scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Three Safe Drinking-Water Options in India: Boiled Water, Bottled Water, and Water Purified with a Domestic Reverse-Osmosis Device

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 6233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tirma Garcia-Suarez ◽  
Michal Kulak ◽  
Henry King ◽  
Julia Chatterton ◽  
Arunima Gupta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Reverse Osmosis ◽  
Impact Category ◽  
Bottled Water ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽  
Attributional Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Fossil Resource

Indian households connected to improved water sources still need to purify their water before drinking. In this study, environmental impacts of three purification options in urban India were compared: (a) boiling water, (b) bottled, purified water, and (c) purifying the water with a domestic reverse-osmosis (RO) device. Primary data for the manufacture, distribution, and the use of the RO device were obtained directly from the manufacturer. Standard, attributional Life Cycle Assessment was performed using a suite of impact assessment methods from ReCiPe v 1.8. In addition, blue and green water consumptions were quantified using the Quantis water database. Bottled water was found to be associated with the highest impacts for all impact categories considered, mainly due to the production and the transportation of bottles. The preference between the other two systems depends on the considered impact category. Water boiled using the liquefied petroleum gas (current practice of urban consumers in India) was found to have higher impacts on climate change and fossil resource use than water from a domestic RO device. The use of the device; however, was found to have higher impacts on water resources than boiling, both in terms of quality (freshwater eutrophication) and availability (water consumption).

Study and Design of Sustainable Packaging for Household Hoods

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Landi ◽  
Leonardo Postacchini ◽  
Paolo Cicconi ◽  
Filippo E. Ciarapica ◽  
Michele Germani
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Iso 14040 ◽  
Attributional Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Cradle To Gate

In industrialized countries, packaging waste is one of the major issues to deal with, representing around 35% of the total municipal solid waste yearly generated. Therefore, an analysis and an environmental assessment of packaging systems are necessary. This paper aims at analyzing and comparing the environmental performances of two different packaging for domestic hoods. It shows how, through a packaging redesign, it is possible to obtain a reduction of the environmental impacts. This study has been performed in accordance with the international standards ISO 14040/14044, by using attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) from Cradle to Gate. The functional unit has been defined as the packaging of a single household hood. Primary data have been provided by a household hood manufacturer, while secondary data have been obtained from the Ecoinvent database. LCA software SimaPro 8.5 has been used to carry out the life cycle assessment, and ReCiPe method has been chosen for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) stage. The results have shown the new packaging model being able to cut down the environmental impacts of approximately 30%. These outcomes may be used by household manufacturers to improve performances and design solutions of their different packaging.

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.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of Filtration Systems of Reverse Osmosis Units: A Case Study of a University Campus

Procedia CIRP ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 268-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikrant Bhakar ◽  
D.N.S. Hemanth Kumar ◽  
Nitin Krishna Sai ◽  
Kuldip Singh Sangwan ◽  
Smita Raghuvanshi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Reverse Osmosis ◽  
University Campus

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 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.

scholarly journals Global Warming Impacts Study of Tofu Products in Mampang Prapatan Small and Medium Enterprises with Life Cycle Assessment Methods

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bayu Sukmana ◽  
Isti Surjandari ◽  
Muryanto . ◽  
Arief A. R. Setiawan ◽  
Edi Iswanto Wiloso
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽  
Fuel Wood ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
The Impact

Firstly global warming issue caused by greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) which comes from human activities. Along with increasing of daily need, that humans of activities food produce is also increase, include of tofu. Tofu is a traditional Indonesian specialty made from soybeans and used as a side dish. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of global warming from tofu products on Mampang Prapatan's Small Tofu and Medium Enterprises. The method used in this study is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method with the help of Simapro 8.4 software with a 1 kg tofu functional unit. The data collected in this study is the average data of tofu production for 3 months, namely January - March 2018. The LCA data in this study include the process of soybean cultivation, transportation processes for shipping soybeans, water, fuel wood, and electricity use. The limitations of this study are from cradle (soybean cultivation) to gate (tofu products).The results showed that UKM Mampang Prapatan has the potential impact of global warming with a value of 3.84 kg CO2-eq, while the value of global warming in the production process knows the scenario of wastewater treatment and the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as fuel for boiling pulp 4.49 kg CO2-eq soybeans. Based on the results of this study, greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions are issued; the intervention that can be done is to optimize the use of raw materials for production to reduce the impact of CO2-eq kg global warming.

Life cycle assessment of the food waste management with a focus on the collection bag

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 1317-1327
Author(s):  
Giovanni Dolci ◽  
Lucia Rigamonti ◽  
Mario Grosso
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Environmental Product Declaration ◽  
Product Environmental Footprint ◽  
Weight Losses ◽  
Alternative Systems ◽  
Two Systems

The organic fraction (mainly food waste) is typically the most abundant of the separately collected waste streams. The research aims at investigating the influence of different types of collection bag on the environmental performances of the food waste management chain in Italy. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) between two alternative systems based on paper or bioplastic collection bags was carried out. It included the collection bags manufacturing and distribution, their use at the household, the transportation of collected food waste and its subsequent anaerobic digestion, including the valorisation of useful outputs and the management of residues. The two systems were modelled mainly with primary data related to the current management system and to tests performed on bags. The LCA was performed with two different modelling approaches applied in the environmental product declaration (EPD) system and in the product environmental footprint (PEF) studies, respectively. In the scenario representing the average conditions, higher environmental impacts are shown by the use of bioplastic bags compared to paper ones with the EPD approach (+257%/+576%). With the PEF approach, the differences between the two systems are lower (−55%/+133%). Moreover, paper bags could allow for further impact reductions assuming a decrease of the food waste collection frequency, allowed by higher weight losses and a lower generation of leachate and odour during the household storage.

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