scholarly journals Life Cycle Based Comparison of Textile Ecolabels

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1751
Author(s):  
Felice Diekel ◽  
Natalia Mikosch ◽  
Vanessa Bach ◽  
Matthias Finkbeiner
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Purchase Decisions ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
Product Environmental Footprint ◽  
Cradle To Cradle ◽  
Use Phase ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Made In

Environmental impacts of textile production increased over the last decades. This also led to an increasing demand for sustainable textiles and ecolabels, which intend to provide information on environmental aspects of textiles for the consumer. The goal of the paper is to assess selected labels with regard to their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their coverage of relevant environmental aspects over the life cycle of textiles. We applied a characterization scheme to analyse seven selected labels (Blue Angel Textiles, bluesign®, Cotton made in Africa (CMiA), Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Global Recycled Standard (GRS), VAUDE Green Shape), and compared their focus to the environmental hotpots identified in the product environmental footprint case study of t-shirts. Most labels focus on the environmental aspects toxicity, water use, and air emissions predominantly in the upstream life cycle phases of textiles (mainly garment production), whereas some relevant impacts and life cycle phases like water in textile use phase remain neglected. We found significant differences between the ecolabels, and none of them cover all relevant aspects and impacts over the life cycle. Consumers need to be aware of these limitations when making purchase decisions.

scholarly journals Energy consumption in the life cycle of plumbing fixtures

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-78
Author(s):  
A. Kalbusch ◽  
E. Ghisi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Total Energy ◽  
The Self ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Total Energy Consumption ◽  
Production Phase ◽  
Use Phase

Abstract The main objective of this paper is to propose a method for quantifying the energy consumption in the life cycle of different plumbing fixtures. The method can be used to estimate the energy consumption in the production, use and disposal phases of plumbing fixtures. This allows for the comparison between the performances of different plumbing fixtures and the identification of the share of each phase on the energy consumption over the life cycle. The method was applied in a case study in Southern Brazil to quantify the energy consumption in the life cycle of two types of taps installed on a university campus. The total energy consumption in the life cycle of ordinary and self-closing taps used in the study was respectively, 177.71 MJ and 164.11 MJ over 4 years. Production accounted for 33% of the energy consumption share of the ordinary tap, while the use phase accounted for 65% and the disposal phase for 2%. For the self-closing tap, the production phase accounted for 46% of the energy consumption share, the use phase for 52% and the disposal phase for 2%. Therefore, considering the energy consumption in the life cycle, self-closing taps should be preferred over ordinary taps.

TRANSFORMATION OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR

2020 ◽  
pp. 76-82
Author(s):  
A. E. Gukasova ◽  
S. P. Kiseleva
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Factor ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Industrial Products ◽  
State Support ◽  
Product Life ◽  
Made In

Actual problems of industry and environmental aspects of their manifestation have been designated. To reduce the negative impact of industry on the environment, the authors suggest using public procurement tools. The main measures carried out by the state in the interests of ensuring environmental-oriented purchases of industrial products have been given. It has been proposed to expand the practice of using life-cycle contracts as the main way of state support for environmental-oriented procurement, which will subsequently allow you to use effectively available resources, taking into account the environmental factor. There is a large number of different methods for determining the stages of the product life cycle. An attempt was made in this article to describe the application of the environmental factor at each stage of the product life cycle using the example of industry.

Fraud Detection Life Cycle Model: A Systematic Fuzzy Approach to Fraud Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 1550010
Author(s):  
Rajiv Arora ◽  
Daya Gupta ◽  
Payal Pahwa
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Credit Card ◽  
Fraud Detection ◽  
Inference Rules ◽  
Life Cycle Model ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Finance Industry ◽  
Efficient Detection ◽  
Made In

Advancements in science and technology have impacted the global scenario significantly in each and every sphere of life. Unfortunately, this has also caused an increase in the number of frauds in various fields. Fraudsters are making an illegal access to the users' account in parallel with the users without being detected which results in heavy losses in terms of money, data and time. Therefore, detection of frauds has become an important need for the organizations not only to prevent the misuse but also to detect and report any such access as and when it is made. In this paper, a fraud detection life cycle model is proposed which reveals the detection of fraudulent behavior of customers. The objective of this life cycle model is to minimize the frauds occurring in different areas which are sensitive to fraudulent behavior such as telecommunication, credit card, finance industry and so on. We have presented a case study of Public Sector Telecommunication Company to demonstrate the life cycle model and further shown how our proposed life cycle model works on it by using some fuzzy-based inference rules for efficient detection of frauds.

scholarly journals Economic, environmental and social aspects of buildings’ refurbishment – a case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-578
Author(s):  
Marcin Zygmunt ◽  
Marcin Piczulski
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Energy Plus ◽  
Energy Simulations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Energy Cluster

The aim of the article is to presents the results of calculations regarding the: economic – based on the life cycle costing (LCC) approach, environmental – based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach and social aspects of modeled refurbishment of residential and non-residential stock of buildings. Particular emphasis was placed on the impact of energy efficiency of the modeled buildings on environmental aspects and the selection of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. The article presents an analysis of an area of energy cluster in terms of environmental aspects and a detailed analysis of an offi ce building using advanced energy simulations. The calculations for energy cluster was made using Polish energy certifi cate methodology (monthly calculations) while analysis of an office building was performed using dynamic hourly simulations with use of Energy Plus software. Performed analysis results in reaching energy efficiency scenarios for both cases according to meeting sustain development idea.

A Life Cycle Inventory Case Study for Marble Mining in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 787 ◽  
pp. 171-175
Author(s):  
Xian Ce Meng ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
Zhi Hong Wang ◽  
Xian Zheng Gong ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Life Cycle Inventory ◽  
Functional Unit ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Environmental Damages ◽  
Made In

The goal of this paper is to conduct a life cycle inventory (LCI) case study for marble mining in China. The scope focuses on the whole life of marble mining. The functional unit is “per cubic meter of marble block”. The LCI data, including the input of energy and natural resources and the output of pollutant emissions, were collected on-site. The LCI results show that if the waste quarries could be recovered after the exploration, the environmental damages from the marble decorative materials would be much less. The environmental impacts of fresh water consumptions are also discussed. Some suggestions and recommendations on how to improve the environmental performance, at the same time the marble materials can be produced to support the increasing sales, are made. In the future, the land use and the mine recovery should be discussed.

scholarly journals Weighting with Life Cycle Assessment and Cradle to Cradle: A Methodology for Global Sustainability Design

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9042
Author(s):  
M. Estela Peralta ◽  
Nuria Alcalá ◽  
Víctor M. Soltero
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Cradle To Cradle ◽  
Qualitative Nature ◽  
The Unified Method ◽  
Unified Method

Sustainable product design uses methodologies focused on eco-effectiveness and eco-efficiency for the proposal of innovative technological solutions and for the control of environmental impacts during the product life cycle. One of the main drawbacks of such techniques is their qualitative nature, associated with a decision-making process that is sometimes arbitrary, or with unverifiable data; this means that several complementary tools are currently being used to reduce the error in the results obtained. This situation makes the unification of procedures necessary. In this context, this research develops a methodology for the sustainable design of industrial products that integrates life cycle assessment (in its environmental, economic and social application) and cradle-to-cradle techniques. For this purpose, a new assessment process is proposed, based on damage, developing LCA+C2C endpoint indicators. The methodology is subsequently verified in a case study of products for sustainable mobility (city trike electric). The results show that an integrated LCA+C2C assessment can help to propose more balanced sustainable strategies and would be a suitable method to measure tradeoffs between economic, social and environmental results, for practical purposes and future redesigns. The unified method provides a procedure to design a solution with a trade-off between eco-efficient and eco-effective criteria; it also simplifies the design phases, facilitates the interpretation of the results and provides a quantitative scope to the cradle-to-cradle framework.

Impacts of Multiple Distributed Generations on a Weak Distribution Network - A Case Study

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Watthana Limpananwadi ◽  
Worawit Tayati
Keyword(s):  
Distribution System ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Distributed Generations ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Distribution System Planning ◽  
Increasing Demand

It is well known to electricity authority worldwide of difficulty in meeting an ever increasing demand of a rural load center tens to hundred kilometers away from the interconnected grid. In many cases, upgrading sub-transmission system seemed appropriate in technical, economic and environmental aspects. Nevertheless, there are cases where addition of local generation is the only means to meet the increasing demand. For more than ten years, Thailand's Provincial Electricity Authority has been tackling complications of adding more and more local generations until exceeding the local off peak demand. These generations consist of four small hydro, one geothermal and one fuel oil power plants. Unfortunately, the unplanned attempts made to resolve problem concerning provision of electricity supply to meet the demand without conducting any pre-engineering study had proved ineffective and sustainable solution could not be attained. This paper described, analyzed and discussed in details the development of PEA's distribution system planning to supply quality and reliable electricity to a small rural and remote community in the country Northern province. Extensive field surveys and technical analyses were carried out to investigate impacts of distributed generation on the performance of the network. Finally, recommendations were given as guideline for further study in search of feasible and sustainable solutions.

scholarly journals End-of-life modelling of buildings to support more informed decisions towards achieving circular economy targets

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 2122-2139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahar Mirzaie ◽  
Mihaela Thuring ◽  
Karen Allacker
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Life Cycle Stage ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Quality Factors ◽  
Product Environmental Footprint ◽  
Allocation Approach

Abstract Purpose Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an internationally accepted method to assess the environmental impacts of buildings. A major methodological challenge remains the modelling of the end-of-life stage of buildings and allocation of benefits and burdens between systems. Various approaches are hence applied in practice to date. This paper compares the two methods widely renowned in Europe—the EC product environmental footprint (PEF) method and the CEN standards: EN 15804+A1 and EN15978—and offers insights about their fitness for achieving circularity goals. Methods The EC PEF method and the CEN EN 15804/EN 15978 standards were methodologically analysed with a focus on the end-of-life modelling and allocation approach and were applied to a building case study. The EN 15804+A1 standard explains the guidelines but does not offer a modelling formula. Accordingly, this paper proposes a formula for the CEN standards using identical parameters as in the end-of-life circular footprint formula (CFF) of the EC PEF Guidance v6.3 to increase consistency among LCA studies. The calculation formulas were then applied to a newly constructed office building. A comparative analysis of both the implementation and results are described, and recommendations are formulated. Results In the absence of databases compatible with the two LCA methods and comprising all building products, the Ecoinvent datasets had to be remodelled to enable a comparative modular assessment. This proved to be a laborious process. The EC PEF method and CEN standards showed similar impacts and hotspots for the case study building. The module D in the CEN standards includes a significant share of positive impacts, but due to collective accounting, it does not clearly communicate these benefits. The summation of burdens and benefits in the EC PEF method reduces its transparency, while the allocation and quality factors enable this method to better capture the market realities and drive circular economy goals. Conclusions The construction sector and the LCI database developers are encouraged to create the missing LCA databases compatible with the modular and end-of-life allocation modelling requirements of both methods. More prescriptive and meticulous guidelines, with further harmonization between the EC PEF method and the CEN standards and their end-of-life allocation formula, would largely increase comparability and reliability of LCA studies and communications. To improve transparency, it is recommended to report the module D impacts per life cycle stage as per the CEN standards and the burdens and benefits separately for each life cycle stage as per the EC PEF method.

scholarly journals A Protocol to Address User Behavior in the Eco-Design of Consumer Products

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuelle Cor ◽  
Peggy Zwolinski
Keyword(s):  
User Behavior ◽  
Low Complexity ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Efficient Design ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Use Phase ◽  
And Behavior

Today, it is difficult to integrate the use phase optimization of consumer products into eco-design methodologies. Current eco-design approaches are in fact mainly focused on improving the technological performance of products while it has been proven that users behavior plays an important role in the overall environmental performances of products. This paper deals with the need to address the notion of user experience and behavior in the design process of today's low-complexity consumer products in order to improve their environmental performance. The research protocol presented in this paper is a new eco-design approach in six steps that can be used by designers to support eco-design decisions and integrate user behavior parameters into design activities. The first step consists in the identification of critical environmental aspects in use and usage drifts potential of the product. Steps two, three, and four support designers in the analysis of the use phase for the selection of efficient design for sustainable behavior (DfSB) strategies to be implemented on the product. Finally, steps five and six aim to test the selected strategies with product-in-use observations. Life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is used for the evaluation of the environmental benefits of the strategies. To illustrate this work, a case study of a coffee maker is described together with the eco-design solutions chosen for this product. The solutions reflect strategies targeting DfSB.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document