scholarly journals Comparing the Environmental Sustainability of Vertical and Conventional Wheat Farming Using Life Cycle Assessment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Gulbrant Sørensen ◽  
Stig Irving Olsen ◽  
Tracey Colley
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
High Energy ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Conventional System ◽  
Vertical System

Main purposes and research question: Wheat is the second largest grain crop by tonnage in the world and the largest in Denmark. Given the observed, adverse impacts on wheat yields of climate change and the importance of wheat in the human diet, the purpose of this study was to use life cycle assessment to compare conventional wheat farming with indoor vertical farming using hydroponics. Methods: Life Cycle Assessment was used to assess the base case systems up to the “farm gate” for 1 tonne of wheat grain. The processes contributing most of the impacts were identified, and scenarios were assessed to determine how much the impacts could be reduced. Results: The conventional system outperformed the base case vertical system in every impact category, due to the electricity consumption in the lighting system. The scenarios included increasing the efficiency of the LED lighting and using 100% wind energy, but the conventional system still outperformed the vertical system by significant margins in all impact categories. This was due to the low photosynthetic conversion efficiency and the high energy density of wheat. Conclusions: Until significant improvements are made to lighting efficiency, the photosynthesis conversion efficiency of wheat, new wheat variants designed for vertical gardens and the sustainability of electricity supply, conventional wheat production will be environmentally preferable and vertical gardens would be advised to focus on food products with low energy densities.

Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of a High-Rise Mass Timber Building: A Case Study in Pacific Northwestern United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7831
Author(s):  
Shaobo Liang ◽  
Hongmei Gu ◽  
Richard Bergman
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Life Cycle Cost Analysis ◽  
Floor Area ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Concrete Building ◽  
Mass Timber

Global construction industry has a huge influence on world primary energy consumption, spending, and greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions. To better understand these factors for mass timber construction, this work quantified the life cycle environmental and economic performances of a high-rise mass timber building in U.S. Pacific Northwest region through the use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) and life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Using the TRACI impact category method, the cradle-to-grave LCA results showed better environmental performances for the mass timber building relative to conventional concrete building, with 3153 kg CO2-eq per m2 floor area compared to 3203 CO2-eq per m2 floor area, respectively. Over 90% of GHGs emissions occur at the operational stage with a 60-year study period. The end-of-life recycling of mass timber could provide carbon offset of 364 kg CO2-eq per m2 floor that lowers the GHG emissions of the mass timber building to a total 12% lower GHGs emissions than concrete building. The LCCA results showed that mass timber building had total life cycle cost of $3976 per m2 floor area that was 9.6% higher than concrete building, driven mainly by upfront construction costs related to the mass timber material. Uncertainty analysis of mass timber product pricing provided a pathway for builders to make mass timber buildings cost competitive. The integration of LCA and LCCA on mass timber building study can contribute more information to the decision makers such as building developers and policymakers.

scholarly journals The contribution of life-cycle assessment to environmentally preferable concrete mix selection for breakwater applications

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maristela Gomes da Silva ◽  
Vanessa Gomes ◽  
Marcella Ruschi Mendes Saade
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Portland Cement ◽  
Sodium Silicate ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Cradle To Gate ◽  
Natural Aggregates ◽  
Comprehensive Framework ◽  
Regulation Compliance ◽  
Alkali Activated

Abstract Life cycle assessment (LCA) provides a comprehensive framework for positioning low energy and global warming potential alternatives regarding Portland cement and concrete. Published LCA work on alkali-activated cements is, however, relatively limited. In this paper, we illustrate how LCA critically supports concrete technological studies in the search for low impact concrete mixes. Previous research on breakwater applications explored replacing a low-clinker Portland cement and natural aggregates with seven different alkali-activated blast furnace slag (bfs) binder systems and with coarse and granulated bfs aggregates. Its outcome suggested a sodium silicate-activated bfs formulation as the best match between concrete properties and environmental regulation compliance. To validate this outcome through LCA, our cradle to gate assessments followed ISO 14044 (INTERNATIONAL…, 2006b) and used Ecoinvent v.2.2 and CML baseline 2001 v.2.05. We adopted the ‘net avoided burden approach’ to handle multifunctionality intrinsic to by-product-based AAC. Whilst sodium silicate-activated mixes rivaled the reference regarding GWP, impacts in several categories were increased. LCA highlighted the implications of driving mix selection by focusing on a single environmental impact category.

Life cycle assessment of asphalt pavement maintenance and rehabilitation techniques: a study for the City of St. John’s

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1320-1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Rakibul Alam ◽  
Kamal Hossain ◽  
Ali Azhar Butt ◽  
Tim Caudle ◽  
Carlos Bazan
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Pavement Maintenance ◽  
Environmental Footprints ◽  
Maintenance And Rehabilitation ◽  
Maintenance Techniques ◽  
Acidification Potential ◽  
The City

Although pavement maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) techniques are usually examined in economic terms, there is a growing need to address their environmental footprints. The objective of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of M&R techniques. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can help in the decision-making process of selecting suitable maintenance techniques based on their environmental impacts. This study investigates: patching, rout & sealing, hot in-place recycling, and cold in-place recycling. Global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential, human health particulate, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, and smog potential are estimated as environmental impacts for each maintenance activity. Materials, equipment use (for construction and M&R), and transportation were the main elements considered. A sensitivity test is performed to identify the significant factors for the LCA. The study concluded that GWP was the most important impact category. Rout & sealing and cold in-place recycling produced the lowest GWP emissions. Notably, pavement patching and hot in-place recycling showed significant detrimental environmental impacts.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment dan Life Cycle Cost untuk Serat Kenaf

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-224
Author(s):  
Desrina Yusi Irawati ◽  
Melati Kurniawati
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Kenaf Fiber ◽  
A Value ◽  
Treatment Stage ◽  
The Impact

Kenaf fiber from the kenaf plant is the excellent raw material for industry because of the various diversified products it produces. To develop sustainable kenaf fiber, information is needed on the strengths and weaknesses of kenaf cultivation systems with respect to productivity and environmental impact. Therefore, a comprehensive environmental and economic impact assessment was conducted from cultivating kenaf to kenaf fiber. The environmental impact assessment uses the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method and economic calculations from the life cycle of kenaf to kenaf fiber to collectors use the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) method. The calculation of environmental impacts is in accordance with the stages of ISO 14040, using a single score assessment. The LCA results show that the treatment stage is the highest contributor of the three groups of impact categories. The highest to the lowest in the impact category group that was influenced by the treatment stage were resources with a value of 21.4 mPt, human health with a value of 8.76 mPt, and ecosystem quality with a value of 1.91 mPt. The cost identified through the LCC is Rp. 6,088,468,333, NVP and B/Cnet are positive. The results of the sensitivity analysis if there is a reduction in production> 6%, the business is still profitable and can be run.

scholarly journals ANALISIS DAMPAK PENCEMARAN LINGKUNGAN DENGAN METODE LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) PADA INSTALASI PENGOLAHAN AIR LIMBAH (IPAL) PT. SURABAYA INDUSTRIAL ESTATE RUNGKUT (SIER) SURABAYA

EnviroUS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-128
Author(s):  
Hanugrah Sinedyo Yekti ◽  
Mohammad Mirwan
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Oxidation Ditch ◽  
Industrial Estate

Pada proses pengolahan air limbah industri, unit pengolahan limbah berpotensi menimbulkan pencemaran terhadap lingkungan. PT Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut (SIER) merupakan perusahaan pengelola kawasan industri di Kota Surabaya, dan tertua di Indonesia. PT SIER memiliki pusat pegolahan air limbah yang dapat mengolah dan menetralisir limbah industri dan rumah tangga yang dihasilkan oleh pabrik di kawasan industri sehingga aman disalurkan ke Sungai Tambak Oso. Proses pengolahan air limbah industri dengan kontribusi terbesar dalam menimbulkan dampak yaitu pada unit proses Distribution Box, Clarifier Utara, Clarifier Selatan, Oxidation Ditch I, II, III, IV. Oleh karena itu, perlu dilakukan strategi alternatif untuk mengurangi beban emisi yang dihasilkan dari proses pengolahan. Melalui metode Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) dapat menganalisis dampak lingkungan, yaitu perubahan apapun yang terjadi pada lingkungan, seluruhnya atau sebagian disebabkan oleh aspek lingkungan. Pada analisis ini menggunakan pendekatan gate to gate dengan SimaPro 9.1.0.11. dengan metode analisis dampak IMPACT 2002+ sehingga mendapatkan hasil sesuai dengan tujuan dan mendekati dengan keadaan yang terjadi di lingkungan instalasi pengolahan air limbah PT.SIER. Data yang dianalisis dalam penelitian ini menggunakan data beban pencemar air limbah per hari. Diperoleh impact category terbesar dari hasil analisis ini yaitu respiratory inorganics 0,334 DALY, global warming sebesar 252000 kg CO2 eq, non-renewable energy sebesar 3730000 MJ. Alternatif program perbaikan yang dapat dilakukan  untuk menurunkan dampak lingkungan yang dihasilkan oleh proses pengolahan air limbah yaitu pengolahan gas metan dengan digestasi anaerobik, pembuatan lahan terbuka hijau, dan pemantauan berkala dan pembaruan pada perangkat unit instalasi.

scholarly journals Prospects for growing and use of energy crops in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.V. Tryboi ◽  
◽  
T.А. Zheliezna ◽  
A.I. Bashtovyi
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Heat Production ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Energy Crops ◽  
Economic Indicators ◽  
Gas Emissions

The purpose of the study is to analyze the current state, existing obstacles and prospects for growing and using energy crops in Ukraine. Different aspects such as the availability of unused land for cultivation, technical and economic indicators of relevant projects, as well as the results of life cycle assessment of heat production from energy crops are taken into account. Research methods include analysis and processing of official statistics on the area of land of different categories in Ukraine; performance of life cycle assessment for growing energy crops for heat production in terms of energy efficiency and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; carrying out of feasibility study of respective projects. Results of the study show that there are up to 4 million hectares of unused agricultural land in Ukraine annually, which can be used for growing energy crops without creating competition for food production and without violating the criteria of sustainable development. The life cycle of projects for growing perennial energy crops for heat production has high energy efficiency, and the value of greenhouse gas emissions reduction depends significantly on the distance of transportation of biofuels. However, projects for the cultivation of such energy crops as willow, poplar, and miscanthus have economic indicators on the verge of profitability, and therefore may not be attractive enough for investors. Conclusions. Growing and using energy crops is one of the most promising sectors of bioenergy in Ukraine. The advantages of this area are the ability to obtain all types of biofuels (solid, gaseous, liquid biofuels) to replace traditional energy sources, a positive impact on soil (increase in organic matter, phytoremediation of contaminated lands) as well as local economic development and job creation in the regions. To improve the economic performance of the relevant projects, it is necessary to introduce a state subsidy for the cultivation of energy crops at the level of 20-24 thousand UAH per ha, depending on the type of crop.

scholarly journals A Dual Stage Low Power Converter Driving for Piezoelectric Actuator Applied in Micro Mobile Robot

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Meng Liu ◽  
Yanzhang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Robot ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Mechanical Strain ◽  
Piezoelectric Actuators ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Power Converter ◽  
Circuit Board ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Piezoelectric Bimorph ◽  
Low Mass

Piezoelectric actuators are widely utilized to convert electrical energy into mechanical strain with considerable potential in micro mobile robot applications. However, the use of Pb-based Lanthanumdoped Zirconate Titanates (PZTs) leads to two difficulties in drive circuit design, namely, high voltage step-up ratio and high energy conversion efficiency. When some devices driven by piezoelectric actuators are used in emerging technologies, such as micro mobile robot, to perform special tasks, low mass, high energy density, and high conversion efficiency are strategically important. When these demands are considered, conventional drive circuits exhibit the disadvantages of being too bulky and inefficient for low mass applications. To overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, and to address the need for a piezoelectric bimorph actuator, this work proposed a high step-up ratio flyback converter cascaded with a bidirectional half-bridge stage controlled, via a pulse width modulation strategy, and a novel control method. Simulations and experiments were conducted to verify the ability of the proposed converter to drive a 100 V-input piezoelectric bimorph actuator using a prototype 108 mg (excluding printed circuit board mass), 169 (13 × 13) mm2, and 500 mW converter.

Life Cycle Assessment of Cathode Copper Production

2017 ◽  
Vol 898 ◽  
pp. 2422-2431
Author(s):  
Hao Li ◽  
Xian Zheng Gong ◽  
Zhi Hong Wang ◽  
Yao Li
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Copper Production ◽  
Life Cycle Approach ◽  
Pyrometallurgical Process ◽  
Environmental Burden ◽  
Cathode Copper

The environmental impact of Chinese cathode copper production was identified and quantified in the context of pyrometallurgy ical and hydrometallurgical method by life cycle approach. Combined with the situation of copper resources in China, the copper ores mining, mineral processing, transportation and smelting sector, were analyzed in detail. The normalization results shows that abiotic depletion is the largest environmental impact in both Pyro-and hydro-metallurgical methods, which were 28.4 kg Sb eq and 32.0 kg Sb eq, respectively. Electrolytic refining is the key process in hydrometallurgical life cycle environmental burden (50.21%), and the mining process contributed the largest environmental impact (17.94%) in pyrometallurgical process. In addition, the total environmental burden of pyrometallurgical process is 1.15 times of hydrometallurgical process. Pyrometallurgical methods has many environmental impact category which were much higher than hydrometallurgical because of the more use of fossil fuels in smelting process. Based on the life cycle assessment results, the key factors to reduce the overall environmental impact for China’s cathode copper production include optimizing the efficiency of copper resource, and clean energy sources for electricity production.

scholarly journals Complete Data Inventory of a Geothermal Power Plant for Robust Cradle-to-Grave Life Cycle Assessment Results

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Tosti ◽  
Nicola Ferrara ◽  
Riccardo Basosi ◽  
Maria Laura Parisi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Gas Content ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Geothermal Systems ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Geothermal Power

Technologies to produce electric energy from renewable geothermal source are gaining increasing attention, due to their ability to provide a stable output suitable for baseload production. Performing life cycle assessment (LCA) of geothermal systems has become essential to evaluate their environmental performance. However, so far, no documented nor reliable information has been made available for developing robust LCA studies. This work provides a comprehensive inventory of the Italian Bagnore geothermal power plants system. The inventory is based exclusively on primary data, accounting for every life cycle stage of the system. Data quality was assessed by means of a pedigree matrix. The calculated LCA results showed, with an overall low level of uncertainty (2–3%), that the commissioning and operational phases accounted for more than 95% of the environmental profile. Direct emissions to atmosphere were shown to be the major environmental impact, particularly those released during the operational phase (84%). The environmental performances comparison with the average Italian electricity mix showed that the balance is always in favor of geothermal energy production, except in the climate change impact category. The overall outcome confirms the importance, for flash technology employing fluid with a high concentration of gas content, of using good quality primary data to obtain robust results.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document