The environmental impact of prefabricated renovation systems: a worthy alternative to on-site renovation?

Abstract The conventional renovation practices, which are mainly characterized by time-consuming manual on-site techniques, partly contribute to the low renovation rate. Accordingly, a faster and more efficient approach is necessary. The implementation of prefabricated systems could offer a possible solution. These systems are increasingly being studied, but little is known about their environmental impact. Hence, this study investigates the environmental impact by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of two prefabricated façade renovation systems being a timber frame and a sandwich panel; and compares it to a well-known on-site technique, External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS). First, reference designs are assembled. Subsequently, the impact of different life cycle stages is determined in order to clearly indicate differences between on-site and prefabricated systems. More specifically, the production, transport, replacement and end-of-life stage are assessed. In the end, the environmental impact is examined over time combining all stages. The results show that the prefabricated systems are not yet a worthy ecological opponent to ETICS. As of the production stage, the environmental impact appears to be higher. Optimising the reference systems through an extensive redesign could lead to more competitive or even favourable results in terms of environmental impact.

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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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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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A study of the impact of information disclosure quality on the efficiency of corporate investment—Based on civil engineering listed companies

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202019803032 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 198 ◽

pp. 03032

Author(s):

Liying Zhang

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Civil Engineering ◽

Listed Companies ◽

Investment Efficiency ◽

Disclosure Quality ◽

High Quality ◽

Life Cycle Stages ◽

Quality Disclosure ◽

The Impact

Most of the existing studies on the impact of disclosure quality of listed companies on the investment efficiency of enterprises are based on the static level, and the article investigates the evolution of disclosure quality on the investment efficiency of enterprises from the dynamic level by dividing the life cycle of enterprises. Taking the data of Shenzhen civil engineering companies from 2013-2017 as the research sample, it uses multiple regression analysis to empirically test the impact of disclosure quality of listed companies on the investment efficiency of enterprises at different life cycle stages. The results show that when no distinction is made between life cycle stages, high quality disclosure can significantly inhibit the inefficient investment behavior of firms; in the growth and maturity samples, high quality disclosure can significantly inhibit underinvestment and overinvestment; in the recessionary samples, high quality disclosure can significantly inhibit underinvestment and has no significant effect on overinvestment.

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Environmental Impact for 3D Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffolds Life Cycle: An Assessment

Biointerface Research in Applied Chemistry ◽

10.33263/briac125.65046515 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (5) ◽

pp. 6504-6515

Keyword(s):

Tissue Engineering ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Bone Tissue Engineering ◽

Bone Tissue ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Tissue Engineering Scaffolds ◽

Industrial Soil ◽

The Impact

With the development of additive manufacturing technology, 3D bone tissue engineering scaffolds have evolved. Bone tissue engineering is one of the techniques for repairing bone abnormalities caused by a variety of circumstances, such as injuries or the need to support damaged sections. Many bits of research have gone towards developing 3D bone tissue engineering scaffolds all across the world. The assessment of the environmental impact, on the other hand, has received less attention. As a result, the focus of this study is on developing a life cycle assessment (LCA) model for 3D bone tissue engineering scaffolds and evaluating potential environmental impacts. One of the methodologies to evaluating a complete environmental impact assessment is life cycle assessment (LCA). The cradle-to-grave method will be used in this study, and GaBi software was used to create the analysis for this study. Previous research on 3D bone tissue engineering fabrication employing poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) soaked in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and diphenyl (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide (TPO) as a photoinitiator will be reviewed. Meanwhile, digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing is employed as the production technique. The GaBi program and the LCA model developed to highlight the potential environmental impact. This study shows how the input and output of LCA of 3D bone tissue engineering scaffolds might contribute to environmental issues such as air, freshwater, saltwater, and industrial soil emissions. The emission contributing to potential environmental impacts comes from life cycle input, electricity and transportation consumption, manufacturing process, and material resources. The results from this research can be used as an indicator for the researcher to take the impact of the development of 3D bone tissue engineering on the environment seriously.

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The use of life cycle assessment for evaluating the sustainability of the Amsterdam water cycle

Journal of Water and Climate Change ◽

10.2166/wcc.2013.007 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 103-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

E. Klaversma ◽

A. W. C. van der Helm ◽

J. W. N. M. Kappelhof

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Water Distribution ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Phosphate Removal ◽

Process Data ◽

Intergovernmental Panel ◽

The Impact

Waternet, the water cycle company of Amsterdam and surrounding areas, uses the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to evaluate the environmental impact of investment decisions and to determine the potential reduction of direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of different alternatives. This approach enables Waternet to fulfil its corporate objective to improve sustainability and to become climate neutral by 2020. Three example studies that give a good overview of the use of LCAs at Waternet and problems encountered are discussed: phosphate removal and recovery from wastewater, pH correction of drinking water with carbon dioxide (CO2) and materials for drinking water distribution pipes. The environmental impact assessments were performed in SimaPro 7 using the ReCiPe method and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Global Warming Potential (IPCC GWP) 100a method. The Ecoinvent 2.0 and 2.2 databases were used for the material and process data. From the examples described, it can be concluded that only the phosphate removal case had a significant effect on the climate footprint. The article discusses applications and limitations of the LCA technique. The most important limitation is that the impact of water consumption and the possible impact of effluent compounds to surface water are not considered within the used methods.

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Mitigating the Environmental Impact of Smartphones with Device Reuse

Sustainable ICTs and Management Systems for Green Computing ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-1839-8.ch011 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 252-282 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xun Li ◽

Pablo Ortiz ◽

Brandon Kuczenski ◽

Diana Franklin ◽

Frederic T. Chong

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Quantitative Analysis ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Energy Materials ◽

Societal Benefit ◽

Life Cycle Stages ◽

Elementary School Education ◽

Manufacturing Stage

The rapid growth of information technology has not only brought substantial economic and societal benefit but also led to an unsustainable disposable model in which mobile devices are replaced in a matter of months. The environmental impact of this stream of handsets in terms of manufacturing energy, materials, and disposal costs is alarming. This chapter aims at raising today’s environmental issues of the increasing smartphone market, as well as providing a quantitative analysis on the environmental impact of different life-cycle stages of the smartphones, including the manufacturing stage, using stage, and recycling. To achieve sustainable computing and best utilize the energy consumed during manufacturing the large number of devices, this chapter demonstrates the methodology and techniques towards reusing smartphones by presenting a case study on reusing smartphones for elementary school education.

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Life Cycle Analysis Methods on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Procedures in the Perspective of Sustainable Development

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/20187411003 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 74 ◽

pp. 11003

Author(s):

Andreas Pramudianto

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Impact Assessment ◽

Environmental Impact Assessment ◽

Life Cycle Analysis ◽

Environmental Science ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Environmental Damage ◽

The Impact

Basically each product or service has its own life cycle. Life Cycle Analysis Method can be used to assess the impact of an activity both production and service activities. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Analisis Mengenai Dampak Lingkungan (AMDAL) is one of the activities that must be fulfilled in order to obtain an environmental permit. EIA activities have a life cycle process that needs to be known and understood so that environmental permits can be obtained. Therefore this study aims to find out the use of the LCA method in EIA procedures. In addition, with the LCA method, EIA activities are expected to be well studied according to the function of this service. LCA can provide to reduce the least impact from environmental damage. This research will be useful for the development of environmental science, especially related to the study of environmental impacts, especially EIA. It is expected that the results of the study will provide a complete picture of the relevance of the LCA method with EIA and the benefits that can be taken. The results of this study will be an important recommendation for decision makers regarding the importance of EIA in development, especially sustainable development through the method used, namely LCA.

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Comparative Study on the Environmental Impact of Traditional Clay Bricks Mixed with Organic Waste Using Life Cycle Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10082917 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 2917 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

José Lozano-Miralles ◽

Manuel Hermoso-Orzáez ◽

Carmen Martínez-García ◽

José Rojas-Sola

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Life Cycle Analysis ◽

Organic Waste ◽

Organic Additives ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Clay Bricks ◽

The Impact

The construction industry is responsible for 40–45% of primary energy consumption in Europe. Therefore, it is essential to find new materials with a lower environmental impact to achieve sustainable buildings. The objective of this study was to carry out the life cycle analysis (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of baked clay bricks incorporating organic waste. The scope of this comparative study of LCA covers cradle to gate and involves the extraction of clay and organic waste from the brick, transport, crushing, modelling, drying and cooking. Local sustainability within a circular economy strategy is used as a laboratory test. The energy used during the cooking process of the bricks modified with organic waste, the gas emission concentrate and the emission factors are quantified experimentally in the laboratory. Potential environmental impacts are analysed and compared using the ReCiPe midpoint LCA method using SimaPro 8.0.5.13. These results achieved from this method are compared with those obtained with a second method—Impact 2002+ v2.12. The results of LCA show that the incorporation of organic waste in bricks is favourable from an environmental point of view and is a promising alternative approach in terms of environmental impacts, as it leads to a decrease of 15–20% in all the impact categories studied. Therefore, the suitability of the use of organic additives in clay bricks was confirmed, as this addition was shown to improve their efficiency and sustainability, thus reducing the environmental impact.

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IFRS adoption, financial reporting quality and cost of capital: a life cycle perspective

Pacific Accounting Review ◽

10.1108/par-08-2016-0073 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 497-522 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ahsan Habib ◽

Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan ◽

Mostafa Monzur Hasan

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Financial Reporting ◽

Cost Of Capital ◽

Reporting Quality ◽

Financial Reporting Quality ◽

Cost Of Equity ◽

Content Type ◽

Ifrs Adoption ◽

Life Cycle Stages ◽

The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on financial reporting quality and cost of equity. The paper further investigates whether such association varies at different life cycle stages. Design/methodology/approach This paper follows the methodologies of DeAngelo et al. (2006) and Dickinson (2011) to develop proxies for the firms’ stages in the life cycle. Findings Using both pre- and post-IFRS adoption period for Australian listed companies, the paper finds that financial reporting quality reduced and cost of equity increased because of the adoption of IFRS. The paper further evidences that financial reporting quality in the post-IFRS period increased cost of equity. Finally, the paper finds that mature firms produce a better quality of earnings, which result in lower cost of capital. The results indicate that a mature firm was benefited because of the adoption of IFRS. Originality/value The finding of this research is useful to the regulators and practitioners to understand the widespread benefit of IFRS adoption.

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Eco product development combining eco design and life cycle assessment

Benchmarking An International Journal ◽

10.1108/bij-04-2020-0160 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Ana Jamile Damasceno Barbosa ◽

Vitor Hugo de Paiva Santos ◽

Priscilla Cavalcante de Araújo ◽

Felipe Lucas de Medeiros ◽

Letícia Yasmin da Silva Otaviano

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Product Life Cycle ◽

Raw Material ◽

Real Problem ◽

Cotton Swab ◽

Content Type ◽

Original Product ◽

The Impact

PurposeThe paper aims to propose the development of an eco product to replace the traditional cotton swab that meets the expected needs, besides having a bias based on sustainability and economic viability.Design/methodology/approachThe applied nature article opted for an exploratory and descriptive study, with the objective of seeking a solution to a real problem: to reduce the environmental impact in the disposal of cotton swabs. To test this hypothesis, the exploratory stage evaluated the literature on the principles of eco design and environmental marketing to understand market viability and environmental impacts. The descriptive phase presented a comparative analysis between the original product and the proposed one, in terms of production processes and impacts of the product life cycle. Thus, an alternative product was conceived and validated applying the life cycle analysis (LCA).FindingsThe paper provides a comparative analysis between the eco product and the traditional product in order to validate the hypothesis that the new proposal reduces the environmental impact. It was found that both productive processes have similar impacts; however, the raw material of the proposed eco product demonstrated a significant reduction in the impact caused on the environment, considering cradle to cradle analysis.Originality/valueThis paper conceives an eco product as an alternative to traditional cotton swab, presenting an innovative potential in line with worldwide sustainability trends.

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