible to quantify model uncertainty and the significance of these choices in a specific regional context. Maps of regions where these specific choices are of importance were generated to guide practitioners in identifying locations for sensitivity analyses in water footprint studies. Finally, deconstructing the existing models and highlighting the differences and similarities has helped to determine building blocks to support the development of a consensual method.

Description: Purpose Livestock production is a recognized source of environmental impact, and this sector indirectly involves approximately 5 million people in Brazil. Livestock production includes nearly 1.5 million milk producers that use several different production systems. We chose the southern region of Brazil to evaluate the carbon footprint (CF) per 1 kg of energy-corrected milk (ECM) at the farm gate for different dairy production systems with the use of a good level of technology. Methods The dairy production systems were confined feedlot system, semi-confined feedlot system (including some grazing), and pasture-based grazing system. A sensitivity analysis of the dry matter intake (DMI) in each farming system and an uncertainty analysis based on a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation were performed to complement the discussion. The standards ISO 14040: 2006 and ISO 14044: 2006 were used for the comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) focused on the CF. The LCA software tool SimaPro 7.3.3 was used. Sensitivity analyses were conducted on input data for total digestible nutrients (TDN) and crude protein (CP) based on values from the literature. Results and discussion The comparative LCA showed that the confined feedlot system had a lower CF than the other systems studied. Total greenhouse gas emissions were 0.535 kg CO 2 e kg ECM −1 for the confined feedlot system, 0.778 kg CO 2 e kg ECM −1 for the semi-confined feedlot system, and 0.738 kg CO 2 e kg ECM −1 for the pasture-based system without considering the impact from direct land use change (dLUC). When considering these emissions, the CFs for grain and cottonseed production showed CF increases of 45.0, 36.9, and 37.3 % for the confined feedlot, semi-confined feedlot, and pasture-based systems, respectively. The results from the MC simulations showed low uncertainty through variations in TDN and CP. The coefficient of variation was 1.1 % for the confined feedlot, 0.7 % for the semi-confined feedlot, and 1.0 % for the pasture systems. Conclusions The uncertainties were due mainly to variations in N 2 O emissions from manure for the three systems. The CF in Brazilian systems was lower than almost all the results found in the literature, even when impacts from the dLUC were considered. The lowest CF in this case study was due mainly to the emission factor used for enteric fermentation.

Description: Purpose Regionalised characterisation factors (CFs) for watersheds around the world are available to assess water use-related environmental impacts. The main problem with using the watershed regionalisation level arises when a single CF is generated for large watersheds in countries where water availability and demand are not uniform. Additionally, water availability and use vary over time because of the effects of climate change and changing human lifestyles. These two factors are currently not taken into account in CFs, but should be included for the sake of the accuracy of LCA results. The aim of this research was to provide water stress index CFs at the sub-watershed spatial level for three temporal scenarios (present, short-term future and mid-term future) for Spain (Southern Europe), a country with considerable variability in water availability that is especially vulnerable to climate change effects. Methods CFs were calculated following the water stress index (WSI) definition of Pfister et al. (Environ Sci Technol 43(11):4098–4104, 2009 ). The WSI was calculated on a yearly basis for 117 sub-watersheds—compared to 56 regionalisation units provided in the original method—and for (i) the current situation: current water use and availability; (ii) short-term future: projections for 2015; and (iii) mid-term future: projections for 2030. The uncertainties of the CFs were calculated for each sub-watershed. Results and discussion Temporal trend analysis of the CFs showed a general relaxation of water stress over the short-term when compared to the current situation, followed by a new increase. Major differences were noticed in the WSIs calculated by Pfister et al. (Environ Sci Technol 43(11):4098–4104, 2009 ) using global data and maps and the WSIs calculated in this study using national and regional data. The WSIs under consideration of uncertainty were higher than the deterministic result for intermediate WSIs. Conclusions The CFs generated are useful compared with the CFs previously available because they improve evaluation of the water use-related impacts of present and future technologies with the life cycle stages located in Spain. We encourage LCA developers to update WSIs for other countries using information at the national level that is usually freely accessible.

Description: Purpose Rising corn prices in the USA due partly to increasing ethanol demands have led to a significant expansion of corn areas displacing natural vegetation and crops including cotton. From 2005 to 2009, cotton area harvested in the USA nearly halved with a reduction of 2.5 million hectares, while that of corn increased by 1.8 million hectares. However, environmental impacts of land shifts from cotton and corn have been largely neglected in literature. Methods In this study, we evaluate the environmental properties of US corn and cotton production and implications of land cover change from cotton to corn using state-specific data and life cycle impact assessment. Focusing on regional environmental issues, we cover both on-farm direct emissions such as different types of volatile organic compounds and pesticides and indirect emissions embodied in input materials such as fertilizers. TRACI 2.0 is used to evaluate the environmental impacts of these emissions. Results and discussion The results show that US cotton and corn productions per hectare on average generate roughly similar impacts for most impact categories such as eutrophication and smog formation. For water use and freshwater ecotoxicity, corn shows a smaller impact. When land shifts from cotton to corn in cotton-growing states , however, the process may aggravate most of the regional environmental impacts while relieving freshwater ecotoxicity impact. The differences in the two estimates are due mainly to underlying regional disparities in crop suitability that affects input structure and environmental emissions. Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of potential, unintended environmental impacts that cannot be adequately captured when average data are employed. Understanding the actual mechanisms under which certain policy induces marginal changes at a regional and local level is crucial for evaluating its net impact. Further, our study calls for an attention to biofuel-induced land cover change between crops and associated regional environmental impacts.

Description: Purpose Carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (CFRP) have been developed by the aviation industry to reduce aircraft fuel burn and emissions of greenhouse gases. This study presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of an all-composite airplane, based on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The global transition of aircraft to those of composite architecture is estimated to contribute 20–25 % of industry CO 2 reduction targets. A secondary stage of the cradle-to-grave analysis expands the study from an individual aircraft to the global fleet. Methods An LCA was undertaken utilising SimaPro 7.2 in combination with Ecoinvent. Eco-indicator 99 (E) V2.05 Europe EI 99 E/E was the chosen method to calculate the environmental impact of the inventory data. The previously developed aviation integrated model was utilised to construct a scenario analysis of the introduction of composite aircraft against a baseline projection, through to 2050, to model CO 2 emissions due to their particular relevance in the aviation sector. Results and discussion The analysis demonstrated CFRP structure results in a reduced single score environmental impact, despite the higher environmental impact in the manufacturing phase, due to the increased fossil fuel use. Of particular importance is that CFRP scenario quickly achieved a reduction in CO 2 and NO x atmospheric emissions over its lifetime, due to the reduced fuel consumption. The modelled fleet-wide CO 2 reduction of 14–15 % is less than the quoted emission savings of an individual aircraft (20 %) because of the limited fleet penetration by 2050 and the increased demand for air travel due to lower operating costs. Conclusions The introduction of aircraft based on composite material architecture has significant environmental benefits over their lifetime compared to conventional aluminium-based architecture, particularly with regards to CO 2 and NO x a result of reduced fuel burn. The constructed scenario analyses the interactions of technology and the markets they are applied in, expanding on the LCA, in this case, an observed fleet-wide reduction of CO 2 emission of 14–15 % compared to an individual aircraft of 20 %.

Description: Purpose The ISO 14044 standard for life cycle assessment (LCA) provides the reference decision hierarchy for dealing with multi-functional processes. We observe that, in practice, the consistent implementation of this hierarchy by LCA practitioners and LCA guidance document developers may be limited. In an attempt to explain this observation, and to offer suggestions as to how consistency in LCA practice might be improved, we identify and compare the rationales for (and limitations of) different common approaches to solving multi-functionality problems in LCA. Methods The different prevalent understandings of specific approaches for dealing with multi-functional processes were identified, and their respective rationales were analyzed. This takes into account identifying the implicit underlying assumptions regarding the nature and purpose of LCA that support each approach. Results and discussion We identified what we believe to be three internally consistent but mutually exclusive schools of thought amongst LCA practitioners, which differ in subtle but important ways in terms of their understanding of the nature and purpose of LCA, and the multi-functionality solutions necessary to support them. These three divisions follow two demarcations. The first is between consequential and attributional data modeling approaches. The second is between adherence to a natural science-based approach (privileging physical allocation solutions) and a socioeconomic approach (favoring economic allocation solutions) in attributional data modeling. Conclusions We conclude that the ISO 14044 multi-functionality hierarchy should explicitly differentiate between attributional and consequential data modeling applications. We question the feasibility and practical utility of system expansion (currently privileged in the ISO hierarchy) in attributional data modeling applications. We suggest that ISO 14044 should also make explicit its rationale for privileging natural science-based approaches to solving multi-functionality problems and to more clearly differentiate between natural science and social science-based approaches. We also call for the formulation of additional guidance for solving multi-functionality problems, in particular for justifying the use of lower-tier solutions from the ISO hierarchy when these are applied in LCA studies. We suggest that this additional guidance and clarity in ISO 14044 will contribute to increased consistency in LCA practice and also increase the potential for users of information from LCA studies to make informed decisions as to their relevance within the context of specific intended applications.

Description: Purpose Palm oil systems generate substantial amounts of biomass residues which are, according to best agricultural practices, preferably returned back to plantation in order to maintain soil fertility. However, there are often variations in this practice. Differences in economic status and possible treatment options for biomass residues determine the preferences to perform life cycle assessment (LCA), leading to a divergence in results. Difficulties when comparing LCA results based on literature are not unusual. The objectives of this paper are to provide guidelines for methodological choices that enable a systematic comparison of diverse scenarios for the treatment and valuation of empty fruit bunches (EFBs) and to explore effects of the scenarios on the environmental performances of a palm oil system. Methods Eleven scenarios were selected to address the possible EFB valuation and expanded boundaries with reference to the main palm oil system (EFBs applied as mulch, converted to compost or ethanol, treated in an incinerator, and sold as coproducts). The life cycle inventories were modeled based upon an Ecoinvent database. Solutions to multifunctional problems were suggested, including the application of system expansion, substitution, and partitioning, depending upon the nature of the scenarios. Results and discussion Comparison among LCA results based on the same multifunctional units (crude palm oil + palm kernel oil + palm kernel cake) can be accomplished only in cases where additional coproducts were utilized internally. Based on the global warming impact, the mulch option was preferred. The effect of the avoided process of producing synthetic fertilizers and the assumption that all parts of mulch are available as soil nutrient dominantly determined the final result. These need further verification. This study also demonstrates that the status of EFB as waste or goods is influential on the final results if the EFB is employed externally but has no effect if it is utilized internally. Conclusions The proposed guidelines provide methodological choices in terms of system boundary, functional unit, and solutions to multifunctional problems. The methods can be used to systematically compare LCA results of different treatment options and valuation of EFB. The preferred alternative for managing this biomass residue could improve environmental performances and orient toward best practices, such as those suggested by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Further studies incorporating a site-specific case of palm oil systems would better illustrate the usefulness of the proposed guidelines.

Description: Purpose Environmental impacts of the decommissioning of nuclear power plants are brought into focus by the nuclear phase-out in Germany and a worldwide growing number of decommissioning projects. So far, life cycle assessments of decommissioning nuclear power plants have been conducted very rarely or are based on rather uncertain assumptions. Against this background, environmental impacts of the ongoing decommissioning of the nuclear power plant in Lubmin (KGR), Germany are examined. Methodological aspects like transferability to other decommissioning projects as well as influence of assumptions about the lifespan of a power plant are discussed. Methods A life cycle assessment of the decommissioning according to ISO 14040/44 is conducted. The decommissioning of one power plant (of the assessed KGR) is chosen as functional unit. The system boundaries include removal and demolition of plant components and buildings as well as decontamination, conditioning, interim storage, and final repository of low-level and interim-level nuclear waste together with disposal and recycling of conventional waste. Interim storage and final repository of high-level nuclear waste such as fuel rods are excluded from the system boundaries as they are assigned to the use phase of the plant. Primary data was obtained from the plant decommissioning firm (Energiewerke Nord GmbH, EWN) in Lubmin. The GaBi database was used to model background processes. Environmental impacts are estimated using the CML2001 methodology. Results and discussion Environmental impacts are mainly caused by on-site energetic demands of component removal and peripheral tasks. Further significant impacts are caused by the handling, storage, and final repository of low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste. Recycling conventional, nonradioactive metallic waste has the potential to unburden the process in a significant scale, depending on recycling rates. Conclusions The dismantling of nuclear power plants shows a relevant environmental impact. Regarding the environmental impacts per kilowatt-hour assumptions concerning the plant’ lifespan are a crucial factor. Comparing the result from this study to recent datasets for nuclear power poses the question if LCA datasets represent environmental burdens of nuclear power accurately. The transferability of LCA results to other studies using one parameter for scaling is problematic and needs further research.

Description: Purpose This paper presents life cycle assessment of planned mass production of the thermal insulation blocks (TIB) made of thermal insulation composite material (TICM) from secondary raw materials—glass and plastic. This material is being developed at Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering for use in structural details of (especially low energy or passive) buildings subjected to higher compressive loads. Two production modes depending on the quality of the input materials are compared. Methods The assessment is conducted using GaBi 4 software tool with inbuilt Ecoinvent database. The results of the assessment are presented in individual impact categories according to used characterization model (CML 2001—Dec. 07). All the necessary energy and material flows are specified in detail for the purpose of the assessment. Cut-off allocation method is used for allocating the environmental impacts of recycled materials. Part of the assessment is sensitivity analysis of one variable parameter—amount of TIB produced per year. Results and discussion The results of the assessment show decisive impact of used electricity source on the overall results—86.2 and 94.3 %, respectively, for both production modes. This is closely connected with quality of used secondary raw materials and design of the production line. Use of higher-quality materials, as well as changes of the designed production line can reduce the overall environmental impacts by almost 30 %. Conclusions The results show possible improvements in the planned mass production of the TIB. They also find that further investigation will be required before the start of mass production, especially in connection with improving the environmental impacts of used electricity sources.

Description: Purpose The benefits and environmental burden of two different strategies (incineration vs anaerobic digestion followed by composting) to manage the organic fraction of municipal solid waste were assessed. Particular attention was also focused on system components, including collection, treatment, facility construction, and disposal, as well as the effect of the energetic context. Source segregation intensities considered for the scenario with incineration and with anaerobic digestion followed by composting were respectively of 0 and 52 %. Methods The analysis was performed by an LCA approach, and the impact was assessed by the CML method. The functional unit was a single ton of organic waste generated in the area considered. System boundaries were expanded to include the differences in waste collection and multi-functionality waste treatments. Existing databases were retrieved, also adopting experimental data for the waste management area considered. Results and discussion Overall, the scenario with the highest rate of source segregation of organic waste, using anaerobic digestion followed by composting, gave a lower impact for human and terrestrial toxicity. Concerning the other impacts, incineration gave the maximum benefits. The impact of anaerobic digestion and composting arises mainly from energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions (i.e., N 2 O, VOC), and landfilling of residues. The sensitivity analysis performed by varying the energetic mix of the context confirmed the advantages of incineration of the organic fraction. Conclusions Incineration of organic waste leads to maximum environmental benefits compared to anaerobic digestion and composting. Furthermore, anaerobic digestion and composting was characterized by high gaseous emissions with high greenhouse gas potential even if the production of organic fertilizer gave some benefits concerning the avoided exploitation of mineral resources. The impact due to the collection phase and facility construction was quite limited and in some cases negligible.

Description: Purpose Most life cycle assessment (LCA) studies for flooring exclude the environmental and economic impacts incurred from the maintenance required due to uncertainty in average cleaning procedures, although some studies indicate that it may be the most significant component of the life cycle. This study investigates the impacts of maintenance on types of flooring and develops a single scoring system to compare floors based on both environmental and economic impacts. Methods The focus of this study was on the impact of maintenance on the life cycle of flooring choices. Maintenance data was collected from trade association studies and manufacturer’s recommendations. This data was compiled, along with data from previous flooring studies, to create a comprehensive life cycle inventory which was analyzed with the LCA software, SimaPro. A number of maintenance techniques and frequencies were tested in order to do a sensitivity analysis. An uncertainty analysis was completed using Monte Carlo simulations. A life cycle costing (LCC) analysis was used to evaluate the total present value cost of flooring including maintenance. Environmental and economic impacts were normalized to create a single score in order to compare the overall performance of flooring choices. Results and discussion Maintenance procedures may account for a significant portion of environmental and economic impacts of floorings. In the case of environmental scores, adding high maintenance to the life cycle can increase scores by anywhere from 31 % (hardwood) to 114 % (carpet). A sensitivity analysis of these scores shows that most of the score increase can be attributed to vacuuming. Maintenance costs considerably increase the total cost, accounting for 49 % of hardwood’s total cost and about 30 % of costs for linoleum, vinyl, and carpet. The expected service life of the home greatly influences which flooring is best, as costs and environmental scores change dynamically over time. For the expected service life of a home of 61 years, carpet has the worst and linoleum has the best overall performance. Conclusions Although averages for maintenance techniques are not currently known, ignoring maintenance as a part of the use phase presents a significant error in the comparison of flooring options environmentally and economically. Due in part to yearly maintenance effects, the flooring choice with the best overall performance changes dynamically depending on the expected service life remaining for the home.

Description: Purpose Polymers typically have intrinsic thermal conductivity much lower than other materials. Enhancement of this property may be obtained by the addition of conductive fillers. Nanofillers are preferred to traditional ones, due to their low percolation threshold resulting from their high aspect ratio. Beyond these considerations, it is imperative that the development of such new fillers takes place in a safe and sustainable manner. A conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) has been conducted on epoxy-based composites, filled with graphite nanoplatelets (GnP). In particular, this study focuses on energy requirements for the production of such composites, in order to stress environmental hot spots and primary energy of GnP production process (nano-wastes and nanoparticles emissions are not included). Methods A cradle-to-grave approach has been employed for this assessment, in an attributional modeling perspective. The data for the LCA have been gathered from both laboratory data and bibliographic references. A technical LCA software package, SimaPro (SimaPro 7.3), which contains Ecoinvent (2010) life cycle inventory (LCI) database, has been used for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA), studying 13 mid-point indicators. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses have also been performed. Results and discussion One kilogram of GnP filler requires 1,879 MJ of primary energy while the preparation of 1 kg of epoxy composite loaded with 0.058 kg of GnP 303 MJ. Besides energy consumption in the filler preparation, it is shown that the thermoset matrix material has also a non-negligible impact on the life cycle despite the use of GnP: the primary energy required to make epoxy resin is 187 MJ, i.e., 62 % of the total energy to make 1 kg of composite. Conclusions Raw material extraction and filler and resin preparation phase exhibit the highest environmental impact while the composite production is negligible. Thermosetting resin remains the highest primary energy demand when used as matrix for GnP fillers. The result of the sensitivity analysis carried out on the electricity mix used during the GnP and the composite production processes does not affect the conclusions.

Description: Purpose Nowadays, the intensive use of natural resources in order to satisfy the increasing energy demand suggests a threat to the implementation of the principles of sustainable development. The present study attempts to approach thermodynamically the depletion of natural resources in the methodological framework and the principles of life cycle assessment (LCA). Methods An environmental decision support tool is studied, the exergetic life cycle assessment (ELCA). It arises from the convergence of the LCA and exergy analysis (EA) methodologies and attempts to identify the exergetic parameters that are related to the life cycle of the examined system or process. The ELCA methodology, beside the fact that it locates the system parts which involve greater exergy losses, examines the depletion of natural resources (biotic and abiotic) and the sustainable prospective of the examined system or process, under the scope of exergy. In order to obtain concrete results, the ELCA methodology is applied to a large-scale, grid-connected, photovoltaic (PV) system with energy storage that is designed to entirely electrify the Greek island of Nisyros. Results and discussion Four discerned cases were studied that reflect the present state and the future development of the PV technology. The exergy flows and balance for the life cycle of the PV system, as they were formed in the ELCA study, showed that the incoming exergy (solar radiation, energy sources, and materials) is not efficiently utilized. The greater exergy losses appear at the stage of the operation of the PV installation. Due to the fact that contribution of the renewable exergy (solar radiation) to the formation of the total incoming exergy of Life Cycle is significant, it emerges that satisfaction of electric power needs with a PV system appears to be exergetic sustainable. The increase of the Life Cycle exergetic efficiency supported by the future technological scenario in contrast to present scenarios emerges from the increased electricity output of the PV system. Consequently, the increased exergetic efficiency involves decreased irreversibility (exergy losses) of the PV system’s life cycle. Conclusions The application of ELCA in electricity production technologies exceeds the proven sustainable prospective of the PV systems; however, it aims to show the essence of the application of ELCA methodology in the environmental decision making process. ELCA can be a useful tool for the support and formation of the environmental decision making that can illustrate in terms of exergetic sustainability the examined energy system or process.

Description: Purpose Ordinary product LCA studies focus on measuring or minimizing environmental impact, but do not address if the product fits in a sustainable consumption pattern. This paper proposes a setup in which the planetary boundaries define the maximum impact, and the minimum requirements for a reasonable consumption level specify a lower impact level. Thus, a “safe operating space” remains. Methods We use an IO table for EU-27 and the consumption pattern of the Bulgarian population extrapolated to the EU level as driving climate impact. The EU’s policy targets are used as a planetary boundary for climate change. Results The 2020 target is shown to be able to accommodate the Bulgarian-style consumption, with room for a much higher GDP. The 2050 target, however, is too narrow, and a slightly smaller consumption pattern is needed to reach the target. Conclusions Although the approach is highly simplified and neglects many developments, the idea of using IO-tables and minimum consumption levels to backcast directions to be taken is expected to help policymakers. We acknowledge some important limitations of our approach, but accept these in the context of exploring future scenarios and how to get there, instead of predicting the future.

Description: Purpose In the USA, several studies have been conducted to analyze the energy consumption and atmospheric emissions of Warm-mix Asphalt (WMA) pavements. However, the direct and indirect environmental, economic, and social impacts, termed as Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL), were not addressed sufficiently. Hence, the aim of this study is to develop TBL-oriented sustainability assessment model to evaluate the environmental and socio-economic impacts of pavements constructed with different types of WMA mixtures and compare them to a conventional Hot-mix Asphalt (HMA). The types of WMA technologies investigated in this research include Asphamin® WMA, Evotherm™ WMA, and Sasobit® WMA. Methods To achieve this goal, supply and use tables published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis were merged with 16 macro-level sustainability metrics. A hybrid TBL-LCA model was built to evaluate the life-cycle sustainability performance of using WMA technologies in construction of asphalt pavements. The impacts on the sustainability were calculated in terms of socio-economic (import, income, gross operating surplus, government tax, work-related injuries, and employment) and environmental (water withdrawal, energy use, carbon footprint, hazardous waste generation, toxic releases into air, and land use). A stochastic compromise programming model was then developed for finding the optimal allocation of different pavement types for the U.S. highways. Results and discussion WMAs did not perform better in terms of environmental impacts compared to HMA. Asphamin® WMA was found to have the highest environmental and socio-economic impacts compared to other pavement types. Material extractions and processing phase had the highest contribution to all environmental impact indicators that shows the importance of cleaner production strategies for pavement materials. Based on stochastic compromised programming results, in a balanced weighting situation, Sasobit® WMA had the highest percentage of allocation (61 %); while only socio-economic aspects matter, Asphamin® WMA had the largest share (57 %) among the asphalt pavements. The optimization results also supported the significance of an increased WMA use in the U.S. highways. Conclusions This research complemented previous LCA studies by evaluating pavements not only from environmental emissions and energy consumption standpoint, but also from socio-economic perspectives. Multi-objective optimization results also provided important insights for decision makers when finding the optimum allocation of pavement alternatives based on different environmental and socio-economic priorities. Consequently, this study aimed to increase awareness of the inherent benefits of economic input–output analysis and multi-criteria decision making through application to emerging sustainable pavement practices.

Description: Purpose In this article, we present an innovative way of deriving comparable functional systems for comparative life cycle assessments (LCAs) of food products. We define the functional unit as the contribution of one or more foods to the nutrient composition of a weekly diet and, after a product substitution, employ a product system expansion approach to search for an alternative set of products which provides an equivalent nutritional composition. Methods Replacement is regarded within the context of a weekly diet. The comparable diet is a solution to a linear problem which finds the diet that is most similar to the starting one, subject to nutritional and/or other constraints that guarantee a minimum dietary quality. The formulation gives priority to selecting food products according to popularity. Results We illustrate our method with two examples. We show that a baseline diet containing 3.6 servings of apples a week is equivalent to a similar diet in which the apples are replaced with 3.6 servings of oranges and servings of strawberry and kiwi are removed. These changes are necessary mainly because of differences in the vitamin C content between apples and oranges. The second example is a replacement of all meat in a weekly diet by a soy-based meat substitute. In this case, additional fish products need to be consumed to make up for a lack of selenium and essential amino acids. Conclusions We present an innovative and objective way to overcome the challenge of comparing two or more food products in a comparative LCA. Our approach is systematic and finds the alternative diet that best meets the nutritional criteria as well as reflecting the food preferences of the population. The method selects products according to the role they play in the dietary pattern. Moreover, the method is flexible enough to allow for different selection criteria and other nutritional and non-nutritional constraints.

Description: Purpose The aim of this work is to propose an objective method for evaluating subcategories in social life cycle impact assessment (S-LCIA). Methods for assessing subcategories have been available since 2006, but a number of these either fail to include all the subcategories envisaged in the guidelines for S-LCA (UNEP/SETAC 2009 ) or are subjective in their assessment of each subcategory. Methods The methodology is characterized by four steps: (i) the use of the organization as unit process, in which it was decided to assess the social profile of the organization responsible for the processes involved in the product life cycle, (ii) definition of the basic requirement to assess each subcategory, (iii) definition of levels based on the environment context or organizational practice and the data availability and (iv) assignment of a quantitative value. Results and discussion The result of the method applied was the development of the subcategory assessment method (SAM). SAM is a characterization model that evaluates subcategories during the impact assessment phase. This method is based on the behaviour of organizations responsible for the processes along the product life cycle, thereby enabling a social performance evaluation. The method, thus, presents levels for each subcategory assessment. Level A indicates that the organization exhibits proactive behaviour by promoting basic requirement (BR) practices along the value chain. Level B means that the organization fulfils the BR. Levels C and D are assigned to organizations that do not meet the BR and are differentiated by their context. The greatest difficulty when developing SAM was the definition of the BR to be used in the evaluation of the subcategories, though many indications were present in the methodological sheets. Conclusions SAM makes it possible to go from inventory to subcategory assessment. The method supports evaluation across life cycle products, thereby ensuring a more objective evaluation of the social behaviour of organizations and applicable in different countries. Recommendations When using SAM, it is advisable to update the data for the context environment. The method might be improved by using data for the social context that would consider not only the country, but also the region, sector and product concerned. A further improvement could be a subdivision of the levels to better encompass differences between organizations. It is advisable to test SAM by applying it to a case study.

Description: Purpose Ceramic tiles play a strategic role in the Italian market; currently, the Italian production is of 367.2 million m 2 (Confindustria Ceramica 2012 ). In 2009, Italy was positioned as the world’s fourth largest producer of ceramic tiles, producing 368 million m 2 of the world’s total production of 1,735 million m 2 Giacomini (Ceram World Rev 88:52–68, 2010 ). Therefore, there is an ongoing effort to create innovations in the products offered and their manufacturing processes, in order to better compete on the market and to create eco-friendly products. Recently, the Italian Ceramic District has increased its focus on environmental issues with the aim of protecting natural resources and reducing the energy and material consumption. For this reason, a new product was born in the Italian Ceramic District, namely, a large thin ceramic tile (dimensions 1,000 mm × 3,000 mm × 3.5 mm) reinforced with a fibreglass backing, which gives the product excellent resistance and flexibility properties. The aim was to manufacture a new product with lower environmental impact than the traditional one. The production of a large thin ceramic tile requires, in fact, a lower quantity of materials, transports and energy consumptions comparing to the same metres square of traditional ceramic tile. At the present, no comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been performed between traditional and innovative ceramic stoneware tiles. This study analyses, for the first time, a life cycle of the innovative ceramic product (porcelain stoneware) developed by a company of the Italian Ceramic District. Methods The analysis is performed using the LCA methodology, in order to identify environmental impacts, energy consumption and CO 2 equivalent emissions that occur during extraction of raw materials, transportation, production, material handling, distribution and end-of-life stages within a cradle to grave perspective. Results and conclusions LCA analysis indicates that the highest environmental impact mainly affects the respiratory inorganics impact category due to base slip production (27.62 %), caused by the transport of the raw materials and by non-renewable impact category due to both the pasting phase (21.31 %) and the two-component adhesive manufacture. The major greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are related to the production of polyurethane, a component of the adhesive used in the pasting stage, and to the natural gas consumption in the firing process.

Description: Purpose Conventional wisdom suggests that product reuse can provide environmental savings. The purpose of this study is to first compare the environmental impacts of retail refilling and remanufactured inkjet cartridge alternatives to production of new inkjet cartridges, and then determine the extent to which consumer behavior can influence life cycle outcomes. Methods A life cycle inventory was developed for an inkjet cartridge with an integral print head using material composition data collected from cartridge disassembly and material processing, product manufacturing, and transportation inputs estimated from market data and the ecoinvent database in SimaPro 7.3. Although previous comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies for printer cartridges typically use “pages printed” or a variation thereof for the functional unit, “cartridge use cycles” is more suitable for examining reused inkjet cartridge alternatives that depend on the inkjet cartridge end-of-life (EOL) route chosen by the consumer. Since multiple reuse cycles achieved from refilling by a retailer was of specific interest, a functional unit defined in the form of “five use cycles” included the mode and manner in which consumers purchased inkjet cartridge use cycles. Results and discussion Cartridge refills present the lowest environmental impact, offering a 76 % savings in global warming potential (GWP) impact compared to production and purchase of a new inkjet cartridge alternative, followed by the remanufacturing case, which provided a 36 % savings in GWP impact compared to the new inkjet cartridge. However, results varied widely, even switching to favor new cartridge purchase, depending on how consumer transport was modeled, specifically the mode of travel, travel patterns (number of trips), and method of allocating impact to each trip. Conclusions Refilling an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridge four consecutive times provides the best alternative for reducing environmental impact for those consumers that purchase inkjet cartridges one at a time. On the other hand, consumers that purchase multiple cartridges in a single trip to a retailer reduce environmental impact more by transport minimization than by refilling. Results reinforce the need for more comprehensive inclusion of consumer behavior when modeling life cycle environmental impact of product alternatives.

Description: Purpose The emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) is a key criterion in the environmental assessment of biofuels. Life cycle inventories taking into account the latest methodological developments are an essential prerequisite for this assessment. In the last years, substantial progresses in the modelling of nitrogen emissions relevant for the climate as well as in modelling the emissions from land use change (LUC) have been achieved. Therefore, the biomass production inventories in the ecoinvent database were revised to take into account these developments. Methods The IPCC method tier 1 has been used for the assessment of N 2 O emissions. Induced emissions from NH 3 and NO 3 were included as well. Due to the importance of the latter emissions for N 2 O formation, these emissions have also been updated and harmonised. The Agrammon model was used for the NH 3 emissions. The SALCA-NO 3 model has been applied in the European inventories to estimate nitrate leaching, whilst in non-European inventories the SQCB-NO 3 model has been used. The quantification of the land use change areas has been based on annualized, retrospective data of the last 20 years. All carbon pools (from aboveground biomass to soil organic carbon) were considered and differentiated on a regional level for all of the natural vegetation categories affected. Whenever possible, default values and methods from the IPCC 2006 were applied. Results and discussion The changes for ammonia emissions were generally very small (−5 % on average). The nitrate emissions increased on average by +13 %, but this slight trend is the result of important downward and upward changes, whilst the average N 2 O emissions decreased by −26 %. For the existing inventories of soybean, palm oil and sugarcane production, significant increases of GHG emissions resulted from LUC modelling. This was mainly due to the consistent inclusion of all carbon stocks according to the IPCC guidelines. The calculation method can also result in important C sequestration effects in certain cases like African Jatropha production. Conclusions The changes in greenhouse gas emissions due to the updated methodology were significant. This shows that life cycle assessment studies for biofuels using older methodological bases need to be revised and could lead to different conclusions. The implemented and cultivated superstructure for LUC modelling is modular and flexible and can be easily extended to other important crop activities. The new parameterisation functionality applied for the activities provides powerful means for the simple generation of site-specific activities.

Description: Purpose Environmental concerns have been a growing issue when planning energy supply systems for buildings, as the energy demands (presenting seasonal and daily variations) represent one of the most energy-intensive consumptions in industrialized societies. The optimal operation corresponding to different energy demands of a trigeneration system was analyzed by an integrated methodology combining Thermoeconomic analysis and life cycle assessment, in order to adequately allocate the energy resources and the generated environmental loads to the different energy services produced. Methods Thermoeconomic analysis, which is usually used to allocate energy and economic costs, is herein applied to the evaluation of environmental costs and distribution of resources throughout the trigeneration system. Attention is focused on the correct allocation of energy resources and environmental loads to internal flows and final products. Appropriate rules were established to calculate energy and environmental costs. Results and discussion Operation of the system considered the possibilities that surplus electricity could be exported to the national grid and part of the cogenerated heat could be wasted if this resulted in a decrease of operation costs and/or environmental loads. The results obtained show a low-cost and low-emission production with respect to the separate production in different operation modes. It was observed that, in specific periods, the trigeneration system operates wasting part of the cogenerated heat, and, in other periods, part of the electricity produced is exported to the electric grid. The trigeneration system operates in these modes because it results beneficial from environmental or economic viewpoints, achieving a lower economic cost or fewer CO 2 emissions. Conclusions The methodology presented as well as the allocation method proposal were congruent with the objectives of installing trigeneration systems that supplied energy services with fewer emissions than those of separate production and of equally benefitting the consumers of heat, coolth (“coolth” is used as the noun form of “cool”; opposite of warmth. Not to be confused with cooling, which is the opposite of heating.) (alias cooling energy), and electricity.

Description: Purpose The aim of this study is apply available methods to assess impacts on biodiversity from the land use caused by plantation grown radiata pine in New Zealand in a life cycle assessment framework. This is done both to quantify the impact as well as compare the results obtained by different methods. Methods Data on location and productivity for wood supply regions in New Zealand was assessed using three methods identified as relevant for the purpose. All data were related to a functional unit of 1 m 3 of timber production. Results and discussion The results show both a significant difference in impact on biodiversity from land use in the different wood supply regions and a significant difference in the results from the three applied methods. Although some of the results obtained from the three methods were correlated, this was not consistent through all the results. The methodological variation emanates from the treatment of the characteristics of the wood supply regions and underlying assumptions, e.g. reference vegetation. Compared to a case study in Norway, the impact on biodiversity from plantation forestry in New Zealand is found to be relatively low following the applied methods and assumptions taken. Conclusions The study shows a significant variation in how impacts on biodiversity are assessed following different approaches. Research to harmonize methods to quantify impact on biodiversity is recommended, as well as exploring effects of different weighting of crucial aspects of biodiversity, such as rarity, abundance and species richness.

Description: Purpose The aim of this paper is to evaluate assumptions and data used in calculations  related to palm oil produced for biodiesel production relative to the European Renewable Energy Directive (EU-RED). The intent of this paper is not to review all assumptions and data, but rather to evaluate whether the methodology is applied in a consistent way and whether current default values address relevant management practices of palm oil production systems. Methods The GHG calculation method provided in Annex V of the EU-RED was used to calculate the GHG-emissions from palm oil production systems. Moreover, the internal nitrogen recycling on the plantation was calculated based on monitoring data in North Sumatra. Results and discussion A calculation methodology is detailed in Annex V of the EU-RED. Some important aspects necessary to calculate the GHG emission savings correctly are insufficiently considered, e.g.: • “Nitrogen recycling” within the plantation due to fronds remaining on the plantation is ignored. The associated organic N-input to the plantation and the resulting nitrous oxide emissions is not considered within the calculations, despite crop residues being taken into account for annual crops in the BIOGRACE tool. • The calculation of GHG-emissions from residue and waste water treatment is inappropriately implemented despite being a hot-spot for GHG emissions within the life cycle of palm oil and palm oil biodiesel. Additionally, no distinction is made between palm oil and palm kernel oil even though palm kernel oil is rarely used for biodiesel production. • The allocation procedure does not address the most relevant oil mill management practices. Palm oil mills produce crude palm oil (CPO) in addition either nuts or palm kernels and nut shells. In the first case, the nuts would be treated as co-products and upstream emissions would be allocated based on the energy content; in the second case the kernels would be treated as co-products while the shelöls are considered as waste without upstream emissions. This has a significant impact on the resulst or GHG savings, respectively. • It is not specified whether indirect GHG emissions from nitrogen oxide emission from the heat and power unit of palm oil mills should be taken into account. Conclusions and recommendations In conclusion, the existing calculation methodology described in Annex V of the EU-RED and default values are insufficient for calculating the real GHG emission savings from palm oil and palm oil biodiesel. The current default values do not reflect relevant management practices. Additionally, they protect poor management practices, such as the disposal of empty fruit bunches (EFB), and lead to an overestimation of GHG savings from palm oil biodiesel. A default value for EFB disposal must be introduced because resulting GHG emissions are substantial. Organic nitrogen from fronds must be taken into account when calculating real GHG savings from palm oil biodiesel. Further, more conservative data for FFB yield and fugitive emissions from wastewater treatment should be introduced in order to foster environmental friendly management options. Moreover, credits for bioenergy production from crop residues should be allowed in order to foster the mobilization of currently unused biomass.

Description: Purpose This paper aims to sort the literatures on life cycle assessments (LCA) by their respective importance through citation and co-citation analysis and to further discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these kinds of scientometric methods in the case of LCA research. Methods CiteSpace II was used to generate document co-citation networks based on 3,824 articles retrieved from the ISI Web of Science database on this topic. Results Table 1 provides the top 50 highest cited documents in the LCA field. Here, we use two indicators, i.e., citation frequency in citation analysis and betweenness centrality metric in co-citation analysis, to measure the importance of these LCA literatures. Conclusions Citation and co-citation analysis are useful for environmental scientists and engineers to get a better understanding of the inner structure of LCA research. However, like all other research methods, this kind of analysis has some limitations. On the one hand, Scientometric studies and related software are very dependent on ISI Web of Science database, but considering the ISI Web of Science only began to track the LCA field fairly recently, the Scopus database would probably give a fuller picture. On the other hand, since the essence of scientometrics analysis is outsiders commenting insiders, so with only citation and co-citation analysis, to our understanding of the past, present, and future of LCA field, is insufficient.

Description: Recognizing the need for a comprehensive review of the tools and metrics for the quantification and assessment of water footprints, and allowing for the opportunity for open discussion on the challenges and future of water footprinting methodology, an international symposium on water footprint was organized. The Water Footprint Symposium was held in December 2013 at the University of Leeds, UK. In particular, four areas were highlighted for discussion: water footprint and agriculture, quantification of water footprint, industrial water footprint, and from theory to practice. Discussion was organized to focus on the “prioritization of water footprint research & applications to practical sectors”. The concept of water footprinting has helped to better communicate water management and assessment among different research and user communities. Significant research progress has been made in the relations between water footprint and agriculture, quantification of water footprint, industrial water footprint, and the transition from theory to practice. Future water footprint research needs to further enhance assessment accuracy, improve sustainability assessment methodology, develop databases, address uncertainties, and prioritize application by government and in practical sectors. More information on the symposium can be found on the water@leeds website: http://www.wateratleeds.org/conferences/2013/water-footprint-symposium .

Description: Purpose This study seeks to answer the question, “Will the Million Trees LA (Million Trees Los Angeles, MTLA) program be a carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sink or source?” Because there has never been a full accounting of CO 2 emissions, it is unclear if urban tree planting initiatives (TPIs) are likely to be effective means for reaching local reduction targets. Methods Using surveys, interviews, field sampling, and computer simulation of tree growth and survival over a 40-year time period, we developed the first process-based life cycle inventory of CO 2 for a large TPI. CO 2 emissions and reductions from storage and avoided emissions from energy savings were simulated for 91,786 trees planted from 2006 to 2010, of which only 30,813 (33.6 %) were estimated to survive. Results and discussion The MTLA program was estimated to release 17,048 and 66,360 t of fossil and biogenic CO 2 over the 40-year period, respectively. The total amount emitted (83,408 t) was slightly more than the −77,942 t CO 2 that trees were projected to store in their biomass. The MTLA program will be a CO 2 sink if projected 40-year-avoided fossil fuel CO 2 emissions from energy savings (−101,679 t) and biopower (−1,939 t) are realized. The largest sources of CO 2 emissions were mulch decomposition (65.1 %), wood combustion (14.5 %), and irrigation water (9.7 %). Conclusions Although trees planted by the MTLA program are likely to be a net CO 2 sink, there is ample opportunity to reduce emissions. Examples of these opportunities include selecting drought-tolerant trees and utilizing wood residue to generate electricity rather than producing mulch.

Description: Purpose Topsoil erosion due to land use has been characterised as one of the most damaging problems from the perspective of soil-resource depletion, changes in soil fertility and net soil productivity and damage to aquatic ecosystems. On-site environmental damage to topsoil by water erosion has begun to be considered in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) within the context of ecosystem services. However, a framework for modelling soil erosion by water, addressing off-site deposition in surface water systems, to support life cycle inventory (LCI) modelling is still lacking. The objectives of this paper are to conduct an overview of existing methods addressing topsoil erosion issues in LCA and to develop a framework to support LCI modelling of topsoil erosion, transport and deposition in surface water systems, to establish a procedure for assessing the environmental damage from topsoil erosion on water ecosystems. Methods The main features of existing methods addressing topsoil erosion issues in LCA are analysed, particularly with respect to LCI and Life Cycle Impact Assessment methodologies. An overview of nine topsoil erosion models is performed to estimate topsoil erosion by water, soil particle transport through the landscape and its in-stream deposition. The type of erosion evaluated by each of the models, as well as their applicable spatial scale, level of input data requirements and operational complexity issues are considered. The WATEM-SEDEM model is proposed as the most adequate to perform LCI erosion analysis. Results and discussion The definition of land use type, the area of assessment, spatial location and system boundaries are the main elements discussed. Depending on the defined system boundaries and the inherent routing network of the detached soil particles to the water systems, the solving of the multifunctionality of the system assumes particular relevance. Simplifications related to the spatial variability of the input data parameters are recommended. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is recommended to evaluate the effects of the transport capacity coefficient in the LCI results. Conclusions The published LCA methods focus only on the changes of soil properties due to topsoil erosion by water. This study provides a simplified framework to perform an LCI of topsoil erosion by considering off-site deposition of eroded particles in surface water systems. The widespread use of the proposed framework would require the development of LCI erosion databases. The issues of topsoil erosion impact on aquatic biodiversity, including the development of characterisation factors, are now the subject of on-going research.

Description: Purpose This work intends to show whether the Eco-label EU Decision for hard coverings, in which marble is contemplated among hard coverings as a natural product, is really capable of capturing the environmental performances of the marble productive chain, in other words whether it is actually viable for the natural products, like marble. Methods After a preliminary critical analysis of the suitability for marble of the current EU Decision ( 2009 /607/EC), a classical life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has been applied on the field to the marble “Perlato di Sicilia.” More specifically, the whole productive chain of a couple of firms treating the “Perlato di Sicilia” marble has been examined. The life cycle analysis is actually a cradle-to-gate analysis which includes the raw material extraction, processing phase, and finishing operations. Results and discussion Both the preliminary critical analyses of the structure of the Decision and the in-field checking on the two firms of the Custonaci marble district in Sicily singled out several conflicting points of the Decision for the marble working chain. These difficulties could be reasonably extended to other natural stones, such as granite, for which similar working processes are applied. Based on the outcomes of both these analyses, in the present work, a set of new indicators and modified criteria, already present in the Decision, is proposed as a candidate to be considered for inclusion in a future release of the Decision. Conclusions The changes here introduced can represent a useful indication toward a more suitable scheme of the EU Eco-label for marble, at least. Clearly, further investigations need to better assess the proposed scheme, especially in terms of threshold values of pollutant releases and use of explosive that are actually specific for the marble productive chain. The present modified version of the standard has been proposed to the Sicilian administration in order to be voluntarily adopted by marble productive sites of the region, in the aim of extensively verifying its suitability.

Description: Purpose Change of vegetation cover and increased land use intensity, particularly for agricultural use, can affect species richness. Within life cycle impact assessment, methods to assess impacts of land use on a global scale are still in need of development. In this work, we present a spatially explicit data-driven approach to characterize the effect of agricultural land occupation on different species groups. Methods We derived characterization factors for the direct impact of agricultural land occupation on relative species richness. Our method identifies potential differences in impacts for cultivation of different crop types, on different species groups, and in different world regions. Using empirical species richness data gathered via an extensive literature search, characterization factors were calculated for four crop groups (oil palm, low crops, Pooideae, and Panicoideae), four species groups (arthropods, birds, mammals, and vascular plants), and six biomes. Results and discussion Analysis of the collected data showed that vascular plant richness is more sensitive than the species richness of arthropods to agricultural land occupation. Regarding the differences between world regions, the impact of agricultural land use was lower in boreal forests/taiga than in temperate and tropical regions. The impact of oil palm plantations was found to be larger than that of Pooideae croplands, although we cannot rule out that this difference is influenced by the spatial difference between the oil palm- and Pooideae-growing regions as well. Analysis of a subset of data showed that the impact of conventional farming was larger than the impact of low-input farming. Conclusions The impact of land occupation on relative species richness depends on the taxonomic groups considered, the climatic region, and farm management. The influence of crop type, however, was found to be of less importance.

Description: Purpose This study discusses the use of parameterization within the life cycle inventory (LCI) in the wooden pallet sector, in order to test the effectiveness of LCI parametric models to calculate the environmental impacts of similar products. Starting from a single case study, the objectives of this paper are (1) to develop a LCI parametric model adaptable to a range of wooden pallets, (2) to test this model with a reference product (non-reversible pallet with four-way blocks) and (3) to determine numerical correlations between the environmental impacts and the most significant LCI parameters; these correlations can be used to improve the design of new wooden pallets. Methods The conceptual scheme for defining the model is based on ISO14040-44 standards. First of all, the product system was defined identifying the life cycle of a generic wood pallet, as well as its life cycle stages. A list of independent and dependent parameters was used to describe the LCI flows of a generic wooden pallet. The LCI parametric model was applied to calculate the environmental impacts of the reference product, with regard to a selection of impact categories at midpoint level (climate change, human toxicity, particulate matter formation, agricultural land occupation, fossil depletion). The model was then applied to further 11 wooden pallets belonging to the same category. Results and discussion The definition of a LCI parametric model based on 31 independent parameters and 21 dependent parameters streamlined the data collection process, as the information required for fulfilling the LCI are standard information about the features of the wooden pallet and its manufacturing process. The contribution analysis on the reference product revealed that the most contributing life cycle stages are wood and nails extraction and manufacturing (positive value of environmental impact) and end-of-life (avoided impact). This result is driven by two parameters: mass of wood and average distance for transport of wood. Based on the results of the application of the LCI parametric model to the identified products, one parameter-based regression and one multiple non-linear regression allowed to define a correlation between the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) category indicators considered and the most influencing parameters. Conclusions The definition of LCI parametric model in the wooden pallet sector can effectively be used for calculating the environmental impacts of products with different designs, as well as for obtaining a preliminary estimation of the life cycle environmental impacts of new products.

Description: Purpose Along with climate change-related issues, improved water management is recognized as one of the major challenges to sustainability. However, there are still no commonly accepted methods for measuring sustainability of water uses, resulting in a recent proliferation of water footprint methodologies. The Water Impact Index presented in this paper aims to integrate the issues of volume, scarcity and quality into a single indicator to assess the reduction of available water for the environment induced by freshwater uses for human activities. Methods The Water Impact Index follows life cycle thinking principles. For each unit process, a volumetric water balance is performed; water flows crossing the boundaries between the techno-sphere and environment are multiplied by a water quality index and a water scarcity index. The methodology is illustrated on the current municipal wastewater management system of Milan (Italy). The Water Impact Index is combined with carbon footprint to introduce multi-impact thinking to decision makers. The Water Impact Index is further compared to results obtained using a set of three life cycle impact indicators related to water, from the ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodology. Results and discussion Onsite water use is the main contribution to the Water Impact Index for both wastewater management schemes. The release of better quality water is the main driver in favour of the scenario including a wastewater treatment plant, while the energy and chemicals consumed for the treatment increase the indirect water footprint and carbon footprint. Results obtained with the three midpoint indicators depict similar tendencies to the Water Impact Index. Conclusions This paper presents a simplified single-indicator approach for water footprinting, integrating volume, scarcity and quality issues, representing an initial step toward a better understanding and assessment of the environmental impacts of human activities on water resources. The wastewater treatment plant reduces the Water Impact Index of the wastewater management system. These results are consistent with the profile of the three midpoint indicators related to water from ReCiPe.

Description: Purpose Cooking energy is an essential requirement of any human dwelling. With the recent upsurge in petroleum prices coupled with intrinsic volatility of international oil markets, it is fast turning into a politico-socio-economic dilemma for countries like India to sustain future subsidies on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and compare the environmental performance of various cooking fuel options, namely LPG (NG), LPG (CO), kerosene, coal, electricity, firewood, crop residue, dung cake, charcoal, and biogas, in the Indian context. The purpose of this study is to find environmentally suitable alternatives to LPG and kerosene for rural and urban areas of the country. Methods The study assessed the cooking fuel performance on 13 ReCiPe environmental impact categories using the life cycle assessment methodology. The study modeled the system boundary for each fuel based on the Indian scenario and prepared a detailed life cycle inventory for each cooking fuel taking 1 GJ of heat energy transferred to cooking pot as the functional unit. Results and discussion The cooking fuels with the lowest life cycle environmental impacts are biogas followed by LPG, kerosene, and charcoal. The environmental impacts of using LPG are about 15 to 18 % lower than kerosene for most environmental impact categories. LPG derived from natural gas has about 20 to 30 % lower environmental impact than LPG derived from crude oil. Coal and dung cake have the highest environmental impacts because of significant contributions to climate change and particulate formation, respectively. Charcoal produced from renewable wood supply performs better than kerosene on most impact categories except photochemical oxidation, where its contribution is 19 times higher than kerosene. Conclusions Biogas and charcoal can be viewed as potentially sustainable cooking fuel options in the Indian context because of their environmental benefits and other associated co-benefits such as land farming, local employment opportunities, and skill development. The study concluded that kerosene, biogas, and charcoal for rural areas and LPG, kerosene, and biogas for urban areas have the lower environmental footprint among the chosen household cooking fuels in the study.

Description: Purpose The decentralization of the Brazilian electricity sector in association with the internal electricity supply crisis has encouraged companies in the sugarcane industry to produce electricity by burning sugarcane bagasse in cogeneration plants. This approach reduces the environmental impact of the sugarcane production and has opened up opportunities for distilleries and annex plants to increase their product portfolios. Potential scenarios for technically and environmentally improving the cogeneration performance were analyzed by using thermodynamic analysis and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Methods The method used in this study aimed to provide an understanding and a model of the electrical and thermal energy production and the environmental impacts of conventional vapor power systems which operate with a Rankine cycle that are commonly used by Brazilian distilleries. Vapor power system experts have suggested focusing on the following technical improvement areas: increasing the properties of the steam from 67 bar and 480 °C to 100 bar and 520 °C, regeneration, and reheating. Eight case scenarios were projected based on different combinations of these conditions. A functional unit of “To the delivery of 1.0 MWh of electricity to the power grid from a cogeneration system” was defined. The product system covers the environmental burdens of the industrial stage and the agricultural production of sugarcane. Results and discussion Technical evaluation indicated that the energy efficiency improves as the pressure at which the vapor leaves the boiler increases. Simultaneously, the net power exported to the grid increases and the makeup water consumption in the cooling tower and the makeup water supplied to the boiler reduce. From the LCA, it was noted that the improved energy performance of the system is accompanied by reduced environmental impacts for all evaluated categories. In addition, vapor production at 100 bar and 520 °C results in greater environmental gains, both in absolute and relative terms. Conclusions Reheating and regeneration concepts were found to be considerably effective in improving the energy and environmental performance of cogeneration systems by burning sugarcane bagasse. For the evaluated categories, the results indicate that the proposed modifications are favorable for increasing the efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle and for decreasing the environmental impacts of the product system.

Description: Purpose The present study provides a review on sea-use impacts and how they are handled in life cycle assessments (LCA). It aims at defining the impact pathways for occupation and transformation impacts on marine ecosystems due to human activities (constructions, fishing, aquaculture, navigation). Methods First, a review was performed on human interventions leading to environmental impacts in marine areas and on additional fishery-related impact categories used in LCA of seafood, in order to identify the main methodological deficiencies existing in LCA of seafood products. Second, the sea-use impact category has been defined, by detailing the human interventions leading to impacts on the marine environment and which should be accounted for in LCA. Subsequently, the identification and description of the possible impact pathways linking activities and interventions to impact categories are carried out at endpoint and midpoint levels. This assessment has been based on a review of existing methods of land use, and suggests the use of certain indicators, which could be available for different types of marine activities and ecosystems. Results This study highlights the needs to account for impacts of human activities due to sea use. Additional indicators have often been added in LCA of seafood, to assess the impacts of seafloor destruction and biomass removal. By extending the scope to other activities than fisheries, many interventions lead to impacts on marine ecosystems: biomass removal and benthic construction, invasive species release, shading, artificial habitat creation, noise, turbidity, and changes in original habitat availability. The impact pathway definition and the identification of the most relevant methods for sea use highlighted the need to assess impacts on ecosystem services (life support functions, global material cycling, and detoxification of pollutants) and on biodiversity as well as biotic resource depletion. Conclusions A consensus for biotic resource depletion assessment still needs to be found despite recent innovative proposals. For the sea-use impact assessment, methods using species-area relationships, as well as methods focusing on ecosystem services, appear particularly relevant. In a context of strong marine resource overexploitation, and limited marine biodiversity data, the deficiencies in biomass production capability (provisioning services) could be the first stage of sea-use development.

Description: Purpose Plevin et al. (2014) reviewed relevant life cycle assessment (LCA) studies for biofuels and argued that the use of attributional LCA (ALCA) for estimating the benefits of biofuel policy is misleading. While we agree with the authors on many points, we found that some of the arguments by the authors were not presented fairly and that a number of specific points warrant additional comment. The main objective of this commentary is to examine the authors’ comparative statements between consequential LCA (CLCA) and ALCA. Methods We examined the notion that the LCA world is divided into CLCA and ALCA. In addition, we evaluated the authors’ notion of “wrong” models. Results We found that the authors were comparing an idealized, hypothetical CLCA with average (or less than average), real-life ALCAs. Therefore, we found that the comparison alone cannot serve as the basis for endorsing real-life CLCAs for biofuel policy. We also showed that there are many LCA studies that do not belong to either of the two approaches distinguished by the authors. Furthermore, we found that the authors’ notion of “wrong” models misses the essence of modeling and reveals the authors’ unwarranted confidence in certain modeling approaches. Conclusions Dividing the LCA world into CLCAs and ALCAs overlooks the studies in between and hampers a constructive dialog about the creative use of modeling frameworks. Unreasonable confidence in certain modeling approaches based on their “conceptual” superiority does not help support “robust decision making” that should ultimately land itself on the ground.

Description: Purpose Life cycle assessments (LCAs) of various anchovy ( anchoveta ) direct human consumption products processed in Peru were carried out, to evaluate their relative environmental performance as alternative products to enhance nutrition of communities with low access to fish products in the country. Methods LCA was carried out for fresh, frozen, canned, salted and cured anchoveta products, both at plant gate and featuring local and national distribution over non-refrigerated, chilled and fully refrigerated distribution chain. The functional unit used was 1 kg of fish in the final product. Results and discussion Results demonstrate that, in environmental terms, more-refined products (cured and canned anchoveta products) represent a much higher burden than less- refined products (fresh, frozen and salted). Although this is a likely result, the magnitude of this difference (4 to 27 times when expressed as an environmental single score) is higher than expected and had not been quantified before for salted and cured products, as far as we know. This difference is mainly due to differences in energy consumption between types of products. Furthermore, cured and salted products feature larger biotic resource use, when calculated based on the whole fish equivalent, due to higher processing losses/discards. The relevance of taking into account the different transportation and storage needs is highlighted. For those products requiring refrigerated transportation and storage, over a national distribution chain, those activities increase the overall environmental impacts of the products by 55 % (fresh chilled) to 67 % (frozen). However, such an increase does not worsen the environmental performance of fresh and frozen products in comparison to the energy-intensive canned and cured products. Conclusions It is concluded that a more sustainability-oriented analysis, including the social and economic pillars of sustainability, is required towards decision-making involving promotion of either product for addressing nutritional deficiencies in Peru.

Description: Purpose Hazard-resistant materials for homes promise environmental benefits, such as avoided waste and materials for repairs, which can be overlooked by scoping in life-cycle assessment (LCA) approaches. Our motivation for pursuing this research was to see how incorporating these avoided losses in the LCA could impact choices between hazard-resistant and traditional materials. Methods Two choices common in home construction were analyzed using an LCA process that incorporates catastrophe modeling to consider avoided losses made possible with hazard-resistant materials. These findings were compared to those based on a similar LCA that did not consider these avoided losses. The choices considered were standard windows vs. windows with impact-resistant glass and standard windows with no opening protection vs. standard windows with impact-resistant storm panels. Results and discussion For the window comparisons, the standard products were environmentally preferable when avoided losses from storm events were not considered in the LCA. However, when avoided losses were considered, the hazard-resistant products were environmentally preferable. Considering avoided losses in LCAs, as illustrated by the window choices, can change which product appears to be the environmentally preferable option. Further, as home service life increases, the environmental net benefit of the hazard-resistant product increases. Conclusions Our results show the value of an LCA approach which allows more complete scopings of comparisons between hazard-resistant materials and their traditional counterparts. This approach will help translate the impacts of hazard-resistant products into the more familiar language used to talk about “green” products, enabling more informed decisions by product manufacturers, those who develop building certification systems and codes, researchers, and other building industry stakeholders.

Description: Purpose The purpose of this study is to demonstrate ecological benefits of the thermal modernization of the central heating system in terms of the replacement of the central heating boiler for a modern boiler that is characterized by economically and ecologically beneficial parameters of the operation. It is particularly important in industrial regions where the concentration of harmful gases is high. An example is a region in Poland, which is the most industrialized and urbanized. Methods The methodology is underpinned by life cycle thinking. The evaluation of the environmental benefits resulting from the modernization of heat sources was made with the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) technique, which was conducted according to the methodology defined in standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, using assessment methods included in Sima Pro 7 program with reference to a so-called representative building. The calculations were based on the assessment procedure of Ecoindicator 99, which allows for the presentation of the impact results with respect to 11 impact categories and/or three damage categories. Results and discussion The LCA analysis of the considered heat sources points out unambiguously the most environmentally friendly option with a gas boiler combined with a solar collector. Nevertheless, this option belongs to one of the most expensive solutions of supplying thermal energy in the house. The optimum appears to be a variant using the ecological fuel for biomass, due to widely available biomass in the whole country, a low impact on the environment, the lowest operating costs and moderately high investment costs. The replacement of a low-efficient heat source in the municipal economy is the most energetically effective undertaking. It should be emphasized that the replacement of the inefficient boiler provides the greatest ecological effect in relation to investment costs. Conclusions The aspect of the heat source selection is not only justified by economic and ecological reasons; it primarily results from the local availability of fuel. The use of the environmental technique—the assessment of the product life cycle—to support the decision of the heat source selection becomes a significant aspect in helping investors make environmentally friendly choices.

Description: Purpose Chinese coal power generation is part of the life cycle of most products and the largest single source for many emissions. Reducing these emissions has been a priority for the Chinese government over the last decade, with improvements made by replacing older power plants, improving thermal efficiency and installing air pollution control devices. In the present research, we aim to acknowledge these improvements and present updated unit process data for Chinese coal power. In the course of doing so, we also explore the implementation and interpretation of overall dispersions related to a generically averaged process, such as Chinese coal power. Methods In order to capture geographical and temporal dispersions, updated unit process data were calculated for Chinese coal power at both a national and a provincial level. The updated unit process dataset was also propagated into life cycle inventory (LCI) ranges using Monte Carlo simulations, allowing for discrepancies to be evaluated against the most commonly used inventory database (ecoinvent) and overall dispersions to be shown for some selected provinces. Results and discussion Compared to ecoinvent, the updated dataset resulted in reductions with between 8 and 67 % for all evaluated inventory flows except for dinitrogen monoxide (N 2 O). However, interprovincial differences in emissions diverged with up to 250 %. A random outcome in a few Monte Carlo runs was inverted operators, where positive values became negative or the other way around. This is a known possible outcome of matrix calculations that needs to be better evaluated when interpreting propagated outcomes. Conclusions The present manuscript provides recommendations on how to implement and interpret dispersions propagated into LCI results. In addition, updated and easily accessible unit process data for coal power plants averaged across China and for individual provinces are presented, with clear distinctions of inherent uncertainties, spread (variance) and unrepresentativeness. Recommendations are also provided for future research and software developments.

Description: Purpose Working hours, child labour and property rights have been suggested as topics to assess in social life cycle assessment (SLCA). The purpose of this study is to investigate the scientific justification of the current use of these topics. The long-term aim is to contribute to the future development of SLCA. Methods A literature review was conducted for each of the three topics. One thousand scientific articles were analysed for each topic, and relevant articles were selected. The articles were analysed based on whether the topics facilitated or obstructed beneficial social values, and whether they facilitated or obstructed adverse social values. Results and discussion The results show that the three topics both facilitate and obstruct beneficial social values. They also show that the topics both facilitate and obstruct adverse social values. Considering the complex and ambiguous nature of these topics reported in the scientific literature, the current use of these topics in the SLCA literature is found not to be completely scientifically justified. Conclusions Based on this study, the current use of working hours, child labour and property rights in SLCA studies should be questioned. We suggest that the fields of social science and economics may be fruitfully considered when seeking scientific justification for topics to assess in SLCA.

Description: Purpose Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) is considered to be one of the most important environmental factors contributing to the global human disease burden. However, due to the lack of broad consensus and harmonization in the life cycle assessment (LCA) community, there is no clear guidance on how to consistently include health effects from PM 2.5 exposure in LCA practice. As a consequence, different models are currently used to assess life cycle impacts for PM 2.5 , sometimes leading to inconsistent results. In a global effort initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Life Cycle Initiative, respiratory inorganics’ impacts expressed as health effects from PM 2.5 exposure were selected as one of the initial impact categories to undergo review with the goal of providing global guidance for implementation in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). The goal of this paper is to summarize the current knowledge and practice for assessing health effects from PM 2.5 exposure and to provide recommendations for their consistent integration into LCIA. Methods A task force on human health impacts was convened to build the framework for consistently quantifying health effects from PM 2.5 exposure and for recommending PM 2.5 characterization factors. In an initial Guidance Workshop, existing literature was reviewed and input from a broad range of internationally recognized experts was obtained and discussed. Workshop objectives were to identify the main scientific questions and challenges for quantifying health effects from PM 2.5 exposure and to provide initial guidance to the impact quantification process. Results and discussion A set of 10 recommendations was developed addressing (a) the general framework for assessing PM 2.5 -related health effects, (b) approaches and data to estimate human exposure to PM 2.5 using intake fractions, and (c) approaches and data to characterize exposure-response functions (ERFs) for PM 2.5 and to quantify severity of the diseases attributed to PM 2.5 exposure. Despite these advances, a number of complex issues, such as those related to nonlinearity of the ERF and the possible need to provide different ERFs for use in different geographical regions, require further analysis. Conclusions and outlook Questions of how to refine and improve the overall framework were analyzed. Data and models were proposed for harmonizing various elements of the health impact pathways for PM 2.5 . Within the next two years, our goal is to build a global guidance framework and to determine characterization factors that are more reliable for incorporating the health effects from exposure to PM 2.5 into LCIA. Ideally, this will allow quantification of the impacts of both indoor and outdoor exposures to PM 2.5 .

Description: Purpose The environmental life cycle management (LCM) literature proposes many factors considered critical in order to successfully conduct LCM. This study contrasts these vague and general factors proposed as critical to LCM in existing literature, with detailed accounts of LCM in practice. Methods A literature review of three related research fields, i.e., LCM, life cycle thinking, and sustainable supply chain management, is contrasted with a study of how LCM is enacted in practice in a large multinational manufacturing company recognized for its LCM work. A qualitative study, with mainly a managerial focus, is conducted based on interviews, workshops, part-time observations, and document studies. Results and discussion The literature review demonstrates that the three related research fields provide different accounts of LCM: all apply a holistic environmental perspective, but with different emphases and using largely different research methods. The empirical study shows that integration was a common topic at the studied company and that solutions were often sought in tools and processes. Middle management support proved important, and challenging, in these integration efforts. Challenges identified also included further integrating LCM into departments such as purchasing and sales. Conclusions The constant focus on integration at the studied company implies that LCM work is an ongoing effort. Several integration paths are identified: (1) inclusion of sustainability aspects in tools and processes, (2) finding ways to work around certain organizational levels, and (3) using networks and social interaction to create commitment and integration. Although the concept of LCM implies a holistic approach, LCM in practice reveals a lack of a comprehensive overview of LCM-related initiatives and of involved sustainability practitioners within the studied organization.

Description: Purpose This paper estimates the life cycle environmental impacts of the standard road tunnel in Norway. The results can then serve as input to the environmental impact assessment in the planning of future road projects and as a tool to identify hot spots for reducing the environmental impacts from future tunnel projects. Methods This life cycle assessment (LCA) study follows the ISO 14040/44 methodology. The construction, operation and maintenance stages are assessed. The functional unit of this study is defined as ‘1-m standard Norwegian road tunnel with 100-year lifetime’. This study estimate the life cycle inventory by the following: (1) road tunnel construction tenders completed during 2004–2011 in Norway and (2) the Norwegian excavation practice of rock tunnels over the past 20 years. The Ecoinvent database provides the background data to the analysis. Results and discussion The construction stage is found to contribute the most to the impact categories of climate change, photochemical oxidant formation, ozone depletion and terrestrial acidification. The consumption of concrete and explosives constitute the main elements causing these impacts. Equally, the construction stage is the main contributor to ozone depletion, caused by the consumption of bitumen and transport of materials. The maintenance stage contributes with 58 % of the particulate matter formation, due to the consumption of crushed aggregates and bitumen. The operation stage also plays a major role in human toxicity, ionising radiation and terrestrial ecotoxicity, contributing 57, 85 and 72 % of these impact categories, respectively, mainly due to the consumption of electricity. One Norwegian standard road tunnel emits at least 31 kt CO 2 eq greenhouse gases during its 100-year lifetime. The total greenhouse gases embodied in current the Norwegian road tunnel stock amount to at least 8.3 million tonnes, equal to 83 % of the total national direct CO 2 eq emissions due to road traffic in 2011. In recent years, around 150 kt CO 2 eq has been emitted annually to the atmosphere due to the construction, maintenance and operation of Norwegian road tunnels. Conclusions The policy implication from this study is that greenhouse gas emissions caused by the transport infrastructure is significant, and it is strongly recommended to be taken into account from the early planning phase of infrastructure projects in order to identify the best project proposal and to minimise the negative environmental impacts.

Description: Purpose Much collective wisdom and experience have been gained as an increasing number of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) reviews are conducted. However, specifics on how and when to conduct critical review of LCA studies are still lacking. Toward this need, a technical session entitled “LCA Critical Review” was held during the Life Cycle Management (LCM) conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, 26 August 2013. The goal of the session was to have experts address LCA critical review as well as engage attendees in discussing gaps in the current guidance and how the review process can be improved. Methods The LCM session consisted of six presentations followed by open discussion with all session attendees. This paper begins with a review of the current state-of-the-practice in LCA critical review (CR) followed by a summary of the LCM session. It concludes with suggestions for how the newly drafted technical specification, ISO TS 14071 Critical review processes and reviewer competencies, can be improved as it is being developed. Results and discussion ISO TS 14071 promises to provide additional guidance to move the practice forward. But at only eight pages in length, its potential effectiveness appears moderate. Additional detailed guidance is needed to move the critical review process toward increased uniformity and clarity of practice, for example, when critical review is necessary. Conclusions A session on LCA critical review is planned to be held during the Life Cycle Management 2015 conference which will occur in Bordeaux, France ( http://lcm2015.org/ ). Discussion on these issues related to LCA review will be continued.

Description: Purpose Industrial ecology academics have embraced with great interest the rebound effect principle operationalised within energy economics. By pursuing more comprehensive assessments, they applied tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) to appraise the environmental consequences of the rebound effect. As a result, the mainstream rebound mechanism was broadened and a diversity of (sometimes inconsistent) definitions and approaches unveiled. To depict the state of play, a comprehensive literature review is needed. Methods A literature review has been carried out by targeting scientific documents relevant for the integration of the rebound effect into LCA-based studies. The search was conducted using two approaches: (1) via online catalogues using a defined search criterion and (2) via cross-citation analysis from the documents identified through the first approach. Results and discussion By analysing a total of 42 works yielded during our review, it was possible to bring together the various advantages of the life cycle perspective, as well as to identify the main inconsistencies and uninformed claims present in literature. Concretely, three main advantages have been identified and are discussed: (1) the representation of the rebound effect as a multi-dimensional, life cycle estimate, (2) the improvement of the technology explicitness and (3) the broadening of the consumption and production factors leading to the rebound effect. Also, inconsistencies on the definition and classification of the rebound effect have been found among studies. Conclusions The review contributes a number of valuable insights to understand how the rebound effect has been treated within the industrial ecology and LCA fields. For instance, the conceptual and methodological refinements introduced by these fields represent a step forward from traditional viewpoints, making the study of the rebound effect more comprehensive and meaningful for environmental assessment and policy making. However, the broadened scope of this new approach unveiled some conceptual inconsistencies, which calls for a common framework. This framework would help the LCA community to consistently integrate the rebound effect as well as to create a common language with other disciplines, favouring learning and co-evolution. We believe that our findings can serve as a starting point in order to delineate such a common framework.

Description: Purpose This study aims to (1) evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the three types of raw cork produced in Portuguese cork oak woodlands (in Alentejo region) considering two alternative practices for stand establishment (plantation and natural regeneration), (2) compare the environmental impacts of raw cork production in Portuguese cork oak woodlands and in Catalonian cork oak forests, and (3) assess the influence of different allocation criteria for partitioning the environmental impacts between the different types of raw cork produced. Methods A cradle-to-gate approach was adopted starting with stand establishment up to cork storage in a field yard. The system boundaries include all management operations undertaken during the following stages: stand establishment, stand tending, cork stripping, and field recovery. The allocation of the environmental impacts to reproduction, second, and virgin cork was based on mass and market price criteria. An alternative allocation approach was simulated by allocating environmental impacts also to the wood produced in the cork oak stands. The impact assessment was performed using the characterization factors recommended by the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD). Results and discussion In Portugal, cork produced from naturally regenerated stands has a better environmental performance than cork produced from planted stands, but the differences are smaller than 10 %. Different management models of cork oak stands in Portugal and Catalonia (agro-silvopastoral system and forest system, respectively) originate different impact levels, which tend to be significantly lower in Catalonia. The environmental hot spots in the two regions are also distinct. In Catalonia, they are associated with cleaning, road maintenance, and worker and cork transport. In Portugal, they are fertilization, pruning, and cleaning. The two allocation criteria affect significantly the results obtained for virgin cork in Portugal and for virgin and second cork in Catalonia. Besides, when impacts are also allocated to wood, mass allocation should be avoided as it would not create incentives for a sustainable management of cork oak stands. Conclusions The environmental impact from Catalonian cork may be reduced by decreasing mechanized shrub cleaning and road maintenance operations through the introduction of livestock in cork oak forests, and also by a better planning of management operations. For the Portuguese cork, improvements may be achieved by optimizing fertilizer dosage, planting nitrogen-fixing crops and pastures that improve soil quality, avoiding unnecessary operations, improving the efficiency of management operations, and increasing tree density.

Description: Purpose Cement production is associated with a considerable environmental load, which needs to be fully understood before effective measures can be taken. The existing literature did not give detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) study of China and had limited potential for investigating how best available techniques (BATs) would provide a maximum benefit when they are applied in China. Japan was selected as a good example to achieve better environmental performance of cement production. We identified potentials for reducing emissions and saving energy and natural resources in Chinese cement industry through the comparative analysis. Methods This paper follows the principal of Life Cycle Assessment and International Reference Life Cycle Data System ( ILCD ). The functional units are “1 t of portland cement” and with 42.5 MPa of strength grade. The input (limestone, sandstone, ferrous tailings, coal, and electricity) and output (CO 2 from limestone decomposition and coal combustion, NOx, PM, and SO 2 ) of cement manufacturing were calculated by use of on-site measurements, calculation by estimated coefficients, and derivation by mass and heat balance principle. The direct (cement manufacturing) and indirect (electricity production) LCI are added to be total LCI results (cement production). The impact categories of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical oxidant formation potential (POCP), and human toxicity potential (HTP) are used to calculate environmental impact. Results and discussion Only in GWP of cement manufacturing China has advantage. Japanese cement industry shows remarkable superiorities in the environmental impacts of AP, POCP, HTP, and EP due to advanced technologies. SO 2 emissions make the corresponding AP and HTP. PM emissions result in part of HTP. The NOx emissions are the major contributors of POCP, AP, EP, and HTP in China. China emits fewer CO 2 emissions (2.09 %) in cement manufacturing than Japan but finally makes higher total GWP than Japan due to more GWP of electricity generation in power stations. The waste heat recovery technology can save electricity but bring more coal use and CO 2 emissions. The alternative fuel and raw materials usage and denitration and de-dust technologies can relieve the environmental load. Using the functional unit with the strength grade, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results are affected. Conclusions LCA study allows a clear understanding from the view of total environmental impact rather than by the gross domestic product (GDP) unit from an economic development perspective. In an LCA study, the power generation should be considered in the life cycle of cement production.

Description: Purpose The conventional decision-making for bridges is mostly focusing on technical, economical, and safety perspectives. Nowadays, the society devotes an ever-increased effort to the construction sector regarding their environmental performance. However, considering the complexity of the environmental problems and the diverse character of bridges, the related research for bridge as a whole system is very rare. Most existing studies were only conducted for a single indicator, part of the structure components, or a specific life stage. Methods Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an internationally standardized method for quantifying the environmental impact of a product, asset, or service throughout its whole life cycle. However, in the construction sector, LCA is usually applied in the procurement of buildings, but not bridges as yet. This paper presents a comprehensive LCA framework for road bridges, complied with LCA ReCiPe (H) methodology. The framework enables identification of the key structural components and life cycle stages of bridges, followed by aggregation of the environmental impacts into monetary values. The utility of the framework is illustrated by a practical case study comparing five designs for the Karlsnäs Bridge in Sweden, which is currently under construction. Results and discussion This paper comprehensively analyzed 20 types of environmental indicators among five proposed bridge designs, which remedies the absence of full spectrum of environmental indicators in the current state of the art. The results show that the monetary weighting system and uncertainties in key variables such as the steel recycling rate and cement content may highly affect the LCA outcome. The materials, structural elements, and overall designs also have varying influences in different impact categories. The result can be largely affected by the system boundaries, surrounding environment, input uncertainties, considered impact indicators, and the weighting systems applied; thus, no general conclusions can be drawn without specifying such issues. Conclusions Robustly evaluating and ranking the environmental impact of various bridge designs is far from straightforward. This paper is an important attempt to evaluate various designs from full dimensions. The results show that the indicators and weighting systems must be clearly specified to be applicable in a transparent procurement. This paper provides vital knowledge guiding the decision maker to select the most LCA-feasible proposal and mitigate the environmental burden in the early stage.

Description: Purpose The objective of the paper is to discuss the role of a new guidance document for life cycle assessment (LCA) in the construction sector available as an online InfoHub. Methods This InfoHub derives from the EeBGuide European project that aimed at developing a guidance document for energy-efficient building LCA studies. The InfoHub is built on reference documents such as the ISO 14040-44 standards, the EN 15804 and EN 15978 standards as well as the ILCD Handbook. The guidance document was filled with expertise and knowledge of several experts. The focus was put on providing scientifically sound, yet practical guidance. Results The EeBGuide InfoHub is an online guidance document, setting rules for conducting LCA studies and giving instructions on how to do this. The document has a section on buildings—new and existing—and a section on construction products. It is structured according to the life cycle stages of the European standards EN 15804 and EN 15978, covering all aspects of LCA studies by applying provisions from these standards and the ILCD handbook, wherever applicable. The guidance is presented for different scopes of studies by means of three study types. For the same system boundaries, default values are proposed in early or quick assessment (screening and simplified LCA) while detailed calculation rules correspond to a complete LCA. Such approach is intended to better match the user needs in the building sector. Conclusions and recommendations This paper can be viewed as a contribution to the ongoing efforts to improve the consistency and harmonisation in LCA studies for building products and buildings. Further contributions are now needed to improve building LCA guidance and to strengthen links between research, standardisation and implementation of LCA in the construction practice.

Description: Purpose In the last decade, the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool for selection between different technologies or products fulfilling the same function has spread rapidly in Latin American countries. However, this accelerated growth in the use of LCA has not always been supported with progress in construction of local inventories or the development of impact assessment methods that consider local and regional characteristics of the sites where technologies, products, and activities or services are being produced or developed. The aim of this study is to propose a local methodology to estimate regional factors for the terrestrial acidification impact category in Argentina based on the critical load exceedance in sensitive areas. Material and methods Acidification factors for ecological regions in Argentina were calculated following a procedure that compares acidic deposition with critical loads, using a linear function to represent the damage, when the deposition is above the soil buffering capacity. The acidic deposition in the study area was estimated using the air transport model wind trajectory model, with emissions from the global inventory EDGAR. Detailed soil maps were used in order to include the acidification sensitivity of the receiving ecosystems. Also, an application case of the calculated factors is presented in order discuss the relevance of the regional factors implementation in local studies. Results and discussion Deposition fluxes were estimated for different ecoregions in Argentina. The regional factors calculated differ from site-generic factors used commonly to estimate potential impacts, demonstrating that their use in local studies could lead to erroneous outcomes. This was more evident in the application case, where the potential impact calculated was very different, depending on the impact factor used. Conclusions and recommendations The model presented in this study allows the assessment of the impact caused by deposition of acidifying substances emitted during the life cycle of a product or process, taking into account the local characteristics where the intervention occurs, and it is the first development of a regional model for acidification within the LCA context carried out in Argentina. The obtained results highlight the importance of developing regional characterization factors for local or regional impacts referred to a definite region.

Description: 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).

Description: Purpose The purpose of this review article is to investigate the usefulness of different types of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of electrified vehicles to provide robust and relevant stakeholder information. It presents synthesized conclusions based on 79 papers. Another objective is to search for explanations to divergence and “complexity” of results found by other overviewing papers in the research field, and to compile methodological learnings. The hypothesis was that such divergence could be explained by differences in goal and scope definitions of the reviewed LCA studies. Methods The review has set special attention to the goal and scope formulation of all included studies. First, completeness and clarity have been assessed in view of the ISO standard’s (ISO 2006a , b ) recommendation for goal definition. Secondly, studies have been categorized based on technical and methodological scope, and searched for coherent conclusions. Results and discussion Comprehensive goal formulation according to the ISO standard (ISO 2006a , b ) is absent in most reviewed studies. Few give any account of the time scope, indicating the temporal validity of results and conclusions. Furthermore, most studies focus on today’s electric vehicle technology, which is under strong development. Consequently, there is a lack of future time perspective, e.g., to advances in material processing, manufacturing of parts, and changes in electricity production. Nevertheless, robust assessment conclusions may still be identified. Most obvious is that electricity production is the main cause of environmental impact for externally chargeable vehicles. If, and only if, the charging electricity has very low emissions of fossil carbon, electric vehicles can reach their full potential in mitigating global warming. Consequently, it is surprising that almost no studies make this stipulation a main conclusion and try to convey it as a clear message to relevant stakeholders. Also, obtaining resources can be observed as a key area for future research. In mining, leakage of toxic substances from mine tailings has been highlighted. Efficient recycling, which is often assumed in LCA studies of electrified vehicles, may reduce demand for virgin resources and production energy. However, its realization remains a future challenge. Conclusions LCA studies with clearly stated purposes and time scope are key to stakeholder lessons and guidance. It is also necessary for quality assurance. LCA practitioners studying hybrid and electric vehicles are strongly recommended to provide comprehensive and clear goal and scope formulation in line with the ISO standard (ISO 2006a , b ).

Description: Background, aim, and scope The primary aim of this paper is to indicate that partitioning allocation methods yields only a small subset of solutions to an ill-posed problem that has potentially infinitely many exact solutions. It will be shown that each of the existing partitioning methods arrives at just one particular solution from among infinitely many solutions of an underdetermined system of linear equations . Materials and methods Some life cycle inventories fall into a class of functions called estimable functions in linear model framework, in which case they are invariant to allocation assumptions. This class of functions unites results described by Heijungs and Frischknecht (Int J Life Cycle Assess 3:321–332, 1998 ) and Heijungs and Suh ( 2002 , Conjecture 1, p. 91). The inventories for non-estimable functions obtained through allocation are, in fact, derived under a set of additional implicit equality constraints called side conditions, often resulting in inventory results which differ greatly from one allocation to the next. Results and discussions This paper explicates (1) identification of all estimable functions from any given technology matrix and (2) recovery of side conditions imposed on non-estimable functions through partitioning. These methods are illustrated in a simple example, and their relation to least squares techniques for allocation explored by Marvuglia et al. (Int J Life Cycle Assess 15:1020–1040, 2010 ) ;(Int J Agr Environ Inf Syst 3:51–71, 2012 ) are discussed. Conclusions and outlook Recommendations are made that may lead to more meaningful ways to obtain additional data or include additional information in life cycle inventories in the future.

Description: Purpose The two main reasons for producing biomethane as renewable fuel are reduction of climate impacts and depletion of fossil resources. Biomethane is expected to be sustainable, but how sustainable is it actually? This article contributes to the clarification. Therefore, the environmental impacts of several biomethane facilities all over Europe were assessed. A special focus is put on the differences between the facilities as they follow different production routes. Methods The method used for evaluation is life cycle assessment (LCA) applied in a well-to-wheel approach. This enables to show the overall performance in terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) and PE fossil. The system boundary includes the entire chain from biogas production to upgrading, distribution and use. For evaluating the different production routes several years of measuring data, calculating and improving the LCA models in close cooperation with the plant operators were carried out. Results and discussion The evaluation of the production routes shows a high reduction potential compared to fossil fuels. Regarding the depletion of fossil resources, the amounts vary between the sites, but the reduction is at least 50 % and reaches almost 100 % reductions at some sites. The reduction of GWP is at least 65 %, because waste flows free of environmental burdens are used almost exclusively as substrate. Other dominant factors are power and heat demand, methane losses to the environment and the use of by-products, e.g. fertilizer. Conclusions Despite this caveat, the evaluated systems demonstrate the possible positive results of renewable fuel production if done properly.

Description: Purpose Eco-innovation strategies are increasingly adopted to ensure the minimization of environmental impacts. Nonetheless, only a comprehensive integrated assessment along the life cycle stages of a product may ensure a robust analysis of the benefit of the innovation. The object of the present study is the environmental assessment of furniture prototypes produced using certified wood and integrating eco-design criteria in their conception. The aim of the study was twofold: firstly, to evaluate the environmental profile of the furniture, highlighting possible hot spots of impacts, and secondly, to evaluate the capability of life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify the environmental benefit associated to the adoption of eco-innovation strategies, such as the following: ensuring short supply chain from raw material to production; using wood coming from certified forests (according to PEFC scheme); and the implementation of eco-design principles, also associated with green public procurement requirements. Methods LCA has been applied in a case study related to the wood furniture sector in the alpine region of Northern Italy. Every activity was modeled using primary data, related to the inputs and outputs of the processes, provided directly by the designers and by woodworking firms. Input data related to forestry activities and wood extraction were collected and processed in a previous phase of the study. The life cycle of a prototype school desk from the cradle-to-gate perspective was analyzed. A woodworking plant was examined in detail, dividing the whole manufacturing process into four phases: panels production, woodworking, painting and steel parts processing. The system boundaries included all the activities which take place inside the plant as well as energy inputs, transports and ancillary products used. Results and discussion The results highlighted that the working phases showing the greatest environmental burdens were the production of solid wood panels and the processing of iron parts. No concerns about chemicals, glues and paints were raised, due to the eco-design principles implemented in the production of the furniture. The choice of a short supply chain allowed for drastic reductions in the impacts associated to long-distance transports. Three sensitivity analyses were carried out to test the robustness of results concerning the following: (1) glue options, (2) drying phase and VOC emissions, and (3) transport options. Conclusions This study proves to which extent eco-design criteria implemented in practice improve the environmental performance of products. All positive effects due to decisions taken in school desk design and conception were supported by evidence.

Description: Purpose A cascading utilization of resources is encouraged especially by legislative bodies. However, only few consecutive assessments of the environmental impacts of cascading are available. This study provides answers to the following questions for using recovered wood as a secondary resource: (1) Does cascading decrease impacts on the environment compared to the use of primary wood resources? (2) What aspects of the cascading system are decisive for the life cycle assessment (LCA) results? Methods We conducted full LCAs for cascading utilization options of waste wood and compared the results to functionally equivalent products from primary wood, thereby focusing on the direct effects cascading has on the environmental impacts of the systems. In order to compare waste wood cascading to the use of primary wood with LCA, a functional equivalence of the systems has to be achieved. We applied a system expansion approach, considering different options for providing the additionally needed energy for the cascading system. Results and discussion We found that the cascading systems create fewer environmental impacts than the primary wood systems, if system expansion is based on wood energy. The most noticeable advantages were detected for the impact categories of land transformation and occupation and the demand of primary energy from renewable sources. The results of the sensitivity analyses indicate that the advantage of the cascading system is robust against the majority of considered factors. Efficiency and the method of incineration at the end of life do influence the results. Conclusions To maximize the benefits and minimize the associated environmental impacts, cascading proves to be a preferable option of utilizing untreated waste wood.

Description: Purpose Temporal variability is a major source of uncertainty in current life cycle assessment (LCA) practice. In this paper, the recently developed dynamic LCA approach is adapted to assess freshwater ecotoxicity impacts of metals. The objective is to provide relevant information regarding the distribution and magnitude of metal impacts over time and to show whether the dynamic approach significantly influences the conclusions of an LCA. An LCA of zinc fertilization in agriculture was therefore carried out. Methods Dynamic LCA is based on the temporal disaggregation of the inventory, which is then assessed using time-horizon-dependent characterization factors. The USEtox multimedia fate model is used to develop time-horizon-dependent characterization factors for the freshwater ecotoxicity impact of 18 metals. Mass balance equations are solved dynamically to obtain fate factors as a function of time, providing both instantaneous (impact at time t following a pulse emission) and cumulative (total time-integrated impact following a pulse emission) characterization factors (CFs). Results and discussion Time-horizon-dependent CFs for freshwater ecotoxicity depend on the emission compartment and the metal itself. The two variables clearly influence metal fate aspects such as the maximum mass loading reaching freshwater and the persistence time of metals into this compartment. The time needed to reach the total impact for each metal may exceed thousands of years, so the time horizon used in the analysis constitutes a determining factor. The case study reveals that the results of a classical LCA are always higher than those obtained from a dynamic LCA, especially for short time horizons. For instance, at the end of a 100-year fertilization treatment, only 25 % of the impacts obtained through traditional LCA occurred. Conclusions Results show that dynamic LCA enables assessing freshwater ecotoxicity impacts of metals over time, allowing decision makers to test the sensitivity of their results to the choice of a time horizon. For the particular case study of zinc fertilization over a period of 20 years, the use of time-horizon-dependent CFs is more important in determining the dynamics of impacts than the timing of emission.

Description: Purpose So far no calculations have been made for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from forestry in East Norway. This region stands for 80 % of the Norwegian timber production. The aim of this study was to assess the annual GHG emissions of Norwegian forestry in the eastern parts of the country from seed production to final felling and transport of timber to sawmill and wood processing industry (cradle-to-gate inventory), based on specific Norwegian data. Methods The life cycle inventory was conducted with SimaPro applying primary and secondary data from Norwegian forestry. GHG emissions of fossil-related inputs from the technosphere were calculated for the functional unit of 1 m 3 timber extracted and delivered to industry gate in East Norway in 2010. The analysis includes seed and seedling production, silvicultural operations, forest road construction and upgrading, thinning, final felling, timber forwarding and timber transport on road and rail from the forest to the industry. Norwegian time studies of forestry machines and operations were used to calculate efficiency, fuel consumption and transport distances. Due to the lack of specific Norwegian data in Ecoinvent, we designed and constructed unit processes based on primary and secondary data from forestry in East Norway. Results and discussion GHG emissions from forestry in East Norway amounted to 17.893 kg CO 2 -equivalents per m 3 of timber delivered to industry gate in 2010. Road transport of timber accounted for almost half of the total GHG emissions, final felling and forwarding for nearly one third of the GHG emissions. Due to longer road transport distances, pulpwood had higher impact on the climate change category than saw timber. The construction of forest roads had the highest impact on the natural land transformation category. The net CO 2 emissions of fossil CO 2 corresponded to 2.3 % of the CO 2 sequestered by 1 m 3 of growing forest trees and were compared to a calculation of biogenic CO 2 release from the forest floor as a direct consequence of harvesting. Conclusions Shorter forwarding and road transport distances, increased logging truck size and higher proportion of railway transport may result in lower emissions per volume of transported timber. A life cycle assessment of forestry may also consider impacts on environmental categories other than climate change. Biogenic CO 2 emissions from the soil may be up to 10 times higher than the fossil-related emissions, at least in a short-term perspective, and are highly dependent on stand rotation length.

Description: Purpose and methods The paper introduces a simple retrofit performed on a case study vessel, with the aim of assessing the retrofit’s potential environmental impacts via doing a life cycle assessment. Additionally, the case presented herein strives to evidence the applicability of life cycle assessment (LCA) appraisals within shipyard representatives or managers. Results and discussion The environmental results shown in this paper are related to cost calculations presented for the selected retrofit, underlining the potential environmental impacts from the retrofit, while appraising its economic performance. Conclusions The paper strives to evidence that significant savings with regard to fuel costs can be achieved by the application of this retrofit to ships with a similar operational profile, but more importantly, the improved operational efficiency and the emission reductions can be noteworthy. Lastly, the results summarised intend to offer an optimistic context towards the implementation of the retrofit at a larger scale, i.e. a section of the existing fleet.