Quantifying net water consumption of Norwegian hydropower reservoirs and related aquatic biodiversity impacts in Life Cycle Assessment

Agriculture and food manufacturing have a considerable effect on the environment emissions: holdings and farms play an important role about greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. This study aims at evaluating the environmental impact of one of the most important Italian DOP product: organic Parmesan Cheese. Environmental performances of the whole dairy supply chain have been assessed according to the life cycle assessment approach (LCA). In this analysis Parmesan Cheese is made from an organic dairy farm in Emilia Romagna, which uses the milk from three different organic livestock productions. Organic agriculture is different from conventional; the major difference is represented by the avoidance of the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides made in chemical industry process. Organic agriculture uses organic fertilizers to encourage the natural fertility of the soil respecting the environment and the agro-system. In this case, life cycle approach is used to assess the carbon footprint and the water footprint of organic Parmesan Cheese considering the milk and cheese production. The object at this level is investigating the environmental impact considering the situation before some improvement changes. The functional unit is represented by 1 kg of organic Parmesan Cheese; inventory data refer to the situation in year 2017 and system boundaries consider the inputs related to the cattle and dairy farm until the ripening (included). The carbon footprint is investigated using IPCC 2013 Global Warming Potential (GWP) 100a method, developed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and reported in kg of CO2eq. Otherwise, water footprint allows to measure the water consumption and in this work it is assessed using AWARE method (Available Water REmaining).

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A Life Cycle Assessment of reprocessing face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic

10.21203/rs.3.rs-148523/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bart van Straten ◽

Sharina Ligtelijn ◽

Lieke Droog ◽

Esther Putman ◽

Jenny Dankelman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Financial Burden ◽

Monte Carlo Model ◽

Rejection Rate ◽

Medical Products ◽

Circular Design

Abstract Introduction/background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to threatening shortages in the healthcare of medical products such as face masks. Due to this major impact on our healthcare society, an initiative was conducted between March and July 2020 for reprocessing face masks from 19 different hospitals. This exceptional opportunity was used to study the cost impact and the effects of the CO2 footprint of reprocessed face masks relative to new disposable face masks.Aim: The aim of this study is to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess and compare the environmental impact of disposed versus reprocessed face masks.Methods: In total, 18,166 high-quality medical FFP2 face masks were reprocessed through steam sterilization between March and July 2020. CO2 emissions equivalent (kg CO2 eq) and other impact categories, such as water consumption during production, transport, sterilisation and end-of-life processes, were assessed. A Monte Carlo model was used to predict the sensitivity of different factors in the whole process on the kg CO2 eq.Results: The average kg CO2 eq appears to be 42% lower for reprocessed face masks based on a rejection rate of 20% than new ones. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the loading capacity of the autoclave and rejection rate of face masks have a large influence on kg CO2 eq. The estimated cost price of a reprocessed mask was €1,40 against €1.55.Discussion: The life cycle assessment (LCA) demonstrates that reprocessed FFP2 face masks from a circular economy perspective have a lower environmental impact on kg CO2 eq and water usage than new face masks. For policymakers, it is important to realize that the CO2 footprint of medical products such as face masks may be reduced by means of circular economy strategies.Conclusion: This study demonstrated a lower environmental impact and financial burden for reprocessed medical face masks than for new face masks without compromising qualifications. Therefore, this study may serve as an inspiration for investigating the reprocessing of other medical products that may become scarce. Finally, this study advocates that circular design engineering principles should be taken into account when designing medical devices. This may lead to more sustainable products that require less CO2, have less water consumption and lower costs.

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Controlling biodiversity impacts of future global hydropower reservoirs by strategic site selection

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-78444-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Martin Dorber ◽

Anders Arvesen ◽

David Gernaat ◽

Francesca Verones

Keyword(s):

Water Consumption ◽

Clean Energy ◽

Methane Emissions ◽

Land Occupation ◽

Aquatic Biodiversity ◽

Explanatory Factors ◽

Hydropower Potential ◽

Climate Action ◽

Terrestrial Biodiversity ◽

Hydropower Reservoirs

AbstractFurther reservoir-based hydropower development can contribute to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs) on affordable and clean energy, and climate action. However, hydropower reservoir operation can lead to biodiversity impacts, thus interfering with the SDGs on clean water and life on land. We combine a high-resolution, location-specific, technical assessment with newly developed life cycle impact assessment models, to assess potential biodiversity impacts of possible future hydropower reservoirs, resulting from land occupation, water consumption and methane emissions. We show that careful selection of hydropower reservoirs has a large potential to limit biodiversity impacts, as for example, 0.3% of the global hydropower potential accounts for 25% of the terrestrial biodiversity impact. Local variations, e.g. species richness, are the dominant explanatory factors of the variance in the quantified biodiversity impact and not the mere amount of water consumed, or land occupied per kWh. The biodiversity impacts are mainly caused by land occupation and water consumption, with methane emissions being much less important. Further, we indicate a trade-off risk between terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity impacts, as due to the weak correlation between terrestrial and aquatic impacts, reservoirs with small aquatic biodiversity impacts tend to have larger terrestrial impacts and vice versa.

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Energy and water consumption and carbon footprint of school buildings in hot climate conditions. Results from life cycle assessment

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.153 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 195 ◽

pp. 1326-1337 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

A.R. Gamarra ◽

I.R. Istrate ◽

I. Herrera ◽

C. Lago ◽

J. Lizana ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Water Consumption ◽

School Buildings ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Hot Climate

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Biodiversity impacts from water consumption on a global scale for use in life cycle assessment

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ◽

10.1007/s11367-016-1236-0 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 22 (8) ◽

pp. 1247-1256 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Francesca Verones ◽

Stephan Pfister ◽

Rosalie van Zelm ◽

Stefanie Hellweg

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Global Scale

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A Multimedia Hydrological Fate Modeling Framework To Assess Water Consumption Impacts in Life Cycle Assessment

Environmental Science & Technology ◽

10.1021/acs.est.7b05207 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 52 (8) ◽

pp. 4658-4667 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Montserrat Núñez ◽

Ralph K. Rosenbaum ◽

Shooka Karimpour ◽

Anne-Marie Boulay ◽

Michael J. Lathuillière ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Modeling Framework

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Water Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment as approaches to assess potential impacts of products on water consumption. Key learning points from pilot studies on tea and margarine

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.04.015 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 155-166 ◽

Cited By ~ 119

Author(s):

Donna Jefferies ◽

Ivan Muñoz ◽

Juliet Hodges ◽

Vanessa J. King ◽

Maite Aldaya ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Pilot Studies ◽

Learning Points

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Concrete Water Footprint Assessment Methodologies

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.668.247 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 668 ◽

pp. 247-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yazmin Lisbeth Mack ◽

Lidiane Santana Oliveira ◽

Vanderley Moacyr John

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Water Footprint ◽

High Water ◽

Iso 14044 ◽

Life Cycle Perspective ◽

Water Assessment

Concrete is the single most widely used material in the world and is only surpassed by water in terms of consumption. By 2013, 4 billion tonnes of Portland cement were produced worldwide, enough to produce about 32 billion tonnes of concrete, which represents more than 4.6 tonnes of concrete per person per year. The high water consumption and large amount of wastewater generated in the concrete industry has become a very important environmental issue. Due to the large global use of concrete, it is essential to correctly assess the environmental impacts of this material including impacts related to water consumption. Life cycle perspective is important because it allows identifying and reducing water related potential environmental impacts associated with products. In concrete life cycle assessment, these impacts are not considered mostly because of lack of data. There are several methodologies for water footprint assessment, as The Water Footprint Assessment Tool and the ISO 14046:2014 standard -that is based on life cycle assessment (ISO 14044)-, as well as sustainable reporting guidelines, which include water assessment for organizations. The aim of this paper is to evaluate existing water footprint methodologies based on life-cycle assessment, their concepts and difficulties, and link them to concrete industry. Out of at least eighteen existing water footprint methodologies, it was found that four of them are feasible for cement based materials industry, however there are differences between the definitions and criteria adopted by each methodology.

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