| 1. |
- Finnveden, Göran, et al.
(författare)
-
Recent developments in Life Cycle Assessment
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 91:1, s. 1-21
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Life Cycle Assessment is a tool to assess the environmental impacts and resources used throughout a product's life cycle, i.e., from raw material acquisition, via production and use phases, to waste management. The methodological development in LCA has been strong, and LCA is broadly applied in practice. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of recent developments of LCA methods. The focus is on some areas where there has been an intense methodological development during the last years. We also highlight some of the emerging issues. In relation to the Goal and Scope definition we especially discuss the distinction between attributional and consequential LCA. For the Inventory Analysis, this distinction is relevant when discussing system boundaries, data collection, and allocation. Also highlighted are developments concerning databases and Input-Output and hybrid LCA. In the sections on Life Cycle Impact Assessment we discuss the characteristics of the modelling as well as some recent developments for specific impact categories and weighting. In relation to the Interpretation the focus is on uncertainty analysis. Finally, we discuss recent developments in relation to some of the strengths and weaknesses of LCA.
|
|
| 2. |
- Heeren, Niko, et al.
(författare)
-
Environmental impact of buildings - what matters?
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Environmental Science & Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 49:16, s. 9832-9841
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The goal of this study was to identify drivers of environmental impact and quantify their influence on the environmental performance of wooden and massive residential and office buildings. We performed a life cycle assessment and used thermal simulation to quantify operational energy demand and to account for differences in thermal inertia of building mass. Twenty-eight input parameters, affecting operation, design, material, and exogenic building properties were sampled in a Monte Carlo analysis. To determine sensitivity, we calculated the correlation between each parameter and the resulting life cycle inventory and impact assessment scores. Parameters affecting operational energy demand and energy conversion are the most influential for the building’s total environmental performance. For climate change, electricity mix, ventilation rate, heating system, and construction material rank the highest. Thermal inertia results in an average 2-6% difference in heat demand. Non-renewable cumulative energy demand of wooden buildings is 18% lower, compared to a massive variant. Total cumulative energy demand is comparable. The median climate change impact is 25% lower, including end-of-life material credits and 22% lower, when credits are excluded. The findings are valid for small offices and residential buildings in Switzerland and regions with similar building culture, construction material production, and climate.
|
|
| 3. |
- Joyce, Peter James
(författare)
-
Environmental Considerations in the Zero-waste Valorisation of Bauxite Residue : A Life Cycle Perspective
- 2018
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Bauxite residue, also known as red mud, is produced in large quantities as a result of alumina refining (the first stage in aluminium production), and is one of the world’s most abundant and important industrial wastes. As demand for aluminium continues to increase and space to store this residue diminishes, the potential to utilise bauxite residue as a secondary resource is increasingly being considered by the alumina industry. Bauxite residue can be used as a source of iron, aluminium, titanium oxide, scandium and rare earth oxides, or utilised for its bulk properties to create cement clinkers or inorganic polymers. Achieving any of these uses however requires a series of complex valorisation processes, which in turn require inputs of energy and materials. Some bauxite residues also contain trace amounts of naturally occurring radionuclides.The EU Horizon 2020 MSCA-ETN REDMUD project was set up to investigate the valorisation of bauxite residue in an integrated manner. The ultimate aim of the REDMUD project is to develop environmentally-friendly, zero-waste, integrated processes for extracting valuable materials from bauxite residue and/or utilising it at high volume. This thesis presents the environmental perspective on this aim, taking a life cycle view; that is, taking into account the upstream and downstream impacts, in addition to the direct impacts, which may result from diverting bauxite residue from landfill to the proposed valorisation processes. This involves using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches to understand the environmental balance between the impact avoided through landfill diversion and the substitution of conventional materials, and the impacts incurred by the use of materials and energy in the valorisation processes themselves. Importantly, the potential ionising radiation impact from naturally occurring radionuclides is also considered from a life cycle perspective for the first time.A new life cycle impact assessment method for assessing the impacts of naturally occurring radionuclides was developed. In addition, two pieces of research software, designed to overcome the current shortcomings in LCA software with respect to streamlined and prospective LCA studies of emerging technologies are presented as part of this thesis.The potential hotspots of environmental impact in a single step valorisation process, the production of high bauxite residue content inorganic polymers, were identified. The results identify the high temperature processing of bauxite residue, in order to transform it into a reactive precursor capable of forming solid inorganic polymers, as a hotspot of environmental impact across a range of environmental impact measures. The production of alkaline activating solutions (the other reagent in the polymerisation reaction) also represented a hotspot of environmental impact. These hotspots were used to identify possible future research directions for this process, which have the potential to reduce the environmental impact of this valorisation process.Finally it was shown that even in the absence of a detailed and quantified system description, qualitative approaches based on life cycle thinking can be usefully applied to identify important aspects on both sides of the environmental balance between the impacts avoided and the impacts incurred in waste valorisation. Chemical reaction products, chemical synthesis, thermal and mechanical energy are highlighted as potential sources of environmental impact. A case study, looking at the combined extraction of iron and production of inorganic polymers from bauxite residue was used to demonstrate the validity of these qualitative approaches. This study also demonstrated that combining the extraction of iron and inorganic polymers is vital in order to yield a net environmental benefit in terms of climate change.This thesis provides an initial step on the road towards the environmentally sustainable valorisation of bauxite residue, as well as the analytical tools and additional impact assessment measures required to ensure that this journey can be continued, both within the REDMUD project and beyond.
|
|
| 4. |
- Leclere, David, et al.
(författare)
-
Bending the curve of terrestrial biodiversity needs an integrated strategy
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 585:7826, s. 551-556
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increased efforts are required to prevent further losses to terrestrial biodiversity and the ecosystem services that it provides(1,2). Ambitious targets have been proposed, such as reversing the declining trends in biodiversity(3); however, just feeding the growing human population will make this a challenge(4). Here we use an ensemble of land-use and biodiversity models to assess whether-and how-humanity can reverse the declines in terrestrial biodiversity caused by habitat conversion, which is a major threat to biodiversity(5). We show that immediate efforts, consistent with the broader sustainability agenda but of unprecedented ambition and coordination, could enable the provision of food for the growing human population while reversing the global terrestrial biodiversity trends caused by habitat conversion. If we decide to increase the extent of land under conservation management, restore degraded land and generalize landscape-level conservation planning, biodiversity trends from habitat conversion could become positive by the mid-twenty-first century on average across models (confidence interval, 2042-2061), but this was not the case for all models. Food prices could increase and, on average across models, almost half (confidence interval, 34-50%) of the future biodiversity losses could not be avoided. However, additionally tackling the drivers of land-use change could avoid conflict with affordable food provision and reduces the environmental effects of the food-provision system. Through further sustainable intensification and trade, reduced food waste and more plant-based human diets, more than two thirds of future biodiversity losses are avoided and the biodiversity trends from habitat conversion are reversed by 2050 for almost all of the models. Although limiting further loss will remain challenging in several biodiversity-rich regions, and other threats-such as climate change-must be addressed to truly reverse the declines in biodiversity, our results show that ambitious conservation efforts and food system transformation are central to an effective post-2020 biodiversity strategy. To promote the recovery of the currently declining global trends in terrestrial biodiversity, increases in both the extent of land under conservation management and the sustainability of the global food system from farm to fork are required.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
