Assessment of Energy and Environment Footprint of a Proposed Wind Farm in Western Coast of Libya Using LCA

Wind offers Libya an abundant, domestic, and currently untapped carbon free energy resource. This paper describes LCA model of assessment for the identified wind farm near the coastal city Zawia in Libya. The city has been affected by GHG emissions associated with Oil refinery facilities for the last five decades. The model study investigates the life cycle energy performance of the wind farm and the environmental impact category indicators at midpoint level, specifically; acidification and climate change. LCA was conducted to the proposed utility-scale wind farm with total estimated power of 20 MW, the assessment was conducted using the principles of the international standards ISO14040 and 14044. The results demonstrated that the amount of CO2 that can be avoided from the proposed wind farm would be about 2 MtCO2. The other emissions that could be avoided are 352.7 kg CH4 and 63.5 kg N2O. This would contribute to the alleviation of global climate change and global sustainability energy system which is recommended by UN SDG7.

Environmental sustainability assessment of biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L. seeds oil in Pakistan

According to IPCC Annual Report (AR-5), environmental impact assessment of any product prototype is recommended before its large-scale commercialization; however, no environmental profile analysis of any biodiesel prototype has been conducted in Pakistan. Therefore, objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA), water footprint and cumulative energy demand (CED) of biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L. (JC) seeds oil in Pakistan. A cradle-to-gate LCA approach was applied for 400 liter (L) JC biodiesel produced in Pakistan. JC biodiesel production chain was divided into three stages i.e., 1). cultivation of JC crop 2). crude oil extraction from JC seeds and 3). crude oil conversion to biodiesel. Primary data for all the stages were acquired through questionnaire surveys, field visits and measurements in the field. Potential environmental impacts were calculated in SimaPro v.9.2 software using Eco-indicator 99 methodology. Results showed that crude oil extraction stage accounted for highest emissions (77%) to the overall environmental impact categories evaluated, followed by oil conversion stage (21%) and JC cultivation stage (02%), respectively. The three stages of JC biodiesel production chain are major contributor to ecotoxicity with a contribution of 57% to this impact category. Higher contribution to ecotoxicity was due to agrochemicals used in the JC cultivation. Similarly, fossil fuels impact category was responsible for 38% of overall environmental impacts. In addition, water footprint of JC biodiesel production chain was 2632.54 m3/reference unit. Cumulative energy required for 400L JC biodiesel production chain was 46745.70 MJ in Pakistan. Fossil diesel consumption, synthetic fertilizers use and purchased electricity were major hotspot sources to environmental burdens caused by JC biodiesel production in Pakistan. By performing sensitivity analysis at 20% reduction of the baseline values of fossil diesel used, synthetic fertilizers and purchased electricity, a marked decrease in environmental footprint was observed. It is highly recommended that use of renewable energy instead of fossil energy would provide environmental benefits such as lower greenhouse gases and other toxic emissions as compared to conventional petroleum fuels. It is also recommended that JC as a biofuel plant, has been reported to have many desired characteristics such as quick growth, easy cultivation, drought resistance, pest and insect resistance, and mainly great oil content in JC seeds (27–40%). Therefore, JC plant is highly recommended to Billion Tree Afforestation Project (BTAP) for plantation on wasteland because it has multipurpose benefits.

Environmental impact assessment of tofu production process: case study in SME Sugihmanik, Grobogan

Tofu contains various substances that are very good when consumed to improve people’s nutrition. In addition, tofu also has good taste. The problem is that the tofu production process produces products and non-product outputs in the form of waste that is very dangerous if directly disposed of in the environment. The BOD5 content of tofu small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sugihmanik Village ranged from 3,667-4,933 mg/L and COD 7,668-9,736 mg/L. At the same time, the TSS values ranged from 701-1,189 mg/L. The BOD5 value in the river water content is 367 mg/L. It greatly exceeds the set Threshold Value. This study aims to measure the environmental impact using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA can identify the impact of each activity based on the impact category to identify the processes that contribute significantly to damaging the environment. This study found that the cooking and frying process had the highest impact, where the climate change category was the largest. Wastewater treatment plants, biogas from the biodigester as a substitute for electricity for water pumps, rice husks, and corn cobs are expected to reduce environmental impacts. The first section in your paper

Life Cycle Assessment of District Heating Systems in Europe: Case Study and Recommendations

District heating systems are a way to integrate renewable energies into the heating sector, with the primary aim of decarbonizing this final use. In such systems, renewable energy sources are centrally managed with cutting-edge technological equipment, efficient maintenance rates and service guarantees. Both the decarbonization effect and the centralization lead to environmental benefits, which can go beyond the climate change indicator. In this study, life cycle assessment was used to assess the environmental sustainability of district heating solutions compared to standalones. The study aimed to examine a diverse set of options for large-scale district heating systems across Europe and to compare them to different standalone solutions. Eight technologies (five district-level and three standalone solutions) were analyzed in two densities of habitats and four areas of Europe. This study aimed to understand the drivers of district heating environmental performance and to provide guidelines for accounting said performance. The analysis showed better performance for district heating scenarios compared to isotechnology standalones for every environmental impact category: the climate change impact category were reduced from 5 to 90%, while respiratory inorganics were reduced from 45 to 64%, depending on the considered climatic area. This statement was true under key parameters, both technical and methodological—efficiencies and complement rates, but also the neutral carbon principle for biomass energy accounting and allocation rules.

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

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 Performance Assessment of Batch Type Hot Mix Plant Using LCA

The environmental impacts from production of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) in batch Hot Mix Plant (HMP) has been evaluated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The hot mix technology has been in use since long time for production of HMA used in construction of road pavements. The functional unit adopted is 100 tonnes of HMA production and CML 2001 method is used for assessment using GaBi 10.5. The study found that the production of HMA in batch HMP had very high environmental impacts on marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential (MAETP) impact category (8,25,573 kg DCB eq.), abiotic depletion fossil (ADP fossil) (2,87,295 MJ) impact category and global warming potential (GWP) impact category (2,770 kg CO2 eq.). The raw material phase had higher environmental impacts compared to production process phase on all the impact categories. It was also concluded that the use of renewable energy and fuel and adoption of cold mix technology will reduce the environmental impacts.

Impact Tech Startups: A Conceptual Framework, Machine-Learning-Based Methodology and Future Research Directions

The Impact Tech Startup (ITS) is a new, rapidly developing type of organizational category. Based on an entrepreneurial approach and technological foundations, ITSs adopt innovative strategies to tackle a variety of social and environmental challenges within a for-profit framework and are usually backed by private investment. This new organizational category is thus far not discussed in the academic literature. The paper first provides a conceptual framework for studying this organizational category, as a combination of aspects of social enterprises and startup businesses. It then proposes a machine learning (ML)-based algorithm to identify ITSs within startup databases. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are used as a referential framework for characterizing ITSs, with indicators relating to those 17 goals that qualify a startup for inclusion in the impact category. The paper concludes by discussing future research directions in studying ITSs as a distinct organizational category through the usage of the ML methodology.

How Relevant Are Direct Emissions of Microplastics into Freshwater from an LCA Perspective?

Microplastics are ubiquitous in ecosystems and a lot of research is being performed to understand their environmental fate and effects on organisms. However, the release and impact of MP has so far not been considered in LCA studies. This is due to missing information on the inventory side about microplastic releases and missing Characterization Factors to quantify the effects of MP. The goal of this study was to elucidate the relevance of MP release into freshwaters from an LCA perspective, by using worst-case assumptions. In accordance with the USEtox framework, an interim and simplified Characterization Factor for the impact category of freshwater ecotoxicity was calculated to be 3231 PAF·m3·d·kg−1. Applying this Characterization Factor, two LCA case studies were conducted, one on a polyester T-Shirt and one with a shower gel containing microplastics. The results show a small contribution of microplastics to the freshwater ecotoxicity for a scenario with state-of-the-art wastewater treatment. Different scenarios varying in microplastic release and removal during wastewater treatment and a sensitivity analysis of the Characterization Factor allowed identifying the potential range of the microplastic contribution to the overall ecotoxicity. In conclusion, the inclusion of microplastic release into LCA only marginally influences the overall environmental effects of the two products in the LCA case studies.

Environmental assessment of MSW collection/transport using biomethane in mid-sized metropolitan areas of developing countries

The novelty of this paper is the focus solely on MSW collection/transport in mid-sized metropolitan regions of developing countries, using biomethane (which can be supplied by the MSW management system) an alternative fuel and different waste collection methods. The eight proposed scenarios, compared to the baseline scenario, combine diesel and biowaste, doorto-door and bring collection methods, as well as two different levels of sourceseparated collection. The results have shown if the collection vehicles use biomethane, the impacts will always be significantly lower than using diesel (between 68–98%, depending on the impact category and scenario), even accounting with the uncertainty of the results. In this particular case-study, increasing source-separated collection also reduced the transport impacts in 40–50%, as the transfer stations are closer to the recycling facilities than the landfills. This is because the fuel consumption of transport is a function of distance, so is the impact. Therefore, this study recommends: using biomethane produced from anaerobic digestion of organic waste instead of diesel to expand circular MSW management; establishing transfer stations for the municipalities located more than 25 km away from waste management facilities; expanding the collection coverage to 100%; increasing sourceseparated collection and recycling.

Progress in Life Cycle Impact Assessment: Water Vapor Emissions and Respiratory Inorganics

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is being included formally in EcoDesign regulations. Especially product carbon footprint will be mandatory in Europe. However, life cycle impact assessment, including global warming potential (GWP) in LCA, is hampered by several challenges. One of these is a lack of water vapor characterization indexes for GWP. A life cycle inventory profile for air transport fuel, including water vapor emissions, is evaluated with state-of-the-art practice, i.e., Environmental Footprint (EF) Method and International Life Cycle Data (ILCD) 2011 Mid-point+, neglecting water vapor’s high altitude GWP compared to carbon dioxide. Then, the characterization factor in GWP over 100 years (GWP100) for water vapor and alternate normalization for particulates are introduced. The results are compared. The main findings are that the previous EF method and ILCD both generate rather realistic results for Particulate Matter and Respiratory Inorganics mid-point indicators, respectively, but the number of premature deaths should be better allocated to different specific emissions, and that water vapor may dominate the GWP100 result over the usual carbon dioxide. Respiratory inorganics may need one impact category, each starting with particles smaller than 2.5 µm. LCIA mid-points need measurable and understandable bases. The common knowledge of water vapor’s GWP100 should not be neglected in LCIA for air transport and beyond where relevant.