Life Cycle Assessment Of Systems Research Articles

Geographic life cycle assessment of food loss and waste management in Mexico: The reality of distribution and retail centers

The modernization of the global food sector has intensified waste generation, prompting a critical examination of sustainability. Following a geographical and life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, this study quantifies and evaluates the environmental impact of food loss and waste (FLW) in the Mexican food supply chain (FSC) distribution and retail stages and presents the first national inventory of FLW generation with a geographical approach. LCA and geographic information systems are integrated to comprehensively assess FLW, revealing that Mexico generated 8.95 Mt. of FLW in the year 2022, which translates to 0.217 Mt. CO2 eq y−1, mainly caused by FLW decomposition in final disposal sites (FDS). A positive correlation between gross domestic product and greenhouse gas emissions was observed, highlighting the impact of economic activities on FLW generation and emissions. Higher transportation distances are noted in the northern regions of the country, linked to fewer FDS, this underscores high diesel consumption, up to 10 m3 y−1 for each FDS. The study emphasizes the urgent need for sustainable practices and circular strategies in the Mexican food sector. These findings provide crucial insights for decision-making and lay the groundwork for transitioning to a circular economy, aligning economic activities with long-term sustainability goals and comply the agreements established by Mexico at COP28. As a pioneering effort, this national inventory informs policy and industry initiatives to mitigate environmental impacts and foster sustainability in the food supply chain.

Microwave-assisted pyrolysis in biomass and waste valorisation: Insights into the life-cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA)

Microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP) has been perceived as a promising technology for biomass and waste conversion due to its distinctive features, including fast, even, and precise heating. This results in higher energy efficiency when compared to conventional pyrolysis via thermal heating. However, the scaling up of MAP of biomass and waste poses challenges, with investigations ongoing to uncover not only the technological aspect, but also both the environmental impacts and economic feasibility associated with this process/technology. The possible environmental impacts associated with MAP processes can be analyzed through systematic life-cycle assessment (LCA), while the economic feasibility can be evaluated via techno-economic analysis (TEA). This paper presents an overview of the current research trend in MAP and the products produced, as well as the LCA and TEA of the pyrolysis technologies. The LCA study reported a 2.5 folds reduction in energy consumption and up to 62% reduction in global warming potential. TEA study revealed that conventional pyrolysis has a greater profit for long-term assessment due to a higher maturity and less complexity technology; however, MAP may be more economically feasible in the future owing to the increased maturity and more established technology. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives for LCA and TEA in MAP are elucidated.

Life Cycle Assessment and Model Optimization for Sustainable Energy Cross-Border E-Commerce

INTRODUCTION: In an in-depth study of the application of sustainable energy in cross-border e-commerce, a comprehensive assessment and model optimization of its life cycle are conducted to promote the practical application of sustainable development in e-commerce. With the increasing global concern for renewable energy and environmental protection, e-commerce, as an international business model, has attracted much attention in terms of the environmental and social impacts of its sustainability.OBJECTIVES: The aim is to provide scientific assessment methods and effective model optimization strategies to promote the feasibility and sustainability of cross-border e-commerce for sustainable energy.METHODS: A comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) model was constructed using the system life cycle assessment (SLCA) methodology by collecting data from various aspects of sustainable energy cross-border e-commerce. The model considers the entire life cycle process from energy production, logistics, transportation, and product manufacturing to final consumption and integrates various factors such as resource utilization, environmental emissions, and social responsibility. Based on the assessment, a series of model optimization strategies are proposed, including suggestions for improving supply chain efficiency, promoting green energy applications, and strengthening social responsibility.RESULTS: This study achieved significant life cycle assessment and model optimization results. In terms of energy use, promoting the application of renewable energy significantly reduces carbon emissions; in terms of supply chain management, optimization leads to an overall efficiency improvement and a reduction in resource wastage; and in terms of social responsibility, the enterprise strengthens employee training and community involvement, which enhances its social image. These results show that sustainable energy cross-border e-commerce can better achieve sustainable development goals through systematic assessment and optimization.CONCLUSION: Life cycle assessment and model optimization provide scientific assessment methods and practical suggestions for sustainable energy cross-border e-commerce. In global sustainable development, the e-commerce industry should actively adopt sustainable energy and minimize its negative impacts on the environment and society by optimizing production and supply chain management. Future research can continue to expand the assessment model and deeply explore the potential of sustainable energy in e-commerce to provide more precise guidance for the industry's sustainable development.

Environmental benefits of macroalgae products: A case study of agar based on life cycle assessment

Seaweed (marine macroalgae) cultivation and hydrocolloids industries can contribute significantly to sustainable development and bio-economy. However, there has been a lack of study on the environmental impacts of agar manufactured from macroalgae. This study is one of the first attempts to analyze environmental sustainability of agar extracted from Gracilaria lemaneiformis using an integrated method of life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental profit and loss (EP&L). The “cradle-to-gate” life cycle stages are considered, namely, seaweed cultivation, transportation, agar production, and waste treatment. Two scenarios are conducted to explore the different production methods of agar. Results reveal that the carbon sequestration during the seaweed cultivation stage of agar amounts to 7.21 kgCO2eq/kg, and the net “cradle-to-gate” carbon emission of agar is −1.11 kgCO2eq/kg. The cultivation of seaweed can also benefit the marine environment through the removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals. In addition, the environmental impacts of agar production in China are converted into monetary values and estimated as total external costs based on EP&L. The comparative analysis elucidates a reduced environmental loss of 667 CNY in Scenario 2, while the external cost of Scenario 1 is 1020 CNY, indicating the environmental impact of Scenario 2 is reduced due to the improved process of agar production. As one of the first systematic LCA studies of seaweed cultivation and agar manufacturing, this work promotes the understanding of the environmental sustainability of seaweed hydrocolloid industry.

Growing of 2D/3D graphene structures on natural substrates from aromatic plastic wastes by scalable thermal-based upcycling process with a comparative CO2 footprint analysis

Recycling aromatic plastics, such as polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is complex and strongly sensitive to the process design and conditions due to the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and interunit CO and/or CC linkages. Herein, the upcycling process becomes crucial to attain high-value-added products from aromatic plastics. With this study, graphene growth was achieved on the natural substrates of talc and organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT), from waste PS and PET sources via a sustainable, affordable, and environment-friendly upcycling technique. This promising method promotes the formation of 2D and 3D graphene structures from waste PS and PET. This provides dimension-controlled graphene growth by tailoring the substrate type and size, surface composition of the substrate, and the degree of aromaticity in the polymer. In addition, polymer processing techniques of twin-screw extrusion and thermokinetic mixing, were investigated in the development of graphene-grown hybrid additives to tailor the degree of crystallinity. Regarding structural characterization results, a high shear rate mixer led to the change in crystalline planes of talc, whereas conventional twin screw extrusion preserved the structure of talc indicating that high shear rate triggered the exfoliation of talc. Furthermore, a systematic life cycle assessment was conducted to evaluate the CO2 footprint of upcycled graphenes grown on talc and OMMT compared to graphene produced from graphite. Upcycled graphene structures obtained by direct carbonization and even catalyst impregnated natural substrate-based graphene growth process with PS or PET source have comparably lower CO2 emission than graphene received from graphite. Therefore, these newly developed and upcycled hybrid additives opens a way for the conversion of aromatic complex plastic wastes into value-added nanomaterials being candidate as reinforcing agent by adopting a circular economy model.

Enhancing life cycle assessment for circular economy measurement of different case scenarios of modular steel slab

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has emerged as an essential method to evaluate materials' environmental impact. However, using LCA for assessing other dimensions of circular economy (CE), such as the technical, social, system, and functional dimensions, is fraught with several challenges. In this study, the LCA system boundary was extended to cradle-to-cradle and combined with the predictive building systemic circularity indicator to determine the environmental, technical, functional, and system dimensions of different case scenarios of the product system of a modular steel slab of a residential building in China. It was identified that the base scenario of the case slab could lead to about 50.4% of the mass of the slab being recyclable at EoL. In comparison, 0%, 70.8%, and 38.8% of the mass of the slab being recyclable were recorded for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The environmental impact of the scenarios showed that the base scenario would induce 38.64 kg CO2/m2 in global warming potential, while 68.2, 28.2, and 44.95 kg CO2/m2 were noted for case scenarios one to three, respectively. The simple additive weighting method was used to select the optimal scenario for the product system of the case slab. Adopting the optimal scenario for the case slab should lead to positive impacts and high recoverability at EoL. Implementing this iterative integrative method for assessing product systems enables considering the environmental, technical, systems, and functional dimensions of CE in assessments, which should lead to inclusive, sustainable decision-making.

Optimal configuration of integrated energy station using adaptive operation mode of combined heat and power units

Operation modes of combined heat and power (CHP) units are closely related to the economic benefits of energy application in integrated energy station. In this paper, a novel bi-level optimal configuration method is proposed considering different operation modes of CHP, and a life-cycle assessment system on economic and environmental benefits is constructed using system dynamics (SD) method. Firstly, the basic structure and operation issues of a typical integrated energy station employing CHP are addressed. Secondly, the bi-level collaborative optimization model of the integrated energy station is constructed to minimize the annualized cost considering three operating modes, namely following the thermal load (FEL), following the electric load (FTL) and switching adaptively between FEL and FTL. Then, the model is solved by the column-and-constraint generation and particle swarm optimization coordination with mixed-linear integer programming respectively. Subsequently, the sensitivity of CHP units heat-to-electric ratio and electric storage to the planning results are analyzed in detail. Finally, case studies are carried out based on an actual integrated energy station. The optimization results show that, compared with FEL and FTL operating modes of the CHP units, the annualized cost of the system under adaptive operation mode is reduced by 26.5% and 42.8%, respectively. Besides, the assessment of the optimized system indicates that the total profit and carbon dioxide emission reduction of the station during its life-cycle are expected to reach 28.53 million CNY and 25.33 ten thousand tons respectively, which provides a reference for decision-making and a basis for flexible operation.

A comparison and methodological proposal for hybrid approaches to quantify environmental impacts: A case study for renewable energies

The transition towards a more sustainable and decarbonised energy system is mandatory for achieving global climate objectives, and counting on proper tools to evaluate sustainability is essential. Among sustainability assessment methodologies, hybrid approaches integrating Input-Output analysis (IOA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are often proposed to overcome limitations and take advantage of strengths of both methodologies. In this paper we propose a new hybrid tiered approach, named Identification and Subtraction Method (ISM). Through a case study of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology, we test the proposed method assessing seven environmental indicators and compare the results obtained by different methodological approaches: Environmental Extended Multiregional Input-Output (EMRIO), LCA and two hybrid approaches.Results showed that, in general, LCA and EMRIO provide the lowest and uppest impact values, respectively. The ISM method expands the LCA boundaries by including indirect impacts, avoiding double-counting and retaining the technological detail and representativeness of the LCA. The main advantage is the ability to establish with high accuracy the impact coming from the LCA system boundaries. Furthermore, ISM is easy to undertake for LCA practitioners, is a low time-consuming hybrid approach once the LCA and EMRIO models are run, and it does not require the alteration of the IO matrix as other hybrid methods. However, the need to perform the EMRIO and LCA analysis could imply high detailed data needs. An additional limitation of the model is that it is not be able to include partial contributions from EMRIO sectors. The highest differences between results obtained by the different methods are found in the assessment of local impacts and the resources depletion, while the methods tend to agree more on global and regional impacts quantification. However, there are limitations to the implementation of the impact characterization methods that should be borne in mind when comparing the results of the different methods.

Assessing the environmental impact of bone char production by in-situ emission monitoring and life cycle assessment

Animal bone char has long been used as an adsorbent for removing fluoride from drinking water. It is particularly popular in developing countries owing to the readily available raw materials, simple manufacturing process, low cost, and ease of use on a household scale. Widespread production of bone char has been implemented, but the resultant impact on the environment has not been fully investigated and the sustainability of this technology is unknown.This paper aims to be the first primary research on the environmental impact of bone char production. A systematic life cycle assessment (LCA) of the bone char production process was undertaken, with primary data gathered from a bone char workshop in Tanzania. Results of in-situ emission monitoring show that the production of 1 kg of bone char directly generates 3.53 ± 0.16 kg of CO2, 134.57 ± 6.79 g of CO, and 3.85 ± 0.42 g of SO2. Life cycle impact assessment indicates that the transport stage has a major influence on most environmental impact categories under study, whereas the charring gas emissions are the largest contributor to climate change and terrestrial acidification. Sensitivity analysis suggests that increasing the loading capacity of the vehicle diminishes the negative impact of the transport stage. The environmental cost of producing 1 kg of bone char (0.25 €) outweighs its local market price (0.13 €).

Whole-building life-cycle analysis with a new GREET® tool: Embodied greenhouse gas emissions and payback period of a LEED-Certified library

Embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of building components and buildings operations need to be quantified to holistically address building sustainability. To evaluate embodied GHG emissions of buildings and to provide insights on building materials and building design decisions toward decarbonization, we have recently created a building life-cycle assessment (LCA) module in the widely used Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET®) LCA model. We applied the GREET building LCA module to examine embodied GHG impacts and the payback period of a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified public library in Chicago, USA. We developed localized, detailed life-cycle inventories to address individual building materials used in the library. We expanded the LCA system boundary to include the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system, as well as refrigerant impacts, which are often ignored in previous studies. Results show that the total embodied GHG emissions are approximately 817 metric tons, or approximately 538 kg/m2. Sensitivity analysis highlights the positive role of increasing the use of recycled materials for reducing embodied GHG emissions. Sensitivity analysis on embodied GHG emissions payback periods shows the need to benchmark the embodied and operational carbon performance of buildings for comparison to alternative building designs and sustainability practices. This analysis demonstrates that building LCA models, such as the GREET building LCA module, which addresses embodied and operational GHG emission impacts of whole buildings holistically, could empower building architects, technology developers, manufacturers, and general contractors to address embodied and operational impacts holistically for building sustainability.

Multilevel environmental assessment of regional farming activities with Life Cycle Assessment: Tackling data scarcity and farm diversity with Life Cycle Inventories based on Agrarian System Diagnosis

CONTEXTPolicymakers still lack methods to assess the environmental impacts of agriculture at regional scales. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is renowned in assessing the environmental footprint of economic activities; however, it has to be adapted to be of use for this purpose. OBJECTIVEOur objective is to develop a methodology to carry out relevant LCA of agricultural productions at the regional scale, and to address, in particular, two major challenges which are sources of uncertainties in LCA, i.e., data scarcity and farming system diversity. METHODSWe introduce an innovative method for building Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) of agricultural regions, capable of capturing farming system diversity in the context of data scarcity. It combines LCA with Agrarian System Diagnosis (ASD), which has been adapted to meet the heavy data requirements of the LCI step. This method, which we named “ASD-based LCI”, was applied to the semi-arid irrigated plain of Kairouan in Tunisia.After ASD is carried out, a typology of farming systems is built using different data sources: literature review and ASD-based data (e.g., historical and landscape analysis, interviews). This paves the way for a stratified sampling of farms, after which each selected farm is studied in-depth, through field visits and extensive interviews, to collect activity data, i.e., data related to energy and material input and output flows (e.g., manure, seeds, electricity) at the crop / livestock level. The data set quality is improved by filling remaining data gaps using various approaches, e.g., analogy, crop modelling, or expert knowledge. The effect of stratified sampling and data gap filling on uncertainty reduction is evaluated using the pedigree matrix approach and the “uncertainty factor” (UF) which determines the uncertainty interval around the mean of any LCI data. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSNine farming systems - including three “corporate agriculture”, five “family agriculture” and one “landless farmer” archetypes - and seventy cropping and livestock systems were characterized. The pedigree matrix approach showed that - with regards to statistics-based data- the uncertainty interval could be reduced twofold, and by a multiple of four with ASD-based LCI, without or with extrapolation, respectively. SIGNIFICANCENot only has the ASD-based LCI method proven powerful when building LCI in agriculture at the regional scale with reduced uncertainty, but it is also suited to the quantification of material flow exchanges within the farm and across farms, which is of valuable service when assessing agroecological productions, which promotes circularity.

Sustainable Design of Hybrid Energy Systems towards Carbon Neutrality

As Cornell is transitioning to a carbon-free energy system by 2035, the campus energy system of the future will be based on 100% renewable energy sources. Specifically, the electricity will be mainly sourced from the local electric grid, which is expected to be carbon-free in the next two decades. Earth source heating and lake source cooling will serve as the major source for base-load renewable heating and cooling, respectively. Multiple geothermal wells will be drilled to meet the base-load heating demand. A conventional chiller will continue to provide auxiliary cooling sources for hot summer days in addition to the LSC system. Peak load will be fulfilled by introducing thermal energy storage and green hydrogen. This study addresses the economically optimal future design by developing a multi-period optimization model, to provide insights for the campus energy systems transition. A systematic life cycle assessment is adopted to examine the extent of carbon neutrality based on the optimization results.

Life cycle assessment of clean ammonia synthesis from thermo-catalytic solar cracking of liquefied natural gas

Ammonia is considered a sustainable energy storage medium with zero carbon content. In this work, thermal catalytic cracking of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at elevated temperatures employing concentrated solar tower is considered to produce clean hydrogen (CO2-free) and studied in terms of life cycle emissions. The generated hydrogen is utilized for clean ammonia synthesis in a Haber-Bosch reactor. The proposed system is initially assessed from a thermodynamic perspective, considering energy and exergy analyses emphasizing optimization of operating conditions. Then, the proposed system's life cycle assessment (LCA) is performed to analyze ammonia synthesis's environmental impacts. The aggregate environmental impact of the proposed system is quantified and compared with conventional production processes. Through the utilization of solar energy resources, ammonia production can be attained, avoiding high harmful emissions. The LCA study is carried out in GaBi software, and the selected impact assessment methodology is ReCiPe. The impact categories studied in this work are global warming potential (GWP), terrestrial acidification, human toxicity, and particulate matter formation potential. Considering 30 years of use phase and allocation, the predicted GWP is approximately 0.616 kg CO2 (eq.)/kg NH3, showing the potential to reduce up to 69.2% of the GWP compared to the global average value. Concerning human toxicity and fine particulate matter formation impact categories, the system produces about 3.32E-2 kg 1,4-DB (eq.) and 5.96E-4 kg PM2.5 (eq.), respectively, per kg NH3. The results are further analyzed by dominance, break-even, and variation analyses in detail.

Life cycle assessment of aquaculture bivalve shellfish production \u2014 a critical review of methodological trends

PurposeThe increase of shellfish production has raised environmental concerns, i.e., enrichment and redistribution of nutrients and energy consumption. Efforts assessing the environmental burdens arising from the expansion of shellfish production have been made using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Although LCA has been extensively applied and reviewed in aquaculture systems, shellfish production remains scarcely studied. The objective of this review is to identify methodological trends, highlight gaps and limitations, and provide guidelines for future studies.MethodsA systematic literature review was applied to scientific studies published up to 2021. A total of 13 documents were shorted by abstract and full text-screening. Literature meeting the inclusion criteria were further analyzed in six different aspects of a LCA (functional unit, system boundaries, data and data quality, allocation, impact assessment methods, interpretation methods). Discussion and guidelines are provided for each reviewed aspect.Results and discussionsShellfish LCAs differ considerably from other aquaculture studies mainly because shellfish avoids the allocation of impacts derived from the production of fishmeal. Co-products are present when the shellfish is processed, e.g., in canned products. Furthermore, shellfish studies do not take into account the positive credits from the removal of nutrients from the ecosystems and from the valorization of the shellfish waste (shell and organic remains). Limited information was found for countries outside Europe and species different from mussels. Despite the variability on goals and scopes of the studies, methodological trends were found. The local impacts of the shellfish with the farming area and the impacts on biodiversity have not been included into the studies.Conclusions and recommendationsEffort should be made in providing the data associated with the fore-background system within the studies in order to improve transparency and to allow the reproduction of the results. Information regarding the natural condition of the cultivation area should be provided as the shellfish production depends mainly on non-anthropogenic conditions. Application of biodiversity assessment methodologies should be encouraged, despite their limitations.

ANALISIS DAN DESAIN SISTEM PENILAIAN DAUR HIDUP AYAM POTONG BERBASIS DIGITAL BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM

Chicken meat agroindustry is one of the industries that produce unmeasured and unmonitored environmental impacts. These problems are a challenge for the industry to analyze how to measure and monitor environmental impacts. So, it is necessary to create a system that can measure and monitor environmental impacts through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The development of system design based on the Digital Business Ecosystem (DBE) can facilitate interaction between the stakeholders involved. This study aimed to analyse system components, system modeling, and develop an LCA system design of chicken meat. The system design model wasbuilt by UML (Unified Modeling Language). The system design was developed using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method to predict the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method to determine the most significant contributor. The study's results showed that this system produceed a model that can predict the impact of greenhouse gas emissions by 96.22 % of the actual value, and feed was the most significant contributor. Recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions were increasing feed efficiency, installing an inverter on an ammonia compressor, using environmentally friendly fuels, and utilizing litter and manure as organic fertilizer accompanied by better manure storage management.Keywords: artificial neural network, chicken meat, ordinary least square, life cycle assessment system

Coupling ecological wastewater treatment with the production of livestock feed and irrigation water provides net benefits to human health and the environment: A life cycle assessment

Ecologically designed wastewater treatment systems (ex., Eco-Machines™) utilize a diverse ecosystem to treat wastewater to the same extent as conventional treatment, but require less energy and chemical inputs. The environmental benefits of Eco-Machines™ can be theoretically maximized by incorporating hyperaccumulating aquatic plants (ex., duckweed) to facilitate nutrient recovery and conversion into protein-rich biomass, which can then be harvested for a range of agricultural and bioenergy applications. Although it has been established that ecological wastewater treatment systems are more cost- and energy-efficient than conventional wastewater treatment systems, a systematic life cycle assessment (LCA) of an Eco-Machine™ coupled with its beneficial by-products has not been conducted. In this study, a series of LCAs were performed on different operational scenarios for a 1000 gallon per day, pilot-scale Eco-Machine™ that, in addition to producing irrigation-quality water, also produces duckweed biomass for aquaculture. The analysis revealed that Eco-Machines™ located in warm climates, which do not require a greenhouse or supplemental heating, use approximately a third of the energy and produce half of the greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional wastewater treatment systems in similar locations, while also providing benefits to human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources. In addition, increasing the growth area for duckweed using vertical farming techniques improves the overall impact of the system. This study suggests that with proper management, ecological wastewater treatment systems that upcycle nutrients and water into beneficial products can provide a net benefit to human health and the environment.

An IoT-Based Life Cycle Assessment Platform of Wind Turbines

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducive to the change in the wind power industry management model and is beneficial to the green design of products. Nowadays, none of the LCA systems are for wind turbines and the concept of Internet of Things (IoT) in LCA is quite a new idea. In this paper, a four-layer LCA platform of wind turbines based on IoT architecture is designed and discussed. In the data transmission layer, intelligent sensing of wind turbines can be achieved and their status and location can be monitored. In the data transmission layer, the LCA platform can be effectively integrated with enterprise information systems through the object name service (ONS) and directory service (DS). In the platform layer, a model based on IMPACT 2002+ is developed, and four management modules are designed. In the application layer, different from other systems, energy payback time (EPBT) is selected as an important evaluation index for wind turbines. Compared with the existing LCA systems, the proposed system is specifically for wind turbines and can collect data in real-time, leading to improved accuracy and response time.

Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) integrating life cycle inventory (LCI) and Enterprise resource planning (ERP) in an industry 4.0 environment

With the advent of Industry 4.0, new technologies have been made available to companies in order to monitor, integrate and trace processes through integrated digital systems; thanks to a combination of sensors and control systems, manufacturing information are collected and processed so that a detailed database helpful for the monitoring and continuous improvement of the production plant can be built. The potentiality of this comprehensive data collection may be exploited also from an environmental point of view, with the aim to enhance the sustainability of processes; in fact, a large part of this data provides the basis for the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), the most energy and time-consuming phase of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which in this way could become quicker and dynamic. Based on a case study related to an Italian ceramic tile manufacturer, the aim of this paper is to describe the architecture and the application of the Dynamic LCA system that integrates the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with a customized LCA tool through a Business Intelligence (BI) software. The model was tested on different levels of validation in order to verify first the proper functioning of the IT architecture and then the environmental impact results provided, both in a static and dynamic way. The validation processes were successful, and the Dynamic LCA system has proved to be a valuable tool for the evaluation and monitoring of environmental impacts related to the production process.

Circular Economy potential within the building stock - Mapping the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of four Danish examples

Circular Economy (CE) can help reduce the building industry's immense environmental impact. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can facilitate CE decision-making by identifying the largest environmental impact reduction opportunities throughout a building's life cycle, but it does not suffice in a design situation. Thus, aggregated LCA knowledge is needed. However, existing building LCAs lack transparency, coherence and a closer coupling with the building context. Performing in-depth systematic LCA on four Danish case-study buildings (a school, an office, a residential building and a hospital), this study identifies where the largest embodied greenhouse gas emissions (EG) exist. The study also identifies which building design and construction strategies should be in focus in transitioning the building sector to a CE. The LCA generalisations found that all the buildings exhibited considerable EG originating from production and replacement of floors and ceilings, outer walls, inner walls and roofs. Thus, to come closer to meeting climate goals, a combination of different strategies going across and beyond the life cycles of buildings, components and materials is needed. These strategies include reusing existing buildings, components and materials; avoiding, substituting or reducing the use of EG-intensive and short-lived materials; and enabling future reuse, recycling and/or energy recovery options for materials. Differences between the buildings were also found. Thus, it is suggested to combine generalised learnings with LCA of buildings on a case-to-case basis, and to focus on optimising EG-intensive components and materials based on their different use-contexts and interconnectedness rather than on optimising the entire building.

Statistical variation in the embodied carbon of concrete mixtures

This study presents a refined calculation of the embodied carbon of concrete mixtures via life cycle assessment (LCA) with an explicit focus on three innovations. First, probability distributions that represent process-related variability in the embodied carbon of concrete are calculated using a variety of life cycle inventory data sources. Second, the traditional concrete LCA system boundary (i.e., cradle-to-gate) is expanded to incorporate and analyze estimates of in situ carbon sequestration via concrete carbonation. Third, we analyze the impact of different transportation scenarios on the utility of using fly ash to reduce the embodied carbon of concrete. We use these data to heuristically determine the breakeven transportation distance for fly ash via trucking to be 2655 km for domestic sources of fly ash. However, when fly ash is imported from international sources, reductions to embodied carbon attributed to fly ash replacement can be negligible. The calculated breakeven maritime shipping distance for fly ash equals 15,110 km—beyond which, the anticipated embodied carbon reductions due to fly ash use in concrete are compromised due to transportation. The advancements described herein enable improved scenario-based decision-making for understanding, quantifying, and reducing the embodied carbon of concrete mixtures. In addition, the results highlight the importance of accounting for international transportation of fly ash in LCAs, especially given that domestic sources of quality fly ash are expected to continue to decline and imports are expected to increase in many parts of the world over the next few decades.