Teil VI: Die Ökobilanz der Universität Osnabrück

Within the development of the “Osnabrück Environmental Management Model for Universities,” an environmental audit for the university has been carried out for the first time. It was implemented by way of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based on ISO 14 040. Following this, an LCA includes the four steps:goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment andinterpretation. The impact assessment phase of the LCA was carried out following the ”UBA-Method” of the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) which is based on the method of impact categories described in ISO 14 040 and implemented in the software Umberto^®. The most significant results are that the University contributes “considerably” towards both categories, “Depletion of fossil energy resources” and “Climate change”. The main causes of this are electricity and heat consumption as well as traffic. In order to improve its environmental situation, the university has been recommended to reduce its CO₂ emissions, its consumption of fossil energy resources and its methane emissions.     

钢铁工业固废应用于水泥生产的降耗与减排

运用物质流分析法定量比较原生水泥与再生水泥生产过程中的物能代谢和环境负荷,并采用生命周期分析进行环境影响评价。结果表明：生产1 t原生水泥需要的直接物质投入是1.637 t;消耗原煤0.086 t/标准煤,消耗电力0.067 t/标准煤。利用钢铁工业固废生产功能单位再生水泥,可减少资源投入0.16 t;减少能源消耗0.036 t;环境排放SO2减排0.000 2 t;粉尘减排0.001 t;烟尘减排0.000 12 t;NOx减排0.000 34 t;CO2减排0.231 t。水泥生产潜在的各类环境影响中以废气排放引起的温室效应最大;其次依次是酸化效应和不可再生资源消耗;光化学烟雾和人体健康损害在水泥生产过程中的影响都相对较小。与原生水泥相比,再生水泥各环境负荷均呈下降趋势,两者总体环境负荷差值为6.93E-15。研究结果充分说明钢铁工业固废资源化可以明显的降低水泥生产的总体环境负荷,是促进水泥行业循环经济发展的有效手段。     

Benefits and challenges of streamlined life-cycle assessment for SMEs – findings from case studies on climate change impacts

ABSTRACT

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a substantial role in the economy and job creation, but they are a remarkable source of environmental impacts. SMEs often lack skills and resources to compile environmental impact assessments; Streamlined Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) can provide efficient tools for this. An application of streamlined LCA relying heavily on database data, LCA clinic, was developed and tested on 23 SMEs in Finland. The climate change impacts were mainly caused by the production of raw materials, electricity and heating, whereas packaging and transportation were not influential. A significant amount of emissions were indirect, i.e. caused by production of raw materials. Thus, decreasing emissions from raw material production or selecting raw materials with a smaller environmental load could be a more efficient way to decrease emissions than reducing direct emissions such as those from electricity use. Lack of data in the LCA-databases was considered a challenge. An access to regionally customised datasets is important for the implementation of LCA clinics. Company feedback indicated that LCA clinics were useful in climate-friendly product design and increased environmental awareness, but did not lead to immediate actions to reduce emissions because of inadequate investment capabilities. Company managers had limited possibilities to use the results in marketing as comparative assessments would require a full LCA. Many company managers were willing to pay a fee sufficient to cover the costs of an LCA clinic, but some considered that the costs should be covered by external funding sources.     

Environmental and economic analysis of aluminium recycling through life cycle assessment

Aluminium is the most-used metal in the world after steel, with a wide range of applications in the industrial field owing to its physical and mechanical properties. The aim of this study was environmental and economic analysis of secondary aluminium. In particular, this study demonstrated that aluminium recycling offers many advantages to both consumers and industry:

• Increased energy savings compared to primary aluminium production;

• Recovery and reuse of raw materials for future production avoids consumption of non-renewable resources;

• Reduction in landfill waste and consequent environmental damage;

• Reduction in bauxite mining which, in turn, will reduce the socio-economic impact on populations of those countries, mainly underdeveloped, that contain mines;

• Economic advantages for Italy, the first European producer of secondary aluminium, which lacks bauxite mines and has high energy costs.

This study used the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, the modified Eco-indicator 99 method for damage calculation, and the SimaPro calculation code. The study examined secondary aluminium production by ICMET, based in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The economic and environmental evaluation utilised environmental information supplied by the company.     

环保标识与区域性可持续发展评估

从“商品环境影响评估”的角度,探讨环境标识与可持续发展的因果关系。世界各地现已因应环境保法例及商品的市场需求,循“品质圈”的模式革新产品。虽然生命周期评价（ＬＣＡ）是环保标识的重要支柱,可惜迄今对估并需强化它在环境安全与健康资源运用、公众咨询、环境管理和审核（ＥＭ＆Ａ）、环境补偿和生态修复等重要领域的工作,确立它在区域性可持续发展中的战略作用。文章以香港为例案,探讨推动环境标识所面对的困难和解决方     

Overcoming the inadequacy of single-criterion approaches to Life Cycle Assessment

In this work, the authors intend to introduce to the scientific community a novel integrated approach to environmental impact assessment, appropriately named SUstainability Multicriteria Multiscale Assessment (SUMMA). Its main objective is to overcome the inherent shortcomings of all single-criterion approaches, which constitute the vast majority of the Life Cycle Assessments performed to date in the scientific literature, and which invariably lead to partial and often misleading results. Furthermore, SUMMA is structured so as to enable a consistent sensitivity analysis of all the calculated impact indicators, a procedure that is of crucial importance for assessing the variability and reliability of the results, but which is only rarely adopted. The suggested framework is applied to selected case studies (coal gasification, bauxite mining, aluminium production and fuel cell manufacture), the results of which are discussed.     

Warm glow from green power: Evidence from Australian electricity consumers

Green electricity products are increasingly made available to consumers in many countries in order to address a number of environmental and social concerns. Most of the literature on this green electricity market focuses on consumers’ characteristics and product attributes that could affect participation. However, the contribution of this environmental consumerism to the overall environmental good does not depend on participation alone. The real impact relies on market participation for green consumers (the proportion of green consumers) combined with the level of green consumption intensity – the commitment levels, or proportion of consumption that is green. We design an online interface that closely mimics the real market decision environment for electricity consumers in Western Australia and use an error component model to analyze consumers’ choice of green electricity products and their commitment levels. We show that product attributes have limited impact on the choice of green products; however, there is still great potential for better participation by improving the design of green electricity programs. When green products are selected, most respondents select the minimum commitment possible, and this is insensitive to the premium being charged on green power, suggesting that we are largely observing a buy-in ‘warm glow’ for carbon mitigation.     

Gasförmige Stickstoffemissionen im Lebensweg von Getreide zur Energiebereitstellung

The reduction of energy-based environmental pollution is a declared goal of governmental action in all industrialised countries. In this context, the aim of this paper is to investigate the emissions of volatile nitrogen species with regard to their resulting environmental impacts by the example of the heat provision from whole cereal crops as a substitute for light oil products. First, the applied methodology of a Life Cycle Assessment is discussed. The emissions of volatile nitrogen species and their resulting environmental impacts are subsequently quantified putting a special focus on the emissions of gases from biogenic sources in the agroecosystem. The comparison of heat provision based on whole cereal crops versus light oil over the entire life cycle shows that heat from biomass results in a lower environmental impact regarding the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, but a higher one with respect to eutrophication, acidification and the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. These results may change if the energy crops are produced extensively during agricultural processes, if other mitigation measures are undertaken or if the emissions from the combustion in the biomass-fired boiler are reduced.     

城市生活垃圾生命周期管理

生命周期评价是一种全面的环境管理工具,具有潜在的发展前景。０它通过对产品,产品系统,工艺活动整个生命周期的环境影响环境改善的机会进行评价。根据国际环境毒理与化学学会１９９３年和ＩＳＯ１４０００环境管理体系中关于生命周期评价的技术框架,本文应生命周期评价在城市生产垃圾管理系统中的作用及管理系统的清单分析,影响评价和改善评价进行研究。     

Central and individual air-conditioning systems — A comparison of environmental impacts and resource consumption in a life cycle perspective

This paper compares individual (split) and central systems of air-conditioning in a life cycle perspective, taking into account the environmental impacts and resource consumption during resource extraction, material production, production of the air-conditioning units, their use, disposal and recycling. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used in conducting this comparison.

Central systems have a longer lifetime than individual systems, lower electricity consumption and maintenance requirements during the use phase, and a higher recycling potential during the disposal phase. However, to transfer cool air, central systems use a large quantity of water pipes or air ducts, the production of which contributes significantly to resource use. The LCA study reveals that, on the whole, the central systems generally use less resources than split systems and result in lower environmental impacts.

The paper suggests a need for producers of air-conditioners to consider a change from being suppliers of air-conditioning hardware to being suppliers of cool air in order to overcome the initial cost constraints of central systems and realize their environmental and economic improvement potential to the benefit of the environment, and the industry as well as customers.     

Evaluating the environmental impacts of an urban wetland park based on emergy accounting and life cycle assessment: A case study in Beijing

In this paper, emergy accounting (EA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods are employed to investigate a typical urban wetland park, the Green Lake Urban Wetland Park (GLUWP) of Beijing, in terms of its environmental and capital inputs, ecosystem services and organic matter yields, environmental support, and sustainability. The LCA method is also used to obtain a quantitative estimation of the environmental impact of discharges during the entire life cycle of the GLUWP. Various emergy-based indices, such as emergy yield ratio (EYR), environmental load ratio (ELR), emergy sustainability index (ESI), net economic benefit (Np), and environmental impacts of process-based LCA, including global warming potential (GWP), eutrophication (EU), nonrenewable resource depletion (RU), energy consumption (EN), acidification potential (AP), photochemical oxidant creation potential (POCP), particulate matter (PM) and wastes (W), are calculated. The results show that the GLUWP has higher proportions of renewable resource input, less pressure on the environment, more environmental support and better ecological and economic benefits, which can be considered as an environment-friendly and long-term sustainable ecological practice, compared with another constructed wetland in Beijing. Meanwhile, the dominant environmental impact is induced by POCP with the construction phase contributing the most on the entire life cycle. It is expected that increasing green area, extensively using environment-friendly materials, optimizing construction techniques and reducing power consumption can promote the sustainability of the GLUWP.     

Effects of boreal forest management practices on the climate impact of CO2 emissions from bioenergy

In Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from biomass combustion are traditionally assumed climate neutral if the bioenergy system is CO₂ flux neutral, i.e. the quantity of CO₂ released approximately equals the amount of CO₂ sequestered in biomass. This convention is a plausible assumption for fast growing biomass species, but is inappropriate for slower growing biomass, like forests. In this case, the climate impact from biomass combustion can be potentially underestimated if CO₂ emissions are ignored, or overestimated, if biogenic CO₂ is considered equal to anthropogenic CO₂. The estimation of the effective climate impact should take into account how the CO₂ fluxes are distributed over time: the emission of CO₂ from bioenergy approximately occurs at a single point in time, while the absorption by the new trees is spread over several decades. Our research target is to include this dynamic time dimension in unit-based impact analysis, using a boreal forest stand as case study. The boreal forest growth is modelled with an appropriate function, and is investigated under different forestry regimes (affecting the growth rate and the year of harvest). Specific atmospheric decay functions for biomass-derived CO₂ are then elaborated for selected combinations of forest management options. The contribution to global warming is finally quantified using the GWP_bio index as climate metric. Results estimates the effects of these practices on the characterization factor used for the global warming potential of CO₂ from bioenergy, and point out the key role played by the selected time horizon.     

Problems associated with ecological assessment of packaging

Current trends in the development of the world packaging market and the place of ecological tendencies in them suggest the need to analyse the present status of studies on the ecological assessment of packaging materials and packaging. The aim of this study is to present some aspects of ecological assessment of packaging. The methods and criteria of ecological assessment of packaging, including Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and ecological classification of packaging proposed by COBRO (Polish Packaging Research and Development Centre) in Warsaw were used. The considerations presented in the paper related to the general assumptions of ecological assessment of packaging materials and packaging point to the complexity of the problem and, at the same time, to the immediate interest and importance of studies in this field, particularly in terms of implementing a specific environmental protection policy.     

Comparison on End-of-Life strategies of WEEE in China based on LCA

As the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) are upgraded more frequently in China, a large quantity of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) was and will be generated. It becomes an urgent issue to develop and adopt an effective End-of-Life (EoL) strategy for EEE in order to balance the resource recovery and environmental impacts. In an EoL strategy hierarchy for EEE, reuse strategy is usually deemed to be prior to materials recovery and other strategies. But in practice, the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies are always context-dependent. Therefore, main EoL strategies for EEE in China need to be evaluated in environment and resources aspects from the life cycle perspective. In this study, the obsolete refrigerator and Power Supply Unit (PSU) of desktop PC are both taken as the target products. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is applied to assess the environmental impacts of different EoL scenarios in China: Unit Reuse Scenario (URS), Component Reuse Scenario (CRS) and Materials Recovery Scenario (MRS). The LCA results show that the EoL strategies hierarchy is reasonable for the part of computer, but not necessarily suitable for obsolete refrigerators. When the policy makers promote or demote one EoL strategy especially reuse, it is necessary to take subsequent impacts into consideration.

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Analysis of household energy consumption and related CO2 emissions in the disregarded villages of Lijiang City,China

Energy is one of the most important elements required for poverty alleviation and socioeconomic development, and it has a particularly strong impact on households in rural areas. An extensive survey on household energy consumption patterns that interrelates socioeconomic and demographic factors was conducted in the disregarded villages of Lijiang City by using the stratified random sampling technique for 120 households. This study focuses on household energy consumption and the related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the study area. Firewood, biogas, and electricity were identified as the main energy sources of the rural households. This study demonstrates that 100% of the households use firewood, 52% use biogas, and 95% use electricity as fuel types. On average, each household consumed 1752 kg of firewood, 280 m³ of biogas, and 392 kWh of electricity annually. All households generated an annual average amount of CO₂ emissions of 3851 kg, of which 85.08% come from firewood, 7.66% from biogas, and 7.26% from electricity. Family size, income, and educational level were found to be the major factors that influence CO₂ emissions. The results of this study may be useful in explaining the energy consumption characteristics in the rural areas of Lijiang City and are expected to be useful in policy formulation for energy consumption and environmental protection.     

Daylight time and energy: Evidence from an Australian experiment

Several countries are considering using daylight saving time (DST) as a tool for energy conservation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the United States extended DST in 2007 with the goal of reducing electricity consumption. This paper assesses DST's impact on electricity demand by examining a quasi-experiment in which parts of Australia extended DST in 2000 to facilitate the Sydney Olympics. Using detailed panel data and a difference-in-difference-in-difference framework, we show that the extension did not reduce overall electricity consumption, but did cause a substantial intraday shift in demand consistent with activity patterns that are tied to the clock rather than sunrise and sunset.     

马鞍山市住宅冬季能耗调查

对马鞍山市60户住宅冬季能耗进行了问卷调查,分析了住宅建筑、采暖设备等的内容与特点,统计了冬季电、天然气和水的消耗,得出马鞍山市住宅冬季能耗相关指标;并比较了马鞍山市与长沙、上海等城市住宅的能耗调查结果,比较结果表明：虽然马鞍山市冬季平均能耗比同气候地区的大城市低,但采暖电耗并不比大城市低。     

Bewertungsmethoden zur Entscheidungsfindung in der Abfallentsorgung

In line with the aims of waste management, the handling of waste should hinder any damage to the environment as much as possible. There are a number of approaches for solving this action in practice, e.g. different treatment technologies for residual waste, from which the most favourable should be chosen. We have several different methods for supporting such choices. An evaluation of studies published in recent years that assess waste management measures has clearly showed that the impact on the environment alone is not a sufficient basis for decision-making. In most cases, the cost aspect is also of primary concern while the technical implementation and social aspects also have to be taken into consideration. In recent years a great number of assessment methods have been developed as tools in the decision-making process. However, the multitude of methods leads to different results depending on the methods, parameters and criteria of the research. The following paper will characterise the most important decision-making concepts, such as the Life Cycle Assessment, Product Line Analysis, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Scoring Model, etc. Examples will show how these methods can be applied to the issues of waste management. The conclusion will describe the current state of development for waste management applications.     

Sustainable consumption: the effects of knowledge,cultural values,environmental advertising,and demographics

As a result of human lifestyles and unsustainable consumption patterns, the environment continues to deteriorate and thus inhibit sustainable development. In order to curb this situation and promote a sustainable economy, one of the solution is to reduce conventional products consumption and shift to green products. Over the past 20 years, marketing managers keenly seek to understand the green market; however, inadequate information on how to promote consumers’ green behavioral intentions is slowing the growth of green markets and becomes a barrier for firms when developing segments and communicating strategies for effective promotion of green products in countries like Malaysia where the trend is fairly new. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the impact of environmental knowledge, cultural values, and environmental advertising and determine the moderating effect of income level, education level, and gender on consumers’ green purchase intentions. A survey was administered, and a total of 405 valid questionnaires were obtained. Structural equation modeling technique was used to evaluate the causal model by using SmartPLS 2.0 software. The finding results suggest that cultural values and environmental advertising are the main influences in building green purchase intentions, while environmental knowledge is not significantly related. The results also indicate that education level and gender have a significant positive moderation effect while income did not. This suggests that green purchase intentions’ motivational factors are greater among highly educated individuals, with females in particular. The discussions and implications of these findings are further elaborated.     

Saving power to conserve your reputation? The effectiveness of private versus public information

Environmental damage is often an unseen byproduct of other activities. Disclosing environmental impact privately to consumers can reduce the costs and/or increase the moral benefits of conservation behaviors, while publicly disclosing such information can provide an additional motivation for conservation - cultivating a green reputation. In a unique field experiment in the residence halls at the University of California – Los Angeles, we test the efficacy of detailed private and public information on electricity conservation. Private information was given through real-time appliance level feedback and social norms over usage, and public information was given through a publicly visible conservation rating. Our analysis is based on 7,120 daily observations about energy use from heating and cooling, lights and plug load for 66 rooms collected over an academic year. Our results suggest that while private information alone was ineffective, public information combined with private information motivated a 20 percent reduction in electricity consumption achieved through lower use of heating and cooling. Public information was particularly effective for above median energy users.