Search results for: energy life cycle assessment

Authors: M. Torres, A. Moulay, M. Zhuldybina, M. Rozel, N. D. Trinh, C. Bois

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Printed electronics are a fast-growing market as their applications cover a large range of industrial needs, their production cost is low, and the additive printing techniques consume less materials than subtractive manufacturing methods used in traditional electronics. With the growing demand for printed electronics, there are concerns about their harmful and irreversible contribution to the environment. Indeed, it is estimated that 80% of the environmental load of a product is determined by the choices made at the conception stage. Therefore, examination through a life cycle approach at the developing stage of a novel product is the best way to identify potential environmental issues and make proactive decisions. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a comprehensive scientific method to assess the environmental impacts of a product in its different stages of life: extraction of raw materials, manufacture and distribution, use, and end-of-life. Impacts and major hotspots are identified and evaluated through a broad range of environmental impact categories of the ReCiPe (H) middle point method. At the conception stage, the LCA is a tool that provides an environmental point of view on the choice of materials and processes and weights-in on the balance between performance materials and eco-friendly materials. Using the life cycle approach, the current work aims to provide a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of a roll-to-roll hybrid printed smart label designed for the food cold chain. Furthermore, this presentation will present the environmental impact of metallic conductive inks, a comparison with promising conductive polymers, evaluation of energy vs. performance of industrial printing processes, a full assessment of the impact from the smart label applied on a cellulosic-based substrate during the recycling process and the possible recovery of precious metals and rare earth elements.

Keywords: Eco-design, label, life cycle assessment, printed electronics

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Authors: D. Kliaugaitė, J. K, Staniškis

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In this study tree types of multilayer gas barrier plastic packaging films were compared using life cycle assessment as a tool for resource efficient and environmentally low-impact materials selection. The first type of multilayer packaging film (PET-AlOx/LDPE) consists of polyethylene terephthalate with barrier layer AlOx (PET-AlOx) and low density polyethylene (LDPE). The second type of polymer film (PET/PE-EVOH-PE) is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and co-extrusion film PE-EVOH-PE as barrier layer. And the third one type of multilayer packaging film (PET-PVOH/LDPE) is formed from polyethylene terephthalate with barrier layer PVOH (PET-PVOH) and low density polyethylene (LDPE). All of analyzed packaging has significant impact to resource depletion, because of raw materials extraction and energy use and production of different kind of plastics. Nevertheless the impact generated during life cycle of functional unit of II type of packaging (PET/PE-EVOH-PE) was about 25% lower than impact generated by I type (PET-AlOx/LDPE) and III type (PET-PVOH/LDPE) of packaging. Result revealed that the contribution of different gas barrier type to the overall environmental problem of packaging is not significant. The impact are mostly generated by using energy and materials during raw material extraction and production of different plastic materials as plastic polymers material as PE, LDPE and PET, but not gas barrier materials as AlOx, PVOH and EVOH. The LCA results could be useful in different decision-making processes, for selecting resource efficient and environmentally low-impact materials.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, polymer packaging, resource efficiency, materials extraction, polyethylene terephthalate

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Authors: Amin Ebrahimi Ghadi, Morteza Moalagh

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This research is carried out to find how a perfect combination of IoT architecture (Internet of Things) and ERP system can strengthen environmental accounting to incorporate both economic and environmental information. IoT (e.g., sensors, software, and other technologies) can be used in the company’s value chain from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacturing products, distribution, use, repair, maintenance, and disposal or recycling products (Cradle to Grave model). The desired ERP software then will have the capability to track both midpoint and endpoint environmental impacts on a green supply chain system for the whole life cycle of a product. All these enable environmental accounting to calculate, and real-time analyze the operation environmental impacts, control costs, prepare for environmental legislation and enhance the decision-making process. In this study, we have developed a model on how to use IoT devices in life cycle assessment (LCA) to gather emissions, energy consumption, hazards, and wastes information to be processed in different modules of ERP systems in an integrated way for using in environmental accounting to achieve sustainability.

Keywords: ERP, environmental accounting, green supply chain, IOT, life cycle assessment, sustainability

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Authors: L. Heidari, M. Jalili Ghazizade

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This paper aims to determine the best environmental and economic scenario for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management of the Maku city by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The functional elements of this study are collection, transportation, and disposal of MSW in Maku city. Waste composition and density, as two key parameters of MSW, have been determined by field sampling, and then, the other important specifications of MSW like chemical formula, thermal energy and water content were calculated. These data beside other information related to collection and disposal facilities are used as a reliable source of data to assess the environmental impacts of different waste management options, including landfills, composting, recycling and energy recovery. The environmental impact of MSW management options has been investigated in 15 different scenarios by Integrated Waste Management (IWM) software. The photochemical smog, greenhouse gases, acid gases, toxic emissions, and energy consumption of each scenario are measured. Then, the environmental indices of each scenario are specified by weighting these parameters. Economic costs of scenarios have been also compared with each other based on literature. As final result, since the organic materials make more than 80% of the waste, compost can be a suitable method. Although the major part of the remaining 20% of waste can be recycled, due to the high cost of necessary equipment, the landfill option has been suggested. Therefore, the scenario with 80% composting and 20% landfilling is selected as superior environmental and economic scenario. This study shows that, to select a scenario with practical applications, simultaneously environmental and economic aspects of different scenarios must be considered.

Keywords: IWM software, life cycle assessment, Maku, municipal solid waste management

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Authors: Alex Gonzalez Caceres, Jan Karlshøj, Tor Arvid Vik

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Life cycle of residential buildings are expected to be several decades, 40% of European residential buildings have inefficient energy conservation measure. The existing building represents 20-40% of the energy use and the CO₂ emission. Since net zero energy buildings are a short-term goal, (should be achieved by EU countries after 2020), is necessary to plan the next logical step, which is to prepare the existing outdated stack of building to retrofit them into an energy efficiency buildings. In order to accomplish this, two specialize and widespread tool can be used Building Information Modelling (BIM) and life-cycle assessment (LCA). BIM and LCA are tools used by a variety of disciplines; both are able to represent and analyze the constructions in different stages. The combination of these technologies could improve greatly the retrofitting techniques. The incorporation of the carbon footprint, introducing a single database source for different material analysis. To this is added the possibility of considering different analysis approaches such as costs and energy saving. Is expected with these measures, enrich the decision-making. The methodology is based on two main activities; the first task involved the collection of data this is accomplished by literature review and interview with experts in the retrofitting field and BIM technologies. The results of this task are presented as an evaluation checklist of BIM ability to manage data and improve decision-making in retrofitting projects. The last activity involves an evaluation using the results of the previous tasks, to check how far the IFC format can support the requirements by each specialist, and its uses by third party software. The result indicates that BIM/LCA have a great potential to improve the retrofitting process in existing buildings, but some modification must be done in order to meet the requirements of the specialists for both, retrofitting and LCA evaluators.

Keywords: retrofitting, BIM, LCA, energy efficiency

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Authors: Pawit Tangviroon, Apichit Svang-Ariyaskul

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As the limited availability of petroleum-based fuel has been a major concern, biodiesel is one of the most attractive alternative fuels because it is renewable and it also has advantages over the conventional petroleum-base diesel. At Present, productions of biodiesel generally perform by transesterification of vegetable oils with low molecular weight alcohol, mainly methanol, using chemical catalysts. Methanol is petrochemical product that makes biodiesel producing from methanol to be not pure renewable energy source. Therefore, ethanol as a product produced by fermentation processes. It appears as a potential feed stock that makes biodiesel to be pure renewable alternative fuel. The research is conducted based on two biodiesel production processes by reacting soybean oils with methanol and ethanol. Life cycle assessment was carried out in order to evaluate the environmental impacts and to identify the process alternative. Nine mid-point impact categories are investigated. The results indicate that better performance on Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP) and Acidification Potential (AP) are observed in biodiesel production from methanol when compared with biodiesel production from ethanol due to less energy consumption during the production processes. Except for ADP and AP, using methanol as feed stock does not show any advantages over biodiesel from ethanol. The single score method is also included in this study in order to identify the best option between two processes of biodiesel production. The global normalization and weighting factor based on eco-taxes are used and it shows that producing biodiesel form ethanol has less environmental load compare to biodiesel from methanol.

Keywords: biodiesel, ethanol, life cycle assessment, methanol, soybean oil

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Authors: Jessica Bain, Greg Thoma, Marty Matlock, Jeyam Subbiah, Ebenezer Kwofie

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The environmental impact and particulate matter emissions (PM) associated with the production and packaging of 1 kg of almonds were evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). The assessment began at the point of ready to harvest with a system boundary was a cradle-to-gate assessment of almond packaging in California. The assessment included three scenarios of off-ground harvesting of almonds. The three general off-ground harvesting scenarios with variations include the harvested almonds solar dried on a paper tarp in the orchard, the harvested almonds solar dried on the floor in a separate lot, and the harvested almonds dried mechanically. The life cycle inventory (LCI) data for almond production were based on previously published literature and data provided by Almond Board of California (ABC). The ReCiPe 2016 method was used to calculate the midpoint impacts. Using consequential LCA model, the global warming potential (GWP) for the three harvesting scenarios are 2.90, 2.86, and 3.09 kg CO2 eq/ kg of packaged almond for scenarios 1, 2a, and 3a, respectively. The global warming potential for conventional harvesting method was 2.89 kg CO2 eq/ kg of packaged almond. The particulate matter emissions for each scenario per hectare for each off-ground harvesting scenario is 77.14, 9.56, 66.86, and 8.75 for conventional harvesting and scenarios 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The most significant contributions to the overall emissions were from almond production. The farm gate almond production had a global warming potential of 2.12 kg CO2 eq/ kg of packaged almond, approximately 73% of the overall emissions. Based on comparisons between the GWP and PM emissions, scenario 2a was the best tradeoff between GHG and PM production.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, low moisture foods, sustainability, LCA

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Authors: Rakhyun Kim, Sungho Tae

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Global environmental issues such as abnormal weathers due to global warming, resource depletion, and ecosystem distortions have been escalating due to rapid increase of population growth, and expansion of industrial and economic development. Accordingly, initiatives have been implemented by many countries to protect the environment through indirect regulation methods such as Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), in addition to direct regulations such as various emission standards. Following this trend, life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques that provide quantitative environmental information, such as Human Toxicity Potential (HTP), for buildings are being developed in the construction industry. However, at present, the studies on the environmental database of building materials are not sufficient to provide this support adequately. The purpose of this study is to analysis human toxicity potential of major building material production stage using life cycle assessment. For this purpose, the theoretical consideration of the life cycle assessment and environmental impact category was performed and the direction of the study was set up. That is, the major material in the global warming potential view was drawn against the building and life cycle inventory database was selected. The classification was performed about 17 kinds of substance and impact index, such as human toxicity potential, that it specifies in CML2001. The environmental impact of analysis human toxicity potential for the building material production stage was calculated through the characterization. Meanwhile, the environmental impact of building material in the same category was analyze based on the characterization impact which was calculated in this study. In this study, establishment of environmental impact coefficients of major building material by complying with ISO 14040. Through this, it is believed to effectively support the decisions of stakeholders to improve the environmental performance of buildings and provide a basis for voluntary participation of architects in environment consideration activities.

Keywords: human toxicity potential, major building material, life cycle assessment, production stage

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Authors: Shyam, G. N. Tiwari

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Energy matrices of flate plate water collectors partially covered by PV module have been estimated in the present study. Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) water collector assembly is consisting of 5 water collectors having 2 m^2 area which are partially covered by photovoltaic module at its lower portion (inlet) and connected in series. The annual overall thermal energy and exergy are computed by using climatic data of New Delhi provided by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Pune, India. The Energy payback time on overall thermal and exergy basis are found to be 1.6 years and 17.8 years respectively. For 25 years of life time of system the energy production factor and life cycle conversion efficiency are estimated to be 15.8 and 0.04 respectively on overall thermal energy basis whereas for the same life time the energy production factor and life cycle conversion efficiency on exergy basis are obtained as 1.4 and 0.001.

Keywords: overall thermal energy, exergy, energy payback time, PVT water collectors

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Authors: Hongmei Gu, Shaobo Liang, Richard Bergman

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With current worldwide trend in designs to have net-zero emission buildings to mitigate climate change, widespread use of mass timber products, such as Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), or Nail Laminated Timber (NLT) or Dowel Laminated Timber (DLT) in buildings have been proposed as one approach in reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Consequentially, mass timber building designs are being adopted more and more by architectures in North America, especially for mid- to high-rise buildings where concrete and steel buildings are currently prevalent, but traditional light-frame wood buildings are not. Wood buildings and their associated wood products have tended to have lower environmental impacts than competing energy-intensive materials. It is common practice to conduct life cycle assessments (LCAs) and life cycle cost analyses on buildings with traditional structural materials like concrete and steel in the building design process. Mass timber buildings with lower environmental impacts, especially GHG emissions, can contribute to the Net Zero-emission goal for the world-building sector. However, the economic impacts from CLT mass timber buildings still vary from the life-cycle cost perspective and environmental trade-offs associated with GHG emissions. This paper quantified the Total Life Cycle Cost and cradle-to-grave GHG emissions of a pre-designed CLT mass timber building and compared it to a functionally-equivalent concrete building. The Total life cycle Eco-cost-efficiency is defined in this study and calculated to discuss the trade-offs for the net-zero emission buildings in a holistic view for both environmental and economic impacts. Mass timber used in buildings for the United States is targeted to the materials from the nation’s sustainable managed forest in order to benefit both national and global environments and economies.

Keywords: GHG, economic impact, eco-cost-efficiency, total life-cycle costs

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Authors: H. Aksas, S. Boughrara, K. Louhab

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The goal of this study was the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to assess the environmental impact of pharmaceutical product (four kinds of syrup form and tree kinds of pomade form), which are produced in one leader manufactory in Algeria town that is SAIDAL Company. The impacts generated have evaluated using SimpaPro7.1 with CML92 Method for syrup form and EPD 2007 for pomade form. All impacts evaluated have compared between them, with determination of the compound contributing to each impacts in each case. Data needed to conduct Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) came from this factory, by the collection of theoretical data near the responsible technicians and engineers of the company, the practical data are resulting from the assay of pharmaceutical liquid, obtained at the laboratories of the university. This data represent different raw material imported from European and Asian country necessarily to formulate the drug. Energy used is coming from Algerian resource for the input. Outputs are the result of effluent analysis of this factory with different form (liquid, solid and gas form). All this data (input and output) represent the ecobalance.

Keywords: pharmaceutical product, drug residues, LCA methodology, environmental impacts

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Authors: E. Lacasa, J. L. Santolaya, I. Millán

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The progress toward sustainability implies maintaining and preferably improving both, human and ecosystem well-being, according to a triple bottom line that includes the environmental, economic and social dimensions. The life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method applicable to all production sectors that aims to quantify the environmental pressures and the benefits related to goods and services, as well as the trade-offs and the scope for improving areas of the production process. While using LCA to measure the environmental dimension of sustainability is widespread, similar approaches for the economic and the social dimensions still have limited application worldwide and there is a need for consistent and robust methods and indicators. This paper focuses on the milk production process and presents the analysis of the flows exchanged by an industrial installation through accounting all the energy and material inputs and the associated emissions and waste outputs at this stage of its life cycle. The functional unit is one litre of milk produced. Different metrics and indicators are used to assess the three dimensions of sustainability. Metrics considered useful to assess the production activities are the total water and energy consumptions and the milk production volume of each cow. The global warming, the value added and the working hours are indicators used to measure each sustainability dimension. The study is performed with two types of feeding of the cows, which includes a change in percentages of components as well. Nutritional composition of the milk obtained is almost kept. It is observed that environmental and social improvements involve high economic costs.

Keywords: milk production, sustainability, indicators, life cycle assessment

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Authors: Youn-Sung Kim, Mi-Sung Kim, Jae-Kun Lee

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This paper deals with the accelerated life cycle test method of the motor for home appliances that demand high reliability. Life Cycle of parts in home appliances also should be 10 years because life cycle of the home appliances such as washing machine, refrigerator, TV is at least 10 years. In case of washing machine, the life cycle test method of motor is advanced for 3000 cycle test (1cycle = 2hours). However, 3000 cycle test incurs loss for the time and cost. Objectives of this study are to reduce the life cycle test time and the number of test samples, which could be realized by using acceleration factor for the test time and reduction factor for the number of sample.

Keywords: accelerated life cycle test, motor reliability test, motor for washing machine, BLDC motor

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Authors: Djeffal Asma, Zemmouri Noureddine

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In order for building designer to be able to balance environmental concerns with other performance requirements, they need clear and concise information. For certain decisions during the design process, qualitative guidance, such as design checklists or guidelines information may not be sufficient for evaluating the environmental benefits between different building materials, products and designs. In this case, quantitative information, such as that generated through a life cycle assessment, provides the most value. LCA provides a systematic approach to evaluating the environmental impacts of a product or system over its entire life. In the case of buildings life cycle includes the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, transporting and installing building components or products, operating and maintaining the building. By integrating LCA into building design process, designers can evaluate the life cycle impacts of building design, materials, components and systems and choose the combinations that reduce the building life cycle environmental impact. This article attempts to give an overview of the integration of LCA methodology in the context of building design, and focuses on the use of this methodology for environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization. A multiple case study was conducted in order to assess the benefits of the LCA as a decision making aid tool during the first stages of the building design under specific climate conditions of the North East region of Algeria. It is clear that the LCA methodology can help to assess and reduce the impact of a building design and components on the environment even if the process implementation is rather long and complicated and lacks of global approach including human factors. It is also demonstrated that using LCA as a multi objective optimization of building process will certainly facilitates the improvement in design and decision making for both new design and retrofit projects.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, buildings, sustainability, elementary schools, environmental impacts

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Authors: Yuanyuan Liu, Yuanqing Wang, Di Li

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions mitigation from road construction activities is one of the potential pathways to deal with climate change due to its higher use of materials, machinery energy consumption, and high quantity of vehicle and equipment fuels for transportation and on-site construction activities. Aiming to assess the environmental impact of the road infrastructure construction activities and to identify hotspots of emissions sources, this study developed a life-cycle CO2 emissions assessment framework covering three stages of material production, to-site and on-site transportation under the guidance of the principle of LCA ISO14040. Then streamlined inventory analysis on sub-processes of each stage was conducted based on the budget files from cases of highway projects in China. The calculation results were normalized into functional unit represented as ton per km per lane. Then a comparison between the amount of emissions from each stage, and sub-process was made to identify the major contributor in the whole highway lifecycle. In addition, the calculating results were used to be compared with results in other countries for understanding the level of CO2 emissions associated with Chinese road infrastructure in the world. The results showed that materials production stage produces the most of the CO2 emissions (for more than 80%), and the production of cement and steel accounts for large quantities of carbon emissions. Life cycle CO2 emissions of fuel and electric energy associated with to-site and on-site transportation vehicle and equipment are a minor component of total life cycle CO2 emissions from highway project construction activities. Bridges and tunnels are dominant large carbon contributor compared to the road segments. The life cycle CO2 emissions of road segment in highway project in China are slightly higher than the estimation results of highways in European countries and USA, about 1500 ton per km per lane. In particularly, the life cycle CO2 emissions of road pavement in majority cities all over the world are about 500 ton per km per lane. However, there is obvious difference between the cities when the estimation on life cycle CO2 emissions of highway projects included bridge and tunnel. The findings of the study could offer decision makers a more comprehensive reference to understand the contribution of road infrastructure to climate change, especially understand the contribution from road infrastructure construction activities in China. In addition, the identified hotspots of emissions sources provide the insights of how to reduce road carbon emissions for development of sustainable transportation.

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions, construction activities, highway, life cycle assessment

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Authors: Rene A. Salmingo

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In pursuing higher educational institution’s transition to sustainable future, this research initiative was conducted. The study aimed to determine the level of sustainability, environmental impact and life cycle phase assessment of the industrial technology research projects at the Institute of Information Technology, Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC), Alijis Campus, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. The research method was descriptive utilizing a researcher made questionnaire to assess the ten (10) industrial technology completed research projects. Mean was used to treat the data and instrument for Good and Scates’ validity through revisions and consultations from the environmental experts, technology specialists; and Cronbach Alpha was used to measure reliability. Results indicated that the level of sustainability and life cycle phase assessment was very high while the environmental impact of the industrial research projects was rated low. Moreover, the current research projects and environmental education courses in the college were relevant to support sustainable industrial technology research projects in the future. Hence, this research initiative will contribute to the transformation of CHMSC as a greening higher educational institution and as a center for sustainable development in the region.

Keywords: environmental impact, industrial technology research projects, life cycle phase assessment, sustainability

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Authors: Johannes Gantner, Michael Held, Matthias Fischer

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The refurbishment of the building stock in terms of energy supply and efficiency is one of the major challenges of the German turnaround in energy policy. As the building sector accounts for 40% of Germany’s total energy demand, additional insulation is key for energy efficient refurbished buildings. Nevertheless the energetic benefits often the environmental and economic performances of insulation materials are questioned. The methods Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as well as Life Cycle Costing (LCC) can form the standardized basis for answering this doubts and more and more become important for material producers due efforts such as Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) or Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). Due to increasing use of LCA and LCC information for decision support the robustness and resilience of the results become crucial especially for support of decision and policy makers. LCA and LCC results are based on respective models which depend on technical parameters like efficiencies, material and energy demand, product output, etc.. Nevertheless, the influence of parameter uncertainties on lifecycle results are usually not considered or just studied superficially. Anyhow the effect of parameter uncertainties cannot be neglected. Based on the example of an exterior wall the overall lifecycle results are varying by a magnitude of more than three. As a result simple best case worst case analyses used in practice are not sufficient. These analyses allow for a first rude view on the results but are not taking effects into account such as error propagation. Thereby LCA practitioners cannot provide further guidance for decision makers. Probabilistic analyses enable LCA practitioners to gain deeper understanding of the LCA and LCC results and provide a better decision support. Within this study, the environmental and economic impacts of an exterior wall system over its whole lifecycle are illustrated, and the effect of different uncertainty analysis on the interpretation in terms of resilience and robustness are shown. Hereby the approaches of error propagation and Monte Carlo Simulations are applied and combined with statistical methods in order to allow for a deeper understanding and interpretation. All in all this study emphasis the need for a deeper and more detailed probabilistic evaluation based on statistical methods. Just by this, misleading interpretations can be avoided, and the results can be used for resilient and robust decisions.

Keywords: uncertainty, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, Monte Carlo simulation

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Authors: Naomi Grigoryan, Alexandros Loutsioli Daskalakis, Anna Elisse Uy, Yihe Huang, Aude Laurent (Webanck)

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In response to the building and construction sectors accounting for a third of all energy demand and emissions, the European Union has placed new laws and regulations in the construction sector that emphasize material circularity, energy efficiency, biodiversity, and social impact. Existing design tools assess sustainability in early-stage design for products or buildings; however, there is no standardized methodology for measuring the circularity performance of building components. Existing assessment methods for building components focus primarily on carbon footprint but lack the comprehensive analysis required to design for circularity. The research conducted in this paper covers the parameters needed to assess sustainability in the design process of architectural products such as doors, windows, and facades. It maps a framework for a tool that assists designers with real-time sustainability metrics. Considering the life cycle of building components such as façades, windows, and doors involves the life cycle stages applied to product design and many of the methods used in the life cycle analysis of buildings. The current industry standards of sustainability assessment for metal building components follow cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA), track Global Warming Potential (GWP), and document the parameters used for an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Developed by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) is a methodology utilizing the data from LCA and EPDs to rate circularity, with a "value between 0 and 1 where higher values indicate a higher circularity+". Expanding on the MCI with additional indicators such as the Water Circularity Index (WCI), the Energy Circularity Index (ECI), the Social Circularity Index (SCI), Life Cycle Economic Value (EV), and calculating biodiversity risk and uncertainty, the assessment methodology of an architectural product's impact can be targeted more specifically based on product requirements, performance, and lifespan. Broadening the scope of LCA calculation for products to incorporate aspects of building design allows product designers to account for the disassembly of architectural components. For example, the Material Circularity Indicator for architectural products such as windows and facades is typically low due to the impact of glass, as 70% of glass ends up in landfills due to damage in the disassembly process. The low MCI can be combatted by expanding beyond cradle-to-grave assessment and focusing the design process on disassembly, recycling, and repurposing with the help of real-time assessment tools. Design for Disassembly and Urban Mining has been integrated within the construction field on small scales as project-based exercises, not addressing the entire supply chain of architectural products. By adopting more comprehensive sustainability metrics and incorporating uncertainty calculations, the sustainability assessment of building components can be more accurately assessed with decarbonization and disassembly in mind, addressing the large-scale commercial markets within construction, some of the most significant contributors to climate change.

Keywords: architectural products, early-stage design, life cycle assessment, material circularity indicator

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Authors: MD Mashiur Rahman, Muhammad Arshadul Haque

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Emerging conservation agriculture (CA) is an option for improving soil health and maintaining environmental sustainability for intensive agriculture, especially in the tropical climate. Three years lengthy research experiment was performed in arid climate from 2018 to 2020 at research field of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Station (RARS)F, Jamalpur (soil texture belongs to Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ)-8/9, 24˚56'11''N latitude and 89˚55'54''E longitude and an altitude of 16.46m) to evaluate the effect of CA approaches on energy use efficiency and a streamlined life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of wheat production. For this, the conservation tillage practices (strip tillage (ST) and minimum tillage (MT)) were adopted in comparison to the conventional farmers' tillage (CT), with retained a fixed level (30 cm) of residue retention. This study examined the relationship between energy consumption and life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of wheat cultivation in Jamalpur region of Bangladesh. Standard energy equivalents megajoules (MJ) were used to measure energy from different inputs and output, similarly, the global warming potential values for the 100-year timescale and a standard unit kilogram of carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO₂eq) was used to estimate direct and indirect GHG emissions from the use of on-farm and off-farm inputs. Farm efficiency analysis tool (FEAT) was used to analyze GHG emission and its intensity. A non-parametric data envelopment (DEA) analysis was used to estimate the optimum energy requirement of wheat production. The results showed that the treatment combination having MT with optimum energy inputs is the best suit for cost-effective, sustainable CA practice in wheat cultivation without compromising with the yield during the dry season. A total of 22045.86 MJ ha⁻¹, 22158.82 MJ ha⁻¹, and 23656.63 MJ ha⁻¹ input energy for the practice of ST, MT, and CT was used in wheat production, and output energy was calculated as 158657.40 MJ ha⁻¹, 162070.55 MJ ha⁻¹, and 149501.58 MJ ha⁻¹, respectively; where energy use efficiency/net energy ratio was found to be 7.20, 7.31 and 6.32. Among these, MT is the most effective practice option taken into account in the wheat production process. The optimum energy requirement was found to be 18236.71 MJ ha⁻¹ demonstrating for the practice of MT that if recommendations are followed, 18.7% of input energy can be saved. The total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission was calculated to be 2288 kgCO₂eq ha⁻¹, 2293 kgCO₂eq ha⁻¹ and 2331 kgCO₂eq ha⁻¹, where GHG intensity is the ratio of kg CO₂eq emission per MJ of output energy produced was estimated to be 0.014 kg CO₂/MJ, 0.014 kg CO₂/MJ and 0.015 kg CO₂/MJ in wheat production. Therefore, CA approaches ST practice with 30 cm residue retention was the most effective GHG mitigation option when the net life cycle GHG emission was considered in wheat production in the silt clay loam soil of Bangladesh. In conclusion, the CA approaches being implemented for wheat production involving MT practice have the potential to mitigate global warming potential in Bangladesh to achieve soil carbon footprint, where the life cycle assessment approach needs to be applied to a more diverse range of wheat-based cropping systems.

Keywords: conservation agriculture and tillage, energy use efficiency, life cycle GHG, Bangladesh

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Authors: Yanqing Yi, Maria Cristina Lavagnolo, Alessandro Manzardo

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Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is a major challenge in the European Union, emphasizing the urgent need for appropriate waste management processes. Selecting these solutions is challenging, as it requires identifying efficient C&DW management techniques that balance acceptable practices, regulatory compliance, resource conservation, economic viability, and environmental concerns. Techniques for analyzing many kinds of criteria allow for the use of multi-criteria analysis in life cycle assessment (LCA). Although LCA is commonly used to analyze environmental effects, the economic factor has not been fully integrated into the LCA approach in C&DW management. The life cycle costing (LCC) approach was designed to assess economic performance in the C&DW management process. The choice of an effective multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique is critical for the C&DW system. This study seeks to propose a model that employs MCDM by considering LCA and LCC results, thereby augmenting both environmental and economic sustainability. A widely used compensatory MCDM technique, TOPSIS, has been chosen to identify the most effective C&DW management scheme by comparing and ranking various scenarios. Four waste management alternatives were examined in the Lombardy region of Italy, namely, (i) landfill; (ii) recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery; (iii) recycling for road construction; (iv) recycling for concrete production and road construction. We determine that, with the implementation of various scenarios, the most suitable scenario emerges to be recycled for concrete production and road construction, with a score of 0.711/1; recycling for road construction, with a final score of 0.291/1, ranks second; recycling for concrete production and road construction, incineration with energy recovery scores 0.002/1, ranks third; and landfill (scores: 0/1) is the worst choice, indicating it has the highest environmental impact. Finally, suggestions were developed to improve the system's environmental performance.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, construction and demolition waste, multi-criteria decision making

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Authors: Rafael Santos Fischer, Aloísio Leoni Schmid, Amanda Dalla-Bonna

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The life cycle analysis and the energy life cycle analysis are useful design support tools when sustainability becomes imperative. The final phase of buildings life cycle is probably the least known, on which less knowledge is available. In the Brazilian building industry, the lifespan of a building design rarely is treated as a definite design parameter. There is rather a common sense attitude to take any building demands as permanent, and to take for granted that buildings solutions are durable and solid. Housing, being a permanent issue in any society, presents a real challenge to the choice of a design lifespan. In Brazilian history, there was a contrast of the native solutions of collective, non-durable houses built by several nomadic tribes, and the stone and masonry buildings introduced by the sedentary Portuguese conquerors. Durable buildings are commonly associated with welfare. However, social dynamics makes traditional families of both parents and children be just one of several possible arrangements. In addition, a more liberal attitude towards family leads to an increase in the number of people living in alternative arrangements. Japan is an example of country where houses have been made intentionally ephemeral since the half of 20th century. The present article presents the development of a flexible housing design solution on the basis of the Design Science Research approach. A comparison in terms of energy life cycle shows how flexibility and dematerialization may point at a feasible future for housing policies in Brazil.

Keywords: adaptability, adaptable building, embodied energy, life cyclce analysis, social housing

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Authors: Sami Ayad, Mengshan Lee

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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were designed to be the best possible blueprint to achieve peace, prosperity, and overall, a better and more sustainable future for the Earth and all its people, and such a blueprint is needed more than ever. The SDGs face many hurdles that will prevent them from becoming a reality, one of such hurdles, arguably, is the chemical pollution and unintended chemical impacts generated through the production of various goods and resources that we consume. Chemical Alternatives Assessment has proven to be a viable solution for chemical pollution management in terms of filtering out hazardous chemicals for a greener alternative. However, the current substitution practice lacks crucial quantitative datasets (exposures and life cycle impacts) to ensure no unintended trade-offs occur in the substitution process. A Chemical Life Cycle Alternative Assessment (CLiCAA) framework is proposed as a reliable and replicable alternative to Life Cycle Based Alternative Assessment (LCAA) as it integrates chemical molecular structure analysis and Chemical Life Cycle Collaborative (CLiCC) web-based tool to fill in data gaps that the former frameworks suffer from. The CLiCAA framework consists of a four filtering layers, the first two being mandatory, with the final two being optional assessment and data extrapolation steps. Each layer includes relevant impact categories of each chemical, ranging from human to environmental impacts, that will be assessed and aggregated into unique scores for overall comparable results, with little to no data. A feasibility study will demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of CLiCAA whilst bridging both cancer potency and exposure limit data, hoping to provide the necessary categorical impact information for every firm possible, especially those disadvantaged in terms of research and resource management.

Keywords: chemical alternative assessment, LCA, LCAA, CLiCC, CLiCAA, chemical substitution framework, cancer potency data, chemical molecular structure analysis

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Authors: Devina Jain

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The choice between single-use drinking glasses and reusable glasses is of major concern to our lifestyles, and hence, the environment. This study is aimed at comparing three systems - a disposable paper cup, a disposable cup and a reusable stainless steel cup or glass - with respect to their effect on the environment to find out which one is more advantageous for reducing the impact on the environment. Life Cycle Assessment was conducted using modeling software, Umberto NXT Universal (Version 7.1). For the purpose of this study, the cradle to grave approach was considered. Results showed that cleaning is of a very strong influence on the environmental burden by these drinking systems, with a contribution of up to 90 to 100%. Thus, the burden is determined by the way in which the utensils are washed, and how much water is consumed. It maybe seems like a small, insignificant daily practice. In the short term, it would seem that paper and plastic cups are a better idea, since they are easy to acquire and do not need to be stored, but in the long run, we can say that steel cups will have less of an environmental impact. However, if the frequency of use and the number of glasses employed per use are of significance to decide the appropriateness of the usage, it is better to use disposable cups and glasses.

Keywords: disposable glass, life cycle assessment, paper, plastic, reusable glass, stainless steel

Procedia PDF Downloads 340

Authors: Johannes Gantner, Michael Held, Rafael Horn, Matthias Fischer

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At the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2015 a global agreement on the reduction of climate change was achieved stating CO₂ reduction targets for all countries. For instance, the EU targets a reduction of 40 percent in emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, the environmental performance of the different European electricity grid mixes is crucial. First, the electricity directly needed for everyone’s daily life (e.g. heating, plug load, mobility) and therefore a reduction of the environmental impacts of the electricity grid mix reduces the overall environmental impacts of a country. Secondly, the manufacturing of every product depends on electricity. Thereby a reduction of the environmental impacts of the electricity mix results in a further decrease of environmental impacts of every product. As a result, the implementation of the two-degree goal highly depends on the decarbonization of the European electricity mixes. Currently the production of electricity in the EU27 is based on fossil fuels and therefore bears a high GWP impact per kWh. Due to the importance of the environmental impacts of the electricity mix, not only today but also in future, within the European research projects, CommONEnergy and Senskin, time-dynamic Life Cycle Assessment models for all EU27 countries were set up. As a methodology, a combination of scenario modeling and life cycle assessment according to ISO14040 and ISO14044 was conducted. Based on EU27 trends regarding energy, transport, and buildings, the different national electricity mixes were investigated taking into account future changes such as amount of electricity generated in the country, change in electricity carriers, COP of the power plants and distribution losses, imports and exports. As results, time-dynamic environmental profiles for the electricity mixes of each country and for Europe overall were set up. Thereby for each European country, the decarbonization strategies of the electricity mix are critically investigated in order to identify decisions, that can lead to negative environmental effects, for instance on the reduction of the global warming of the electricity mix. For example, the withdrawal of the nuclear energy program in Germany and at the same time compensation of the missing energy by non-renewable energy carriers like lignite and natural gas is resulting in an increase in global warming potential of electricity grid mix. Just after two years this increase countervailed by the higher share of renewable energy carriers such as wind power and photovoltaic. Finally, as an outlook a first qualitative picture is provided, illustrating from environmental perspective, which country has the highest potential for low-carbon electricity production and therefore how investments in a connected European electricity grid could decrease the environmental impacts of the electricity mix in Europe.

Keywords: electricity grid mixes, EU27 countries, environmental impacts, future trends, life cycle assessment, scenario analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Haoshui Yu, Donghoi Kim, Truls Gundersen

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Low-temperature waste heat is abundant in the process industries, and large amounts of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cold energy are discarded without being recovered properly in LNG terminals. Power generation is an effective way to utilize low-temperature waste heat and LNG cold energy simultaneously. Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs) and CO₂ power cycles are promising technologies to convert low-temperature waste heat and LNG cold energy into electricity. If waste heat and LNG cold energy are utilized simultaneously in one system, the performance may outperform separate systems utilizing low-temperature waste heat and LNG cold energy, respectively. Low-temperature waste heat acts as the heat source and LNG regasification acts as the heat sink in the combined system. Due to the large temperature difference between the heat source and the heat sink, cascaded power cycle configurations are proposed in this paper. Cascaded power cycles can improve the energy efficiency of the system considerably. The cycle operating at a higher temperature to recover waste heat is called top cycle and the cycle operating at a lower temperature to utilize LNG cold energy is called bottom cycle in this study. The top cycle condensation heat is used as the heat source in the bottom cycle. The top cycle can be an ORC, transcritical CO₂ (tCO₂) cycle or supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) cycle, while the bottom cycle only can be an ORC due to the low-temperature range of the bottom cycle. However, the thermodynamic path of the tCO₂ cycle and sCO₂ cycle are different from that of an ORC. The tCO₂ cycle and the sCO₂ cycle perform better than an ORC for sensible waste heat recovery due to a better temperature match with the waste heat source. Different combinations of the tCO₂ cycle, sCO₂ cycle and ORC are compared to screen the best configurations of the cascaded power cycles. The influence of the working fluid and the operating conditions are also investigated in this study. Each configuration is modeled and optimized in Aspen HYSYS. The results show that cascaded tCO₂/ORC performs better compared with cascaded ORC/ORC and cascaded sCO₂/ORC for the case study.

Keywords: LNG cold energy, low-temperature waste heat, organic Rankine cycle, supercritical CO₂ cycle, transcritical CO₂ cycle

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Authors: Joel Bonales, Venecia Solorzano, Carlos Garcia

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A great percentage of the wastewater generated in developing countries don’t receive any treatment, which leads to numerous environmental impacts. In response to this, a paradigm change in the current wastewater treatment model based on large scale plants towards a small and medium scale based model has been proposed. Nevertheless, small scale wastewater treatment (SS-WTTP) with novel technologies such as anaerobic digesters, as well as the utilization of derivative co-products such as biogas, still presents diverse environmental impacts which must be assessed. This study consisted in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) performed to a SS-WWTP which treats wastewater from a small commercial block in the city of Morelia, Mexico. The treatment performed in the SS-WWTP consists in anaerobic and aerobic digesters with a daily capacity of 5,040 L. Two different scenarios were analyzed: the current plant conditions and a hypothetical energy use of biogas obtained in situ. Furthermore, two different allocation criteria were applied: full impact allocation to the system’s main product (treated water) and substitution credits for replacing Mexican grid electricity (biogas) and clean water pumping (treated water). The results showed that the analyzed plant had bigger impacts than what has been reported in the bibliography in the basis of wastewater volume treated, which may imply that this plant is currently operating inefficiently. The evaluated impacts appeared to be focused in the aerobic digestion and electric generation phases due to the plant’s particular configuration. Additional findings prove that the allocation criteria applied is crucial for the interpretation of impacts and that that the energy use of the biogas obtained in this plant can help mitigate associated climate change impacts. It is concluded that SS-WTTP is a environmentally sound alternative for wastewater treatment from a systemic perspective. However, this type of studies must be careful in the selection of the allocation criteria and replaced products, since these factors have a great influence in the results of the assessment.

Keywords: biogas, life cycle assessment, small scale treatment, wastewater treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Minsung Kim, Hyunkoo Kang, Jinkoo Kim

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In this study, a hybrid energy dissipation device is developed by combining a steel slit plate and friction pads to be used for seismic retrofit of structures, and its effectiveness is investigated by comparing the life cycle costs of the structure before and after the retrofit. The seismic energy dissipation capability of the dampers is confirmed by cyclic loading tests. The probabilities of reaching various damage states are obtained by fragility analysis, and the life cycle costs of the model structures are computed using the PACT (Performance Assessment Calculation Tool) program based on FEMA P-58 methodology. The fragility analysis shows that the probabilities of reaching limit states are minimized by the seismic retrofit with hybrid dampers and increasing column size. The seismic retrofit with increasing column size and hybrid dampers results in the lowest repair cost and shortest repair time. This research was supported by a grant (13AUDP-B066083-01) from Architecture & Urban Development Research Program funded by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korean government.

Keywords: FEMA P-58, friction dampers, life cycle cost, seismic retrofit

Procedia PDF Downloads 337

Authors: Alexander de Tomás, Miquel Sierra, Stefan Pfenninger, Francesco Lombardi, Ines Campos, Cristina Madrid

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Environmental parameters are key in the definition of sustainable energy systems yet excluded from most energy system optimization models. Still, decision-making may be misleading without considering them. Environmental analyses of the energy transition are a key part of industrial ecology but often are performed without any input from the users of the information. This work assesses the systemic impacts of energy transition pathways in Portugal. Using the Calliope energy modeling framework, 250+ optimized energy system pathways are generated. A Delphi study helps to identify the relevant criteria for the stakeholders as regards the environmental assessment, which is performed with ENBIOS, a python package that integrates life cycle assessment (LCA) with a metabolic analysis based on complex relations. Furthermore, this study focuses on how the uncertainty propagates through the model’s consortium. With the aim of doing so, a soft link between the Calliope/ENBIOS cascade and Brightway’s data capabilities is built to perform Monte Carlo simulations. These findings highlight the relevance of including uncertainty analysis as a range of values rather than informing energy transition results with a single value.

Keywords: energy transition, energy modeling, uncertainty, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 83

Authors: G. S. Dangayach, Gaurav Gaurav, Alok Bihari Singh

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The popularity of vehicles in both industrialized and developing economies led to a rise in the production of tyres. People have become increasingly concerned about the tyre industry's possible environmental impact in the last two decades. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used to assess the environmental impacts of industrial tyres throughout their life cycle, which included four stages: manufacture, transportation, consumption, and end-of-life. The majority of prior studies focused on tyre recycling and disposal. Only a few studies have been conducted on the environmental impact of tyre production process. LCA methodology was employed to determine the environmental impact of tyre manufacture process (gate to gate) at an Indian firm. Comparative analysis was also conducted to identify the environmental hotspots in various stages of tire manufacturing. This study is limited to gate-to-gate analysis of manufacturing processes with the functional unit of a single tyre weighing 50 kg. GaBi software was used to do both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Different environmental impact indicators are measured in terms of CO2, SO2, NOx, GWP (global warming potential), AP (acidification potential), EP (eutrophication potential), POCP (photochemical oxidant formation potential), and HTP (toxic human potential). The results demonstrate that the major contributor to environmental pollution is electricity. The Banbury process has a very high negative environmental impact, which causes respiratory problems to workers and operators.

Keywords: life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental impact indicators, tyre manufacturing process, environmental impact assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Samira Mahmoudkelayeh, Katayoun Taghizade, Mitra Pourvaziri, Elnaz Asadian

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Over the recent decades, depletion of resources and environmental concerns made researchers and practitioners present sustainable approaches. Since construction process consumes a great deal of both renewable and non-renewable resources, it is of great significance regarding environmental impacts. Choosing sustainable construction materials is a remarkable strategy presented in many researches and has a significant effect on building’s environmental footprint. This paper represents an assessment framework for selecting best sustainable materials for exterior enclosure in the city of Tehran based on sustainability principles (eco-friendly, cost effective and socio-cultural viable solutions). To perform a comprehensive analysis of environmental impacts, life cycle assessment, a cradle to grave approach is used. A questionnaire survey of construction experts has been conducted to determine the relative importance of criteria. Analytic Network Process (ANP) is applied as a multi-criteria decision-making method to choose sustainable material which consider interdependencies of criteria and sub-criteria. Finally, it prioritizes and aggregates relevant criteria into ultimate assessed score.

Keywords: sustainable materials, building, analytic network process, life cycle assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 242