Life cycle assessment of solar photo-Fenton and solar photoelectro-Fenton processes used for the degradation of aqueous α-methylphenylglycine

A comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of solar photo-Fenton and solar photoelectro-Fenton, two solar-driven advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) devoted to the removal of non-biodegradable pollutants in water, is performed. The study is based on the removal, at laboratory scale, of the amino acid α-methylphenylglycine, a good example of soluble and non-biodegradable target pollutant. The system under study includes chemicals, electricity, transport of all raw materials to the plant site, and the generation of emissions, but it does not take into account the impact of the infrastructure needed to build a hypothetical solar plant. Nine environmental impact categories are included in the LCA: global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, aquatic eutrophication potential, acidification potential, human toxicity potential, photochemical ozone formation potential, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity potential, marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential, and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential and abiotic resource depletion potential. Although previous experimental results show that both AOPs are able to efficiently degrade the pollutant, the LCA indicates that solar-driven photo-Fenton is the most environmentally friendly alternative, mainly because the use of electricity in solar photoelectro-Fenton experiments involves high environmental impacts.     

An evidential reasoning-based AHP approach for the selection of environmentally-friendly designs

Due to the stringent environmental regulatory requirements being imposed by cross-national bodies in recent years, manufacturers have to minimize the environmental impact of their products. Among those environmental impact evaluation tools available, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is often employed to quantify the product's environmental impact throughout its entire life cycle. However, owing to the requirements of expert knowledge in environmental science and vast effort for data collection in carrying out LCA, as well as the common absence of complete product information during product development processes, there is a need to develop a more suitable tool for product designers. An evidential reasoning-based approach, which aims at providing a fast-track method to perform design alternative evaluations for non-LCA experts, is therefore introduced as a new initiative to deal with the incomplete or uncertain information. The proposed approach also enables decision makers to quantitatively assess the life cycle phases and design alternatives by comparing their potential environmental impacts, thus effectively and efficiently facilitates the identification of greener designs. A case application is carried out to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach.     

Life cycle assessment of two sustainable and old neighbourhoods affected by climate change in one city in Belgium: A review

Aware of the strong population growth expected in the coming years in cities, it is imperative to evaluate the impact of this new concentration on the environment, health and power consumption. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most appropriate method to quantify these different impacts. The aim of this study is to carry out the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in two sustainable and old neighbourhoods located in Belgium, while comparing different environmental impacts; but also, to determine the most important source of environmental change at the neighbourhood scale. This study begins with a strong review on LCA in residence buildings and neighbourhoods since 1996 up to 2018.Then followed by the assessment and comparison of the climate variation in six different periods (past, current, 2020,2050,2080 and 2100).In the same line, three scenarios (A2, B1 and A1B)were associated to several models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We have combined three simulation tools, such as ALCYONE, COMFIE-PLEIADES and nova-EQUER. The main results showed the twelve environmental impacts studied in this research that does not always evolve in the same way. Indeed, it was noticed that the CO2 emissions were up to 36.6% higher in an old neighbourhood than in a sustainable one; while the energy demand was estimated at 62.6% and 37.4% in an old and a sustainable one, respectively. Good planning of the public space will play an important role to reduce in average up to 15% the eutrophication in both neighbourhoods. Globally, the renovation of residential buildings is very important, indeed, it allows mitigate in average up to 30% of environment impacts in both neighbourhoods.     

Sources of variation in life cycle assessments of smartphones and tablet computers

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies and reports on smartphones and tablet computers are analysed to detect the sources of variation across their results, considering the impact on global warming potential over 100 years (GWP100). The production and use phases are undoubtedly the life cycle phases contributing most strongly. Existing life cycle inventories (LCI) were analysed to determine the most important components, and a normalization of the use phases was performed. The results highlight the prevalence of the production phase. Integrated circuits (ICs) play a major role, and the estimation of their impact should be thoroughly scrutinized. Finally, the location of the production plants is crucial as electricity generation accounts for a significant part of the GWP. Assumed electricity mixes explain much of the variations in both production and use phases.     

Including biodiversity in life cycle assessment – State of the art,gaps and research needs

PurposeFor over 20 years the feasibility of including man-made impacts on biodiversity in the context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been explored. However, a comprehensive biodiversity impact assessment has so far not been performed. The aim of this study is to analyse how biodiversity is currently viewed in LCA, to highlight limitations and gaps and to provide recommendations for further research.MethodFirstly, biodiversity indicators are examined according to the level of biodiversity they assess (genetic, species, ecosystem) and to their usefulness for LCA. Secondly, relevant pressures on biodiversity that should be included in LCA are identified and available models (in and outside of an LCA context) for their assessment are discussed. Thirdly, existing impact assessment models are analysed in order to determine whether and how well pressures are already integrated into LCA. Finally, suggestions on how to include relevant pressures and impacts on biodiversity in LCA are provided and the necessary changes in each LCA phase that must follow are discussed.ResultsThe analysis of 119 indicators shows that 4% of indicators represent genetic diversity, 40% species diversity and 35% ecosystem diversity. 21% of the indicators consider further biodiversity-related topics. Out of the indicator sample, 42 indicators are deemed useful as impact indicators in LCA. Even though some identified pressures are already included in LCA with regard to their impacts on biodiversity (e.g. land use, carbon dioxide emissions etc.), other proven pressures on biodiversity have not yet been considered (e.g. noise, artificial light).ConclusionFurther research is required to devise new options (e.g. impact assessment models) for integrating biodiversity into LCA. The final goal is to cover all levels of biodiversity and include all missing pressures in LCA. Tentative approaches to achieve this goal are outlined.     

Life Cycle Assessment to support the quantification of the environmental impacts of an event

In recent years, several tools have been used to define and quantify the environmental impacts associated with an event; however, a lack of uniform approaches for conducting environmental evaluations has been revealed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, which is rarely applied to an event, can be an appropriate tool for calculating the environmental impacts associated with the assembly, disassembly, and use phase of an event analysing in particular the components and the displays used to establish the exhibits. The aim is also to include the issues reported by ISO 20121:2012 involving the interested parties that can be monitored but also affected by the event owner, namely the event organiser, the workforce and the supply chain.A small event held in Northern Italy was selected as the subject of the research. The results obtained show that the main contributors are energy consumption for lighting and heating and the use of aluminium materials, such as bars for supporting the spotlights, carpet and the electronic equipment. A sensitivity analysis for estimating the effects of the impact assessment method chosen has also been conducted and an uncertainty analysis has been performed using the Monte Carlo technique. This study highlighted the importance of the energy consumed by heating and lighting on the environmental implications, and indicated that the preparation and assembly should always be considered when quantifying the environmental profile of an event.     

An Analytic Network Process approach for the environmental aspect selection problem — A case study for a hand blender

Life Cycle Assessment is a tool to assess, in a systematic way, the environmental aspects and its potential environmental impacts and resources used throughout a product's life cycle. It is widely accepted and considered as one of the most powerful tools to support decision-making processes used in ecodesign and sustainable production in order to learn about the most problematic parts and life cycle phases of a product and to have a projection for future improvements. However, since Life Cycle Assessment is a cost and time intensive method, companies do not intend to carry out a full version of it, except for large corporate ones. Especially for small and medium sized enterprises, which do not have enough budget for and knowledge on sustainable production and ecodesign approaches, focusing only on the most important possible environmental aspect is unavoidable. In this direction, finding the right environmental aspect to work on is crucial for the companies. In this study, a multi-criteria decision-making methodology, Analytic Network Process is proposed to select the most relevant environmental aspect. The proposed methodology aims at providing a simplified environmental assessment to producers. It is applied for a hand blender, which is a member of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment family. The decision criteria for the environmental aspects and relations of dependence are defined. The evaluation is made by the Analytic Network Process in order to create a realistic approach to inter-dependencies among the criteria. The results are computed via the Super Decisions software. Finally, it is observed that the procedure is completed in less time, with less data, with less cost and in a less subjective way than conventional approaches.     

Process integrated modelling for steelmaking Life Cycle Inventory analysis

During recent years, strict environmental regulations have been implemented by governments for the steelmaking industry in order to reduce their environmental impact. In the frame of the ULCOS project, we have developed a new methodological framework which combines the process integrated modelling approach with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method in order to carry out the Life Cycle Inventory of steelmaking. In the current paper, this new concept has been applied to the sinter plant which is the most polluting steelmaking process. It has been shown that this approach is a powerful tool to make the collection of data easier, to save time and to provide reliable information concerning the environmental diagnostic of the steelmaking processes.     

An evaluation of alternative household solid waste treatment practices using life cycle inventory assessment mode

Waste disposal is an important part of the life cycle of a product and is associated with environmental burdens like any other life-cycle stages. In this study, an integrated assessment for solid waste treatment practices, especially household solid waste, was undertaken to evaluate the impact contribution of household solid waste treatment alternatives towards the sustainable development by using Life Cycle Inventory Assessment method. A case study has been investigated under various possible scenarios, such as (1) landfill without landfill gas recovery, (2) landfill with landfill gas recovery and flaring, (3) landfill with landfill gas recovery and electric generation, (4) composting, and (5) incineration. The evaluation utilized the Life Cycle Inventory Assessment method for multiple assessments based on various aspects, such as greenhouse gas emission/reduction, energy generation/consumption, economic benefit, investment and operating cost, and land use burden. The results showed that incineration was the most efficient alternative for greenhouse gas emission reduction, economic benefit, energy recovery, and land use reduction, although it was identified as the most expensive for investment and operating cost, while composting scenario was also an efficient alternative with quite economic benefit, low investment and operating cost, and high reduction of land use, although it was identified as existing greenhouse gas emission and no energy generation. Furthermore, the aim of this study was also to establish localized assessment methods that waste management agencies, environmental engineers, and environmental policy decision makers can use to quantify and compare the contribution to the impacts from different waste treatment options.     

The combination of an Environmental Management System and Life Cycle Assessment at the territorial level

A framework to include a Life Cycle Assessment in the significance evaluation of the environmental aspects of an Environmental Management System has been studied for some industrial sectors, but there is a literature gap at the territorial level, where the indirect impact assessment is crucial. To overcome this criticality, our research proposes the Life Cycle Assessment as a framework to assess environmental aspects of public administration within an Environmental Management System applied at the territorial level. This research is structured in two parts: the design of a new methodological framework and the pilot application for an Italian municipality. The methodological framework designed supports Initial Environmental Analysis at the territorial level thanks to the results derived from the impact assessment phase. The pilot application in an Italian municipality EMAS registered demonstrates the applicability of the framework and its effectiveness in evaluating the environmental impact assessment for direct and indirect aspects. Through the discussion of the results, we underline the growing knowledge derived by this research in terms of the reproducibility and consistency of the criteria to define the significance of the direct and indirect environmental aspects for a local public administration.     

Assessing the impacts of water abstractions on river ecosystem services: an eco-hydraulic modelling approach

The provision of important river ecosystem services (ES) is dependent on the flow regime. This requires methods to assess the impacts on ES caused by interventions on rivers that affect flow regime, such as water abstractions. This study proposes a method to i) quantify the provision of a set of river ES, ii) simulate the effects of water abstraction alternatives that differ in location and abstracted flow, and iii) assess the impact of water abstraction alternatives on the selected ES. The method is based on river modelling science, and integrates spatially distributed hydrological, hydraulic and habitat models at different spatial and temporal scales. The method is applied to the hydropeaked upper Noce River (Northern Italy), which is regulated by hydropower operations. We selected locally relevant river ES: habitat suitability for the adult marble trout, white-water rafting suitability, hydroelectricity production from run-of-river (RoR) plants. Our results quantify the seasonality of river ES response variables and their intrinsic non-linearity, which explains why the same abstracted flow can produce different effects on trout habitat and rafting suitability depending on the morphology of the abstracted reach. An economic valuation of the examined river ES suggests that incomes from RoR hydropower plants are of comparable magnitude to touristic revenue losses related to the decrease in rafting suitability.     

Global warming potential of food waste through the life cycle assessment: An analytical review

Food loss and waste represent an increasing concern under social, economic and environmental perspective, either in developed or developing realities. It is estimated that more than 1.3 billion tons of food waste are generated along the whole food supply chain, from agricultural to final consumption stages, with associated environmental impacts estimated in approximately 3.3 Gigatons of CO₂ equivalent per year (6% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions). Indeed, food waste issue has been accounted among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in terms of responsible production and consumption, with the aim of halving per capita global food waste and reduce food losses by 2030. The present paper, through a systematic, analytical and configurative review on food waste global warming potential, focuses on the role of Life Cycle Assessment and its related opportunities and challenges along upstream, core and downstream stages, considering at the same time the challenges embedded within alternative disposal technologies. Through the choice of 16 different research string and the selection of 33 papers out of more than 2000 articles between 2011 and 2021, the authors highlight the environmental impacts associated to food waste with regards to: (a) entire food baskets; (b) specific food commodities; (c) food service and households' experiences; (d) diverse disposal alternatives (e.g., anaerobic digestion, incineration, landfill), addressing future research and suitable opportunities to reach national and international sustainable goals.     

Regionalization of land use impact models for life cycle assessment: Recommendations for their use on the global scale and their applicability to Brazil

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the main technique for evaluate the environmental impacts of product life cycles. A major challenge in the field of LCA is spatial and temporal differentiation in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods, especially impacts resulting from land occupation and land transformation. Land use characterization modeling has advanced considerably over the last two decades and many approaches have recently included crucial aspects such as geographic differentiation. Nevertheless, characterization models have so far not been systematically reviewed and evaluated to determine their applicability to South America. Given that Brazil is the largest country in South America, this paper analyzes the main international characterization models currently available in the literature, with a view to recommending regionalized models applicable on a global scale for land use life cycle impact assessments, and discusses their feasibility for regionalized assessment in Brazil. The analytical methodology involves classification based on the following criteria: midpoint/endpoint approach, scope of application, area of data collection, biogeographical differentiation, definition of recovery time and reference situation; followed by an evaluation of thirteen scientific robustness and environmental relevance subcriteria. The results of the scope of application are distributed among 25% of the models developed for the European context, and 50% have a global scope. There is no consensus in the literature about the definition of parameters such biogeographical differentiation and reference situation, and our review indicates that 35% of the models use ecoregion division while 40% use the concept of potential natural vegetation. Four characterization models show high scores in terms of scientific robustness and environmental relevance. These models are recommended for application in land use life cycle impact assessments, and also to serve as references for the development or adaptation of regional methodological procedures for Brazil.     

Phase-based externality analysis for large hydropower projects

The global pressure of reducing greenhouse gas emission with an increasing energy demand has promoted the development of hydropower projects. However, these projects are always involved with controversial issues even when providing great positive externalities. This calls for more comprehensively quantitative analysis of hydropower project externalities. This paper establishes an analysis framework for hydropower project externalities based on the Life Cycle Assessment methodology and the economic valuation of hydropower externalities, and then applies the framework to the assessment of the Three Gorges Project and the Xiluodu Project as cases. The results indicate that: (1) hydropower project externalities are multi-component and dynamic in different phases of project life cycle; (2) the construction of large hydropower projects is beneficial for social welfare promotion, but the enhancement doesn't appear immediately at the startup but with a lag; and (3) along the life cycle of a hydropower project, negative externalities are prominent in the early phases while positive ones account for a major proportion in the late phases, calling for special attention to risk management during the construction and benefit allocation management during project operation. The results and recommendations of this paper can also be applied to other types of public or private projects for better social performance.     

Renewable energy from solid waste: life cycle analysis and social welfare

In this study, municipal solid waste (MSW) composition in distinct world locations is compared and a case study is assessed. Three waste-to-energy (WtE) techniques are employed within the framework of an industrial partnership. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and a brief social contextualization including the production of renewable energy from the waste generated worldwide were held to attain a holistic view and attract the interest of multiple stakeholders.Incineration depicted a sustainable profile with improved results for global warming potential and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential. Regular gasification revealed the best results for eutrophication, acidification, marine aquatic ecotoxicity and human toxicity potential. Two-stage plasma gasification showed negative values for all impact categories i.e. achieving environmental credits. The estimate of the electricity produced from the waste generated per capita showed a fair coverage of the electrical demand in distinct world areas.To the best of the authors' knowledge, there are no reports connecting the electricity use, the waste production and the renewable energy achieved from WtE for different world regions. Therefore, this study supports the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable alternatives, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining the comfort and commodities suitable for a comfortable quality of life.     

Life cycle impact assessment of home energy management systems (HEMS) using dynamic emissions factors for electricity in Finland

Decarbonising the European economy is a long-term goal in which the residential sector will play a significant role. Smart buildings for energy management are one means of decarbonisation, by reducing energy consumption and related emissions. This study investigated the environmental impacts of smart house automation using life cycle impact assessment. The ReCiPe method was selected for use, in combination with dynamic emissions factors for electricity in Finland. The results indicated that a high level of technology deployment may be counter-effective, due to high electricity consumption by the sensor network, automation system and computing devices. The results also indicated that number of inhabitants per household directly affected the environmental impacts of home automation. A single-person household saw its environmental impacts increase by 15%, while those of a five-person household increased by 3% in the worst-case scenario. The manufacturing phase contributed the major share of environmental impacts, exceeding the use phase in multiple categories. These findings indicate that finding the sweet spot in which technology can promote decarbonisation will be crucial to achieving the goal of a low‑carbon economy.     

Energy and carbon footprint assessment of production of hemp hurds for application in buildings

Construction is considered as one of the most relevant sectors in terms of environmental impacts, due to the significant use of raw materials, fossil energy consumption and the consequent Greenhouse Gases emissions. The use of unconventional and environmentally-friendly materials and technologies is worldwide recognised as a key factor to enable the decrease of material and energy consumption in buildings. Between natural/sustainable materials, those using hemp products and by-products (fibres and hurds) have rapidly widened their field of application in the building industry, mainly because of their good hygrothermal and acoustic insulation properties. Moreover, the usage of these materials allows high carbon storage due to the CO₂ sequestration during the agricultural phase.This study represents an energy and environmental assessment of hemp crop cultivation in France, carried out through a Life Cycle Assessment approach, showing positive and negative contribution related to the different life cycle phases. The total CF evaluated through the IPCC, 2013 GWP 100 method (IPCC, 2013) is equal to 0.975 kgCO₂eq, in view of a CO₂ uptake of −1.29 kgCO₂eq. So, it is understood that the total CF results therefore lower than the CO2 uptake due to the biogenic carbon captured and stored during hemp growth. The total Energy Footprint, instead, was calculated in 17.945 MJ. The Upstream phase came out as the main contributor to the impacts. A sensitivity analysis was performed to explore changes in results related to main inputs assumptions and, in particular, the environmental benefits associated with the replacement of conventional fertilisers (ammonium sulphate) with organic matter were highlighted.     

Sustainability assessment of hydropower: Using causal diagram to seize the importance of impact pathways

Major factor in the electricity production, the number of hydropower plants is still steadily growing worldwide. Besides, such facilities entail a whole range of effects. A sound and in-depth assessment of all the impacts arising from each new project is required. While sustainability assessment tools provide relevant instruments in this aim, as they enable the evaluation of aspects from various kinds, interrelations between the latter are frequently overlooked. Based on the available literature, we use the concept of the causal diagram to structure and represent hydropower impacts in a generic form through causal networks. We develop and present a series of ten causal diagrams, each focusing on one specific topic. Strongly interrelated, the diagrams highlight the close ties existing between the multiple aspects of hydropower and enable a clear understanding of such links. A plain grasp of the impact pathways is essential to gain a holistic and comprehensive perspective of the consequences ensuing from the implementation of hydropower facilities. This step is also crucial in identifying relevant and concrete measures to mitigate undesirable impacts. All in all, such causal diagrams are meant to be used as guidance and supportive tools by decision makers and concerned stakeholders.     

Life-cycle impacts of wind energy development on bird diversity in Norway

While wind energy remains a preferred source of renewable energy, understanding the full spectrum of impacts are vital to balance climate-related benefits against their costs to biodiversity. Environmental impact assessments often fail to assess cumulative effects at larger spatial scales. In this respect, life cycle assessments are better suited, but have to date mainly focused on greenhouse gas emissions and energy accounting. Here, we adapt a recent global life-cycle impact assessment (LCA) methodology to evaluate collision, disturbance and habitat loss impacts of onshore wind energy development on bird species richness in Norway. The advantage of a local model for Norway is that it enables employing species distribution models to more accurately estimate the potential distribution area of species. This facilitates more realistic site- and species-specific assessments of potential impacts within a local scale but excludes habitat ranges outside Norway. Furthermore, a new characterization factor was developed for potential barrier effects. Larger onshore wind-power plants overall had greater site-specific potentially disappeared fractions (PDF) of species, while smaller plants were less efficiently located with greater impacts per GWh. Overall, Norwegian wind-power plants were sited least efficiently (PDF/GWh) regarding indirect habitat loss (2.186 × 10⁻⁹) and disturbance (1.219 × 10⁻⁹), followed by direct habitat loss (0.932 × 10⁻⁹), and finally collisions (0.040 × 10⁻⁹) and barriers (0.310 × 10⁻⁹). Vulnerability differed among bird groups with seabirds, raptors and waterfowl emerging as the most impacted groups (e.g. 5.143 × 10⁻⁹, 3.409 × 10⁻⁹ and 3.139 × 10⁻⁹ PDF/GWh for disturbance, respectively); highlighting the sympatric distribution of their habitats and the majority of Norway's onshore wind-power plants. Current practice has not succeeded in avoiding sites with higher impacts for birds, fuelling conflicts surrounding environmental concerns of onshore wind energy development in Norway. Operative LCA models can help decision-makers assessing localized life-cycle environmental impacts to support environmental-friendly wind energy production in specific regions.     

Towards a green and fast production system: Integrating life cycle assessment and value stream mapping for decision making

Integrating environmental commitment to manufacturing concerns seems unavoidable towards a more sustainable conduct. In the contemporary scenario, Value Stream Mapping (VSM) has been bringing new perspectives into companies' economics, improving production performance, whereas Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been the most complete tool for environmental assessment. Therefore, the present study aims to propose a model based on the integration of LCA and VSM to improve environmental and manufacturing aspects of organizations, the LCA-VSM model. Possible spots for integration, overlaps between LCA and VSM and potential gains were identified. The LCA-VSM model provides a simple tool for prioritizing action measures to improve the environmental-economic performance, and unlike many existing methods, it encourages continuous improvement instead of a one-off approach. The company where a case study was conducted to test the LCA-VSM model is a manufacturer of tools and painting materials for the civil construction sector. The use of the proposed model guided actions that decreased from 5% to 15% of environmental impacts (across nine impact categories), and reduced both non-value adding (lead time went from 103.26 to 24.01 days) and value adding (cycle time went from 35.7 s to 33.75 s) time. The main contribution of this paper is providing a structured approach to a practical integration of LCA and VSM towards decision making, prioritizing action measures based on the following criteria: environmental preference, economic feasibility, and ease of implementation, aiding more eco-efficient practices.