Eco-labelling of wild-caught seafood products

Several eco-labels for wild-caught seafood have been developed during the last decade. This article describes and analyses the criteria applied by four different eco-labelling schemes for seafood products from capture fisheries, and discusses the criteria in terms of environmental impacts, based on the ISO 14040 standard for life cycle assessment.It is concluded that the most widespread eco-label, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), mainly addresses the fishing stage, in particular the overexploitation of marine resources. LCA studies confirm that the fishing stage represents the most significant environmental burden, but energy consumption and emissions of anti-fouling agents at the fishing or harvesting stage contribute with significant impacts that are not being addressed by international labelling initiatives for wild-caught seafood.LCA studies show that significant environmental impacts are related to the life cycle stages after landing. This includes fish processing, transport, cooling and packaging (especially for highly processed seafood products). Hence, another challenge would be to include criteria related to the post-landing consumption of energy, certain materials and chemicals, waste handling and wastewater emissions. Minimizing product losses throughout the product chain would also be an important area for future criteria in order to avoid fishing at high environmental costs only to produce something that is later wasted.The analysis shows that the Swedish KRAV is the only one that currently addresses a range of issues that include energy and chemicals in the whole life cycle of the products. International initiatives such as MSC cover fish products from many parts of the world emphasizing ‘overexploitation of fish resources’. It is recommended, however, that international initiatives such as MSC develop criteria related to energy use and chemicals – at least at the fishing stage. Over time, other life cycle stages could be addressed as well to the extent that this is manageable.     

生命周期矩阵在评价环境标志产品中的应用

环境标志说明产品在其整个生命周期中的环境表现满足一定的要求。生命周期评价技术被许多国家作为认证环境标志产品的工具。文章介绍了生命周期评价的定义和框架，以及简式生命周期矩阵在评价环境标志产品中的应用。在分析简式生命周期矩阵不足的基础上，提出了用于评价环境标志产品的改进生命周期矩阵。最后，探讨了生命周期矩阵在其它领域的应用。     

Development of environmental performance indicators for textile process and product

The increasing demand for environmental performance evaluation of industry requires development of sector-specific environmental performance indicators (EPIs). For the consumer product manufacturing industry, in this case the textile industry, the need to evaluate environmental performance both from process and product life cycle perspectives leads to development of EPIs of process and product dimensions. Such types of EPIs have been developed, with best achievable values being identified, by this study for cotton woven products and wet processing. An in-depth discussion has been presented concerning problems in developing and applying EPIs, while areas for further research are also recommended.     

Manufacturing actor’s LCA

Modern industrial environmental management encompasses life-cycle thinking. This entails considering not only the emissions and resource use of the company’s production processes, but also the environmental consequences of all processes related to a product’s life cycle. However, no single actor can influence the whole life cycle of a product. To be effective, analysis methods intended to support improvement actions should therefore also consider the decision makers’ power to influence.Regarding the life cycle of a product, there are at least as many perspectives on life-cycle thinking as there are actors. This paper presents an approach with which manufacturing decision makers can sharpen the focus in life-cycle assessment (LCA) from a conventional ‘products or services’ emphasis to a company’s manufacturing processes. The method has been developed by combining knowledge gained from earlier LCA studies with new empirical findings from an LCA study of an SKF manufacturing line.We demonstrate how system boundaries and functional units in an LCA can be defined when adding the perspective of a manufacturing decision maker to the product life-cycle perspective. Such analysis helps manufacturing decision makers identify improvement potentials in their spheres of influence, by focusing on the environmental consequences of energy and material losses in manufacturing rather than merely accounting for the contributions of individual stages of the life cycle to the overall environmental impact. The method identifies and directly relates the environmental consequences of emissions or raw material inputs in the product life cycle to manufacturing processes. In doing so, the holistic systems perspective in LCA is somewhat diminished in favor of the relevance of results to manufacturing decision makers.     

中国光伏电池组件的生命周期评价

在收集2009年我国光伏组件生产的主流及最优技术水平数据的基础上,采用Ecoinvent数据库中辅助材料的生命周期数据,开展了我国光伏组件生命周期评价研究,计算了能量回收期和全球变暖潜值,并探讨了不同生产步骤和生产参数的影响.结果表明:太阳能级多晶硅生产和铸锭、切片工艺的技术水平对光伏产品的能量消耗和环境影响最大,我国主流技术水平情景下的产品能耗和环境影响远大于最优技术水平.对于我国光伏产业来说,要降低光伏产品的环境影响,应着重从改进多晶硅生产技术和提高硅片切割效率入手.      

生态产品生命周期设计概念框架

生态产品是从原材料采掘到产品制造、运销、使用和最终报废处理整个生命周期总环境影响最小的产品，而生命周期设计是实现产品环境影响最小化和污染预防的最好方式之一。生态产品的开发，应从设计开始，生态产品生命周期设计的概念是一种基于产品系统的设计方法；其设计步骤有确定系统边界、环境现状评价、设计要求分析、各要求优先排序与协调，设计对策、设计方案评价等几个方面，随着ＩＳＯ１４０００体系的全面建立，产品生命周期     

从LCA视角评估钢铁产品改进的环境效益

钢铁产品性能的提高往往会增加其制造环节的环境负荷,但是在很多领域的使用过程中,高性能钢材相对于普通钢材,更有利于环境。因此评估钢铁产品改进的环境效益需要一个系统化的科学方法———生命周期评价(LCA)。从钢铁产品全生命周期视角,讨论了钢铁产品性能提升与环境影响的关系,阐述了如何利用LCA方法评估钢铁产品全生命周期环境绩效,并列举了宝钢利用LCA方法评估钢铁产品性能改进环境效益的两个案例:某变压器采用性能更高的B30P110取向硅钢片取代原B30G130取向硅钢片,其生命周期碳减排15.1%;宝钢钢制二片罐用镀锡钢板从0.28mm经过6次减薄到0.225mm,使钢罐生命周期碳排放降低14.5%。     

在污泥资源化利用过程中引入生命周期评价方法

生命周期评价是一种评价产品整个寿命周期中环境负荷的方法。为了促进资源的循环利用和经济的可持续发展,在污泥资源化利用过程中引入生命周期评价方法显得非常必要。介绍了引入生命周期评价方法的必要性及污泥资源化利用生命周期评价的内容和步骤。     

Environmental management and life cycle approaches in the Mexican mining industry

Mexico ranks among the 11 major producer countries of minerals worldwide; its open pit and underground systems are 500 years old. This paper presents an overview of the Mexican mining industry from technological development, historical and economic perspectives. The efforts made by mining companies to address issues of environmental management and sustainable development expressed in national and international frameworks, as well as the Mexican environmental regulatory framework for the mining sector, are analyzed. Since, among others, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been recognized as a key topic to promote sustainable development in the Latin American and Caribbean region, this paper also examines the application of LCA in mining. Two life cycle approaches are presented: a national life cycle inventory for base metals, and an integral life cycle model for the management of mining processes.     

Eco-efficiency gains from remanufacturing: A case study of photocopier remanufacturing at Fuji Xerox Australia

Achieving eco-efficient production and consumption systems requires ‘closing the loop’ to create cyclic systems. Product systems based on remanufacturing, where used products or components are restored to ‘as new’ condition for reuse, offer the potential to create such cyclic systems. For some existing manufacturers, the economic efficiency of remanufacturing is clear and it has become a widely held assumption that such systems would also be more eco-efficient. However, this assumption has not been systematically tested. This research attempted to quantify the life cycle environmental benefits achieved by incorporating remanufacturing into a product system, based on a study of Xerox photocopiers in Australia. The study found that remanufacturing can reduce resource consumption and waste generation over the life cycle of a photocopier by up to a factor of 3, with greatest reductions if a product is designed for disassembly and remanufacturing. This research represents a first-level assessment, limited by certain estimates and assumptions. It is intended that this research will form the basis of a larger, more detailed study of Xerox remanufacturing, worldwide.     

生命周期环境成本核算方法研究

生命周期环境成本以成本企业作为进行生态产品设计的重要手段,但生命周期环境成本至今没有国际标准方法。本文对环境成本的分类、研究主体和研究动因进行了分析。对两种不同类型的生命周期环境成本核算方法进行了比较,认为基于环境影响评价结果的生命周期环境成本核算方法在国内具有较好的应用前景。     

全工业固废原料制备水泥工艺的生命周期评价研究

运用生命周期评价(LCA)方法,对以电石渣等工业固废为全部原料的水泥制造工艺产生的环境影响进行评价.通过对生产工艺进行分解及建模,基于实际数据建立生命周期清单,利用ReCiPe2016方法,在全球变暖、化石资源消耗、土地占用等17个小类及人体健康影响、生态系统影响及资源消耗3个大类中对工艺产生的环境影响进行评价.评价过程包括特征化、标准化和敏感性分析.结果表明,在以1 t成品水泥为功能单位的生产过程中,造成的环境影响总值为-0.0045 pt,其中,在人体健康影响和生态系统影响分类下最为显著,分别为-0.0027 pt和-0.0020 pt.与传统水泥生产相比,本工艺具有更低的资源能源消耗与碳排放量.固废作为原料来源带来的正面环境效益最为显著,而熟料煅烧与水泥粉磨则显示出最大的环境损害,也说明由于消纳了大量工业固废,本工艺对环境总体上是有益的.     

Environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations – Part 2: methodological approach for performing vulnerability analysis of watersheds

Environmental vulnerability analysis has been sparsely used in environmental performance evaluation (EPE) of technological innovations. The present paper proposes a methodological approach to carry out vulnerability analysis of watersheds and to integrate this analysis into methods of environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations. This approach is applied to the Ambitec-Life Cycle method, described in Part 1 (this issue) of this study. The case study of green coconut substrate compared to ripe coconut substrate, also described in Part 1 (this issue), is now presented considering the vulnerability analysis of the watersheds where the life cycle stages of these products occur. The integration of vulnerability analysis in Ambitec-Life Cycle contributes to a better understanding of the environmental aspects of agro-industrial technological innovations with potential to cause significant impacts in watersheds where these innovations are implemented.     

The application of life cycle assessment to design

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.     

An inventory analysis of oil shale energy produced on a small thermal power plant

Energy produced in Estonia from oil shale is studied using the inventory analysis of the product life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The life cycle is taken as an oil shale mine and thermal power plant with consumer supply systems, which are close to each other and are technologically interconnected.The effectiveness of energy production over the whole life cycle is calculated and the energy and the material balances are presented. Local environmental effects of the oil shale extraction and the energy production are briefly described.The first step in defining the oil shale energy as an important input parameter for the LCA studies of all other products of Estonia is made. The collected data can serve as a basis for the environmental improvement programs.     

动态生命周期评价的研究与应用现状

生命周期评价（LCA）在理论和实际应用中存在一些局限性,包括清单和评价方法缺乏时间维度和空间维度,主要表现为缺乏对产品能源系统随时间变化的考虑,使用静态的过时的清单数据而非基于时间的动态生命周期清单数据,以及影响评价方面缺乏动态特征因子的选择和计算方法.动态生命周期评价（DLCA）是针对工业和环境系统的时间和空间变化的动态建模过程的评价方法,可大大提高传统生命周期评价的科学性和准确性.本文从3个方面对动态生命周期评价方法进行总结和评述,即将时间信息作为不确定因素的动态建模分析;生产过程或污染物排放的实时数据的获取;基于时间分化的动态特征因子的影响评价方法.通过目前的动态生命周期评价的研究现状来看,其方法框架并不统一,另外缺乏科学的时间分化的LCI计算的数学模型和软件以及生命周期影响评价的建模解决方案.因此,本文对DLCA未来的发展进行展望,以期为LCA方法的研究、应用、发展和完善提供更多的支持.     

生命周期评价应用于温室气体排放的研究进展

致使全球气候变暖的温室气体排放问题已经全面引起了人们的广泛关注。生命周期评价作为一种评价环境负荷的评价工具,用于科学定量地估算产品、服务及工艺流程改造等方面的温室气体排放有其独特的优势。文章介绍了估算温室气体排放简化生命周期的技术框架及生命周期评价方法在第一产业(种植业、畜牧业),第二产业(硬纸板加工、橡胶生产、废塑料燃烧的能源再利用)以及第三产业(交通运输、旅游业)的应用情况,并综述了三个产业中的主要系统边界划分原则以及对温室气体排放影响的主要因素;同时,介绍了我国在节能减排方面利用生命周期评价方法的研究与应用实例。     

Stepwise environmental product declarations: ten SME case studies

The lack of reliable communication tools is anticipated to become an important barrier to design and sell products with improved environmental performance. In this paper, environmental product declarations, EPDs, and in particular a Stepwise EPD approach is investigated as a means to overcome the communication barrier. The experiences of ten European SMEs who have tried to use Stepwise EPDs for market communication and as a basis for eco-design are described and discussed. The experiences suggest that Stepwise EPDs based on life cycle assessment can be a cost-efficient tool to improve the environmental performance of products. For normal marketing activities the Stepwise EPDs were disappointing. Using the underlying LCA as a platform for in-depth communication with selected parties in the supply chain showed more promise.     

华北高产粮区夏玉米生命周期环境影响评价

以山东省桓台县夏玉米生产体系为例,应用生命周期评价方法,以单位产量为评价功能单元,把夏玉米生命周期分为原料开采与运输、农资生产与运输、作物种植3个生产阶段,对不同施氮水平下夏玉米生命周期的资源消耗与污染物排放进行了清单分析和影响评价.结果表明,随着施氮量的增加,夏玉米生命周期环境影响呈指数上升趋势,其中,主要影响类型为水资源耗竭,这与农作物需水量较大、水分生产率较低有关.在低氮量条件下,主要污染影响类型是全球变暖,随着施氮量的增加,富营养化上升为主要污染影响类型.提高作物种植阶段水肥利用效率是控制夏玉米生命周期环境影响的关键,它可减少夏玉米对水资源和氮肥的需求,从而直接减少农田氮素损失污染影响,也间接降低了上游生产环节的资源消耗与污染物排放影响,进而有助于降低夏玉米生命周期环境影响总潜力.     

Environmental impacts of disposable cups with special focus on the effect of material choices and end of life

Life cycle thinking is emphasised in EU policies and legislation. All products have environmental impacts during their production, use and disposal. It is important to ensure that environmental impacts are considered throughout the life-cycle and it will be more and more important for the industry to understand the meaning of the life cycle thinking and to adopt it.The environmental impacts of an industrial disposable cup concept were studied with help of life-cycle assessment method. The objective of the study was to create new knowledge about the life cycle effects of the carton based cup concept. The scope of the study was to compare the effects of material choices and different end-of-life scenarios. The paper focuses on the global warming potential of the cup concept. The carton based products were covered either with polyethene or polylactide. In addition, the environmental impacts of the carton-based cups were compared to the estimated environmental impacts of polymer-based cups. The polymer based cups were made of polyethylene terephthalate. The paper shows that significant improvements can be achieved with help of the choice of materials and optimal end of life.