||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Introduction and Overview
15.11.2015Stefanie Hellweg 1
Lecture:
Advanced Environmental Assessments
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Organization and Learning goals
Overview LCA and RA methodology
Overview of class topics
Case Studies
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 2
Introduction
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Language: English
Lecturers: Rolf Frischknecht, Stefanie Hellweg
Lectures and short exercises
Literature: mainly Journal Papers. Literature and lecture slides will be
made available on
http://www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD/education/master/AESEA/index_EN
(in general 3 days prior to the lecture); no „Skript“ as we are
discussing research topics (which change quickly)
No handouts
Basic knowledge about LCA methodology is prerequisite of the class
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 3
Organization
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
If you know German: “Skript Oekologische Systemanalyse”
(parts on Risk Assessment and Life Cycle Assessment):http://www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD/education/bachelor/OeSA/Gesamtskript_v0.pdf
If you do not know German:
Henrikke Baumann & Anne-Marie Tillman
The hitch hiker's guide to LCA :
An orientation in life cycle assessment methodology and
application
Lund : Studentlitteratur; 2004.
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 4
Background reading if you have not studied
LCA in the Bachelor course
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
A) Module on Ecological Systems Design (ESD)
1. Advanced Environmental, Social and Economic Assessments , 102-0307-00L, A. E. Braunschweig, S. Hellweg, R. Frischknecht, S Pfister, 6 cts, autumn
2. Prospective Environmental Assessments, 102-0348-00L, S. Hellweg, A. Spörri, M. A. Streicher-Porte, 3 cts, spring
Lab session: Software lab, Stephan Pfister, 2.25 c, autumn
B) Module on air quality control (AQ):
1. Air quality and aerosol mechanics, 103-0368-00L, J. Wang, 3 cts, Spring
2. Air Pollution Modeling and Chemistry, 102-0377-00L, Stephan Henne and Andreas Gerecke, 3 cts, Autumn
3. Air quality and health impact, 3 cts,.
Lab session: Environment and Computer Laboratory, ESD 2, J. Wang, 2.25 cts
C) Module on waste management (WM)
1. Waste Recycling Technologies, 102-0357-00L, R. Bunge, 3 cts, autumn
2. Biological Processes for Waste Treatment,102-0338-01, U. Baier, K. Schleiss, 3 cts spring
3a. For people with Major in Urban Water Management: Landfilling, contaminated sites and radioactive waste repositories, 102-0337-00 G, A. Johnson, M. Plötze, A. Gautschi, 3 cts, spring
3b. For all other students: Process Engineering I (Biological Processes), 102-0217-00L, E. Morgenroth, 3 cts, atumn
Lab session: Biogas lab, D. Braun, 2.25 cts
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 5
ONLY Environmental engineering students with
Module “Ecological Systems Design»:
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Environmental Engineers with Major in ESD: enroll in course Advanced Environmental, Social and
Economic Assessments (and Environmental and Computer Laborartory I)
All other students: in addition to this class, you may take classes in Implementation of
Environmental Goals and 102-0317-01L Advanced Environmental Assessment (Computer Lab and
Exercises)
If you are only taking the course in Advanced Environmental Assessment, but want to visit single
software labs without getting credlit, contact Stephan Pfister 1 week before exercise:
More information at http://www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD/education/master/ECLI/index_EN
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 6
Inscription and Exercises/lab
Date, 8-10 AM in HIL E 15.2 Topic
22/09/2015 Introduction case study; SimaPro: Life Cycle Assessment software
29/09/2015 SimaPro: Life Cycle Assessment software
20/10/2015 Comparing Life Cycle Inventory databases
27/10/2015 Aveny LCA (uncertainty)
3/11/2015 Q&A project work (feedback to concept)
10/11/2015 Risk Assesssment: / USETOX
17/11/2015 STAN: Material Flow Analysis software*
24/11/2015 MATLAB: Life Cycle Assessment and Uncertainty Modelling
1/12/2015 Optimization techniques
15/12/2015 Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) lab
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
• Oral exam in exam session for Advanced Environmental, Social and
Economic (1 hour in total – 30 min preparation, 30 minutes oral exam); for
Advanced Environmental Assessment 40 miutes (20 min preparation, 20
minutes oral exam)
• For ESD-Major Environmental Engineers: 15% of overall grade is the
exercise (LCA on biogas or buildings), 85% the oral exam; exercise grade is
also part of lab grade
• For all other students: exercise is graded separately (as separate optional
course 102-0317-01L)
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 7
Exams
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Session Date Theme Lecturer
1 Do 17 Sept 15 1. Introduction and overview of lecture topics
2. Case Studies
SH
2 Do 24 Sept 15 Allocation approaches in LCA to model multi-output processes and
recycling
RF
3 Do 1 Oct 15 LCA and decision support RF
4 Do 8 Oct 15 Input/output analysis RF
5 Do 15 Oct 15 New developments in LCIA I SH
6 Do 22 Oct 15 New developments in LCIA II SH
7 Do 29 Oct 15 Workplace and indoor exposure SH
8 Do 5 Nov 15 Expert talk: Regulatory risk assessment of chemicals: plant protection
products
Georg Geisler
9 Do 12 Nov 15 Transparency in LCA RF
10 Do 19 Nov 15 Data quality and uncertainties SH
11 Do 26 Nov 15 LCA and optimization SH, Carl
Vadenbo12 Do 3 Dec 15 Subjectivity in LCA / Critical Reviews RF
13 Do 10 Dec 15 Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) Judit Lienert
14 Do 17 Dec 15 Overarching case study, Synthesis, outlook SH, all
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview
8
Organization
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
• Companies and policy makers are under pressure to assess andreduce their impacts
• Environmental assessment tools help to quantify risks and impactsand thus help to pinpoint environmental hotspots and set priorities
• Support corporate environmental decision making (productstewardship, supply chain management, process optimization, marketing, strategic decisions e.g. about product portfolio)
• Prospective assessment: identify risks and environmental problemsbefore they occur (e.g. chemical risk assessment, technologyassessment)
• Support policy making (e.g. for design of sustainable consumption andproduction policies)
• Identify tradeoffs and avoid burden shifting
• …
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 9
Why environmental assessments?
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
1. Ability to judge the
• scientific quality and reliability of environmental assessments
• appropriateness of inventory data and modeling, and
• adequacy of life cycle impact assessment models and factors
2. Knowledge about the current state of the scientific discussion and
new research developments
3. Ability to properly plan, conduct and interpret environmental
assessment studies. Knowledge of how to use environmental
assessment tools as a decision support tool for companies, public
authorities, and consumers
Main topic: Life Cycle Assessment, but also bits of Risk
Assessment
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 10
Learning goals
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Organization and Learning goals
Overview LCA and RA methodology
Overview of class topics
Case Studies
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 11
Introduction
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 12
LCA is a systematic method for analyzing environmental impacts of
products, processes and services over the entire life cycle
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
• International value chains increase in complexity and have global
environmental impacts.
• LCA aims to track these impacts and assess them from a systems
perspective.
• The Goal is to identify strategies for improvement without burden shifting.
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 13
Global value chains
UseRecycling
Reuse
Disposal
Production?
?
?
Resources
Emissions
ResourceExtraction
Example: Life cycle of an aluminum can
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
LCA is a suitable tool for
a) Identifying improvement potentials in the life cycle of
products / processes / activities
b) Comparison of environmental impacts of various
products / processes / activities with the same function
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 14
Application area
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 15
1.Definition of goal and scope• What is the purpose of the LCA?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What are the systems under study and what are their functions?
• What are the underlying assumptions / limitations?
2. Inventory analysis• What are the relevant emissions and resources the system(s)
produce or consume?
• How are these inputs and outputs allocated to the functions of the
systems?
3. Impact assessment• Which impact categories are considered and which models are used?
• What environmental impacts are caused by the emissions and the
use of resources from the system(s)?
• How is aggregation performed?
4. Interpretation• What are the
conclusions?
• How reliable and
sensitive are the
results?
• What are the re-
commendations?
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
• Purpose of study
– Comparison, ecodesign, internal, external
• Define «functional unit»:
– What is the function of the system / service to the
consumer?
– Example: packing 1 liter of milk
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 16
Goal & scope: main points (I)
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
• Draw system boundaries
– What environmental aspects are included
– What processes are excluded -> why?
• Define time, geographical and technological coverage
– For what situation is the study valid?
• Critical review and other procedural aspects
– Independent critical review required for publication based on ISO
14040
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 17
Goal & scope: main points (II)
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 18
1.Definition of goal and scope• What is the purpose of the LCA?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What are the systems under study and what are their functions?
• What are the underlying assumptions / limitations?
2. Inventory analysis• What are the relevant emissions and resources the system(s)
produce or consume?
• How are these inputs and outputs allocated to the functions of the
systems?
3. Impact assessment• Which impact categories are considered and which models are used?
• What environmental impacts are caused by the emissions and the
use of resources from the system(s)?
• How is aggregation performed?
4. Interpretation• What are the
conclusions?
• How reliable and
sensitive are the
results?
• What are the re-
commendations?
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 19
Inventory analyis (LCI)
Data collection of unit processes (parts of the life cycle);
Unit processes within Flowchart
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Inventory databases contain inventory data on a large
number of basic processes, thereby facilitating significantly
LCA studies
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 20
Inventory database developments
Computer lab
Calm down, I can
do this. Why don‘t
you just take a
brake…
…
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 21
1.Definition of goal and scope• What is the purpose of the LCA?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What are the systems under study and what are their functions?
• What are the underlying assumptions / limitations?
2. Inventory analysis• What are the relevant emissions and resources the system(s)
produce or consume?
• How are these inputs and outputs allocated to the functions of the
systems?
3. Impact assessment• Which impact categories are considered and which models are used?
• What environmental impacts are caused by the emissions and the
use of resources from the system(s)?
• How is aggregation performed?
4. Interpretation• What are the
conclusions?
• How reliable and
sensitive are the
results?
• What are the re-
commendations?
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 22
Inventory Analysis
Emission/ Unit Compar- Amount per
Resource tement funct. unit
CO2 kg Luft 0.5
CH4 kg Luft 1.5
SOx kg Luft 1.0
NOx kg Luft 0.5
Cd2+ kg Wasser 0.0001
Fe kg Boden 0.5
...
Life Cycle Impact Assessment
Global Warming
Emission Characteri- Ref.unit
zation factor CO2
CO2 1 0.5
CH4 23 34.5
Sum 35.0
Acidification SOx
SOx 1 1
NOx 0.7 0.35
Sum 1.35
Human Toxicity 1,4 Dichlor-
benzol
NOx 1.4 0.065
Cd2+ 23 0.00023
Sum 0.35023
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 23
Impact categories and safeguard subjects
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 24
1.Definition of goal and scope• What is the purpose of the LCA?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What are the systems under study and what are their functions?
• What are the underlying assumptions / limitations?
2. Inventory analysis• What are the relevant emissions and resources the system(s)
produce or consume?
• How are these inputs and outputs allocated to the functions of the
systems?
3. Impact assessment• Which impact categories are considered and which models are used?
• What environmental impacts are caused by the emissions and the
use of resources from the system(s)?
• How is aggregation performed?
4. Interpretation• What are the
conclusions?
• How reliable and
sensitive are the
results?
• What are the re-
commendations?
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 25
Application examples
Picture source:
Science 344, p.
1109-1112
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 26
Regional LCA (e.g. nations)
Picture source:
Science 344, p.
1109-1112
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 27
Example domestic supply use table (in mio
USD)
Slide S. Pfister
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 28
Example domestic I/O table (normalized)
Slide S. Pfister
Matrix
to be used
like an
LCA
inventory
matrix (A)
-> calculate
Leontief
inverse
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
E.g. Based on GTAP 8 for 2001, 2004 and 2007
129 regions
57 economic sectors
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 29
Multi-region input-output analysis
Slide S. Pfister
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Typically only a few extensions are covered:
Greenhousegas (GHG) emissions
Some toxic emissions
Land use
Water consumption
Flows quantified per dollar of sector output (average).
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 30
Environmental extension
Slide S. Pfister
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 31
Example 1: CO2 embodied in international trade
(Peters & Hertwich 2008)
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
On average 12 t CO2-eq. per capita and year (Jungbluth
et al. 2011)
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 32
Example 2: Swiss consumption
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 33
Consumer/lifestyle LCA
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 34
Impacts of housing, land-based mobility and in-
house food consumption per person and year in
a Swiss municipality
PhD thesis Dominik Saner, 2013
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 35
Product-level LCA
Picture source:
Science 344, p.
1109-1112
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Bachelor thesis of Julia Baumann
LCA OF A RADIO SHOW
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 36
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 37
Daily use of media
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
• Identify activities with high environmental
impact
• Recommendations for efficient reduction of
impacts
• Comparison of Internet radio with
conventional radio (UKW)
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 38
Goals
Baumann 2009
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 39
Functional Unit
Baumann 2009
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 40
System boundaries
Baumann 2009
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Approach and data collection
Visit radio studio
Literature review
Goal and scope definition
Elaborate questionnaire andinterview people
Write thesis in Studio Basel
Journalists
Secretariat
Directorbuildings
Electrician
Sound technician
Webmaster
Press department
Daily work, use of electric devices, etc.
Traveling expenses
Use of electricity, heat, water, waste generation
Measuring specific electricity demand
Information about recording studios
Providing Podcast; number of listeners
Information about commercials and media work Baumann 2009
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 42
Follow-up question: What happens to the sound
signal after leaving the studio? How much
electricity is needed?
Baumann 2009
Operation of broadcasting station
Transmission from Studio Basel to Zurich
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 43
Example results
Baumann 2009
Electricity demand radios
Production of radios
transmission
Production of radio show
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Listening to a podcast on a home computer has the
biggest environmental impact
Listening to a Podcast on a MP3-Player is comparable to
radio listening
When using the radio (UKW), the radios at home
(electricity use, production) are the most relevant
parts of the system
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 44
Results
Baumann 2009
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Listen to radio show on the radio (UKW) or on MP3-
Player
Use energy efficient radio devices and avoid standby
mode
During the production of the show …
… use flight transport as little as possible or use
train instead
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 45
Recommendations
Baumann 2009
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
• Study performed for Food Retailer
• Used in purchasing decisions
• May be used for ecological marketing in the future
• Consumer information
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 46
Example: food consumption
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
28 vegetables and fruits
29 countries of origin
Open field and greenhouse production
Background data for transport, energy, fertilizer, pesticide
production etc. from ecoinvent v2.01 / SimaPro 7
Functional unit: 1 kg of vegetable or fruit at the point of
sale (fresh matter)
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 47
Scope
Stössel 2009
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 48
System boundaries
Stössel et al
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015 49
Carbon Footprint of Coop’s vegetables/fruits (total sales)
Stössel F, Juraske R, Pfister S; Hellweg S, Life Cycle Inventory and Carbon and Water FoodPrint of Fruits and Vegetables:
Application to a Swiss Retailer, Environ. Sci. Technol. , 3253-3262, 2012
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015 50
Carbon Footprint of Coop’s vegetables/fruits (per kg)
Stössel F, Juraske R, Pfister S; Hellweg S, Life Cycle Inventory and Carbon and Water FoodPrint of Fruits and Vegetables:
Application to a Swiss Retailer, Environ. Sci. Technol. , 3253-3262, 2012
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 51
Carbon footprint of asparagus
Stössel et al, submitted
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 52
Carbon footprint of cucumbers
Stössel et al, submitted
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 53
Carbon footprint per person and year in a Swiss
municipality
consumption
of meat and
dairy products
decisive
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Impact categories and safeguard subjects
Midpoints Endpoints
• Emissions (to
air, water and
soil)
• Resource
extraction
• Climate change
• Ozone
depletion
• Photochemical
ozone creation
• Human toxic
effects
• Ecotoxic effects
• Eutrophication
• Acidification
• Land stress
• Water stress
• Resource
depletion
Environmental
interventionsDamage
categories
Impact
categories
Human
Health
Ecosystem
Quality
Resource
Depletion
Are
as o
fP
rote
ctio
n
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Ecotoxicity
Goal and
scope
definition
Inventory
analysis
Impact
assessment
Interpretation
LCA framework
Risk assessment
RQ = PEC/PNEC
Exposure-based
hazard indicators:persistence, range,
(bioaccumulation)
Effect-based
hazard indicators:bioaccumulation, toxicity
Exposure assessment:
Predicted Environmental
Concentration PEC
Hazard assessment
Effect assessment:
Predicted No Effect
Concentration PNEC
Hazard identification
RQ-
based
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 56
Ecotoxicological assessment in
Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA)
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 57
Example: pesticides
Impacts of production and emission of Plant Growth Regulators
O
O
O
O
OH
trinexapac-ethyl chlorocholinechloride
Modern (90’s) Old-fashioned (60’s)
Fate: DT50(soil)
Effect: ADI
Activity: Dose
32 d
0.05 mg kg-1 d-1
1 kg ha-1
0.1 d
0.32 mg kg-1 d-1
0.1 kg ha-1
Molecular structure
Generation
activeingredient
N ClCl
winter wheat winter wheatMostly used in
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Organization and Learning goals
Overview LCA and RA methodology
Overview of class topics
Case Studies
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 58
Introduction
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 59
Allocation in multioutput processes and
recycling
How to find a fair or competitive attribution of environmental
impacts to different products of one process?
Who gets the environmental credits of recycling?
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 60
LCA and decision support
Addresses the question, how to fit the LCA model to a decision situation
Introduction into attributional, consequential and decisional LCA models
Differences and challenges
“From a purely statistical viewpoint”, the poet said, “being a non-smoker, I could smoke for about seven years longer than a smoker”.
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
How to react to the fact that each product’s life cycle
comprises “the whole world”?
Introduction into Input-Output (I/O) Analysis
Environmental I/O-LCA
Hybrid LCA methods
Applications - Environmental impacts of Swiss
consumption and production
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 61
Input/Output Analysis
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 62
New developments in LCIA
CO2 CH4
Framework and safeguard subjects, “measuring units”
New developments in selected impact categories
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Site dependent LCI and LCIA
Use of GIS in LCA
Case study
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 63
New developments in LCIA
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Concepts to consider indoor and workplace exposure to
chemicals and particles
Comparison of health effects from indoor exposure and
from outdoor exposure.
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 64
Workplace and indoor exposure
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Risk assessment of chemicals
Expert talk (Syngenta)
Case studies
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 65
Hazard/risk assessment of chemicals
Computer lab
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
“But why don’t those who possess this learning
communicate it to all the people of God?” Nicholas of
Morimond asked. And William of Baskerville answered:
“Because not all the people of God are ready to accept so
many secrets, …”. U. Eco, The Name of the Rose
The balancing act between
scientific practice and industrial
knowhow protection
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 66
Data transparency
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
LCA results are uncertain
Large amounts of process and emission/resource-use data
Complex environmental cause-effect chains
System assumptions
Methods for uncertainty analysis
Case study
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 67
Data quality and uncertainty
Computer lab
0.01
0.1
1
10
100
median
75th
25th
95th
5th
97.5th
2.5th
percentiles
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Models of OR commonly focused on identifying optimal
use of (constrained) resources, maximizing
profit/minimizing cost
LCA is (generally) “based on linear homogenous […]
models of human economic activity and of their effect on
the environment”.
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 68
Mathematical Optimization and LCA
Computer lab
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Subjective elements and value judgments in LCA
Ways to deal with them
Where and how to identify manipulation and misuse
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 69
Subjectivity in LCA
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Decision theory
Method to analyze decision options
Considers a variety of criteria
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 70
Multi-criteria analysis
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Student exercise covering methodological issues
discussed in the lecture
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 71
Case studies
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 72
Class topics in the context of the LCA
framework
1.Definition of goal and scope
2. Inventory analysis
3. Impact assessment
4. Inter-
pretation
Uncertainties; data transparency; subjectivicty
Allocation; Consequential/marginal
LCA; hybrid LCA, site-dependency
New developments in LCIA
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Organization and Learning goals
Overview LCA and RA methodology
Overview of class topics
Case Studies
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 73
Introduction
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Goal: to reduce the environmental impacts and risks from
washing
Who could be interested
in this question?
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 74
Case Study: Laundry
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 75
System Boundary
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Reducing laundry (e.g. washing less, buying cloths that can easily be cleaned, …)
Lowering washing temperature
Choice of detergent
Choice of washing techology
Reducing cloths that need to be dry-cleaned
Reduce ironing
Avoid dryers if possible
…
Construct scenarios and identify the most effective stategy
15.11.2015 76
How could the environmental impact of washing
be lowered?
0.00E+00
1.00E-01
2.00E-01
3.00E-01
4.00E-01
5.00E-01
6.00E-01
7.00E-01
8.00E-01
9.00E-01
powder -
20°C
liquid - 20°C powder -
40°C
liquid - 40°C powder -
60°C
liquid - 60°C
GW
P [
kg C
O2-e
q.]
Packaging end of
life
Wastewater
treatment
Use-Auxiliaries
Use-Transport
home
Retail-Storage
Retail-Transport
Production-
Foreground
Production-
Background
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 77
Lecture topics in the context of the case study -
Allocation
Example: Comparison of two allocation approaches
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 78
Lecture topics in the context of the case study –
Consequential/marginal LCA
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
40°C
UCTE
20°C
UCTE
40°C
gas
20°C
gas
kg C
O2-e
qu p
er
washin
g load
Packaging endof lifeWastewatertreatmentUse
Retail-Storage
Retail-Transport
Production
Example:
Attributional LCA: electricity mix
Consequential LCA: assumption that power saving affects the construction
of a new gas power plant
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Type of uncertainty Example
Uncertainty due to choices Allocation methods, system boundaries,
which scenarios are considered?
Parameter uncertainty Substance / environmental properties of
detergent
Variability between objects/sources Energy use also depends on washing
machine
Temporal variability Weather conditions affect drying options
Spatial variability Electricity supply vary at different
locations
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 79
Lecture topics in the context of the case study –
Uncertainties
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 80
Lecture topics in the context of the case study –
Indoor exposure
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Assess whether cleaning agent in the wastewater may lead to a risk
Cleaning agents in the wastewater may mix with other substances in
the wastewatertreatment plant, altering the toxic effect
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 81
Modelling the environmental fate and effects of
Chemicals
Site-dependency
• Toxic effect depends on background
concentration (specific for site)
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD
Important in all stages of the analysis (documentation of washing
scenarios, system boundaries, reporting of emissions and resource uses,
allocation procedures, etc.)
15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 82
Data Transparency
Subjectivity
e.g. Choices on scenarios considered, allocation approach, weighting
of impacts, etc.
||www.ifu.ethz.ch/ESD 15.11.2015Advanced Environmental Assessment: Introduction and Overview 83
Have a good semester start!!!