Life cycle energy impacts of automotive liftgate inner

This paper compares the life cycle energy use of a cast-aluminum, rear liftgate inner and a conventional, stamped steel liftgate inner used in a minivan. Using the best available aggregate life cycle inventory data and a simple spreadsheet-level analysis, energy comparisons were made at both the single-vehicle and vehicle-fleet levels. Since the product manufacture and use are distributed over long periods of time that, in a fleet, are not simple linear combinations of single product life cycles. Thus, it is all the products in use over a period of time, rather than a single product, that are more appropriate for the life cycle analysis. Using a set of consistent data, analyses also examine sensitivity to the level of analysis and the assumptions to determine the most favorable materials with respect to life cycle energy benefits.As expected, life cycle energy impacts of aluminum are lower than steel at a single-vehicle level – energy savings are determined to be 1.8 GJ/vehicle. Most energy savings occur at the vehicle operation phase due to improved fuel economy from lightweighting. The energy benefits are realized only very close to the average vehicle life of 14 years. With the incremental growth of the vehicle fleet, it takes longer – about 21 years – for aluminum to achieve life cycle equivalence with steel. The number of years aluminum needs to achieve equivalence with steel was found to be quite sensitive to aluminum manufacturing energy and fuel economy. As the steel industry races to compete with other materials for automotive lightweighting, a systems approach, instead of part-to-part comparison, is more appropriate in the determination of viability of aluminum substitution from an energy perspective.     

How farmers develop local ecological knowledge for on-farm tree management: The perspectives of some farming communities of Ghana

Scientific insights into what it means to manage on-farm trees by local farmers, is an essential step towards documenting local ecological knowledge for sustainable landscape management. A study was therefore conducted in the Kumawu Forest District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana to assess how farmers conceptualise on-farm tree management and develop local knowledge for it. Using a case study approach, data were collected through informal interviews and focus group discussions with 120 farmers drawn from 15 communities who were involved in the management of three cropping systems; cocoa, maize and cassava-cocoyam-plantain mix. It was observed that the farmers regard on-farm tree management as a continuous process which occurs in three phases of the farming cycle; land preparation, crop cultivation and fallow management. For each of the three phases, farmers are guided by specific principles that ensure enough light penetration in-between tree crowns in the land preparation phase, suitable spacing between trees and crops in the crop cultivation phase and adequate tree regeneration in the fallow phase. The decisions made during the selection of tree species, spacing of trees adjudged suitable for any particular cropping system and recruitment of saplings prior to the fallow phase of farming constitute tree management. Farmers develop tree management knowledge by studying the physical characteristics of species, matching them to ecological functions they could perform and how they are likely to respond to treatments meant to control or enhance their development. Species are then subjected to trial and recommended or otherwise.     

Review of LCA studies of solid waste management systems – Part I: Lessons learned and perspectives

The continuously increasing solid waste generation worldwide calls for management strategies that integrate concerns for environmental sustainability. By quantifying environmental impacts of systems, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool, which can contribute to answer that call. But how, where and to which extent has it been applied to solid waste management systems (SWMSs) until now, and which lessons can be learnt from the findings of these LCA applications? To address these questions, we performed a critical review of 222 published LCA studies of SWMS. We first analysed the geographic distribution and found that the published studies have primarily been concentrated in Europe with little application in developing countries. In terms of technological coverage, they have largely overlooked application of LCA to waste prevention activities and to relevant waste types apart from household waste, e.g. construction and demolition waste. Waste management practitioners are thus encouraged to abridge these gaps in future applications of LCA. In addition to this contextual analysis, we also evaluated the findings of selected studies of good quality and found that there is little agreement in the conclusions among them. The strong dependence of each SWMS on local conditions, such as waste composition or energy system, prevents a meaningful generalisation of the LCA results as we find it in the waste hierarchy. We therefore recommend stakeholders in solid waste management to regard LCA as a tool, which, by its ability of capturing the local specific conditions in the modelling of environmental impacts and benefits of a SWMS, allows identifying critical problems and proposing improvement options adapted to the local specificities.     

Review of LCA studies of solid waste management systems – Part II: Methodological guidance for a better practice

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly used in waste management to identify strategies that prevent or minimise negative impacts on ecosystems, human health or natural resources. However, the quality of the provided support to decision- and policy-makers is strongly dependent on a proper conduct of the LCA. How has LCA been applied until now? Are there any inconsistencies in the past practice? To answer these questions, we draw on a critical review of 222 published LCA studies of solid waste management systems. We analyse the past practice against the ISO standard requirements and the ILCD Handbook guidelines for each major step within the goal definition, scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation phases of the methodology. Results show that malpractices exist in several aspects of the LCA with large differences across studies. Examples are a frequent neglect of the goal definition, a frequent lack of transparency and precision in the definition of the scope of the study, e.g. an unclear delimitation of the system boundaries, a truncated impact coverage, difficulties in capturing influential local specificities such as representative waste compositions into the inventory, and a frequent lack of essential sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Many of these aspects are important for the reliability of the results. For each of them, we therefore provide detailed recommendations to practitioners of waste management LCAs.     

北京电动出租车与燃油出租车生命周期环境影响比较研究

燃油机动车尾气排放是导致城市包括雾霾在内的大气环境问题的主要来源之一.以电动汽车替代传统燃油车是当前各国解决城市大气污染问题的重要举措.北京于2011年启动了电动出租车推广计划.为比较北京市迷迪电动汽车和现代燃油车生命周期的环境影响,运用生命周期评价方法,基于Ga Bi4.4软件,选用CML2001和EI99影响评价模型对两款车的生产、使用和报废回收全生命周期过程的环境影响进行了定量评价,并针对汽车报废里程和电力能源结构进行了敏感性分析.结果表明,从全生命周期视角,根据EI99评价模型,迷迪电动汽车环境影响总体上优于现代燃油车,尤其在削减化石能源消耗方面优势凸显,但在生态系统质量影响及人体健康影响方面却略有增大的趋势;利用CML2001模型对比分析得出迷迪电动汽车比燃油出租车在对非生物资源消耗、全球变暖以及臭氧层损耗等方面有明显改善;但在生产阶段尤其是动力系统生产方面在非生物资源消耗、酸化、富营养化、全球变暖、光化学臭氧合成、臭氧层损耗、生态毒性等生态环境影响却均有增大趋势.使用阶段电力生产是迷迪电动汽车非生物资源消耗、酸化、富营养化、全球变暖、光化学臭氧合成、生态毒性等环境影响的主要来源;而现代燃油出租车使用阶段的环境影响主要来源于尾气排放和汽油生产,其中尾气排放是造成现代燃油车在富营养化和全球变暖等方面影响潜值较大的主要原因;基于清单数据库,针对致霾因子影响分析得出,在2010年北京市电力能源驱动下,迷迪电动车明显增加了超细颗粒物(PM2.5)、氮氧化物(NOx)、硫氧化物(SOx)、挥发性有机物(volatile organic compouds,VOCs)等因子的全生命周期的排放,而同时降低了氨气(NH3)的排放量,使用阶段排放的差别是造成上述趋势的主要原因.对关键因素敏感性分析发现,随着报废里程以及清洁能源比例的增加,迷迪电动汽车相对现代燃油车的单位里程碳减排量呈现增加的趋势.清洁电力能源的使用可大幅降低迷迪电动汽车致霾污染物的排放量.根据分析结果,为北京市电动车的推广提出了对策建议.     

水泥窑协同处置生活垃圾焚烧飞灰的汞排放特性及管控措施探讨

生活垃圾焚烧飞灰资源化利用主要途径之一是作为生产水泥原料。飞灰中富集了高浓度的汞、镉、铅等重金属。新型水泥窑的工艺特点导致高挥发性的汞无法固化在水泥熟料中,汞主要随烟气外排。当水泥窑处置飞灰规模较大、飞灰中汞含量较高时,如不采取控制措施,会导致水泥窑排放烟气中汞浓度超过标准限值。分别从机理分析、数据统计演算及实际检测结果多方面进行了验证,提出应加强对水泥窑协同处置飞灰过程中汞污染的认识及监督管理,探索有效的汞排放控制途径,确保汞排放达标。     

喀斯特常绿与落叶阔叶混交林过去50年来的碳循环模拟

通过对Forest-DNDC模型的植被和土壤参数本地化校准,以气象插值数据为输入,模拟了贵州省普定县高原型喀斯特次生常绿与落叶阔叶混交林1965~2014年的土壤、植被和生态系统碳循环特征。结果表明,与冷模拟和实测值相比,参数本地化校准后的模型能更准确地模拟春、秋、冬3个季节的土壤呼吸动态,而模拟的夏季土壤呼吸偏小;但统计检验指出,参数修订后的Forest-DNDC模型能够较好地模拟喀斯特森林土壤呼吸,降低了模拟误差,可用于喀斯特常绿与落叶阔叶混交林碳动态的模拟。进一步分析发现,1965~2014年喀斯特森林的碳通量除模拟早期的前3~4年急剧增加之外,随后总初级生产力(GPP)保持相对稳定,植物呼吸(Rplant)和生态系统呼吸(R_(ecosystem))随着森林发育而增加,土壤呼吸(R_(soil))减少,植被净初级生产力(NPP)呈迅速减小趋势;净生态系统碳交换量(NEE)亦较迅速下降,在2013年达到最低值-0.17 t C/ha,喀斯特森林由碳汇变为弱碳源。相关分析表明,年均温度和年降水对喀斯特常绿与落叶阔叶混交林的GPP和R_(soil)没有显著影响,但却显著影响NPP、R_(plant)、R_(ecosystem)和NEE。     

基于生命周期评价的城市固体废弃物处理模式研究进展

通过回顾2003-2010年国内外不同城市固体废弃物管理体系生命周期评价结果,列举比较了不同固体废弃物处理模式下的全球变暖潜力、酸化潜力和净能源效用等影响评价因子的大小,得出城市固体废弃物处理模式环境影响等级:填埋的环境影响潜值最大,焚烧的环境影响潜值小于填埋,而结合堆肥后环境影响潜值降低;此外,将固体废弃物资源化引入到处理模式后,特别是垃圾源头分类回收后,环境影响潜值大大降低。结合我国城市固体废弃物处理现状,提出单一的处理模式应转变为综合处理模式,多种生活垃圾处理方式适当的有机结合,因地制宜地开展固体废弃物资源化管理,以及餐厨垃圾源头分类收集处理等建议,为政府能有效利用城市固体废弃物处理设施的能力提供参考。     

铅酸蓄电池生命周期评价

铅酸蓄电池是世界上产量最大、用途最广的一种二次电池。铅酸蓄电池生命周期过程中每一个环节都有可能对环境带来不利影响,评估从生产到废弃处理关键过程中对环境的影响,可以为制定有效的管理政策提供科研支撑。目前,尚缺乏针对我国特色的铅酸蓄电池行业全生命周期评价的研究,造成此行业的污染防治无据可依。因此,本研究针对铅酸蓄电池的生命周期进行评价,通过设定研究目的与范围、收集数据与分析清单、获得影响评价和解释结果,研究了铅酸蓄电池对环境的影响,结果表明铅酸蓄电池在生产环节的板栅浇铸过程和废弃处理环节的脱硫过程应属于管理中着重控制的部分。     

ESS试验温度循环次数确定方法研究

介绍了环境应力筛选温度循环试验数学模型,通过雷达单元实际筛选数据统计建模计算,在相同的温度范围、温变速率条件下,进行筛选度和循环次数的理论与实际数据对比分析,得出了确定雷达组成电子单元温度循环试验循环次数的方法和修正系数。