Species-pool effect potentials (SPEP) as a yardstick to evaluate land-use impacts on biodiversity

Using land to produce biomass or to build infrastructure has adverse impacts on ecosystem quality or, more precisely, on attributes (biodiversity, ecological functions, natural resources) of ecosystem quality. However, there is no comprehensive assessment methodology that allows the assessment of different land-use activities in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). I have defined the safeguard subject ecosystem quality and have modelled land-use impacts on species diversity on both local and regional scales. The characterisation factor species-pool effect potential (SPEP) has been developed for weighting a wide range of land-use activities. Occupation of urban, built-up and arable land are found to negatively affect the species-pool. Mixed forests and fallow appear to have positive effects. Generic SPEP factors can be used to assess the potential effect of land-use interventions in the framework of LCIA.     

生命周期评价在环境管理中应用的局限性及其技术进展研究

生命周期评价法(Life Cycle Assessment)在国际上广泛应用于工业企业部门、政府管理部门和服务行业,但最突出的贡献是在环境管理方面的应用.LCA的技术框架分为确定目的与范围、生命周期清单分析、生命周期影响评价(LCIA)和结果解释4个部分.LCIA的方法可归纳为中点法和终点法.LCA存在数据获取、清单分配、边界选择、评价模型、时空限制,以及结果不确定性等方面的局限性.为适应环境管理和评价技术本身的要求,LCA评价技术朝系统化方向发展,目前主要有IO-LCA、ALCA、CLCA、LCC、S-LCA和LCSA等评价技术.不同的评价技术从不同侧面拓展了LCA的应用领域和回避LCA评价的局限性,使得LCA越来越成为环境管理不可或缺的工具.     

Eco-toxicological impact of “metals” on the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem: A comparison between eight different methodologies for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

The assessment of eco-toxicological impacts related to the emission of contaminants into the environment has peculiar characteristics in the context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and many different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methodologies can be used. However, previous studies recognized the presence of high uncertainties in the process, in particular when the analysis focuses on metal emissions. Metals are diverse inorganic substances relevant for their characteristic environmental chemistry, their high persistency into the environment and their toxicity at even low environmental concentrations. This study aims at expanding the discussion about how, and how differently, various methods for LCIA are estimating the impacts related to metals emissions, with a focus on eco-toxicological impacts. A comparison between eight different LCIA methods is presented in relative terms, using a contribution analysis at two levels: general and specific. Results show that there is a poor agreement between methods in the determination of the total eco-toxic impact attributable to metals, and in defining which metal provokes the highest eco-toxic impact per unitary emission. Furthermore, the characterization phase is critical in determining the disagreement between methods. However, some similarities were found: there is the tendency in most methods to associate the largest share of the total eco-toxicological impacts to metals. Theoretical and practical differences between methods are discussed and suggestions for the choice of the proper, case-specific, LCIA method are provided.     

基于灰色关联度法对青浦区环境空气质量状况的评价

本文采用灰色系统理论中的灰色关联度法与灰色加权关联度法,对上海市青浦区2010年度的环境空气质量进行了评价。结果表明,采用灰色关联度法与灰色加权关联度法对监测数据进行计算后,所得到的评价结论比直接参照标准进行评价更加客观,所丢失的信息较少。尤其是采用灰色加权关联度法进一步考虑了不同污染因子的超标程度,将各污染因子对环境的综合影响考虑在内,可以得到更为客观的评价结果。     

Life cycle assessment of mine tailings management in Canada

The effective management of mine tailings involves the control of several environmental impacts and legal requirements. Six tailings site management and closure scenarios were developed for a copper zinc underground mine located in Quebec (Canada) and compared using life cycle assessment (LCA). Two options are considered for the mine operation: tailings can be sent to the tailings disposal area where they are submerged or they can be partly used for backfilling. For each of these two operation options, three alternatives are presented for mine closure: (a) submerged tailings, (b) partial desulphurization with a cover of desulphurized material and (c) a cover with capillary barrier effects (CCBE) made of natural soils followed by revegetation. The goals of the study were to draw the inventory of these management scenarios from the development to the post-closure phase, to assess and compare their environmental impacts and to determine the importance of the land-use impact category. The potential impacts for each scenario were evaluated using the IMPACT 2002+ LCIA method. The results of the performed LCA indicate that for mine development and operation, scenarios where tailings are partly used as backfill for underground stopes appear to lead to larger impacts in 11 of the 14 midpoint categories since the backfill plant operation consumes a greater amount of material and energy. For a site closure period of 2 years, the CCBE option creates the greatest impacts, since it requires much more effort than the other techniques. The results for the post-closure phase have been analysed separately since they have a larger uncertainty. They appear to modify the comparative assessment results. The various results presented in the paper show the importance of taking land-use impacts into account.     

Development of weighting factors in the context of LCIA

A new method is proposed for the identification of environmental impact category weights using a panel approach and a MultiCriteria Decision Aid (MCDA) for use within the weighting step in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). Seven environmental criteria were assessed by panellists and weights were obtained. The weighting factors of 10 impact categories were calculated according to a four-step procedure: (1) criteria definition; (2) scoring of each impact category (scale of 1–100, 100 causing the most damage) according to seven environmental criteria (human health, ecosystem health, resource consumption as well as scale, duration, reversibility and “distance-to-target”) by a panel of Canadian citizens; (3) assessment of each criterion's importance using a “resistance to change” approach; and (4) criteria aggregation (through MCDA) which allowed the calculation of a final weighting score for each impact category. The greatest advantage of this procedure is the ease with which it can be implemented in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study whatever the LCIA method is used. Integrating weighting factors specific to the Canadian environmental context into a site-dependant LCIA method will contribute to the progress of LCA in Canada.     

Impacts of “metals” on human health: a comparison between nine different methodologies for Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)

This paper looks into the differences and uncertainties in determining the impact of “metals’” emissions on human health, in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). Metals are diverse substances, with different properties and characteristics, considered important in LCIA because of their toxicity to humans and ecosystems. First, we defined a list of the most significant metals in terms of impacts on human health. This was done according to precise criteria accounting for both physical and toxic properties of the metals. Second, we performed an LCIA on different key processes using various existing LCIA methodologies and including also USEtox: the recently developed consensus-model for LCIA. Last, we compared the results in relative terms using a contribution analysis. The analysis showed poor or no agreement between the methods: the relative contribution of each metal and of the metals in total to the total impact on human health changes greatly according to the LCIA method used. These differences are due mainly to the number of metals included in each method and to the technique used to calculate the characterization factors. Results obtained with USEtox show no apparent correlation with results calculated with other methods. At present time USEtox is recommended as the best model for LCIA on human toxicity, but mainly because of the large consensus behind it, because its uncertainties regarding metals are still high. The study gives a good and simple overview regarding the way different methods address the impact assessment for metals, and helps in the interpretation of LCIA results for actual LCA studies where metal emissions are involved.     

太阳能级多晶硅生命周期环境影响评价

采用生命周期评价法对太阳能级多晶硅生产过程的环境影响进行评价. 基于Eco-Indicator99,建立了适用于我国的终点破坏类影响评价模型(Chinese endpoint damage model,CEDM). 对影响评价模型的资源属性参数进行了本地化研究,核算出以2010年为基准年、以我国为基准区域的资源属性本地化人均年度基准值(4.33×105 MJ). 采用现场和问卷调研的方式获得太阳能级多晶硅所有生命周期阶段的能量物质的输入、输出和环境外排数据,调研样本总产量达到2012年全国产量的80%. 结果表明:从环境影响的最终破坏受体来看,太阳能级多晶硅生命周期环境影响主要集中在对人体健康损害方面,占其整个环境影响的72.31%;其次是对资源衰竭方面的影响,占24.23%;对生态系统的损害最小,仅占3.46%. 在所有环境要素中,电的环境影响最高,占79.48%;其次是蒸汽消耗、工业硅原料,二者分别占13.18%、5.97%. 我国太阳能级多晶硅生命周期环境影响是欧洲平均水平的2倍多,主要是受电力结构所致,但在技术先进性和污染防治水平方面要优于欧洲平均水平.      

我国终点型生命周期影响评价模型及基准值初步研究

为了开展生命周期影响评价方法的本地化研究工作,基于终点损害模型方法,通过文献查阅损害因子、核算人均基准值、问卷调研权重,构建了适用于我国的终点损害类生命周期影响评价模型.结果表明:①模型选取了致癌作用、细颗粒物形成、气候变化、水资源消耗、光化学臭氧形成、生态毒性、酸化、富营养化、土地利用、矿产资源、化石燃料11个环境影响类别,对应的终点损害类别为人体健康、生态系统、资源.②通过文献查阅获得了上述11个环境影响类别下污染物（或资源、能源）的损害因子.③以2017年为基准年,以我国为基准区域,核算了人体健康、生态系统和资源的人均基准值分别为0.019 DALY（disability adjusted life years,伤残调整寿命年）、6.08×10-5 species、2 467.42 MJ.研究显示,构建的终点损害模型不仅可以通过归一化将不同污染物以及资源、能源消耗核算成一个数值来表征环境影响,还可以实现产品内、产品间的相互比较,识别对环境影响较大的环节,推动绿色发展.      

Method for assessing impacts on life support functions (LSF) related to the use of ‘fertile land’ in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Degradation of soil quality is a major concern due to the scarcity of fertile land, and needs to be properly addressed in the environmental assessment of agro-forestry systems. This paper addresses the main issues arising in assessing the impacts of fertile land use on “Life Support Functions” in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). These issues include the assessment of occupation and transformation impacts, the references against which such impacts should be measured, and the concept of natural relaxation versus backup technology for recovery from the impacts. The alternative (or reference) situation is defined using the concept of consequential LCA, which facilitates clarification of the allocation issues arising due to successive land uses. This paper presents soil organic matter (SOM) as a robust indicator for soil quality; even though it does not fully consider all aspects of soil functioning, SOM has been often recognised as the best stand-alone indicator for soil quality. Impacts on biodiversity are not included in this indicator and should be assessed in parallel. Alternative data sources for practical implementation of the method are suggested in a hierarchical way, including locally specific data sets describing changes in SOM; mechanistic models for the prediction of SOM evolution; and general data sources for simplified analyses. Thanks to its flexibility in data collection the method is applicable to any agricultural or forestry LCA to fill an important gap in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) of land use.     

Influence of impact assessment methods in wastewater treatment LCA

Facing the increase of environmental concern in the water treatment field, stakeholders need reliable decision support tools to assess environmental performances of urban and industrial wastewater systems. To discuss how life cycle assessment (LCA) can be applied to wastewater treatment projects, such an assessment has been performed through a case study on a full-scale plant. Methodological issues that had to be dealt with are briefly exposed. Five life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods have been used: CML 2000, Eco Indicator 99, EDIP 96, EPS and Ecopoints 97. Consistent assessment between these methods has been obtained for greenhouse effect, resources depletion and acidification. Eutrophication is correctly estimated if one looks at the potential impact of a treatment scenario but not at the characterization of the eutrophication state of a specific receiving stream. Work is needed concerning human toxicity as large discrepancies are noticed between the impact assessment methods.     

Life cycle assessment of offset printed matter with EDIP97: how important are emissions of chemicals?

Existing product life cycle assessment (LCA) studies on offset printed matter all point at paper as the overall dominating cause of environmental impacts. All studies focus on energy consumption and the dominating role of paper is primarily based on the energy-related impact categories: global warming, acidification and nutrient enrichment. Ecotoxicity and human toxicity, which are related to emissions of chemicals, etc., are only included to a limited degree or not at all. In this paper we include the impacts from chemicals emitted during the life cycle of sheet fed offset printed matter. This is done by making use of some of the newest knowledge about emissions from the production at the printing industry combined with knowledge about the composition of the printing materials used. In cases with available data also upstream emissions from the production of printing materials are included. The results show that inclusion of the chemical emission-related impacts makes the EDIP97 impact profile of sheet fed offset products much more varied, as well for the normalised profiles as for the profiles weighted by distance to political environmental targets. Especially the ecotoxicity impact potential related to the production stage may contribute significantly, and the use of paper no longer becomes the overall dominating factor driving the environmental impacts.     

Development of LCIA characterisation factors for land use impacts on biodiversity

The UNEP/SETAC life cycle initiative has recently proposed a framework for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of land use. Still, a lack of appropriate LCIA-methods for assessing land use impacts exist in life cycle assessment (LCA). Most existing methods are either too coarse-grained regarding the differentiation between different land use types (e.g. conventional farming versus organic farming), or they are too narrow regarding spatial coverage (e.g. only part of Europe). Therefore, the purpose of this article is to develop a method that overcomes these problems. A secondary goal is to develop a method for which it is possible to determine characterisation factors for any land use type in any region without the need for overwhelming data and data manipulation requirements. The developed method for LCIA of biodiversity focuses on species richness of vascular plants which can be determined from species–area curves. The category indicator is calculated as the multiplication of occupied area, the number of species affected per standard area (100 m²), the duration of occupation and renaturalisation from transformation, and a factor for ecosystem vulnerability. The main uncertainties of the method are related to the determination of renaturalisation times and the establishment species–area curves. The intention of the study presented in this article, i.e. to develop an applicable model with global coverage and no constraints on resolution regarding spatial and land use type differentiation, has widely been met. The limiting factor for applicability is the access to species richness surveys for the relevant regions and land use types. But still, the method shows that, with limited efforts, it is possible to calculate characterisation factors for a large range of land use types in different parts of the world.     

我国PM_(2.5)污染控制策略及环境影响评价的应对建议

分析了PM2.5对人体健康的危害以及我国PM2.5的污染现状,随后对我国和部分其它国家PM2.5的标准值进行了对比,最后从环境管理的角度出发,提出了PM2.5的控制策略,包括建立灰霾预警机制、强化源头控制、进行区域联防联控等。为了从源头控制PM2.5污染,在环境影响评价工作中,导则体系应增加PM2.5指标,环评中应加强PM2.5现状监测,重视战略环评的区域控制作用,并在项目环评中开展PM2.5影响评价。     

浅谈滑雪场建设项目环境影响评价

黑龙江省现有大小滑雪场近百个,由于冬季滑雪旅游不断升温,滑雪场新建、改扩建项目逐年增加.滑雪场类建设项目对环境的影响范围大、因素多、周期长,分析近几年相关项目的环评报告书中存在的问题,文章以哈尔滨某滑雪场改扩建项目环评报告为例,对滑雪场类建项目环境影响评价内容进行了全面分析,指出此类项目的评价重点和应补充完善的内容,重点是项目不同时期的环境影响,即滑雪期、积雪消融期、非滑雪期.     

土地利用生态风险评价研究进展

土地利用生态风险评价是对生态系统在土地利用直接或间接作用下可能产生的不利影响的评价。在梳理已有研究工作的基础上,从评价模型、生态风险空间表达和不确定性分析三个方面,总结土地利用生态风险评价研究方法的进展,阐述土地利用生态风险管理在土地利用生态风险评价中的地位和作用。目前该领域存在的主要问题是:（1）评价指标和评价标准不统一;（2）评价过程和评价结果的不确定性较大;（3）生态风险管理环节研究薄弱。未来的发展趋势包括:（1）关注全球变化条件下的土地利用生态风险;（2）重视土地利用生态风险评价在国土空间规划与生态修复中的作用;（3）加强土地利用生态风险管理研究;（4）建立并完善土地利用生态风险评价的数据管理平台。     

环境影响评价公众参与工作中公众意见的统计分析方法

环境影响评价是我国环境管理体系的重要组成部分,是一种对规划和建设项目实施后可能造成的环境影响进行分析、预测和评估,提出预防或者减轻不良环境影响的对策和措施,进行跟踪监测的方法与制度。环境影响评价有了公众参与的内容,可以促使社会各方面人士关心环境问题,在环境评价工作中起到了弥补技术研究不足的重要作用,可使环评单位在环评中的预测和分析更加完善,提出的建议更趋合理。合理的环境影响评价公众参与工作中公众意见的统计分析方法是参与对象的代表性、调查统计方法的有效性、调查统计内容的科学性、统计时间的有效性等的全面综合的反应。     

系统分析法在建设项目生态影响评价中的应用

在建设项目生态影响评价时,运用系统分析法限定问题、设定递阶层次结构、利用判断矩阵对系统要素进行综合分析,最终得出生态影响程度可行性结论。     

Water footprint: methodologies and a case study for assessing the impacts of water use

The methodologies, approaches and indicators for assessing the impacts of freshwater usage are still evolving. The development of the water footprint concept has been an important step in this direction but the existing methodologies mainly assess the quantity of water used rather than the related impacts. Although there is a recognised need to consider the latter, particularly on a life cycle basis, the difficulty is that there are little or no reliable data on water usage in life cycle databases; furthermore, there is no agreed life cycle impact assessment method for estimating impacts related to freshwater use. However, there have been some methodological developments which propose methods for inventory modelling and impact assessment for water use in life cycle assessment. This paper reviews some of these approaches and discusses their strengths and limitations through a case study, which considers the impacts of freshwater consumption from corn-derived ethanol produced in 12 different countries. The results show a huge variation in the results between different methods and demonstrate the need for a standardised methodology for assessing the impacts of water use on a life cycle basis. Specific recommendations for further research in this field have been made accordingly.     

建设项目温室气体环境影响评价方法研究

建立完善的、减污降碳相协同的管理制度是支撑全国碳排放高质量达峰的重要保障,有效控制新增碳排放是推动实现重点行业尽早达峰的关键. 环境影响评价是我国源头防控的基础性制度,将温室气体管控要求纳入其中是现阶段推动减污降碳协同增效的可行途径及重要抓手. 综合考虑国内外管理实践经验以及我国制度特点与管理需求,开展了温室气体环境影响评价技术方法研究. 本文提出了系统性、全过程、协同性的三大温室气体评价基本原则,识别建设项目温室气体环境影响评价的主要影响因素,构建了强调高效、低碳、循环的温室气体环境影响评价指标体系,建立了包含项目分析与判断、影响因素识别、影响预测与技术分析、综合环境影响评价的评价方法体系. 基于该方法,以山东省250万吨电解铝产能转移至云南省项目为例,开展碳排放环境影响评价分析,测算结果表明:若不考虑项目对云南省对外输电的影响,全国CO₂减排量可达2 574.4×104 t;如考虑项目对跨区输电的影响,则全国CO₂净减排量将减至968.3×104 t;进一步考虑技术升级、地方煤炭消费政策等因素影响,还会得到差异明显的评价结果. 研究显示,考虑不同评价目标、评价边界和影响因素可能会对全社会碳排放量环境影响评价结果产生显著影响,由此建议在开展相关评价时应立足实际需求,合理确定评价目标和边界.