Assessing environmental performance by combining life cycle assessment, multi-criteria analysis and environmental performance indicators

We present a new analytical tool, called COMPLIMENT, which can be used to provide detailed information on the overall environmental impact of a business. COMPLIMENT integrates parts of tools such as life cycle assessment, multi-criteria analysis and environmental performance indicators. It avoids disadvantages and combines complementary aspects of these three tools. The methodology is based on environmental performance indicators, expanding the scope of data collection towards a life cycle approach and including a weighting and aggregation step. A case study on the Thai pulp industry illustrates the usefulness of COMPLIMENT.     

A comparative study on milk packaging using life cycle assessment: from PA-PE-Al laminate and polyethylene in China

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was used to compare the environmental impacts in the life cycle of two milk packaging systems, PA-PE-Al laminate—a laminated foil made from paper, polyethylene and aluminum foil—and polyethylene. The data for the mass, energy fluxes and environmental emissions were obtained from published literature and from site investigations, for the two systems being analyzed for environmental impacts. The application of LCA using Eco-Indicator 99 has made the comparison of the environmental impacts of the two milk packages possible. The results of this LCA study are discussed and the results reveal that the composite packaging has a slightly higher environmental impact than the plastic one. In addition, the environmental impact of raw material extraction is the highest in all of the life cycle stages except for disposal. The environmental impact of composite packaging mainly comes from the fossil fuels, land use and respiratory inorganics categories, while the plastic packaging mainly comes from the fossil fuels category. However, the composite packaging has a greater environmental impact because it has not been well recycled and reused. This environmental impact could be decreased by developing the technology to separate out polyethylene and aluminum from the packaging.     

Screening life cycle assessment (LCA) of tomato ketchup: a case study

A screening life cycle assessment (LCA) of tomato ketchup has been carried out. The purpose was to identify ‘hot-spots', that is parts of the life-cycle that are important to the total environmental impact. The system investigated includes agricultural production, industrial refining, packaging, transportation, consumption and waste management. Energy use and emissions were quantified and some of the potential environmental effects assessed. Packaging and food processing were found to be hot-spots for many, but not all, of the impact categories investigated. For primary energy use, the storage time in a refrigerator (household phase) was found to be a critical parameter.     

Life cycle assessment of coated white board: a case study in China

Life cycle assessment was carried out using IMPACT2002+ to estimate the environmental impact of coated white board production, which is common in China. Normalized results showed that the potential impacts of respiratory inorganics, terrestrial ecotoxicity, global warming, and non-renewable energy had a dominant contributions to overall environmental impact. Specifically, emissions from chemical and energy production processes exhibited higher potential impact (more than 80% of the total contribution) on the environment than that of emissions generated from transport, landfill, wastewater treatment, and paper plants infrastructure. Energy recovery from black liquor and energy generation based on natural gas are key factors in reducing overall environmental potential impact. The current paper presents improvements on the environmental performance of a coated white board production site in China.     

我国环境影响评价中存在的问题及其对策

通过分析我国的环境影响评价制度与工作体系，认为存在９个方面的问题，对此提出了６点相应的对策及建议。     

Environmental impact on the development of agricultural technology in China: the case of the dike-pond (‘jitang’) system of integrated agriculture-aquaculture in the Zhujiang Delta of China

The development of the environmentally conserving dike-pond system of integrated agriculture and aquaculture in the Zhujiang Delta of south China is traced to illustrate the impact of environmental changes on technological innovations. The technologies of dike building, land reclamation, pond fish culture, and crop cultivation on dikes, which were either independently developed or modified from ideas brought in by migrant farmers from northern China, represented farmers' efforts to adapt to the new characteristics of a changed environment as population pressure increased. The new technologies revealed the farmers' awareness of the need for environmental conservation. However, increased population pressure also necessitated more intensive use of the land, both in the highland and lowland regions, giving rise to inappropriate dike building and premature reclamation activities, which in turn brought about more frequent flooding in the delta region. Careless application of a new technology tended to have harmful effects on the environment. Political conditions in different periods of China's economic development have also caused changes in the dike-pond system which has to maintain high productivity and profitability. Recent advances in dike-pond system technology have focused on crop diversification and animal husbandry to match the three-dimensional characteristics of its ecological components. New agricultural technologies can be successful in China only if they can provide a balance between land use and conservation.     

战略环境评价在环境与发展综合决策中的作用

建立环境与发展综合决策机制是加强宏观环境管理的着眼点和突破口，其中战略环境评价（SEA）是重要工具，回顾了SEA的概念及发展，从技术支持，运行框架和长远效益几方面论述了SEA所能发挥的核心作用。划分SEA的不同工作模式，阐述其综合决策特征，归纳SEA的成功因素，提出我国开展SEA的建议。     

环境影响评价中清洁生产分析的主要内容及改进

根据清洁生产的基本涵义及环境影响评价中清洁生产分析的原则与目标，分析了清洁生产分析的主要内容，并针对目前存在的问题，提出了改进意见。     

A methodology for the life cycle and sustainability analysis of manufacturing processes

Life cycle assessment is emerging as a powerful tool in the evaluation of the environmental impact of manufacturing processes. This paper describes a general methodology for the life cycle analysis of manufacturing processes taking into account the flexibility and decision-making potential of knowledge base systems. Emphasis is placed on on-site waste minimisation and associated sustainability characteristics in relation to environmental impact assessment and process improvement. The ensuing software model is applied with some success to an initial study of pulp and paper manufacture.     

潮州市环境教育实践与发展思考

环境教育是提高全民族思想道德素质和科学文化素质（包括环境意识在内）的基本手段之一。文章介绍了潮州市在中、小学和幼儿园的环境教育实践，对如何促进环境教育全面发展提出了自己的看法。     

Integration of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell in a sugar-ethanol factory: analysis of the efficiency and the environmental profile of the products

The effect of the integration of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology in a sugar-ethanol factory on the environmental profile/footprint of the products (sugar, ethanol, electricity) is evaluated. The sugarcane is the primary feedstock and sugar, ethanol and electricity are the main products of the system, where the functional unit is defined as 9.86 ton/h of sugar, 2.195 ton/h of hydrated ethanol (96% w/w) and 847 kWh of electricity. A detailed set of material and energy inputs and outputs was obtained from a local factory and was completed using simulation data by Aspen Plus^®.The environmental impacts (greenhouse gases and air pollution), exergy efficiency and a renewability parameter have been considered as indicators for the comparative assessment with conventional sugar, ethanol and electricity production technologies. The results show that the use of a SOFC technology involves a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (52-55%) and non-renewable resources (60-64%) when compared with the conventional integrated sugar and ethanol plant. The higher renewability index (0.93) and exergy efficiency (38%) are noticed for the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology integrated in the sugar-ethanol factory than conventional sugar-ethanol plant.     

环评现状调查中存在的问题及对策探析

环境现状调查所获得的区域环境质量参数值是建设项目环境影响评价的背景资料,其科学性直接影响到能否得出科学、可信的环评结论.在此针对现状调查工作开展过程中出现的随意套用现有资料、监测资料准确性和可用性差等问题,通过实例分析若干应重点关注的因素和规范的操作,更好地促进现状调查工作满足环境影响评价的需求.     

科技创新战略中的“十二五”环境保护规划展望

本文对黑龙江省"十二五"期间经济又好又快发展、城镇化进程加快等因素带来的环境压力以及需重点关注的环境问题进行了分析,提出要创新思路,完善环境科技支撑体系,发展壮大环保产业,以解决重大环境问题为突破,推动环境科技创新,为黑龙江省环境保护"十二五"规划编制提供思路。     

Environmental decision making in multi-stakeholder contexts: applicability of life cycle thinking in development planning and implementation

According to the targets set for sustainability, integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs is one of the main goals for development projects. A major challenge in the development field is cross-sectoral integrated planning and achieving multi-stakeholder consensus for collaborative joint projects, especially when sustainability is a goal. This increases the complexity of the multi-stakeholder interaction in decision making and requires enhanced mechanisms for stakeholder participation, coordination, and commitment beyond narrow self-interest. A critical aspect in the decision making process is to enable stakeholders to not only interpret and make decisions based on expert judgments, but also to appropriately involve the relevant parties in the research and decision making process. Therefore, scientific analyses in multi-stakeholder contexts have to be more transparent, participatory, and stakeholder-based in order to provide useful information to assist responsible decision making.This paper presents an outline of a stakeholder-based life cycle assessment approach that can be used to support sustainable decision making in multi-stakeholder contexts. The framework is discussed and compared to other common methods used to support environmental decision making in development projects. We argue that the fundamental concept of life cycle thinking can be effectively used to incorporate stakeholders in the research and decision making process, which can lead to more comprehensive, yet achievable assessments in collaboration with stakeholders. Life cycle thinking is not just a way to examine environmental impacts of activities, but also a way to comprehend and visualize a broader set of upstream and downstream consequences of decisions in development planning and implementation. A life cycle framework including the mapping of stakeholder involvement at each activity in upstream and downstream stages would give stakeholders a holistic view that they otherwise may not have.     

江苏泗阳经济开发区环境保护的现状与对策

地处苏北的江苏泗阳经济开发区在加快发展地方经济的同时,环境保护工作也面临着巨大的挑战。目前已暴露出诸多环境方面的问题与困惑,这将给开发区实施可持续发展带来一定的负面影响,江苏泗阳经济开发区要想大有作为,实现省级一流开发区的奋斗目标,必须进一步优化投资环境,首当其冲的应着力解决存在的环境问题。在此分析了当前开发区存在的环境问题,探讨进一步完善,强化和实施的若干对策。     

中国战略环境评价（SEA）研究进展及发展趋势

自1990年战略环境评价引入中国以来,SEA在中国已经有了很大发展。中国政府已于2002年颁布了《中华人民共和国环境影响评价法》（以下称“环评法”）,该法中明确规定了对各级政府制定的规划需要进行SEA。通过运用资料调查和文献分析等方法,针对环评法实施后中国SEA实践和学术研究成果进行分析,并探讨中国SEA主要层次一规划环境影响评价的研究现状,总结发展特点;结合中国国情提出中国SEA发展趋势。     

长输管道穿越河流的环境影响及对策浅析

由于近年来施工机械及河流穿越技术的不断进步,对于各地区不同的气候和地质条件,各类长输管道穿越河流等特殊地段的施工方式日趋多样化,除工程成本及管线安全性外,也更多的考虑到了工程施工给周边环境带来的不良影响,如何在穿越地段选择合理的施工方式和污染防治措施已成为工程设计阶段的重要关注点,本文主要针对目前中国油气长输管道穿越河流段普遍采用的施工方式进行环境影响分析,并在此基础上提出相应污染防治措施。     

Marginalization by collaboration: Environmental justice as a third party in and beyond CALFED

Governance and planning of ecosystem and water management within the California Bay-Delta, a critical component of California's water economy, have been characterized by a range of innovations in collaboration and conflict resolution. Despite legal mandates to incorporate environmental justice, the California Bay-Delta Authority's (CBDA) policy-development process and the subsequent Delta Vision process have systematically marginalized the role of environmental justice in California's water policy. We suggest that environmental justice in Bay-Delta planning can be understood as a “third party” with a tenuous seat at the CALFED water management table. As such environmental justice is a useful lens through which to assess the state's broader commitments and capacities relative to equity as a planning principal and outcome. We interpret the fate of environmental justice within Bay-Delta planning as indicative of the inherent tensions between systems based on increasing market dominance and state legitimation and the values of environmental justice based on distributive, procedural, and cognitive justice. We construct a model of marginalization and environmental injustice in collaborative planning to illustrate these tensions. We draw upon experiences of members of the Environmental Justice Sub-Committee of CBDA's Bay Delta Public Advisory Committee, as well as interviews with other key environmental justice interests, and a comprehensive review of internal and public CBDA documents relating to the environmental justice program including budgets and program plans, and ethnographic field work. We conclude that by learning from the mistakes of Bay-Delta planning, a positive model of collaborative, environmental justice-based planning for water and ecosystem management is possible.     

RS和GIS在风景区旅游开发项目生态环评中的应用

目前风景区旅游开发项目日益增多,旅游开发活动对区域生态环境的影响不容忽视。RS-GIS应用于生态环境评价,不仅可以将空间数据和属性数据有机地结合在一起,而且对空间数据分析具有高效、快捷、准确的功能,为生态环境影响定量化评价提供了有力的技术支撑。文章就遥感-地理信息系统技术在湖北某风景区旅游开发项目生态环境影响评价中的应用进行了分析。     

大型水电站建设的环境影响及生态修复--以云南漫湾水电站为例

跨境河流澜沧江有着丰富的水能优势,是云南省水电开发程度最高的河流,其系列梯级电站的建设带来了诸多的环境问题,如生物多样性改变、水环境系统失衡、地质灾害日益严重、库区景观遭到破坏等。为降低水电开发对环境的负面影响,在对该区域的水电开发环境问题成因分析的基础上,提出采用适当的方法措施对生态进行修复,以期达到经济、社会和环境的和谐,实现可持续发展。