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.     

活性氧参与多壁碳纳米管诱导的RAW264.7细胞毒性

碳纳米管以其独特的结构和性能,在生物医药和电子等领域广泛应用,而其生态安全性也成为科学界关注的焦点。为探究多壁碳纳米管(MWCNTs)诱导的细胞毒性机制,将小鼠肺泡巨噬细胞(RAW264.7)暴露于6个浓度梯度(0、25、50、100、150和200μg.mL-1)的MWCNTs中,应用噻唑蓝(MTT)法测定细胞存活率,用2’,7’-二氯荧光素二乙酸(DCFH-DA)荧光染色法测定细胞内活性氧的生产量,用流式细胞方法测定MWCNTs对细胞周期的影响。同时使用抗氧化剂氮乙酰半胱氨酸(NAC)验证MWCNTs诱导的细胞氧化损伤的作用机理。结果显示,MWCNTs对RAW264.7的细胞毒性呈剂量依赖性。暴露于不同浓度的MWCNTs(25、50、100、150和200μg.mL-1)下24h后,细胞活力分别为对照的74%、62%、59%、51%和45%。MWCNTs对RAW264.7的周期阻滞作用主要发生在G0/G1期。200μg.mL-1的MWCNTs处理3h后活性氧较对照组上升6.6倍。NAC对MWCNTs细胞毒作用有明显的抑制作用,且NAC能减弱MWCNTs对RAW264.7的细胞周期阻滞作用。研究表明,活性氧能够介导MWCNTs对小鼠巨噬细胞RAW264.7的损伤,并且MWCNTS通过细胞周期G0/G1期的阻滞,诱导细胞凋亡。     

地下水六价铬运移的仿真及场地修复限值探讨

根据渗流理论,考虑地下水中水头变化的影响,利用COMSOL软件,对六价铬在地下水中的运移进行数值模拟,得到地下水压力水头和六价铬在地下水中的迁移变化规律,为六价铬对地下水的污染研究和预测提供重要的分析数据。并借此计算得出场地地下水的修复指导限值为3.17 mg/kg。     

亚磷酸盐降解微生物的筛选、鉴定和降解特性

从太湖底泥中筛选出一株能够利用亚磷酸盐(+3价)的细菌P1.通过生理生化实验及16S rDNA基因序列分析鉴定,P1菌与所有已知菌的同源性都很低,属于未知的新菌株.P1菌的最适培养条件为:pH6.5~7.0、温度30℃.P1菌能以亚磷酸盐为唯一磷源生长,在60~100mg P/L的初始亚磷酸盐培养条件下,100mgP/L的亚磷酸盐培养基中亚磷酸盐减少量最大(11%),培养基中生成正磷酸盐的比例最高1.6%.初始亚磷酸盐浓度越低,碱性磷酸酶(BAP)活性越高,60mgP/L的亚磷酸盐培养基中BAP的最高活性为1.86mol PNP/(L菌液·h).P1菌可能通过BAP将亚磷酸盐转化成生物体内所需的磷源.     

软弱基底排土场变形破坏治理措施研究

针对软弱基底露天矿排土场普遍存在的变形破坏问题,结合胜利东二露天矿南排土场南帮边坡的工程实际,基于极限平衡理论,给出了通过探槽及滑坡变形反分析综合确定基底赋存条件及抗剪强度指标的方法;提出了对软弱基底排土场的变形治理措施;根据已有监测数据,对南帮边坡治理效果进行了评价。结果表明:在实施削坡减载措施后,各地表监测点的累计位移趋于平缓,边坡治理措施效果明显,解决了胜利东二露天矿迫切的安全问题,为同样具有软弱基底的其他露天矿排土场变形及破坏治理提供了指导。     

中国经济转型阶段建设用地增长极限计量研究

论文以中国经济发展进程中的建设用地增长态势为研究起点,在把握经济发展与建设用地增长规律的基础上,提出建设用地增长极限命题;通过构建边际模型,计量建设用地增长的极限时点,进而剖析时空变化规律。结果表明:①1978-2000年间中国经济发展与建设用地增长具有周期性波动特征,两者波动周期基本一致;②中国建设用地增长极限平均时点为2047年左右,不同省(市)建设用地增长极限特征不论时间纵向还是空间横向比较,都大致沿东南-西北线依次分级;③东部地区较早达到建设用地增长极限,其中上海、江苏和广东等11个省(市)早于全国平均时点,河北、四川和青海等其余19个省(市)晚于全国平均水平,东部地区建设用地增长压力较大,中、西部地区增长压力相对较小。最后,论文提出提高中、西部地区的土地利用效率,控制粗放利用,鼓励技术创新等加快逼近建设用地增长极限的政策和建议。     

北京及周边地区典型站点近地面O3的变化特征

利用2008年6月1日~2009年5月31日在北京城区中国气象局(CMA),及其西南方向固城站(GCH)和东北方向上甸子本底站(SDZ)的近地面O3等观测数据,分析了O3的变化特征及其与其他污染物和气象要素的关系.结果表明,上甸子本底站近地面O3的季节变化和日变化规律与固城和北京城区站存在一定的差异,而固城站和北京城区站的O3变化特征差异较小.相关性分析显示,O3与NO、NO2、NOx、RH多呈负相关,且相关性冬季好于夏季,此外,O3与气温和风速呈正相关,其中北京城区站冬季和夏季O3与风速的相关性差异最明显.O3浓度与地面风向有一定关系,当风向为偏南时,O3浓度较高,当风向为东北时,O3浓度偏低.     

Emergy analysis using US economic input-output models with applications to life cycles of gasoline and corn ethanol

A commonly encountered challenge in emergy analysis is the lack of transformity data for many economic products and services. To overcome this challenge, emergy analysts approximate the emergy input from the economy via a single emergy/money ratio for the country and the monetary price of economic inputs. This amounts to assuming homogeneity in the entire economy, and can introduce serious uncertainties in the results. This paper proposes and demonstrates the use of a thermodynamically augmented economic input-output model of the US economy for obtaining sector-specific emergy to money ratios that can be used instead of a single ratio. These ratios at the economy scale are more accurate than a single economy-wide emergy/money ratio, and can be obtained quickly for hundreds of economic products and services. Comparing sector-specific emergy/money ratios with those from conventional emergy studies indicates that the input-output model can provide reasonable estimates of transformities at least as a stop-gap measure until more detailed analysis is completed. A hybrid approach to emergy analysis is introduced and compared with conventional emergy analysis using life cycles of corn ethanol and gasoline as examples. Emergy and transformity data from the hybrid approach are similar to those from conventional emergy analysis, indicating the usefulness of the proposed approach. In addition, this work proposes the metric of return on emergy investment for assessing product alternatives with the same utility such as transportation fuels. The proposed approach and data may be used easily via web-based software.     

The representation of cyanobacteria life cycle processes in aquatic ecosystem models

Two simplified versions of a numerical life cycle model for diazotrophic cyanobacteria (of the order Nostocales) are developed and evaluated. Both consider two-life cycle stages, one growing, nitrogen-fixing stage and one stage that combines the resting, germinating and vegetative stages. The versions differ in the vertical resolution of the non-diazotrophic stage: version 1 collects the biomass in one layer at the bottom, version 2 considers sinking and rising of biomass explicitly. The results of the two versions are compared with a complex cyanobacteria life cycle model which describes four different life cycle stages each with two internal quotas for energy and nitrogen. The two simplified approaches show a good agreement with respect to the main characteristics of cyanobacteria dynamics (timing and duration of blooms, magnitude of nitrogen fixation, interannual variability). Our model study shows that both simplified approaches are suitable to be implemented into three-dimensional coastal or lake models.     

Modelling forest management within a global vegetation model—Part 1: Model structure and general behaviour

This article describes a new forest management module (FMM) that explicitly simulates forest stand growth and management within a process-based global vegetation model (GVM) called ORCHIDEE. The net primary productivity simulated by ORCHIDEE is used as an input to the FMM. The FMM then calculates stand and management characteristics such as stand density, tree size distribution, tree growth, the timing and intensity of thinnings and clear-cuts, wood extraction and litter generated after thinning. Some of these variables are then fed back to ORCHIDEE. These computations are made possible with a distribution-based modelling of individual tree size. The model derives natural mortality from the relative density index (rdi), a competition index based on tree size and stand density. Based on the common forestry management principle of avoiding natural mortality, a set of rules is defined to calculate the recurrent intensity and frequency of forestry operations during the stand lifetime. The new-coupled model is called ORCHIDEE-FM (forest management).The general behaviour of ORCHIDEE-FM is analysed for a broadleaf forest in north-eastern France. Flux simulation throughout a forest rotation compare well with the literature values, both in absolute values and dynamics.Results from ORCHIDEE-FM highlight the impact of forest management on ecosystem C-cycling, both in terms of carbon fluxes and stocks. In particular, the average net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of 225 gC m⁻² year⁻¹ is close to the biome average of 311 gC m⁻² year⁻¹. The NEP of the “unmanaged” case is 40% lower, leading us to conclude that management explains 40% of the cumulated carbon sink over 150 years. A sensitivity analysis reveals 4 major avenues for improvement: a better determination of initial conditions, an improved allocation scheme to explain age-related decline in productivity, and an increased specificity of both the self-thinning curve and the biomass-diameter allometry.