Environmental impact of primary beef production chain in Colombia: Carbon footprint, non-renewable energy and land use using Life Cycle Assessment

Sustainability has been greatly impacted by the reality of budgets and available resources as a targeted range of carbon emission reduction greatly increases due to climate change. This study analyses the technical and economic feasibility for three types of solar photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy (RE) systems; (i) solar stand-alone, a non-grid-connected building rooftop-mounted structure, (ii) solar rooftop, a grid-connected building rooftop-mounted structure, (iii) solar farm, a grid-connected land-mounted structure in three tropical climate regions. Technical scientific and economic tools, including life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) with an integrated framework from a Malaysian case study were applied to similar climatic regions, Thailand, and Indonesia. The short-term, future scaled-up scenario was defined using a proxy technology and estimated data. Environmental locations for this scenario were identified, the environmental impacts were compared, and the techno-economic output were analysed. The scope of this study is cradle-to-grave. Levelised cost of energy (LCOE) was greatly affected due to PV performance degradation rate, especially the critical shading issues for large-scale installations. Despite the land use impact, increased CO2 emissions accumulate over time with regard to energy mix of the country, which requires the need for long-term procurement of both carbon and investment return. With regards to profitably, grid-connected roof-mounted systems achieve the lowest LCOE as compared to other types of installation, ranging from 0.0491 USD/kWh to 0.0605 USD/kWh under a 6% discounted rate. A simple payback (SPB) time between 7–10 years on average depends on annual power generated by the system with estimated energy payback of 0.40–0.55 years for common polycrystalline photovoltaic technology. Thus, maintaining the whole system by ensuring a low degradation rate of 0.2% over a long period of time is essential to generate benefits for both investors and the environment. Emerging technologies are progressing at an exponential rate in order to fill the gap of establishing renewable energy as an attractive business plan. Life cycle assessment is considered an excellent tool to assess the environmental impact of renewable energy.

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Life cycle assessment of organic Parmesan Cheese considering the whole dairy supply chain

Proceedings of the 5th International Food Operations & Processing Simulation Workshop ◽

10.46354/i3m.2019.foodops.004 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Giulia Borghesi ◽

Giuseppe Vignali

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Supply Chain ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Organic Agriculture ◽

Water Footprint ◽

Dairy Farm ◽

Parmesan Cheese

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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Carbon footprint and land use of oat and faba bean protein concentrates using a life cycle assessment approach

Journal of Cleaner Production ◽

10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118376 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 242 ◽

pp. 118376 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Hannele Heusala ◽

Taija Sinkko ◽

Nesli Sözer ◽

Eemeli Hytönen ◽

Lisbeth Mogensen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Faba Bean ◽

Protein Concentrates ◽

Assessment Approach ◽

Bean Protein

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Land use and geospatial aspects in life cycle assessment of renewable energy

2009 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology ◽

10.1109/issst.2009.5156724 ◽

2009 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

T. P. Seager ◽

S. A. Miller ◽

J. Kohn

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Renewable Energy ◽

Life Cycle

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Life Cycle Assessment of Rice Bran Oil Production: A Case Study in China

10.21203/rs.3.rs-423605/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lihui Sun ◽

Yuying Wang ◽

Yuqing Gong

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Rice Bran ◽

Rice Bran Oil ◽

Oil Production ◽

Oil Extraction ◽

Oil Refining ◽

Production Chain ◽

Oil Storage

Abstract Environmental problems caused by the food processing industry have always been one of the concerns for the public. Herein, for the first time, a gate-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) was employed to evaluate the environmental impact of rice bran oil production. Four subsystems namely transportation of the raw rice bran to oil factory, crude oil extraction, oil refining as well as oil storage were established. The product sustainability software GaBi and the method CML 2001-Jan. 2016 were used to calculate and analyze the environmental burdens at each stage of the rice bran oil production chain. The results show the oil refining stage had the greatest environmental impact, followed by the oil extraction stage. High demands for coal and electricity, make a critical difference in generating vast majority of environmental impacts. Modifying the electricity source and replacing traditional fuels with cleaner ones will do bring benefits to the sustainable development of the industry.

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Life cycle assessment of horticultural production on UK lowland peat soils.

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9662 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin Freeman ◽

David Styles ◽

Christopher Evans ◽

David Chadwick ◽

David Jones

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Efficient Production ◽

Peat Soils ◽

Responsible Management ◽

The Uk

Global peatlands store >600 Gt of Carbon (C) but are highly vulnerable to degradation following drainage for agriculture. The extensively drained East Anglian Fens include half of England&#8217;s most productive agricultural land, produce ~33% of England&#8217;s vegetables and support a food production industry worth approximately &#163;3 billion GBP.&#160; However under arable management, these fen peat soils produce ~37.5 t CO2 eq ha-1 of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. This is likely to be the largest source of land use GHG emissions in the UK per unit area and there is interest in developing responsible management approaches to reduce emissions whilst maintaining economically productive systems. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is amongst the UK&#8217;s most valuable crops and a substantial proportion of UK production occurs in the Fens. We undertook a life cycle assessment to compare the carbon footprint of UK Fen lettuce with alternative sources of lettuce for the UK market. We also examined the potential for responsible peat management strategies and more efficient production to reduce the carbon footprint of Fen lettuce. It is hoped this study will help to inform land use decision making and encourage responsible management of UK lowland peat resources.

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A life cycle assessment approach to quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change for beef production in eastern Australia

The Rangeland Journal ◽

10.1071/rj14112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 273 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Beverley K. Henry ◽

D. Butler ◽

S. G. Wiedemann

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Land Use Change ◽

New South ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Beef Production ◽

South Wales ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

Direct Land Use Change

In life cycle assessment studies, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from direct land-use change have been estimated to make a significant contribution to the global warming potential of agricultural products. However, these estimates have a high uncertainty due to the complexity of data requirements and difficulty in attribution of land-use change. This paper presents estimates of GHG emissions from direct land-use change from native woodland to grazing land for two beef production regions in eastern Australia, which were the subject of a multi-impact life cycle assessment study for premium beef production. Spatially- and temporally consistent datasets were derived for areas of forest cover and biomass carbon stocks using published remotely sensed tree-cover data and regionally applicable allometric equations consistent with Australia’s national GHG inventory report. Standard life cycle assessment methodology was used to estimate GHG emissions and removals from direct land-use change attributed to beef production. For the northern-central New South Wales region of Australia estimates ranged from a net emission of 0.03 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1 to net removal of 0.12 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1 using low and high scenarios, respectively, for sequestration in regrowing forests. For the same period (1990–2010), the study region in southern-central Queensland was estimated to have net emissions from land-use change in the range of 0.45–0.25 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1. The difference between regions reflects continuation of higher rates of deforestation in Queensland until strict regulation in 2006 whereas native vegetation protection laws were introduced earlier in New South Wales. On the basis of liveweight produced at the farm-gate, emissions from direct land-use change for 1990–2010 were comparable in magnitude to those from other on-farm sources, which were dominated by enteric methane. However, calculation of land-use change impacts for the Queensland region for a period starting 2006, gave a range from net emissions of 0.11 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1 to net removals of 0.07 t CO2-e ha–1 year–1. This study demonstrated a method for deriving spatially- and temporally consistent datasets to improve estimates for direct land-use change impacts in life cycle assessment. It identified areas of uncertainty, including rates of sequestration in woody regrowth and impacts of land-use change on soil carbon stocks in grazed woodlands, but also showed the potential for direct land-use change to represent a net sink for GHG.

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An Environmental Impact of a Wooden and Brick House by the LCA Method

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.688.204 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 688 ◽

pp. 204-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jozef Mitterpach ◽

Jozef Štefko

Keyword(s):

Global Warming ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Carbon Footprint ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Alternative Materials ◽

Wooden House ◽

Stone Wool ◽

Materials Used

The main objective of this paper thesis is to determine the environmental impact of two houses made of two alternative materials - a wooden and a brick house - using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). By comparing the material composition of their design to determine the environmental impacts of global warming, human health, consumption of resources and ecosystem quality. An overall comparison showed that the materials for the construction of a wooden house have less negative impact on the environment than materials for the construction of a brick house. Using the GWP method, results show that the materials for the construction of a brick house leave twice the carbon footprint in the environment than materials for a wooden house. This resultant state is mainly due to the use of natural materials in the wooden house (wood, fibre insulation), unlike the materials used in the brick house (ceramic masonry, insulation from stone wool) and so on.

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