The Eco-Indicator 99: A Damage Oriented Method for Life Cycle Impact Assessment
... The inner bowl of the proposed design can be constructed of stainless steel without coating. The first reason is that stainless steel has a lower indicator of an environmental impact than aluminum (Goedkoop & Spriensma, 2001). Secondly, the coating will need extra steps and materials in the processing stage. ...
... Based on the calculation in Table 4, the inner bowl and lid processing have the most significant impacts (343.8 mPt and 76.28 mPt consecutively). The inner bowl is made of aluminum, which is a higher indicator of environmental impact on the machining process than steel (Goedkoop & Spriensma, 2001). Besides, a coating process is needed that contributes considerably to the impact (140.83 ...
... The inner bowl material has also been replaced with stainless steel. Although it has a higher density, it makes the product heavier; stainless-steel machining has a lower environmental impact indicator than aluminum processing (Goedkoop & Spriensma, 2001). The comparison can be seen between Table 4 and Table 5. Producing a similar inner bowl dimension using stainless steel has a lower environmental impact (266.5 mPt) than aluminum (343.8 mPt). ...
Recently, the concept of sustainable development has emerged as a solution to environmental problems. It is widely recognized that the choices individuals make in their daily purchases and consumption patterns have a significant impact on the environment. As such, it is incumbent upon everyone to adopt sustainable lifestyles and strive to preserve resources for future generations. One area where this can be achieved is through product development. Despite the importance of sustainable products, their availability remains limited. In this study, the analysis was performed on a popular electric cooker as a sample product. Various aspects of the product were examined, including the life cycle, the raw materials used, the processing stage, usage phase, and end-of-life. The goal of this study is to gain valuable insights and propose improvements for a more sustainable version of the product. The environmental impact of each stage of the product’s life cycle was also analysed. By this method, some practical approaches for specific steps can be proposed to make the product more sustainable and reduce the harmful impact on the environment. Overall, it is found that there were many opportunities to adjust the various stages of the product’s life cycle to make it more sustainable.
... In the EI99 methodology, 11 impact categories are included, which are aggregated into three main damage categories: human health, ecosystem quality, and resource depletion. The quantification was conducted following the procedure proposed by Goedkoop and Spriensma [40] as reported in Eq. 9: ...
... In this work, for eco-indicator 99 calculation, the impact of three factors was considered the most important in the levulinic acid downstream processing: steam (used in column reboiler), electricity (used for pumping), and steel (to build distillation columns and accessories). The values for those three factors are summarized in the manual reported by Goedkoop and Spriensma [40] and also are shown in Table S1 in supplementary material. ...
Levulinic acid is acknowledged as a significant high-value product derived from lignocellulosic biomass. Its acquisition involves acid hydrolysis, resulting in a challenging separation and purification process due to the formation of a dilute azeotropic mixture. This complexity renders separation costly and presents a hurdle for large-scale production. Various purification methods, including hybrid and intensified systems, have been proposed to address this issue. However, a systematic synthesis methodology incorporating multi-objective optimization considering economic and environmental factors has yet to be applied to this mixture. Hence, this study employs such a methodology to derive sustainable and thermodynamically feasible intensified designs. The optimization algorithm employed is differential evolution with a tabu list. Two objectives are considered: total annual cost as the economic criterion and the eco-indicator 99 as the environmental index. The intensified design, incorporating thermal coupling, presents the best results of the designs studied, with a total annual cost value of $13.9 million and 4.21 × 10⁹ environmental points per year. This represents an economic saving of $4.6 million per year and reduces environmental impact by 1.15 × 10⁹ points compared to the reference design, providing a sustainable alternative for purifying levulinic acid at a cost of $0.261 per kilogram.
... Cases where local eradication is only partial can be handled using the impact metric known as "Potentially Disappeared Fraction" (PDF) of species, which was originally introduced in the context of life cycle assessment to quantify diffuse impacts on the environment (Goedkoop & Spriensma, 2000;Müller-Wenk, 1998). It can be defined as the probability that a randomly chosen locally extant species gets extirpated as a result of an intervention. ...
The difficulty in identifying appropriate metrics for the impacts organizations have on biodiversity remains a major barrier to the inclusion of biodiversity considerations in environmentally responsible investment. We derive and analyze a simple metric: the sum of the proportional changes in the global abundances of species caused by an organization, with a regularization to cover the case of species close to extinction. We argue mathematically that this metric quantifies changes in the mean long‐term global survival probability of species. The metric thus supports the objective “to significantly reduce extinction risk” of the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework and allows organizations to set themselves corresponding science‐based targets. We show that in a perfect market trade in biodiversity credits quantified by our metric would lead to near‐optimal allocation of resources to species conservation. We further show that metric values are quantitatively convertible to several other metrics and indices already in use. Barriers to adoption are therefore low. Used in conjunction with metrics addressing ecosystem services and integrity, potential areas of application include biodiversity related financial disclosures and voluntary or legislated biodiversity credit or no net loss policies.
... ReCiPe2016 includes a midpoint and six methodological options. The ReCiPe2016 midpoint includes quantitative assessments of environmental impacts, but the results of their interpretation are uncertain; the six methodological options of ReCiPe2016 involve expert assessments of the midpoint results, which greatly facilitate their interpretation [34]. ...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of service conditions on lightweight partitions in residential buildingsusing life-cycle assessments (LCAs). Three alternative service conditions were included as follows: light/moderate, standard, and intensive. LCAs were conducted for pairwise comparisons among three types of lightweight partitions: gypsum board, autoclaved aerated blocks, and hollow concrete blocks. The functional unit considered was 1 m2 of a partition, and the building’s lifespan was 50 years. In light/moderate conditions, the replacement rate for all three partitions was zero times during the building’s lifespan. In standard conditions, the replacement rate for gypsum board and autoclaved aerated blocks was one time during the building’s lifespan, and for hollow concrete blocks, it was zero times. In intensive conditions, the replacement rate for gypsum board was four times during the building’s lifespan, that for autoclaved aerated blocks was two times, and that for hollow concrete blocks was zero times. The six ReCiPe2016 methodological options were used to estimate environmental damage using a two-stage nested analysis of variance. The results showed that, in light/moderate and standard conditions, gypsum board was the best alternative, while in intensive conditions, hollow concrete blocks were the best alternative. In conclusion, the choice of lightweight partitions should be made while taking the service conditions in residential buildings into account.
... [49] was selected to evaluate the environmental loads of the manufacturing of clinker and cements. This method is based on a structured approach of the life cycle impact assessment midpoint (problem-oriented methods and quantification of intermediate impacts) and endpoint (damage-oriented methods and quantification of final impacts), this method was originally based on the Eco-Indicator99 [50], the CML [51] method and the Human Health model of IMPACT 2002+ [52]. • CML Centrum voor Milieukunde Leiden (Guinée & Lindeijer, 2002)LCIA method was selected for this study. ...
Clinker and cement production is an energy-intensive and high resource requirement industry with significant environmental impacts, and yet, there is a dearth of environmental research in Tunisia on its Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Additionally, there is a tendency either to overlook or underestimate the selection of appropriate life cycle impact assessment methods. This study aims to address these issues by conducting a comprehensive LCA of Tunisian cement production with the goal of analyzing and comparing the results using various methods and benchmarking against existing literature. Three different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methods, including IMPACT 2002+, CML (baseline), and ReCiPe Midpoint (2008–2016) (H), were used. These methods were chosen for their different coverage (regional/global) of their impact categories, leading to a more comprehensive comparison of the performance of clinker and cement to the literature. In addition, the similarity with published values demonstrates reliability for LCA results, except ionizing radiation, ozone layer depletion, and respiratory organics in IMPACT 2002+ for clinker, CEM-I, and CEM-II; fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and marine aquatic ecotoxicity in CML (baseline) for CEM-I; and photochemical oxidant formation: ecosystem quality and human health in ReCiPe for CEM-I. This low variability with the reported values in the literature suggests the capability of using the benchmarking approach as a proxy in a context of lack of data.
This chapter presents a critical analysis of often-used approaches for dealing with uncertainty and sensitivity in life cycle assessment. It will discuss incorrect terminology (e.g., for “parameter” and “confidence interval”), undefined concepts (such as “uncertainty factors”) and the misunderstanding of concepts (like “significant differences” and “significant correlations”).
This chapter presents the basic elements of sensitivity analysis (SA), with an emphasis on their use in life cycle assessment. We discuss topics such as local and global SA, one-at-a-time and all-at-a-time SA, uncertainty apportioning, and the use of scenarios for addressing sensitivity.
This chapter focuses on the development of a supply chain for the production of bio-jet fuel via the ATJ route, using agricultural waste from Mexico as the raw material. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of producing biojet-fuel via this route. Economic, environmental, and social aspects were considered as objective functions to evaluate the sustainability of the process. These metrics consist of the maximization of profit, the minimization of environmental impact as measured by the Eco-indicator 99, and the equitable distribution of resources, to evaluate economic, environmental al social aspect respectively. Through comprehensive analysis, it was determined that the optimal design of the supply chain necessitates an annual financial incentive of $485 million to reach the breakeven point. Furthermore, the projected environmental impact is estimated to be 17,502 million points per year. A detailed economic analysis reveals specific areas within the ATJ process that require enhancements to ensure economic viability and cost reduction in alignment with the selling price of conventional biojet fuel. Notably, the pretreatment and sugar conversion to ethanol stages are identified as the primary bottlenecks that affect the economic feasibility of the overall process. These findings provide valuable insights into the essential improvements and cost reductions necessary to establish a sustainable and economically viable biojet-fuel production process. This findings provide valuable information in order implement this technology on an industrial scale and to address some of the goals of the 2030 Agenda, such as objectives 6, 7, 9, 12, and 13.
Using land to produce biomass or to build infrastructure has adverse impacts on ecosystem quality or, more precisely, on attributes (biodiversity, ecological functions, natural resources) of ecosystem quality. However, there is no comprehensive assessment method-ology that allows the assessment of different land-use activities in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). I have defined the safeguard subject ecosystem quality and have modelled land-use impacts on species diversity on both local and regional scales. The characteris-ation factor species-pool effect potential (SPEP) has been developed for weighting a wide range of land-use activities. Occupation of urban, built-up and arable land are found to negatively affect the species-pool. Mixed forests and fallow appear to have positive effects. Generic SPEP factors can be used to assess the potential effect of land-use interventions in the framework of LCIA.
Changes in vegetation are often caused by changes in abiotic site factors. The SMART2 model has been developed to evaluate the effects of changes in ion inputs by atmospheric deposition and seepage on these site factors. Linkage with the Multiple Stress Model for Vegetation (MOVE) enables evaluation of the effects on the occurrence probability of vegetation species in response to deposition and seepage scenarios. Combinations of two deposition and two seepage scenarios were evaluated with SMART2. Results focused on pH, nitrogen availability and base saturation. Effects of changes in pH on the occurrence probability of forest understorey in a nutrient-poor deciduous forest were evaluated with MOVE.
Detailed assumptions used in constructing a new indicator of the burden of disease, the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), are presented. Four key social choices in any indicator of the burden of disease are carefully reviewed. First, the advantages and disadvantages of various methods of calculating the duration of life lost due to a death at each age are discussed. DALYs use a standard expected-life lost based on model life-table West Level 26. Second, the value of time lived at different ages is captured in DALYs using an exponential function which reflects the dependence of the young and the elderly on adults. Third, the time lived with a disability is made comparable with the time lost due to premature mortality by defining six classes of disability severity. Assigned to each class is a severity weight between 0 and 1. Finally, a three percent discount rate is used in the calculation of DALYs. The formula for calculating DALYs based on these assumptions is provided.
Sun exposure in both childhood and adult life represents the main environmental risk determinant for cutaneous melanoma. However, little is known about the joint effects of sun exposure during early and later life on melanoma risk. A case-control study in Belgium, Germany and France conducted in 1991–1992 suggests that the melanoma risks attached to indicators related to sun exposure appear to combine their effects in an additive way. We therefore constructed composite indices of sun exposure during childhood and during adulthood, assuming additive combinations of melanoma risk associated with each indicator of sun exposure. Logistic regression modeling showed that the melanoma risk associated with a given level of sun exposure during adulthood increased with higher sun exposure during childhood, but the increase in risk was higher than the simple addition of melanoma risk associated with sun exposure during childhood or adulthood. In turn, high sun exposure during childhood constituted a significant risk factor for melanoma only if there was substantial sun exposure during adult life. We thus suggest that sun exposure during childhood and during adulthood would be interdependent as far as their impact on melanoma risk is concerned. Our results support the hypothesis by which the important contribution of sun exposure during childhood in melanoma occurrence is not properly assessed by retrospective epidemiologic studies. Sun avoidance during childhood would have a greater impact on melanoma risk than sun avoidance during adulthood. Int. J. Cancer 77:533–537, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The inclusion of fate and exposure is a central issue in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). According to the framework developed
by the Society of Environmental Toxicity and Chemistry (SETAC), fate and exposure route are included through a fate coefficient
which makes the link between an emission and the related increase in concentration.
In the Critical surface-time 95 methodology, fate factors of air pollutants are determined empirically at a world level as
the ratio of measured concentration to the total estimated emission flow. Based on a detailed study performed for seventeen
pollutants, a correlation is developed to predict fate factors from the residence time. Variation of a factor 10000 arc observed
for the fate coefficient. Empirical fate factors are compared to modelled fate factors and are found to have a similar order
of magnitude.