scholarly journals Are sustainable buildings healthy? An investigation of lifecycle relationship between building sustainability and its environmental health impacts

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saheed O. Ajayi ◽  
Lukumon O. Oyedele ◽  
Babatunde Jaiyeoba ◽  
Kabir Kadiri ◽  
Sunday Aderemi David
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Human Health Impacts ◽  
Use Pattern

Purpose – There have been speculations as to whether environmental friendly buildings are always healthy. Using lifecycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the purpose of this paper is to investigate lifecycle relationship between building sustainability and its environmental health impacts Design/methodology/approach – In order to achieve this, a block of classroom was modelled with the aid of Revit software, and its lifecycle global warming potential (GWP) and human health impacts were analysed using green building studio and ATHENA impact estimator tools. Sensitivity analyses of the block of classrooms were then carried out by varying the building materials and energy use pattern of the original typology. The LCA was performed for seven alternative typologies that were achieved through variation in the building materials and energy use patterns. Findings – For all the eight building typologies, the study shows a direct relationship between GWPs and human health impacts. This confirms that the more sustainable a building, the less its tendency for having negative health effects on building operatives, occupants and the wider environment. Again, the more green a building in terms of its materials and energy use pattern, the healthier the building becomes. Research limitations/implications – The human health impacts was evaluated by measuring amount of particulate matter (PM2.5) produced by the buildings while environmental impact was evaluated by measuring global warming (KgCO2) potentials of the buildings throughout its lifecycle. The study has been based on the impacts of building materials and energy use patterns over the entire lifecycle of the buildings and materials used for construction. Originality/value – The study established a positive relationship between GWP of building and its human health impacts. Thus, all arguments relating to the relationship between building sustainability and health are laid to rest by the paper.

The use of the risk assessment in the life cycle assessment framework

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Francesca Milazzo ◽  
Francesco Spina
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Complete Analysis ◽  
Transfer Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Health Impacts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to quantify the human health impacts of soy-biodiesel production with the aim to discuss about its environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – The integrated use of two current approaches, risk assessment (RA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), has allowed improvement of the potentialities of both in obtaining a more complete analysis. The implementation of a life cycle indicator for the assessment of the impacts on the human health, integrating the features of both approaches, is the main focus of this paper. Findings – It has been found that, although the biodiesel is a green fuel, it has some criticalities in its life cycle, which cannot be disregarded. In fact, even if biodiesel is essentially a clean fuel there are some phases, prior to the industrial phase, that can cause negative effects on human health and ecosystems. Practical implications – Results suggest some measures which can be adopted to substantially reduce human health impacts. Further alternative could be analysed in future to gain more insight about the use of biodiesel fuels. Originality/value – The estimation of the impacts of a process producing biodiesel has been made by using a novel approach. The novelty is associated with the calculation of the impacts on human health by using the transfer factors applied in RA. The use of such factors, properly modified in order to estimate the impacts on a wider scale than a site-dimension, allows defining a holistic approach, as LCA and RA are used as complete units but at the same time can be related to each other.

Environmental and Health Implications of Plastic Pollution

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-58
Author(s):  
Toqeer Ahmed ◽  
Hassaan Fayyaz Khan Sipra
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Human Health Impacts

Plastic pollution is one of the prime and alarming issues in developing countries that has vast environmental and human health impacts which need to be addressed as a priority. Unfortunately, limited work has been done on the topic, especially on air and water pollution due to plastics in Pakistan. Informal solid waste management is being done by municipalities, which is not adequate, and the problem will increase with the upsurge in population and industrialization. There is a need to address the knowledge gap and improvements in the existing conditions to manage the issue of plastic pollution separately. In this chapter, causes; impacts of plastic pollution both on human and environmental health, plastic industries, and legislative context; and best practices to manage plastic pollution along with some important recommendations are discussed. It is expected the data presented may help the managers, environmental scientists, and policymakers to manage the problem of plastic pollution.

Trends in global warming and human health impacts related to Brazilian sugarcane ethanol production considering black carbon emissions

2013 ◽  
Vol 104 ◽  
pp. 576-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Galdos ◽  
Otávio Cavalett ◽  
Joaquim E.A. Seabra ◽  
Luiz Augusto Horta Nogueira ◽  
Antonio Bonomi
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Ethanol Production ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Human Health Impacts

scholarly journals The Role of Green Building Materials in Reducing Environmental and Human Health Impacts

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 2589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Meysam Khoshnava ◽  
Raheleh Rostami ◽  
Rosli Mohamad Zin ◽  
Dalia Štreimikienė ◽  
Abbas Mardani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Software Modeling ◽  
Green Building Materials ◽  
Human Health Impacts ◽  
American Society ◽  
Indoor And Outdoor

Conventional building materials (CBMs) made from non-renewable resources are the main source of indoor air contaminants, whose impact can extend from indoors to outdoors. Given their sustainable development (SD) prospect, green building materials (GBMs) with non-toxic, natural, and organic compounds have the potential to reduce their overall impacts on environmental and human health. In this regard, biocomposites as GBMs are environmentally friendly, safe, and recyclable materials and their replacement of CBMs reduces environmental impacts and human health concerns. This study aims to develop a model of fully hybrid bio-based biocomposite as non-structural GBMs and compare it with fully petroleum-based composite in terms of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and human health impacts. Using a small chamber test (American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)-D5116) for VOC investigation and SimaPro software modeling with the ReCiPe method for evaluating human health impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is used, and the results indicate that switching the fully hybrid bio-based biocomposite with the fully petroleum-based composite could reduce more than 50% impacts on human health in terms of indoor and outdoor. Our results indicate that the usage of biocomposite as GBMs can be an environmentally friendly solution for reducing the total indoor and outdoor impacts on human health.

Cost, energy, global warming, eutrophication and local human health impacts of community water and sanitation service options

2017 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 186-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Schoen ◽  
Xiaobo Xue ◽  
Alison Wood ◽  
Troy R. Hawkins ◽  
Jay Garland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Community Water ◽  
Human Health Impacts

scholarly journals Towards a Region-Specific Impact Assessment of Water Degradation In Water Footprinting

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Finogenova ◽  
Markus Berger ◽  
Lennart Schelter ◽  
Rike Becker ◽  
Tim Aus der Beek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Human Toxicity ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Water Footprinting ◽  
Quality Aspects ◽  
Human Health Impacts

Water footprint evaluates impacts associated with the water use along a product’s life cycle. In order to quantify impacts resulting from water pollution in a comprehensive manner, impact categories, such as human toxicity, were developed in the context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Nevertheless, methods addressing human health impacts often have a low spatial resolution and, thus, are not able to model impacts on a local scale. To address this issue, we develop a region-specific model for the human toxicity impacts for the cotton-textile industry in Punjab, Pakistan. We analysed local cause-effect chains and created a region “Punjab” in the USEtox model using local climate, landscape, and population data. Finally, we calculated human health impacts for the emissions of pesticides from the cotton cultivation and heavy metals from the textile production. The results were compared to that obtained for the region India+ (where Pakistan belongs) provided by USEtox. The overall result obtained for Punjab is higher than that for India+. In Punjab, the dominant pathway is ingestion via drinking water, which contributes to two-thirds of the total impacts. Nevertheless, the USEtox model does not reflect the local cause-effect chains completely due to absence of the groundwater compartment. Since groundwater is the main source for drinking in Punjab, a more detailed analysis of the fate of and exposure to the pollutants is needed. This study demonstrates that a region-specific assessment of the water quality aspects is essential to provide a more robust evaluation of the human health impacts within water footprinting.

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