On the limitations of life cycle assessment and environmental systems analysis tools in general

For university teaching in general, and specifically for the transdisciplinary curriculum of “Environmental Systems Analysis”, web-based learning procedures provide excellent opportunities for socially induced understanding and consensus building. This chapter describes how the social processes emerging in a five-level web-based negotiation game may be conceived in such a way that these form a sequence of growing and decaying intensity in various modes of social interaction. Similarly to individual learning in a classroom, a procedure could be applied to collective learning, namely to social procedures among humans who are starting to create institutional networks for combating global climate change – one of the most urgent tasks at present. A coordinate system of the four main social archetypes of action, namely “information”, “team”, “debate”, “integration” is symbolically called soprano, alto, tenor and bass; these four basic dimensions of social action tend to peak one after the other along a suitably designed gaming procedure.

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ON THE ROLE OF OPTIMIZATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS ANALYSIS - A CASE STUDY

Systems Research in Health Care, Biocybernetics and Ecology ◽

10.1016/b978-0-08-027201-6.50066-2 ◽

1981 ◽

pp. 1979-1988

Author(s):

R.V. Varadarajan

Keyword(s):

Systems Analysis ◽

Environmental Systems ◽

Environmental Systems Analysis

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Systems Analysis and Life-Cycle Assessment for energy and environmental sustainability

Bioresource Technology ◽

10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123988 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 317 ◽

pp. 123988 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Edgard Gnansounou ◽

Murthy S. Ganti ◽

Anoop Singh ◽

Benoit Gabrielle

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Systems Analysis

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Adjustment of the Life Cycle Inventory in Life Cycle Assessment for the Flexible Integration into Energy Systems Analysis

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13174437 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (17) ◽

pp. 4437

Author(s):

Thomas Betten ◽

Shivenes Shammugam ◽

Roberta Graf

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Systems Analysis ◽

Energy Systems ◽

Use Case ◽

Double Counting ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

Energy Systems Analysis ◽

The Difference

With an increasing share of renewable energy technologies in our energy systems, the integration of not only direct emission (from the use phase), but also the total life cycle emissions (including emissions during resource extraction, production, etc.) becomes more important in order to draw meaningful conclusions from Energy Systems Analysis (ESA). While the benefit of integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into ESA is acknowledged, methodologically sound integration lacks resonance in practice, partly because the dimension of the implications is not yet fully understood. This study proposes an easy-to-implement procedure for the integration of LCA results in ESA based on existing theoretical approaches. The need for a methodologically sound integration, including the avoidance of double counting of emissions, is demonstrated on the use case of Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell photovoltaic technology. The difference in Global Warming Potential of 19% between direct and LCA based emissions shows the significance for the integration of the total emissions into energy systems analysis and the potential double counting of 75% of the life cycle emissions for the use case supports the need for avoidance of double counting.

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A CASE STUDY IN PARTICIPATORY ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS ASSESSMENT WITH THE USE OF MULTIMEDIA MATERIALS AND QUANTITATIVE LCA

Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management ◽

10.1142/s1464333207002871 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 09 (04) ◽

pp. 399-421 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

P. SINCLAIR ◽

S. COWELL ◽

R. LÖFSTEDT ◽

R. CLIFT

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Effective Means ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Active Engagement ◽

Environmental Decision Making ◽

Environmental Systems ◽

Structuring Knowledge

While participation in environmental decision-making is widely recognised and valued in democratic countries as beneficial, its format and scope have not always been the source of agreement. The use of environmental systems assessment (ESA) offers the opportunity for structuring knowledge and decision-making systematically and appropriately to decision makers' concerns, to enable lay publics to participate in development of policy and implementation in public sector initiatives. In order to perform participatory ESA, effective means of involving lay people are required. This paper describes the development and testing of an innovative interactive multimedia package (WOMBLE), written for non-experts to enable them to use the expert tool WISARD, a quantitative life cycle assessment package, to enable involvement in developing and assessing options for management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). It was shown that this combination of tools can reduce the time needed to achieve effective communication, learning and active engagement.

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