The feasibility of including sustainability in LCA for product development

The feasibility of combining the concept of sustainability principles and the methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is examined. The goal is to achieve an operational tool that incorporates sustainability in product development and strategic planning. While the method outlined has the structure of LCA, it emphasises aspects and parameters often omitted from traditional LCA. The analysis and results can be either qualitative or semi-quantitative. Although a qualitative analysis is less time consuming, it can still highlight the important issues. Qualitative information, which is easily lost in a quantitative analysis, can be emphasised. One of the conclusions is that the method is well suited for screening analysis.     

Positive and negative feedback in consequential life-cycle assessment

In this paper we develop a typology of consequences that can be used for environmental assessments of investment in technologies. As an illustration we estimate how the inclusion of different cause–effect chains could affect the estimated greenhouse gas emissions resulting from buying and using a fuel cell bus today. In contrast to earlier studies, we include cause–effect chains containing positive feedback from adoption (e.g. economies of scale and learning). We discuss how our findings affect the usefulness and limitations of consequential life-cycle assessment (LCA) and how LCA methodology in more general can be used to support strategic technology choice. A major conclusion is that environmental assessments of investment in emerging technologies should not only include effects resulting from marginal change of the current system but also marginal contributions to radical system change.     

Environmental impact of future milk supply chains in Sweden: a scenario study

The objective of this study was to analyse the environmental impact of future supply chains for dairy products. A scenario technique was chosen because scenarios can yield information about the environmental consequences of certain lines of action or developments in a system. To quantify the effects of future systems, a mathematical model of the milk supply chain was constructed and used to simulate possible scenarios. The model was based mainly on life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The results show that any consideration of the environmental effects of the milk supply chain must consider the entire chain. The amount of packaging materials used is an important factor, as is the transportation of the dairy products to households.     

生命周期评价方法研究综述——兼论混合生命周期评价的发展与应用

生命周期评价(Life cycle assessment, LCA)随着其评价对象不断复杂化、系统化,逐渐发展出包含基于清单分析的过程生命周期评价(Process-based LCA, PLCA)、投入产出的生命周期评价(Economic input-output LCA, EIO-LCA)和混合生命周期评价(Hybrid LCA, HLCA)三种方法。论文简述了各类LCA方法的发展过程和特征,并结合实例分析了各自的优势与不足。结果认为:自下而上的PLCA方法针对性较好,其评价结果较为详细,但由于主观边界设定,核算结果存在无法避免的截断误差;自上而下的EIO-LCA方法采用投入产出表进行评价,边界为整个国民经济系统,但存在部门聚合、数据滞后等问题;HLCA结合PLCA与EIO-LCA两种方法,既保持了结果的精准性,又消除了截断误差。研究最后总结并提出未来HLCA的发展方向,以期为LCA方法的进一步发展提供参考。     

当代环境规划的定义、作用与特征分析

环境规划可定义为人类为使环境与经济、社会协调发展而对自身活动和环境所做的时间和空间的合理安排．它遵循和追求的战略思想和根本目标是可持续发展;它的基本出发点是保障人们享用环境权和公正地规定享用环境经济权时所应遵守的义务;它的基本任务是依据有限的环境承载力,规定人们经济和社会活动的约束要求,并提出保护和建设环境的方案．环境规划的作用是促进环境与经济、社会的协调发展;保障环境保护活动纳入国民经济和社会发展计划;合理分配排污削减量;以最小的投资获取最佳的环境效应;指导各项环境保护活动的进行．针对环境规划具有的整体性、综合性、区域性、动态性以及信息密集和政策性强等基本特征,分析了环境规划在分类、理论、原则、内容、方法学、支撑软件、工作程序和管理上所采取的对策．     

Managing climate change risks in New York City’s water system: assessment and adaptation planning

Managing risk by adapting long-lived infrastructure to the effects of climate change must become a regular part of planning for water supply, sewer, wastewater treatment, and other urban infrastructure during this century. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP), the agency responsible for managing New York City’s (NYC) water supply, sewer, and wastewater treatment systems, has developed a climate risk management framework through its Climate Change Task Force, a government-university collaborative effort. Its purpose is to ensure that NYCDEP’s strategic and capital planning take into account the potential risks of climate change—sea-level rise, higher temperature, increases in extreme events, changes in drought and flood frequency and intensity, and changing precipitation patterns—on NYC’s water systems. This approach will enable NYCDEP and other agencies to incorporate adaptations to the risks of climate change into their management, investment, and policy decisions over the long term as a regular part of their planning activities. The framework includes a 9-step Adaptation Assessment procedure. Potential climate change adaptations are divided into management, infrastructure, and policy categories, and are assessed by their relevance in terms of climate change time-frame (immediate, medium, and long term), the capital cycle, costs, and other risks. The approach focuses on the water supply, sewer, and wastewater treatment systems of NYC, but has wide application for other urban areas, especially those in coastal locations.     

Resources and waste management in Turin (Italy): the role of recycled aggregates in the sustainable supply mix

The ever increasing quantity of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) in Italy is presently challenging public administrators, which strive to ensure that collection and recycling are sustainably managed and need to understand whether and to what extent recycled aggregates can complement natural aggregates in a sustainable supply mix (SSM) for the construction industry. The paper presents a research aimed at analysing energy and environmental implications of the C&DW recycling chain in the administrative territory of Provincia di Torino in Northern Italy, with 2.25 million inhabitants and yearly generation of 1.8 million tons of C&DW. A combined Geographical Information System (GIS) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model was developed using site-specific data and paying particular attention to land use, transportation and avoided landfill: crucial issues for sustainable planning and management. A GIS was used to handle data and information about 89 recycling plants, including technological features, output and physical–mechanical characteristics of recycled aggregate. The LCA methodology was used to identify and quantify energy and environmental loads, under different assumptions relevant to delivery distances, quality of recycled aggregates, local availability of natural aggregates and geographical coverage of market demand. The C&DW recycling chain was proved to be eco-efficient, as avoided impacts were found to be higher than the induced impacts for 13 out of 14 environmental indicators. It was also estimated that the transportation distance of recycled aggregate should increase 2–3 times before the induced impacts outweigh the avoided impacts.     

Collaborative activity with business partners for improvement of product environmental performance using LCA

Collaborative activities with business partners have potential to improve environmental performance of product and life cycle assessment (LCA) is an essential technique to implement eco-design of product and production process. However, collection of LCA data from supply chain is a major issue for LCA practitioners. We propose a Supply Chain Collaboration Model (SCCM), which is a framework for collecting producer-specific LCA data from business partners and for promoting improvement activity of product environmental performance. We demonstrate the practicability of the SCCM using three case studies. In each case study, two or three partner companies organized a product improvement project and carried out process analysis techniques such as LCA and material flow cost accounting (MFCA). As a result, improvement activities from the economical standpoint could provide an incentive for business partners to collect LCA data, and thus the SCCM is an effective framework for eco-design.     

滇池流域水污染防治规划与富营养化控制战略研究

根据滇池水污染防治的决策需求,在系统分析滇池水环境演变趋势和评估演变诱因的基础上,以流域水环境承载力方案及容量总量控制方案为基础,提出了滇池流域水污染防治中长期规划研究的方法体系,包括:问题驱动、调查诊断、规划基础、规划方案、评估调控、规划战略;提出了源头控制、工程控制和末端控制相结合的污染减排对策;通过构建3个尺度、8个分区及4个规划重点的流域污染减排集成体系及情景方案,来实现在2个规划期、3类水质目标、4种社会经济发展情景下的规划目标.在此基础上,提出了滇池富营养化控制的战略思路.     

生命周期评价方法及其进展

生命周期评价方法在国外的 发展已近３０年，正成为企业和政府环境管理的工具。国外许多生态标志标准的确定，采用的都是生命周期评价方法，它还是国际标准化组织ＩＳＯ１４００系列标准的重要内容，我国对生命周期评价方法的认识和研究才刚刚开始，该文对生命周平价方法的技术框架，应用和存在的不足等作了简要论述。     

A life-cycle framework to analyse business risk in process industry projects

The chemical and related process industries are particularly exposed to high environmentally related costs arising from normal operation and accidents, not only of their own processes but also other processes in their supply chains. A methodology (Process environmental risk assessment—PERA) is presented for the assessment of all such risks during the design of new processes. This can be seen as a project-centred risk assessment that seeks potential problems along the whole supply chain. Each activity, resource use or waste source along the supply chain represents a potential interaction between the supply chain and the environment. These potential interactions are identified systematically using a life-cycle based assessment. To assess the risk to the project or process supply chain arising from those interactions the relevant stakeholders must be identified. Their likely response can then be considered and ranked according to the risk it poses. The methodology facilitates the management and communication of risk, and is illustrated by application to some aspects of the manufacture of PVC. The method could equally be applied to the assessment of existing processes.     

生态标志和产品的生命周期评价

获得生态标志，是对产品环境性能的肯定，表明其整个生命周期的环境性能达到了特定的要求，消费者也可直接根据生态标志图案购得自己喜好的环境友好产品，生命周期评价是一中评价产品，工艺或活动从原料采掘到生产、运输、分销、使用，回用，维护，循环和最终处置的整个生命周期阶段相关环境负荷的过程，大多数生态标志标准的确定都采用了生命周期的评价的方法，文章对生态标志的概念、发展状况、标准的确定性和生命周期评价等作了简     

The water supply footprint (WSF): a strategic planning tool for sustainable regional and local water supplies

This paper introduces a new methodological approach of the ecological footprint explicitly addressing the sustainability of water supplies, which we call the water supply footprint (WSF). The WSF calculates the catchment area or water supply hinterland of a certain society and can serve as a strategic planning tool for local or regional water supplies linking the water demand with the water supply in a water supply footprint matrix. Based on regional water balances it estimates how much water can be appropriated for human use in an environmentally sustainable way.The proposed method is tested on the South East Queensland water supply in Australia, an area where water use restrictions are regularly imposed on the population. Applying the proposed method indicates that supply shortages may be avoided by considerably changing the organisation of water supply, thereby reducing and possibly even avoiding the necessity for large-scale supply side measures like additional sweet water reservoirs or desalination plants. In that way it is demonstrated that the WSF method is applicable at an early and strategic stage of water supply planning.     

Flowsheeting-based simulation of recycling concepts in the metal industry

This paper presents a methodology for the planning of integrated recycling concepts taking into account the peculiarities of process engineering in the process industries. Process models for certain unit operations simulated with a flowsheeting program allow to calculate mass and energy balances considering the technical characteristics and performance of a single process or a combined process chain. Based on principles of thermodynamics, this approach allows an assessment of integrated recycling strategies considering techno-economic as well as ecological criteria. The approach is illustrated with an example from the iron and steel making industry where the injection of plastic waste into a blast furnace is investigated.     

中国农产品贸易格局变化及海外农业资源利用对策

2017年中国大宗农产品虚拟耕地净进口量达到6784万hm²,对外依存度为33.4%,其中巴西和美国是主要的进口来源国。以大豆为重点的土地密集型农产品的大量进口,在一定程度上保证了中国粮食供给,但要从根本上保障中国粮食安全也应实施农业“走出去”战略。尽管近年中国海外农业投资逐年增加,但由于缺乏长远的投资战略指导,海外农产品资源的控制能力差,生产风险高。为此,为保障中国粮食安全,应从构建人类命运共同体、提高全球农产品供给能力的战略高度,选择最佳海外投资区域,优先开发中国进口量大、对外依存度高的国际大豆和棕榈油等油脂油料资源;扶持多类型企业主体参与海外农业资源开发;在农业投资目的国通过“订单+农户”模式进行深度合作,并融入全球农产品贸易体系。     

Normative ethics and methodology for life cycle assessment

Prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) provides information on the environmental consequences of individual actions. Retrospective LCA provides information about the environmental properties of the life cycle investigated and of its subsystems. In this paper we analyse the links between the choice of methodology and different theories of normative moral philosophy. The choice of electricity data in an LCA of a conference site with local hydropower production is discussed as an illustration. The two types of LCA can be related to different theories on the characteristics of a good action. Each type of LCA, as well as each of the moral theories, can be criticised from the alternative point of departure. Decisions based on retrospective LCA can have environmentally undesirable consequences. On the other hand, prospective LCA can appear unfair and result in environmentally sub-optimised systems. Both types of LCA also have methodological limitations. We cannot conclude that one type is superior to the other, but the choice of methodology should be consistent with the information sought in the LCA.     

Does the potential of the use of LCA match the design team needs?

Today, most people involved in the industrial engineering community (consultants, manufacturers, researchers and institutional actors) assert that Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most successful tool to assess environmental considerations in the product design process. This assertion is addressed in this article through a simultaneous check of the potential of this tool and the environmental needs of the design team. After a comparison of this potential to these needs, the following assertions may be made: (1) LCA is not an adequate tool for the designer, because its utility in the design process is limited to an analysis of existing products or well defined products at the final stages of the design process, and (2) LCA is not useful in creating a learning dynamic (awareness) within the company, because it does not improve the legitimacy or the credibility of environmental considerations. Moreover, it may generate confusion within the design team while restricting the capacity for innovation within the company. This paper concludes that, in the product design field, the LCA tool should be considered as a specialized tool handled by a specific player (the environmental actor) and should be dedicated to the strategic evaluation of new concepts.     

A recursive ecological indicator system for the supply chain of a company

This paper proposes the concept of cumulative eco-intensity with which environmental or sustainability indicators are related to the added value of economic activities. The intensities are passed on recursively from supplier to supplier and thus make it possible to include upstream and downstream effects along the supply and waste disposal chain. The process is applied to whole companies and (by contrast with LCA) not to individual products. At comparatively low expenditure for the individual companies, it allows vertical comparisons along the value-adding chain and horizontal comparisons among companies or production locations. This provides a decision-making aid for a company seeking to fulfil its ecological or sustainability responsibility in the entire production and supply chains.     

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.