Quantifying the impacts of primary metal resource use in life cycle assessment based on recent mining data

The relevance of exergy to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of buildings has been studied regarding its potential to solve certain challenges in LCA, such as the characterization and valuation, accuracy of resource use, and interpretation and comparison of results. However, this potential has not been properly investigated using case studies. This study develops an exergy-based LCA method and applies it to three case-study buildings to explore its benefits. The results provide evidence that the theoretical benefits of exergy-based LCA as against a conventional LCA can be achieved. These include characterization and valuation benefits, accuracy, and enabling the comparison of environmental impacts. With the results of the exergy-based LCA method in standard metrics, there is now a mechanism for the competitive benchmarking of building sustainability assessments. It is concluded that the exergy-based life cycle assessment method has the potential to solve the characterization and valuation problems in the conventional life-cycle assessment of buildings, with local and global significance.

Download Full-text

An operational method for the evaluation of resource use and environmental impacts of dairy farms by life cycle assessment

Journal of Environmental Management ◽

10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.07.003 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 90 (11) ◽

pp. 3643-3652 ◽

Cited By ~ 84

Author(s):

Hayo M.G. van der Werf ◽

Claver Kanyarushoki ◽

Michael S. Corson

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Resource Use ◽

Dairy Farms ◽

Operational Method

Download Full-text

A Review of Life Cycle Assessment Studies of Electric Vehicles with a Focus on Resource Use

Resources ◽

10.3390/resources9030032 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 32 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Iulia Dolganova ◽

Anne Rödl ◽

Vanessa Bach ◽

Martin Kaltschmitt ◽

Matthias Finkbeiner

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Electric Vehicles ◽

Resource Use ◽

Combustion Engine ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Resource Depletion ◽

Mobility Patterns ◽

Lca Case Studies ◽

Potential Risks

Changes in the mobility patterns have evoked concerns about the future availability of certain raw materials necessary to produce alternative drivetrains and related batteries. The goal of this article is to determine if resource use aspects are adequately reflected within life cycle assessment (LCA) case studies of electric vehicles (EV). Overall, 103 LCA studies on electric vehicles from 2009 to 2018 are evaluated regarding their objective, scope, considered impact categories, and assessment methods—with a focus on resource depletion and criticality. The performed analysis shows that only 24 out of 76 EV LCA and 10 out of 27 battery LCA address the issue of resources. The majority of the studies apply one of these methods: CML-IA, ReCiPe, or Eco-Indicator 99. In most studies, EV show higher results for mineral and metal resource depletion than internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV). The batteries analysis shows that lithium, manganese, copper, and nickel are responsible for the highest burdens. Only few publications approach resource criticality. Although this topic is a serious concern for future mobility, it is currently not comprehensively and consistently considered within LCA studies of electric vehicles. Criticality should be included in the analyses in order to derive results on the potential risks associated with certain resources.

Download Full-text