A Stochastic Formulation to Assess the Environmental Impact of the Life-Cycle of Engineering Systems

Improving the efficiency of life cycle management of capital construction projects using information modeling technologies is one of the important tasks of the construction industry. The paper presents an analysis of accumulated domestic practices, including the legal and regulatory framework, assessing the effectiveness of managing the implementation of investment construction projects and of complex and serial capital construction projects, as well as the life cycle management of especially dangerous technically complex and unique capital construction projects using information modeling technologies, especially capital construction projects, as well as their supporting and using systems, primarily in the nuclear and transport sectors. A review of modern approaches to assessing the effectiveness of life cycle management systems of complex engineering systems in relation to capital construction projects is carried out. The presented material will make it possible to formulate the basic principles and prospects of applying approaches to assessing the effectiveness of the life cycle management system of a capital construction project using information modeling technologies.

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Excellent environmental performance of beet sugar production in the Netherlands

Sugar Industry ◽

10.36961/si24156 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 161-165

Author(s):

Bertram de Crom ◽

Jasper Scholten ◽

Janjoris van Diepen

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Land Use ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Environmental Performance ◽

Cane Sugar ◽

Sugar Production ◽

Beet Sugar ◽

Glucose Syrup

To get more insight in the environmental performance of the Suiker Unie beet sugar, Blonk Consultants performed a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study on beet sugar, cane sugar and glucose syrup. The system boundaries of the sugar life cycle are set from cradle to regional storage at the Dutch market. For this study 8 different scenarios were evaluated. The first scenario is the actual sugar production at Suiker Unie. Scenario 2 until 7 are different cane sugar scenarios (different countries of origin, surplus electricity production and pre-harvest burning of leaves are considered). Scenario 8 concerns the glucose syrup scenario. An important factor in the environmental impact of 1kg of sugar is the sugar yield per ha. Total sugar yield per ha differs from 9t/ha sugar for sugarcane to 15t/ha sugar for sugar beet (in 2017). Main conclusion is that the production of beet sugar at Suiker Unie has in general a lower impact on climate change, fine particulate matter, land use and water consumption, compared to cane sugar production (in Brazil and India) and glucose syrup. The impact of cane sugar production on climate change and water consumption is highly dependent on the country of origin, especially when land use change is taken into account. The environmental impact of sugar production is highly dependent on the co-production of bioenergy, both for beet and cane sugar.

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Packaging environmental impact on seafood supply chains: A review of life cycle assessment studies

Journal of Industrial Ecology ◽

10.1111/jiec.13189 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cheila Almeida ◽

Philippe Loubet ◽

Tamíris Pacheco da Costa ◽

Paula Quinteiro ◽

Jara Laso ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Supply Chains

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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of an Innovative Compact Hybrid Electrical-Thermal Storage System for Residential Buildings in Mediterranean Climate

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13095322 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 5322

Author(s):

Gabriel Zsembinszki ◽

Noelia Llantoy ◽

Valeria Palomba ◽

Andrea Frazzica ◽

Mattia Dallapiccola ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Mediterranean Climate ◽

Residential Buildings ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Storage System ◽

Hot Water ◽

Electrical Consumption ◽

The Impact

The buildings sector is one of the least sustainable activities in the world, accounting for around 40% of the total global energy demand. With the aim to reduce the environmental impact of this sector, the use of renewable energy sources coupled with energy storage systems in buildings has been investigated in recent years. Innovative solutions for cooling, heating, and domestic hot water in buildings can contribute to the buildings’ decarbonization by achieving a reduction of building electrical consumption needed to keep comfortable conditions. However, the environmental impact of a new system is not only related to its electrical consumption from the grid, but also to the environmental load produced in the manufacturing and disposal stages of system components. This study investigates the environmental impact of an innovative system proposed for residential buildings in Mediterranean climate through a life cycle assessment. The results show that, due to the complexity of the system, the manufacturing and disposal stages have a high environmental impact, which is not compensated by the reduction of the impact during the operational stage. A parametric study was also performed to investigate the effect of the design of the storage system on the overall system impact.

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Life cycle assessment of peach transportation considering trade-off between food loss and environmental impact

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ◽

10.1007/s11367-020-01832-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yuma Sasaki ◽

Takahiro Orikasa ◽

Nobutaka Nakamura ◽

Kiyotada Hayashi ◽

Yoshihito Yasaka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Trade Off ◽

Food Loss

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Life Cycle Assessment of the Use of Phase Change Material in an Evacuated Solar Tube Collector

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14144146 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (14) ◽

pp. 4146

Author(s):

Agnieszka Jachura ◽

Robert Sekret

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Phase Change ◽

Phase Change Material ◽

Solar Collector ◽

Hot Water ◽

Production Operation ◽

Management Scenarios ◽

Change Material

This paper presents an environmental impact assessment of the entire cycle of existence of the tube-vacuum solar collector prototype. The innovativeness of the solution involved using a phase change material as a heat-storing material, which was placed inside the collector’s tubes-vacuum. The PCM used in this study was paraffin. The system boundaries contained three phases: production, operation (use phase), and disposal. An ecological life cycle assessment was carried out using the SimaPro software. To compare the environmental impact of heat storage, the amount of heat generated for 15 years, starting from the beginning of a solar installation for preparing domestic hot water for a single-family residential building, was considered the functional unit. Assuming comparable production methods for individual elements of the ETC and waste management scenarios, the reduction in harmful effects on the environment by introducing a PCM that stores heat inside the ETC ranges from 17 to 24%. The performed analyses have also shown that the method itself of manufacturing the materials used for the construction of the solar collector and the choice of the scenario of the disposal of waste during decommissioning the solar collector all play an important role in its environmental assessment. With an increase in the application of the advanced technologies of materials manufacturing and an increase in the amount of waste subjected to recycling, the degree of the solar collector’s environmental impact decreased by 82% compared to its standard manufacture and disposal.

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Environmental Impact Associated with the Supply Chain and Production of Biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. through Life Cycle Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10051451 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 1451 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Mario Giraldi-Díaz ◽

Lorena De Medina-Salas ◽

Eduardo Castillo-González ◽

Max De la Cruz-Benavides

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Jatropha Curcas ◽

Life Cycle Analysis ◽

Jatropha Curcas L

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Attributional & Consequential Life Cycle Assessment: Definitions, Conceptual Characteristics and Modelling Restrictions

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13137386 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 7386

Author(s):

Thomas Schaubroeck ◽

Simon Schaubroeck ◽

Reinout Heijungs ◽

Alessandra Zamagni ◽

Miguel Brandão ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Product Life Cycle ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Consequential Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Modelling Framework ◽

Potential Environmental Impact ◽

Reference Environment ◽

The Impact

To assess the potential environmental impact of human/industrial systems, life cycle assessment (LCA) is a very common method. There are two prominent types of LCA, namely attributional (ALCA) and consequential (CLCA). A lot of literature covers these approaches, but a general consensus on what they represent and an overview of all their differences seems lacking, nor has every prominent feature been fully explored. The two main objectives of this article are: (1) to argue for and select definitions for each concept and (2) specify all conceptual characteristics (including translation into modelling restrictions), re-evaluating and going beyond findings in the state of the art. For the first objective, mainly because the validity of interpretation of a term is also a matter of consensus, we argue the selection of definitions present in the 2011 UNEP-SETAC report. ALCA attributes a share of the potential environmental impact of the world to a product life cycle, while CLCA assesses the environmental consequences of a decision (e.g., increase of product demand). Regarding the second objective, the product system in ALCA constitutes all processes that are linked by physical, energy flows or services. Because of the requirement of additivity for ALCA, a double-counting check needs to be executed, modelling is restricted (e.g., guaranteed through linearity) and partitioning of multifunctional processes is systematically needed (for evaluation per single product). The latter matters also hold in a similar manner for the impact assessment, which is commonly overlooked. CLCA, is completely consequential and there is no limitation regarding what a modelling framework should entail, with the coverage of co-products through substitution being just one approach and not the only one (e.g., additional consumption is possible). Both ALCA and CLCA can be considered over any time span (past, present & future) and either using a reference environment or different scenarios. Furthermore, both ALCA and CLCA could be specific for average or marginal (small) products or decisions, and further datasets. These findings also hold for life cycle sustainability assessment.

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