scholarly journals Comparative Analysis of Environmental Impacts of Selected Products

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fedoryszyn ◽  
M. Brzeziński
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Entire Life ◽  
Entire Life Cycle ◽  
Manufactured Products ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Cast Products

Abstract The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate that environmental impacts exerted by manufactured products throughout their entire life cycle are major aspects to be considered, alongside their functional features and cost-effectiveness. One of the available methods to evaluate environmental impacts is known to as the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The study summarises the reports from the literature on the subject of environmental impact assessment. In conclusions, the authors indicate the need for assessing the environmental impact of cast products made from conventional and newly introduced alloys.

scholarly journals Evaluation Model of Environmental Impacts of Insulation Building Envelopes

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2258
Author(s):  
Qianmiao Yang ◽  
Liyao Kong ◽  
Hui Tong ◽  
Xiaolin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Building Envelopes ◽  
Entire Life ◽  
Entire Life Cycle

Energy consumption during use is the focus of insulation envelope design, but the environmental impact of other stages in the entire life cycle of building envelopes should be of equal concern. In this paper, a model has been developed based on the life-cycle environmental assessment for calculating the environmental impacts of building envelopes. The model proposed will be useful to evaluate the environmental performance of various envelopes to optimize the design of energy-saving envelopes. Consequently, lots of experiments are conducted for environmental impact assessment and analysis for external windows and filler walls with energy-savings in heating areas of China. Four conclusions can be drawn from the analysis. (1) K of building envelope is the design parameter of the greatest impact on environmental performance and has a critical value, which is the value that has the smallest environmental impact over the entire life cycle. (2) The importance of the environmental impact of the building envelope during the life cycle stages is as follows: usage > production > transportation > disposal > construction. The construction process of the thermal insulation wall could be negligible. (3) The choice of regional building materials should consider the distance of transportation, which may be the key factor determining its life cycle environmental performance. (4) Aerated concrete EPS walls and wooden windows are the first choices for envelope construction from the environmental impact throughout the life cycle.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Characteristics of Environmental Impacts According to the Cut-Off Criteria Applicable to the Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of Apartment Buildings in South Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2898
Author(s):  
Rakhyun Kim ◽  
Myung-Kwan Lim ◽  
Seungjun Roh ◽  
Won-Jun Park
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Environmental Impact Analysis ◽  
Apartment Buildings ◽  
Environmental Impact Categories ◽  
Weight Percentile

This study analyzed the characteristics of the environmental impacts of apartment buildings, a typical housing type in South Korea, as part of a research project supporting the streamlined life cycle assessment (S-LCA) of buildings within the G-SEED (Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design) framework. Three recently built apartment building complexes were chosen as study objects for the quantitative evaluation of the buildings in terms of their embodied environmental impacts (global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone layer depletion potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, and abiotic depletion potential), using the LCA approach. Additionally, we analyzed the emission trends according to the cut-off criteria of the six environmental impact categories by performing an S-LCA with cut-off criteria 90–99% of the cumulative weight percentile. Consequently, we were able to present the cut-off criterion best suited for S-LCA and analyze the effect of the cut-off criteria on the environmental impact analysis results. A comprehensive environmental impact analysis of the characteristics of the six environmental impact categories revealed that the error rate was below 5% when the cut-off criterion of 97.5% of the cumulative weight percentile was applied, thus verifying its validity as the optimal cut-off criterion for S-LCA.

Der Umsatz-Nachhaltigkeitsindex*/The Turnover-Sustainability-Index

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 (03) ◽  
pp. 136-140
Author(s):  
R. Miehe ◽  
M. Wiedenmann ◽  
T. Prof. Bauernhansl
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Sustainability Index ◽  
Behavior Based ◽  
Comparative Examination

Die Ökobilanz hat sich als Instrument zur Bewertung der Umweltauswirkungen von Produkten und Prozessen durchgesetzt. Dennoch stellt ihre Durchführung Nutzer immer wieder vor Herausforderungen. Der Fachartikel präsentiert einen Ansatz für eine vergleichende Betrachtung der ökologischen Auswirkungen des unternehmerischen Handelns auf Basis der jeweiligen Unternehmens- und Branchenumsätze. Der Umsatz-Nachhaltigkeitsindex soll als Konzept für ein Benchmark für Unternehmen einer Branche dienen.   Life Cycle Assessment has prevailed as an instrument to evaluate the environmental impact of products and processes. Its execution, however, poses a challenge to operators. In this paper, we present an approach for a comparative examination of environmental impacts of industrial behavior based on the turnover of companies and their equivalent sectors. The Turnover-Sustainability-Index serves as a benchmark for companies within a sector.

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

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.

scholarly journals Einfluss von Betonzusatzmitteln auf die Energieund CO2-Bilanz von Beton / Influence of superplasticizers on the energy- and CO2 -balance of concrete

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 457-468
Author(s):  
J.-M. Obrecht ◽  
R. Gälli ◽  
P. Zimmermann ◽  
F. Fallscheer
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Entire Life ◽  
Entire Life Cycle ◽  
Concrete Buildings ◽  
Concrete Properties ◽  
Concrete Production ◽  
Co2 Balance

Abstract The energy consumption and the C02 emissions during the production of two different concrete mixes with identical concrete properties were compared. The two concrete samples were prepared with and without the addition of a superplasticizer. Less energy was consumed and less C02 was emitted for the case of concrete production including a superplasticizer as compared to the case of concrete production without a superplasticizer. This is due to the fact, that when a superplasticizer is used, less cement is needed to produce concrete with the same properties as those of concrete without superplasticizers. However, the relatively small dijferences in the energy consumption and in the C02 emissions become insignificant, if the entire life cycle of a building is considered. Effects like durability and the need for maintenance are expected to have a much higher influence on the life cycle assessment of concrete buildings.

scholarly journals Environmental Impacts of Charging Concepts for Battery Electric Vehicles: A Comparison of On-Board and Off-Board Charging Systems Based on a Life Cycle Assessment

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 6508
Author(s):  
Mona Kabus ◽  
Lars Nolting ◽  
Benedict J. Mortimer ◽  
Jan C. Koj ◽  
Wilhelm Kuckshinrichs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
System Level ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Dc System ◽  
Battery Electric Vehicles

We investigate the environmental impacts of on-board (based on alternating current, AC) and off-board (based on direct current, DC) charging concepts for electric vehicles using Life Cycle Assessment and considering a maximum charging power of 22 kW (AC) and 50 kW (DC). Our results show that the manufacturing of chargers provokes the highest contribution to environmental impacts of the production phase. Within the chargers, the filters could be identified as main polluters for all power levels. When comparing the results on a system level, the DC system causes less environmental impact than the AC system in all impact categories. In our diffusion scenarios for electric vehicles, annual emission reductions of up to 35 million kg CO2-eq. could be achieved when the DC system is used instead of the AC system. In addition to the environmental assessment, we examine economic effects. Here, we find annual savings of up to 8.5 million euros, when the DC system is used instead of the AC system.

scholarly journals Life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of transport infrastructure and individual modes of transport

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristína Kováčiková ◽  
◽  
Antonín Kazda
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Transport Infrastructure

The paper is focused on the assessment of the environmental impacts of transport infrastructure and individual types of transport using the life cycle assessment method. The paper contains a description of the basic terminology of the problem related to transport, the environment and methods of environmental impact assessment. The paper contains analysis on monitoring carbon dioxide emissions from a global perspective as well as from a regional perspective focused on Slovakia. The aim of the paper is to create a proposal for the assessment of environmental impacts of transport infrastructure, in the form of specification of areas of assessment for selected types of transport with a focus on carbon dioxide emissions. Using the knowledge and principles of the life cycle method, a proposal for relevant indicators and a proposal for a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of selected types of transport, focused on carbon dioxide emissions, is created in the paper

scholarly journals Disposable Medical Masks: Environmental Costs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
BURÇİN ATILGAN TÜRKMEN
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Global Warming Potential ◽  
Functional Unit ◽  
Environmental Costs ◽  
Inventory Data

Abstract A massive increase in the use and production of masks worldwide has been seen in the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has contributed to reducing the transmission of the virus globally. This paper aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of disposable medical masks using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, first for the selected functional unit related to the manufacturing of one disposable medical mask and then for the global manufacturing of this type of mask in 2020. The inventory data was constructed directly from the industry. The system boundaries include the fabric, nose wire, and ear loops parts, transportation of materials, body making, ultrasonic vending, and packaging steps. The results suggest that the global warming potential of a disposable medical mask is 0.02 g CO2-Eq. for which the main contributor is the packaging step (44%) followed by the life cycle of fabric (27%), and nose wire (14%) parts. In total, 52 billion disposable medical masks used worldwide consumes 25 TJ of energy in 2020. The global warming potential of disposable medical masks supplied in a year of the COVID-19 pandemic is 1.1 Mt CO2 eq., equivalent to around 1.3 billion return flights from Istanbul to New York. This paper assessed the hotspots in the medical mask, allowing for a significant reduction in the environmental impact of mask use. This can be used as a roadmap for future mask designs.

Life Cycle Assessment on Resourceful Utilization System of Flue Gas Desulfurization and Denitration with Pyrolusite Slurry

2011 ◽  
Vol 383-390 ◽  
pp. 3792-3798
Author(s):  
Le Luo ◽  
Wei Yi Sun ◽  
Cheng Qiu ◽  
Shi Jun Su ◽  
Hong Tao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Electrolytic Manganese ◽  
Traditional Process

Reducing the adverse impacts to environment is a more and more important subject in electrolytic manganese industry. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been a hot tool to measure the type and size of environmental impact. This paper firstly applied LCA on two different processes of producing electrolytic manganese. One process is the resourceful utilization system of high sulfur coal and low grade pyrolusite (the novel process for short)in which high sulfur coal is burned to generate power and emission SO2, then the SO2 is absorbed as reducing agent to leach the pyrolusite with 30% MnO2 grade. The other process is prevalent interiorly, called traditional process where the power is supplied by standard coal combustion, and sulfur acid leaches the manganese ore with 18% Mn grade. Life cycle software converts the original data to nine different kinds of indexes that are able to indicate types and sizes of environmental impacts. Results show that: among nine environmental impacts, the proportion of abiotic depletion potential (ADP) is biggest in both processes, but the value of the novel process is 23.25% smaller pointing the process saves more resource. All the values of other important impacts including GWP, Waste Solids, AP and RI of the novel process are less than those in traditional process. Especially, the value of acidification (AP) in novel process was -2.10×10-8 < 0, which means the novel process could control the acidification. In addition, through the composite index, using high sulfur coal in the novel process hasn’t bring any more serious impact than using standard coal. Therefore, LCA has provided rational evidence to prove that resourceful utilization system of high sulfur coal and low grade pyrolusite is more efficient and environmentally friendly and pointed which environmental impacts and life cycle links need improving . This paper could provide a reference for further environmental impact assessment of electrolytic manganese industry and an objective basis for decision-making.

Probabilistic Pareto Decision Making Framework for Sustainable Packaging Life Cycle Assessment

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huihui Qi ◽  
Euihark Lee ◽  
Hae Chang Gea ◽  
Bin Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Package Design ◽  
Sustainable Packaging ◽  
Decision Making Framework ◽  
Design Options

The Packaging industry is one of the largest industries in the world and is associated with many environmental concerns. To reduce its environmental impacts, designing sustainable packaging has been one of the top priorities in packaging industries. A common tools for evaluating the environmental impact of a package design is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which provides information on environmental impacts for different indicators. However, making decisions based on the LCA results leaves us with major challenges. First, the LCA tools should consider various uncertainties such as measurement and data quality. Second, the LCA may give conflicting results on different environmental impact factors. To address these issues, a ranking based decision making framework is proposed in this paper. Within this framework a Probabilistic Pareto Selection method is introduced to select the Pareto Front with uncertainty first. Then, the Ranking based Rate of Substitution is implemented in the decision making process in order to select the best design options based on the trade-off of each Pareto design. Tow case studies are presented to demonstrate the functionality of this framework.

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