Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 32759
A Consumption-Based Hybrid Life Cycle Assessment of Carbon Footprints in California: High Footprints in Small Urban Households

Authors: Jukka Heinonen

Abstract:

Higher density reduces distances, private car dependency and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). As a result, increased density has been given a central role among urban development targets. However, it is not just travel behavior that changes along with density. Rather, the consumption patterns, or overall lifestyles, change along with changing urban structure, particularly with changing housing types and consumption opportunities. Furthermore, elevated consumption of services, more frequent flying and less intra-household sharing have been shown to potentially outweigh the gains from reduced driving in more dense urban settlements. In this study, the geography of carbon footprints (CFs) in California is analyzed paying close attention to the household size differences and the resulting economies-of-scale advantages and disadvantages. A hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) framework is employed together with consumer expenditure data to assess the CFs. According to the study, small urban households have the highest CFs in California. Their transport related emissions are significantly lower than those of the residents of less urbanized areas, but higher emissions from other consumption categories, together with the low degree of sharing of goods, overweigh the gains. Two functional units, per capita and per household, are used to analyze the CFs and to demonstrate the importance of household size. The lifestyle impacts visible through the consumption data are also discussed. The study suggests that there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the premises of low-carbon human settlements.

Keywords: Carbon footprint, life cycle assessment, consumption, lifestyle, household size, economies-of-scale.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1339708

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1161

References:


[1] IPCC (2014). Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1132 pp.
[2] E. Glaeser, M. Kahn, “The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban development”, Journal of Urban Economics, 2010, Vol. 67, pp. 404-418.
[3] R. Ewing, R. Cervero, “Travel and the Built Environment”, Journal of the American Planning Association, 2010, 76, 265-294.
[4] J. VandeWeghe, C. Kennedy, “A Spatial Analysis of Residential Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 11 (2), pp. 133-144.
[5] A. Ramaswami, T. Hillman, B. Janson, M. Reiner, G. Thomas, “A demand-centered, hybrid life-cycle methodology for city-scale greenhouse gas inventories”, Environmental Science & Technology, 2008, Vol. 42, pp. 6455-6461.
[6] D. Hoornweg, L. Sugar, C. Trejos Gomez, “Cities and greenhouse gas emissions: moving forward”, Environment and Urbanization, 2011, Vol. 23, pp. 207-227.
[7] J. Heinonen, M. Jalas, J.K. Juntunen, S. Ala-Mantila, S. Junnila, "Situated lifestyles: I. How lifestyles change along with the level of urbanization and what the greenhouse gas implications are—a study of Finland", Environmental Research Letters, 2013a, Vol. 8 (2), pp. 025003.
[8] J. Heinonen, M. Jalas, J.K. Juntunen, S. Ala-Mantila, S. Junnila, "Situated lifestyles: II. The impacts of urban density, housing type and motorization on the greenhouse gas emissions of the middle-income consumers in Finland", Environmental Research Letters, 2013b, Vol. 8 (3), pp. 035050.
[9] S. Ala-Mantila, J. Heinonen, S. Junnila, “Relationship between urbanization, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and household expenditures: a multivariate analysis”, Ecological Economics, 2014, Vol. 104, pp. 129-139.
[10] D. Wiedenhofer, M. Lenzen, J.K. Steinberger, "Energy requirements of consumption: Urban form, climatic and socio-economic factors, rebounds and their policy implications", Energy Policy, 2013, Vol. 63, pp. 696-707.
[11] S. Ala-Mantila, J. Ottelin, J. Heinonen, S. Junnila, “To each their own? The greenhouse gas impacts of intra-household sharing in different urban zones”, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.05.156.
[12] J. Ottelin, J. Heinonen, S. Junnila, “Greenhouse gas emissions from flying can offset the gain from reduced driving in dense urban areas”, Journal of Transport Geography, 2014, Vol. 41, pp. 1–9.
[13] T. Baynes, T. Wiedmann, “General approaches for assessing urban environmental sustainability”, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2012, Vol. 4, pp. 1-7.
[14] J.R. Kenworthy, “The eco-city: Ten key transport and planning dimensions for sustainable city development”, Environment & Urbanization, 2006, Vol. 18, pp. 67-85.
[15] J. Norman, H. MacLean, C. Kennedy, “Comparing high and low residential density: life-cycle analysis of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions”, Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 2006, Vol 132, pp. 10–21.
[16] R. Fuller, R. Crawford, “Impact of past and future residential housing development patterns on energy demand and related emissions”, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 2011, Vol 26 (2), pp. 165-83.
[17] J. Heinonen, “The Impacts of Urban Structure and the Related Consumption Patterns on the Carbon Emissions of an Average Consumer”, Aalto University publication series, DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 25/2012, Espoo, Finland.
[18] J. Minx, G. Baiocchi, T. Wiedmann, J. Barrett, F. Creutzig, K. Feng, M. Förster, P. Pichler, H. Weisz, K. Hubacek, “Carbon footprints of cities and other human settlements in the UK”, Environmental Research Letters, 2013, Vol. 8 (3), pp. 035039.
[19] J. Heinonen, S. Junnila, “Residential energy consumption patterns and the overall housing energy requirements of urban and rural households in Finland”, Energy and Buildings, 2014, Vol. 76, pp. 295-303.
[20] M. Bradbury, M. Peterson, J. Liu, “Long-term dynamics of household size and their environmental implications”, Population and Environment, Vol. 36 (1), pp. 73-84.
[21] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013. Consumer Expenditure Survey. 2012 CE Public-Use Microdata. Online at: http://www.bls.gov/cex/pumd_2012.htm. Accessed 17 Oct 2013.
[22] Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Green Design Institute, 2010, Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA), US 2002 Industry Benchmark Producer Price Model. Available from: .
[23] C.M. Jones, D.M. Kammen, “Quantifying Carbon Footprint Reduction Opportunities for U.S. Households and Communities”, Environmental Science & Technology, 2011, Vol. 45 (9), pp. 4088-4095.
[24] C.M. Jones, D.M. Kammen, ”Spatial distribution of US household carbon footprints reveals suburbanization undermines greenhouse gas benefits of urban population density", Environmental Science & Technology, 2014, Vol. 48 (2), pp. 895-902.
[25] C.L. Weber, H.S. Matthews, “Quantifying the global and distributional aspects of American household carbon footprint”, Ecological Economics, 2008, Vol. 66 (2-3), pp. 379-391.
[26] L. Schipper, S. Bartlett, D. Hawk, E. Vine, “Linking life-styles and energy use: a matter of time?”, Annu. Rev. Energy, 1989, Vol. 14, pp. 271–320.
[27] N. Schulz, “Delving into the carbon footprints of Singapore—Comparing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions of a small and open economic system”, Energy Policy, 2007, Vol. 38, pp. 4848-4855.
[28] D.S. Nijdam, H. Wilting, M. Goedkoop, J. Madsen, “Environmental Load from Dutch Private Consumption”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2005, Vol. 9 (1-2), pp. 147-168.
[29] P. Erickson, D. Allaway, M. Lazarus, E. Stanton, “A Consumption-Based GHG Inventory for the U.S. State of Oregon”, Environmental Science & Technology, 2012, Vol. 46 (7), pp. 3679-3686.
[30] G.P. Peters, E.G. Hertwich, “CO2 Embodied in International Trade with Implications for Global Climate Policy”, Environmental Science & Technology, 2008, Vol. 42 (5), pp. 1401-1407.
[31] S. Davis, K. Caldeira, “Consumption-based accounting of CO₂ emissions”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2010, Vol. 107 (12), pp. 5687-5692.
[32] P. Newman, “The environmental impact of cities”, Environment & Urbanization, 2006, Vol. 18 (2), pp. 275–295.
[33] J. Heinonen, S. Junnila, “Implications of urban structure on carbon consumption in metropolitan areas”, Environmental Research Letters, 2011a, Vol. 6, pp. 014018.
[34] J. Heinonen, S. Junnila, “Case study on the carbon consumption of two metropolitan cities”, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2011b, Vol. 16, pp. 569-579.
[35] B. Sovacool, M. Brown, “Twelve metropolitan carbon footprints: A preliminary comparative global assessment”, Energy Policy, 2010, Vol. 38, pp. 4856-4869.
[36] G. Chen, T. Wiedmann, M. Hadjikakou, H. Rowley, “City Carbon Footprint Networks”, Energies, 2016, Vol. 9, 602; doi:10.3390/en9080602
[37] A. Kerkhof, S. Nonhebel, H. Moll, “Relating the environmental impact of consumption to household expenditures: an input–output analysis”, Ecological Economics, 2009, Vol. 68, pp. 1160–1170.
[38] E. Hertwich, G. Peters, “Carbon Footprint of Nations: A Global, Trade-Linked Analysis”, Environmental Science & Technology, 2009, Vol. 43 (16), pp.6414–6420.
[39] J. Heinonen, A. Säynäjoki, M. Kuronen, S. Junnila, “Are the Greenhouse Gas Implications of New Residential Developments Understood Wrongly?”, Energies, 2012, Vol. 5 (8), pp. 2874-2893.
[40] H.S. Matthews, C.T. Hendrickson, C.L. Weber, “The Importance of Carbon Footprint Estimation Boundaries”, Environmental Science & Technology, 2008, Vol. 42 (16), pp. 5839-5842.
[41] S. Suh, M. Lenzen, G. Treloar, H. Hondo, A. Horvath, G. Huppes, O. Jolliet, U. Klann, W. Krewitt, Y. Moriguchi, J. Munksgaard, G. Norris, “System Boundary Selection in Life-Cycle Inventories Using Hybrid Approaches”, Environmental Science & Technology, 2004, Vol. 38 (3), pp. 657-664.
[42] M. Lenzen, "Errors in Conventional and Input-Output-based Life-Cycle Inventories", Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2000, Vol. 4 (4), pp. 127-148.
[43] W. Leontief, “Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure: An Input-Output Approach”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1970, 52 (3), 262-271.
[44] R. Crawford, “Life Cycle Assessment in the Built Environment”, Spon Press 2011, London, UK.
[45] A. Horvath, J. Stokes, “Life-cycle Energy Assessment of Alternative Water Supply Systems in California”, California Energy Commission, 2011.
[46] U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2013a. 2012 Total Electric Industry: Average Retail Price. Online at http://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/ pdf/table4.pdf. Accessed on December 3, 2013.
[47] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2008a. Direct Emissions from Stationary Combustion Sources. US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation. May 2008.
[48] U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2013b. Natural Gas Prices. Online at http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_a_epg0_prs_dmcf_m.htm. Accessed on December 3, 2013.
[49] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2008b. Direct Emissions from Mobile Combustion Sources. US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation. May 2008.
[50] U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2013c. Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update. Online at http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/ wrgp/mogas_history.html. Accessed on December 3, 2013.
[51] A. Strandell, C.M. Hall, “Impact of the residential environment on the second home use in Finland – Testing the compensation hypothesis”, Landscape and Urban Planning, 2014, Vol. 133, pp. 12-23.
[52] B. Girod, P. de Haan, P., “More or Better? A Model for Changes in Household Greenhouse Gas Emissions due to Higher Income”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 14 (1), pp. 31-49.