| 1. |
- Alejandre, Elizabeth M., et al.
(författare)
-
Characterization Factors to Assess Land Use Impacts on Pollinator Abundance in Life Cycle Assessment
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 57:8, s. 3445-3454
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While wild pollinators play a key role in global food production, their assessment is currently missing from the most commonly used environmental impact assessment method, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This is mainly due to constraints in data availability and compatibility with LCA inventories. To target this gap, relative pollinator abundance estimates were obtained with the use of a Delphi assessment, during which 25 experts, covering 16 nationalities and 45 countries of expertise, provided scores for low, typical, and high expected abundance associated with 24 land use categories. Based on these estimates, this study presents a set of globally generic characterization factors (CFs) that allows translating land use into relative impacts to wild pollinator abundance. The associated uncertainty of the CFs is presented along with an illustrative case to demonstrate the applicability in LCA studies. The CFs based on estimates that reached consensus during the Delphi assessment are recommended as readily applicable and allow key differences among land use types to be distinguished. The resulting CFs are proposed as the first step for incorporating pollinator impacts in LCA studies, exemplifying the use of expert elicitation methods as a useful tool to fill data gaps that constrain the characterization of key environmental impacts.
|
|
| 2. |
- Beltran, Angelica Mendoza, et al.
(författare)
-
Quantified Uncertainties in Comparative Life Cycle Assessment : What Can Be Concluded?
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 52:4, s. 2152-2161
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interpretation of comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results can be challenging in the presence of uncertainty. To aid in interpreting such results under the goal of any comparative LCA, we aim to provide guidance to practitioners by gaining insights into uncertainty-statistics methods (USMs). We review five USMs-discernibility analysis, impact category relevance, overlap area of probability distributions, null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), and modified NHST- and provide a common notation, terminology, and calculation platform. We further cross-compare all USMs by applying them to a case study on electric cars. USMs belong to a confirmatory or an exploratory statistics' branch, each serving different purposes to practitioners. Results highlight that common uncertainties and the magnitude of differences per impact are key in offering reliable insights. Common uncertainties are particularly important as disregarding them can lead to incorrect recommendations. On the basis of these considerations, we recommend the modified NHST as a confirmatory USM. We also recommend discernibility analysis as an exploratory USM along with recommendations for its improvement, as it disregards the magnitude of the differences. While further research is necessary to support our conclusions, the results and supporting material provided can help LCA practitioners in delivering a more robust basis for decision-making.
|
|
| 3. |
- Garcia Uriarte, Ainara, et al.
(författare)
-
SUstainable management of PRIMary raw materials through a better approach in Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (SUPRIM)
- 2019
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The project focuses on the assessment of the environmental impact of raw materials production and the development of services to better understand sustainability issues in the sector. The main objectives of the project are:• Development of a Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method to address resource accessibility in sustainability assessment and testing and validatingthe method.• Development of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) datasets through case studies in collaboration with the industrial partners from the mining sector and apply anenvironmental assessment with the aim to better understand the environmental impacts of the production of copper and the sources of these impacts.• Bring the service to a broader audience, including the LCIA community, mining companies and their downstream users, policy makers, academia.Two case studies have been performed, the Cobre las Cruces mine in Spain, operated by First Quantum Minerals Ltd, as well as the Aitik mining operation innorthern Sweden, operated by Boliden Mineral AB.
|
|
| 4. |
- Heijungs, Reinout, et al.
(författare)
-
Everything is relative and nothing is certain. Toward a theory and practice of comparative probabilistic LCA
- 2019
-
Ingår i: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0948-3349 .- 1614-7502. ; 24:9, s. 1573-1579
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction It is widely recognized that LCA is in most cases relative and contains uncertainties due to choices and data. This paper analyses the combination of the two comparative uncertainties. Basic concepts We carefully define the idea of relativity and uncertainty within LCA. We finish off by giving an example of case where inappropriate handling of comparative uncertainties will lead to a misleading result for a decision-maker. Correlations We develop a generic framework for probabilistic comparative LCA and analyse at which places correlations may be present. We also discuss the most convenient approaches for handling such correlated uncertainties. Conclusion We put the elements discussed in a structure that provides a research agenda for dealing with comparative uncertainties in LCA.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
|
|
| 7. |
- Jarvio, Natasha, et al.
(författare)
-
Including GHG emissions from mangrove forests LULUC in LCA : a case study on shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
- 2018
-
Ingår i: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0948-3349 .- 1614-7502. ; 23:5, s. 1078-1090
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mangrove forests have been recognized as important regulators of greenhouse gases (GHGs), yet the resulting land use and land-use change (LULUC) emissions have rarely been accounted for in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. The present study therefore presents up-to-date estimates for GHG emissions from mangrove LULUC and applies them to a case study of shrimp farming in Vietnam. To estimate the global warming impacts of mangrove LULUC, a combination of the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines, the Net Committed Emissions, and the Missed Potential Carbon Sink method were used. A literature review was then conducted to characterize the most critical parameters for calculating carbon losses, missed sequestration, methane fluxes, and dinitrogen monoxide emissions. Our estimated LUC emissions from mangrove deforestation resulted in 124 t CO2 ha(-1) year(-1), assuming IPCC's recommendations of 1 m of soil loss, and 96% carbon oxidation. In addition to this, 1.25 t of carbon would no longer be sequestered annually. Discounted over 20 years, this resulted in total LULUC emissions of 129 t CO2 ha(-1) year(-1) (CV = 0.441, lognormal distribution (ln)). Shrimp farms in the Mekong Delta, however, can today operate for 50 years or more, but are 1.5 m deep (50% oxidation). In addition to this, Asian tiger shrimp farming in mixed mangrove concurrent farms (the only type of shrimp farm that resulted in mangrove deforestation since 2000 in our case study) resulted in 533 kg methane and 1.67 kg dinitrogen monoxide per hectare annually. Consequently, the LULUC GHG emissions resulted in 184 and 282 t CO2-eq t(-1) live shrimp at farm gate, using mass and economic allocation, respectively. These GHG emissions are about an order of magnitude higher than from semi-intensive or intensive shrimp farming systems. Limitations in data quality and quantity also led us to quantify the uncertainties around our emission estimates, resulting in a CV of between 0.4 and 0.5. Our results reinforce the urgency of conserving mangrove forests and the need to quantify uncertainties around LULUC emissions. It also questions mixed mangrove concurrent shrimp farming, where partial removal of mangrove forests is endorsed based upon the benefits of partial mangrove conservation and maintenance of certain ecosystem services. While we recognize that these activities limit the chances of complete removal, our estimates show that large GHG emissions from mangrove LULUC question the sustainability of this type of shrimp farming, especially since mixed mangrove farming only provide 5% of all farmed shrimp produced in Vietnam.
|
|
| 8. |
- Sanjuan-Delmás, David, et al.
(författare)
-
Environmental assessment of copper production in Europe: an LCA case study from Sweden conducted using two conventional software-database setups
- 2022
-
Ingår i: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer. - 0948-3349 .- 1614-7502. ; 27:2, s. 255-266
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThis study focuses on the environmental assessment of European copper production. Life cycle assessment is applied to analyse copper cathode production in Sweden, including its mining (an open-pit mine) and refining (pyrometallurgy), and using two combinations of software and databases: SimaPro software with ecoinvent database and GaBi software with GaBi database. The results are compared with results from other case studies from literature.MethodsA cradle-to-gate LCA was conducted considering 1 tonne of copper as functional unit. The inventory for the foreground system was elaborated using primary data gathered by the staff from the mine, the concentrator and the smelter. For the background data, LCA databases are used considering datasets for the Swedish market whenever possible. As the smelter has multiple useful outputs, economic allocation was applied at the inventory level. The calculation method CML-IA baseline 3.5 was considered for both combinations of software and database, reporting all the impact categories of the method plus the Cumulative Energy Demand.Results and discussionThe inventory of the system and the main environmental hotspots were presented, such as the explosives for blasting (due to their supply chain) or the electricity used in the concentrator. The results obtained with the two combinations of LCA software and databases yield large differences for categories such as abiotic depletion (7.5 times higher for SimaPro and ecoinvent), possibly due to differences in the system boundaries of the databases and the characterisation factors of the method. Although the case study has a relatively high cumulative energy demand (140/168 kMJ/tonne Cu) compared to other mines, its performance in global warming (3.5/4.7 tonne CO2eq/tonne Cu) is much better due to the low greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, which shows that the electricity mix is a key aspect.ConclusionsThe environmental performance of mining depends partially on the specific conditions of the deposit, e.g., the ore grade and the mining type. LCA practitioners should consider the potential different results that can be obtained using different combinations of software and database and exert caution when comparing cases, especially for abiotic depletion, human toxicity and ecotoxicity categories. Finally, the use of renewable energies can be key to improve the environmental sustainability of copper production.
|
|
| 9. |
- van Oers, Lauran, et al.
(författare)
-
Top-down characterization of resource use in LCA : from problem definition of resource use to operational characterization factors for dissipation of elements to the environment
- 2020
-
Ingår i: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - Cham, Switzerland : Springer Nature. - 0948-3349 .- 1614-7502. ; 25:11, s. 2255-2273
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThe methods for assessing the impact of using abiotic resources in life cycle assessment (LCA) have always been heavily debated. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of a common understanding of the problem related to resource use. This article reports the results of an effort to reach such common understanding between different stakeholder groups and the LCA community. For this, a top-down approach was applied.MethodsTo guide the process, a four-level top-down framework was used to (1) demarcate the problem that needs to be assessed, (2) translate this into a modeling concept, (3) derive mathematical equations and fill these with data necessary to calculate the characterization factors, and (4) align the system boundaries and assumptions that are made in the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) model and the life cycle inventory (LCI) model.ResultsWe started from the following definition of the problem of using resources: the decrease of accessibility on a global level of primary and/or secondary elements over the very long term or short term due to the net result of compromising actions. The system model distinguishes accessible and inaccessible stocks in both the environment and the technosphere. Human actions can compromise the accessible stock through environmental dissipation, technosphere hibernation, and occupation in use or through exploration. As a basis for impact assessment, we propose two parameters: the global change in accessible stock as a net result of the compromising actions and the global amount of the accessible stock. We propose three impact categories for the use of elements: environmental dissipation, technosphere hibernation, and occupation in use, with associated characterization equations for two different time horizons. Finally, preliminary characterization factors are derived and applied in a simple illustrative case study for environmental dissipation.ConclusionsDue to data constraints, at this moment, only characterization factors for “dissipation to the environment” over a very-long-term time horizon could be elaborated. The case study shows that the calculation of impact scores might be hampered by insufficient LCI data. Most presently available LCI databases are far from complete in registering the flows necessary to assess the impacts on the accessibility of elements. While applying the framework, various choices are made that could plausibly be made differently. We invite our peers to also use this top-down framework when challenging our choices and elaborate that into a consistent set of choices and assumptions when developing LCIA methods.
|
|
