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Environmental Lifecycle Assessment -a Basis for Sustainable Product Development
Abstract
The problem of Life Cycle Assessment in its totality is discussed in this chapter. After presenting various aspects of the Life Cycle Aseesment methodology, the author provides an insight of the impact assessment procedure. Later on the author discusses how the concept of LCA can be applied to a product development programme.
This book collects the contributions made in the Conference for new researchers ADOPTA CIENCIA. Its content addresses, from a novel perspective, various research projects in renewable energy. These projects will soon become doctoral theses.
Since the end of the 1980s Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) has been the most frequently discussed methodological tool for assessing and improving the environmental performance of products and production processes, see [1]–[4]. Life-cycle Assessment is a process for evaluation of the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying energy materials used and wastes released to the environment; to assess the impact of those energy and material uses and releases to the environment; and to identify and evaluate opportunities to affect environmental improvements. The assessment includes the entire life cycle of the product, process or activity, encompassing extracting and processing raw materials; manufacturing, transportation and distribution; use, reuse and maintenance; and recycling and final disposal [5]. From this, it follows that LCAs can help in making more reliable decisions related to ecological improvements of products ([1], [4] and [6]). But LCA is only one tool in the multi-dimensional decision process which until now has been dominated by technical and economical criteria, see [1] and [7]. Using it during development of a product means adding ecological aspects to the traditional decision process ([7], [8]). However, LCA is only suitable for that purpose if concrete computational procedures for performing Life-cycle Inventory (LCI) and Lifecycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) exist [9]. This chapter focuses on aspects of the calculation of LCIs.
Quantitative environmental life cycle assessment of products can be a useful tool in product-oriented environmental management. With this methodology the environmental impacts of the product during its entire life cycle are attributed quantitatively to the functioning of the product as far as possible. Currently, the scientific basis of methods for assessing the environmental impacts of products is not yet adequate. Methods are divergent, yield conflicting results and contain considerable gaps. In two successive articles an overview of the similarities and differences between these methods, as developed in different countries, is given. To enable fruitful discussions on methods used, and to make life cycle assessment (LCA) an acceptable tool for product-oriented environmental management, a general methodological framework is proposed. In this first article a general introduction to LCA is given, a general methodological framework is proposed and two components of the methodological framework, the goal definition and the inventory, are discussed in more detail.
In a previous article about life cycle assessment (LCA), a methodological framework was proposed and two components of this framework were discussed in more detail: the goal definition and the inventory. In this second article, the other components of the framework are discussed in detail: the classification, the valuation and the improvement analysis. In the classification, resource extractions and emissions associated with the life cycle of a product are translated into contributions to a number of environmental problem types, such as resource depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, acidification, etc. For this, each extraction and emission is multiplied with a so-called classification factor and the multiplication results are aggregated per problem type. Classification factors are proposed for a number of environmental problem types. The valuation includes both a valuation of the different environmental problem types and an assessment of the reliability and validity of the results. For the valuation of the environmental problem types, qualitative or quantitative multicriterion analysis could be applied. Given a standard list of weighting factors the quantitative multicriterion analysis seems preferable, because of its low costs and its simplicity. The main problem, however, is to get a broadly supported standard list. In studies so far little attention is paid to the assessment of the reliability and the validity of the results. To improve this situation methods which could support this assessment are proposed. In the improvement analysis potential options to improve the product(s) studied are identified. Combined with expertise in other fields, such as costs and technological feasibility, the improvement analysis may yield a number of serious options for the redesign of a product. Two complementary techniques for the identification of the potential options are discussed. With these techniques and the active participation of process technologists and designers, LCA might become an analytic tool for eco-design supporting a continuous environmental improvement of products.
Providing our society with goods and services contributes to a wide range of environmental impacts. Waste generation, emissions and the consumption of resources occur at many stages in a product's life cycle-from raw material extraction, energy acquisition, production and manufacturing, use, reuse, recycling, through to ultimate disposal. These all contribute to impacts such as climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, photooxidant formation (smog), eutrophication, acidification, toxicological stress on human health and ecosystems, the depletion of resources and noise-among others. The need exists to address these product-related contributions more holistically and in an integrated manner, providing complimentary insights to those of regulatory/process-oriented methodologies. A previous article (Part 1, Rebitzer et al., 2004) outlined how to define and model a product's life cycle in current practice, as well as the methods and tools that are available for compiling the associated waste, emissions and resource consumption data into a life cycle inventory. This article highlights how practitioners and researchers from many domains have come together to provide indicators for the different impacts attributable to products in the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase of life cycle assessment (LCA).
In 1991, the Nordic Council of Ministers initiated a project on LCA. The objectives of the project have been to develop a Code of Practise for LCA built on Nordic consensus, to provide industry and other practitioners with a set of guidelines for LCA, mainly in "key issue identification" LCAs and to influence the international discussion on the subject. The final phase of the project is now being finished, resulting in Guidelines for LCA, which are presented here briefly. Important topics are system boundary setting, cutoff criteria, allocations, data quality and impact assessment methods.
Midwest Research Institute (MRI) has developed a research and planning technique to assess natural resources effects (raw materials, energy and water) and environmental effects (air emissions, water effluents and solid wastes) associated with specific products and services. This assessment technique is called 'Resource and Environmental Prolife Analysis' (REPA). The basis of comparison of each impact area of alternative products delivering a comparable service is the unit of measure most common to that impact - Btu's of energy, pounds of air pollutants, tons of materials consumed, etc. Analysis begins at the point where raw materials are taken from the earth and follows the entire production and consumption sequence through the act of returning the product to the environment as waste. The REPA is exemplified by a comparison of 7 beer container systems. A returnable glass bottle system is compared to 3 conventional one way bottle systems, and the returnable is then compared to three little used one way systems with considerable market potential. The results of aggregating and comparing the impacts of the 7 container systems indicate that the returnable glass bottle system either produces nearly the same or fewer impacts than any of the 3 other systems, in 6 of the 7 categories. In the seventh, more postconsumer waste is produced by the returnable glass bottle system than by either of the can sytems.
Four commercial solvents — dibasic esters, isooctane, isopropyllactate and limonene — were found to perform better than perchloroethylene in some but not all respects, when tested for cleaning effectiveness, redeposition and shrinkage, on test fabrics of wool or polyester soiled with sebum/pigment or used engine oil. It was found that limonene was effective in the removal of engine oil, while isopropyllactate was effective in removing sebum soil.
Part II: Persistence and Degradability of Organic Chemicals
The criteria “Persistence” and “Degradability” are defined and explained, starting from the “functional” definition of the
environment. In this definition, theenvironment is the counterpart of thetechnosphere, which consists of all processes controlled by man. A substance is persistent if there are no sinks (degradation processes).
It is shown that persistence is the central and most important critérium of environmental hazard assessment of organic chemicals.
It follows that all substances released into the environment should be degradable, preferentially into small inorganic molecules
(mineralization). As examples for persistent substances, the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), the chlorofluorohydrocarbons
(CFC), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-dioxin (TCDD) are discussed. Finally, an attempt
to quantify persistence is made.
The document seeks to promote the reduction of environmental impacts and health risks through a systems approach to design. The approach is based on the product life cycle, which includes raw materials acquisition and processing, manufacturing, use/service, resource recovery, and disposal. A life cycle design framework was developed to provide guidance for more effectively conserving resources and energy, preventing pollution, and reducing the aggregate environmental impacts and health risks associated with a product system. The framework addresses the product, process, distribution, and management/information components of each product system.
This paper explores some environmental concepts and initiatives which influence the content of the new concept of sustainable product development.
Issues related to the collection, assembly and interpretation of data on the consumption of energy, and emissions generated, during the process of plastics manufacture are discussed. A comparison between the new data sets produced by the plastics industry and historical data published by BUWAL is given.
In planning a product life cycle inventory analysis, the correct choice of methodology often depends on market information. This paper discusses a number of points in the life cycle inventory methodology (choice of product alternatives, geographical system boundaries, technological levels and co-product allocation rules) where the market aspect becomes obvious and where a disregard for these aspects may lead to serious flaws in the results.
The report summarizes and assesses the environmental consequences associated with new energy technologies, with particular emphasis on their use for space heating supplies in the building environment. In the case of solar heating, it is primarily the processes associated with the production of the necessary materials and ground use requirements that can adversely affect the environment. There is also a certain risk associated with the leakage of heat transfer fluid. For heat stores, problem areas with heating of the ground, discharge of foreign substances in connection with water treatment, and conflicts of other users of groundwater. The main adverse effects of heat pumps are as follows: their emissions of CFCs - which damage the ozone layer; utilization of certain types of heat sources; and the need to provide primary energy for mechanical drive of the pumps.
For the evaluation of data resulting from the inventory stage of a life cycle assessment, two sets of environmental indices based on Swedish data have been calculated according to the 'ecological scarcity method' and the 'environmental theme method'. These are compared with indices from the method for 'environmental priority strategies in product design'. The relative importance of CO2, SO2 and NOx in the three evaluation methods, expressed as index ratios CO2:SO2: NOx, was calculated to be 1:200:250, 1:220:350 and 1:150:6100, respectively. Additional index comparisons are presented. Differences in the results from the three methods depend on effects considered, how the algorithms are constructed, and background data. The discussion focuses on similarities and differences in mathematical expressions and on the evaluation of certain substances.
The book is divided into six parts. Part 1 provides an introduction to background issues such as regulatory approaches, international effects of pollution, and sources of pollutants. Part 2 covers issues related to air pollution. Dispersion and control of pollutants is discussed, as well as the popular topics of acid rain and the greenhouse effect. The relatively new topic of indoor air quality is also described. Part 3 is devoted to dispersion of pollutants in water systems and control and treatment of wastewaters. Solid and hazardous waste management issues are covered in Part 4. The general topics of municipal, medical, and hazardous waste control programs are introduced in the first portion of this section. Five individual hazardous pollutants are then discussed: underground storage tanks, asbestos, household hazardous waste, used oil, and metals. Part 5 addresses the miscellaneous areas of noise pollution, domestic and architectural considerations, pollution prevention approaches, and energy conservation. Finally, Part 6 is devoted to issues faced daily by management. Concerns regarding worker training and safety, emergency management, and monitoring of background levels of contaminants are addressed. The topic of risk assessment is introduced, and methods for environmental and risk communication are presented. Economic considerations are discussed, because in many instances this factor plays an ultimate determination on how an environmental management program will proceed. Individual chapters are processed separately for inclusion in the appropriate data bases.
Afirma que la prevencion de la polucion a traves de la Evaluacion del ciclo de vida (LCA) es el inicio para evaluar opciones de administracion de residuos que miran principalmente a un solo producto, a la reciclabilidad o reduccion de toxicidad. Puede ser aplicado a procesos y actividades, pero el siguiente articulo se refiere a los productos y considera las oportunidades de evaluar los impactos que puedan generar. Define e ilustra los diferentes escenarios en una LCA, aplicaciones, metodologia, y analisis de imacto. Incluye actividades de la Agencia de Proteccion Ambiental de los Estados Unidos (EPA) al respecto
The functions of packaging are derived from product requirements, thus for insight into the environmental effects of packaging the actual combination of product and package has to be evaluated along the production and distribution system. This extension to all related environmental aspects adds realism to the environmental analysis and provides guidance for design while preventing a too detailed investigation of parts of the production system. This approach is contrary to current environmental studies where packaging is always treated as an independent object, neglecting the more important environmental effects of the product that are influenced by packaging.
The general analysis and quantification stages for this approach are described, and the currently available methods for the assessment of environmental effects are reviewed. To limit the workload involved in an environmental assessment, a step-by-step analysis and the use of feedback is recommended. First the dominant environmental effects of a particular product and its production and distribution are estimated. Then, on the basis of these preliminary results, the appropriate system boundaries are chosen and the need for further or more detailed environmental analysis is determined. For typical food and drink applications, the effect of different system boundaries on the outcome of environmental assessments and the advantage of the step-by-step analysis of the food supply system is shown. It appears that, depending on the consumer group, different advice for reduction of environmental effects has to be given. Furthermore, because of interrelated environmental effects of the food supply system, the continuing quest for more detailed and accurate analysis of the package components is not necessary for improved management of the environmental effects of packaging.
System boundaries in life cycle assessments (LCA) must be specified in several dimensions: boundaries between the technological system and nature, delimitations of the geographical area and time horizon considered, boundaries between production and production of capital goods and boundaries between the life cycle of the product studied and related life cycles of other products. Principles for choice of system boundaries are discussed, especially concerning the last dimension. Three methods for defining the contents of the analysed system in this respect are described: process tree, technological whole system and socio-economic whole system. The methods are described in the application's multi-output processes and cascade recycling, and examples are discussed. It is concluded that system boundaries must be relevant in relation to the purpose of an LCA, that processes outside the process tree in many cases have more influence on the result than details within the process tree, and that the different methods need to be further compared in practice and evaluated with respect to both relevance, feasibility and uncertainty.
More and more researches and practitioners are seeing environmental questions as strategically important for a growing number of industries. A new focus on environmental damage, created by development, production and consumption of products, is creating a demand on industries to use a proactive approach in order to utilize the advantages of environmentally based business possibilities. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief description of the Product Ecology Project, a Swedish industrial environmental project, and to penetrate two areas of importance: (1) the usage of life cycle assessment, and (2) the importance of organizational aspects in a technologically driven process.
This paper explores the practical application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to product system development. While life cycle assessment methods have been studied and demonstrated extensively over the last two decades, their application to product design and development has not been critically addressed. Many organizational and operational factors limit the integration of the three LCA components (inventory analysis, impact assessment and improvement assessment) with product development. Design of the product system can be considered a synthesis of individual decisions and choices made by the design team, which ultimately shape the system's environmental profile. The environmental goal of life cycle design is to minimize the aggregate environmental impacts associated with the product system. Appropriate environmental information must be supplied to decision makers throughout each stage of the development process to achieve this goal. LCA can serve as a source of this information, but informational requirements can vary as the design moves from its conceptual phase, where many design choices are possible, to its detailed design and implementation. Streamlined approaches and other tools, such as design checklists, are essential. The practical use of this tool in product development also depends on the nature and complexity of the product system (e.g. new vs. established), the product development cycle (time-to-market constraints), availability of technical and financial resources, and the design approach (integrated vs. serial). These factors will influence the role and scope of LCA in product development. Effective communication and evaluation of environmental information and the integration of this information with cost, performance, cultural and legal criteria will also be critical to the success of design initiatives based on the life cycle framework. An overview of several of these design initiatives will be presented.
Quantitative life cycle assessment (lca) is a method allocating the environmental impacts of the whole life cycle of a product to the functioning of that product. The scientific basis of the method is still being elaborated. In this paper a proposal is made to improve the scientific basis of one specific step of the methods: the aggregation of potentially toxic emissions of substances in one score for human toxicity and two scores for ecotoxicity. The aggregation is based on multimedia environmental models of Mackay simulating the behaviour of substances in the environment, and on toxicity data such as acceptable resp. tolerable daily intake (adi resp. tdi) and no observed effect concentration (noec) per substance. It is proposed to apply models describing the environmental fate of toxic substances in lcas of products. In addition, it is proposed to adopt the concept of a reference substance, as used in the ozone depletion potential (odp) and the global warming potential (gwp), to assess and aggregate emissions of potentially toxic substances.
Life cycle assessment, a method for the assessment of the environmental impacts of products, is briefly explained. A mathematical method to perform the calculations and to identify dominant aspects in the environmental load of a product is developed. The results are used to derive expressions for a marginal analysis which can be used for improvement analysis. In this way, a designer or process engineer can determine which processes or materials to consider first when (re)designing a product. The method developed can also be used to estimate the reliability of the determination of the environmental load of the products analyzed in terms of the reliability of the data of the processes involved.
As today's public and governments become more environmentally conscious we are increasingly concerned about the environmental component of product and service options available in our affluent society. Our choices are often made instinctively, from necessity, since a detailed analysis of the relative environmental merits of using canned versus fresh versus frozen foods, or glass versus paper versus steel versus aluminum packaging would simply be too time consuming for each purchase. If, however, the environmental merit question is restricted to a small enough purchase sector it is possible to conduct a complete analysis of relative merit from the initial resource through the manufacturing stages, use attributes, and recycle options through to final use or disposal of the item. Many environmentally appropriate choices of products can only be made after such an analysis. An outline of one such analysis, that of paper versus polystyrene foam as the material of construction for hot drink containers in fast food or other single use applications, is given here.
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