Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) — Quo vadis?

ISBN-13: 9783034898713 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 188 str.

S. Schaltegger

Opis

LCA - Quo vadis? discusses overarching topics, new developments and major problems of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and compares LCA with site-specific environmental management. The text profits from two years of interdisciplinary, coordinated research activities of the Priority Programme Environment of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
How should system boundaries of a product life cycle be drawn? .
How can environmental interventions be allocated to products? .
How are background inventory data collected and used? .
How can imprecision in the LCA method be ascertained and checked? .
How can relevant environmental interventions be distinguished from irrelevant ones? .
What requirements should a software tool for LCA meet? A concept of site-specific LCA is proposed in response to criticism of the current approach of LCA. Furthermore, managerial eco-controlling - the emerging method of site-specific environmental management - is discussed. The book concludes with an outlook of possible paths in the future development of LCA.
"

Spis treści

A Introduction.- 1 Two Paths.- References.- B Overarching Topics of LCA.- 2 System Boundaries.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Choosing the System Boundaries.- 2.2.1 Basic Considerations.- 2.2.2 The Time Aspect-Period of Analysis.- 2.2.3 Space or Geographical Aspects.- 2.2.4 Subject Aspects.- 2.3 How to Proceed in Defining System Boundaries.- 2.3.1 Rules for the Definition of System Boundaries.- 2.3.2 System Boundary Definition in the Case Study “Beer Production”.- References.- 3 Allocation of Environmental Interventions.- 3.1 Requirement for Allocation.- 3.2 Allocation Procedures.- 3.2.1 Products and Co-Products?.- 3.2.2 What Should Be Allocated?.- 3.2.3 Allocation Rules.- 3.3 Allocation for Different Process Types.- 3.3.1 Multi-Output Processes.- 3.3.2 Multi-Input Processes.- 3.3.3 Open-Loop Recycling.- 3.3.4 Special Cases.- 3.3.5 Case Study KOPÖ.- 3.4 Conclusions.- References.- 4 Background Inventory Data.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 What Are Background Inventory Data and Why Are they Needed?.- 4.3 Requirements.- 4.3.1 What Are the Most Important Requirements for BID?.- 4.3.2 What Are the Requirements for Institutions Publishing BID?.- 4.4 BID Established by KOPÖ Projects.- 4.4.1 Agriculture.- 4.4.2 Food Products.- 4.4.3 Transport.- 4.4.4 Downstream.- 4.5 Conclusions.- References.- 5 Imprecision and Uncertainty in LCA.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Types of Imprecision and Uncertainties in LCA.- 5.2.1 Stochastic (Statistical) Errors.- 5.2.2 Exact Error Intervals.- 5.2.3 Vague Error Intervals (Fuzzy Intervals).- 5.2.4 Systematic Errors.- 5.2.5 Intrinsically Vague Data (Intrinsic Fuzzy Data).- 5.2.6 Missing Data.- 5.3 Sources of Imprecision in LCA.- 5.3.1 Inventory Analysis.- 5.3.2 Classification.- 5.3.3 Valuation.- 5.4 Handling of Imprecision and Uncertainty.- 5.4.1 Handling of Systematic Errors.- 5.4.2 Handling of Stochastic Errors.- 5.4.3 Handling of Error Intervals.- 5.4.4 Handling of Intrinsically Vague Data.- 5.5 Conclusions.- References.- 6 Relevant Environmental Interventions.- 6.1 Introductory Remarks.- 6.2 Basic Approaches for Selecting the “Relevant Interventions”.- 6.2.1 Issue Based.- 6.2.2 Legally Based.- 6.2.3 Based on the Relations Between Antropogenic and Geogenic Emission Flows.- 6.2.4 Based on Availability of Process Data.- 6.3 The Importance of the Assessment Method for Selecting the “Relevant” Interventions.- 6.4 How to By-Pass the Limits of an Assessment System.- 6.5 Practical Considerations for Dealing with Limited Resources: An Estimation Procedure.- 6.6 A Simple Example of the Estimation Procedure.- 6.7 Application of this Procedure as Cut-Off Criteria for Selecting the Relevant Processes.- 6.8 Outlook.- References.- 7 The Software Tool EMIS.- 7.1 Software Tools Necessary.- 7.2 Requirements for LCA Software.- 7.2.1 Performance Requirements.- 7.2.2 System Requirements.- 7.3 The Software Chosen.- 7.3.1 Basic Functionality.- 7.3.2 Literature Database.- 7.3.3 Compilation of an LCA.- 7.3.4 Desirable Developments.- 7.4 Summary.- References.- C Case Study.- 8 Case Study “FeldschlÖsschen”.- 8.1 Goal Definition.- 8.2 Inventory Analysis.- 8.2.1 System Boundaries.- 8.2.2 Allocation.- 8.2.3 Background Inventory Data.- 8.2.4 Data Quality.- 8.3 Impact Assessment.- 8.3.1 Environmental Scarcity Method (UBP-Method).- 8.3.2 CML Method.- 8.4 Conclusions.- Appendix 1: Processes of the LCA “Feldschlösschen” Beer.- Appendix 2: Inventory Table.- References.- D Environmental Management of Production Sites.- 9 Eco-Efficiency of LCA. The Necessity of a Site-Specific Approach.- 9.1 Efficiency of Environmental Management Tools.- 9.2 The Ecological Leverage Effect.- 9.3 Eco-Efficiency of LCA.- 9.3.1 Recording, Uncertainty and Lack of Precision.- 9.3.2 Aggregation, Assessment and Other Problems.- 9.3.3 Inefficiency of the Present Approach of LCA.- 9.4 Possible Strategies to Improve the Present Approach of Life Cycle Assessment.- 9.5 Summary and Conclusions.- References.- 10 Managerial Eco-Controlling.- 10.1 The Concept of Eco-Controlling.- 10.2 Module 1: Formulation of Goals and Policies.- 10.3 Module 2: Information Management.- 10.3.1 Environmental Information.- 10.3.2 Financial and Environmentally-Induced Financial Information.- 10.4 Module 3: Decision Support.- 10.4.1 Assessment of Environmental Interventions.- 10.4.2 The Eco-Efficiency Portfolio.- 10.5 Module 4: Piloting and Implementation.- 10.6 Module 5: Communication.- 10.7 Conclusion and Outlook.- References.- E Conclusions.- 11 Summary and Conclusions.- References.- Appendices.- Appendix A: Publications of KOPÖ Research Groups.- Appendix B: Authors.- Abbreviations and Acronyms.