Abstract
Innovative toilets can save resources, but have higher embodied impacts associated with materials and electronic components. This article presents an environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) of an innovative multifunctional toilet (WashOne) for two alternative configurations (with or without washlet), comparing its performance with those of conventional systems (toilet and bidet). Additionally, two scenario analyses were conducted: (i) user behavior (alternative washlet use patterns) and (ii) user location (Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Saudi Arabia). The results show that the WashOne with washlet has a better global environmental performance than the conventional system, even for low use. It also reveals that the use phase has the highest contribution to impacts due to electricity consumption. User location analysis further shows that Sweden has the lowest environmental impact, while Germany and the Netherlands have the highest potential for impact reduction when changing from a conventional system to the WashOne. Based on the overall results, some recommendations are provided to enhance the environmental performance of innovative toilet systems, namely the optimization of the washlet use patterns. This article highlights the importance of performing a LCA at an early stage of the development of innovative toilets by identifying the critical issues and hotspots to improve their design and performance.
Highlights
With just assuming usage patterns were assessed: one where the washlet is used in all toilet visits that there is no additional cleaning system as a bidet
Two scenario analyses(W100); and another where the washlet is only used in major visits, i.e., one visit per day per were conducted for WO1 and the conventional system: (i) user behavior scenario analysis person, representing 25% of the daily visits (W25)
Two scenario analyses were conducted to inspect the impact of different user behaviors and user locations on the environmental performance of these systems
Summary
Water heating represents 13% of energy consumption in residential buildings [2], with conventional toilet systems having a significant share [3]. Innovative toilet systems can save water and energy, but have higher embodied impacts associated with materials and electronic components. Environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) can be applied to evaluate and compare alternative toilet systems (conventional and innovative), providing a holistic assessment from cradle to grave and avoiding burden shifting. It is important to analyze trade-offs between increased embodied impacts and operational savings of innovative toilet systems. Employing LCAs in innovative products enables improved product eco-design through early hotspot detection allowing optimization of material choices and use-phase efficiency. LCAs have been used to assess the environmental performance of several innovative systems/products, in the building sector [6,7,8,9]
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