Regionalized life cycle assessment: Computational methodology and application to inventory databases

Environmental Science and Technology

Volumn 43, Issue 15, 2009, Pages 5797-5803

  Mutel, Christopher L ^a   Hellweg, Stefanie ^a  

^a ETH ZURICH   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGY; DIFFERENT PROCESS; ECOINVENT; ELECTRICITY MIXES; ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS; EUROPEAN COUNTRIES; EXTERNAL ENERGY; GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION; GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION; IMPACT ASSESSMENTS; INVENTORY DATABASE; LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT; LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY DATABASE; LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENTS; SOFTWARE TOOL;

DATABASE SYSTEMS; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS; EUTROPHICATION; EXERGY;

LIFE CYCLE;

ACIDIFICATION; DATABASE; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT; EUTROPHICATION; INVENTORY; LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS; REGIONALIZATION; SOFTWARE;

ARTICLE; CALCULATION; CASE STUDY; CATALOGING DATABASE; ELECTRICITY; ENERGY COST; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION; GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM; LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT; METHODOLOGY; REGIONALIZATION;

AIR POLLUTANTS; DATABASES, FACTUAL; ECOLOGY; ECOSYSTEM; ELECTRICITY; ENVIRONMENT; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS; ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION; EUROPE; GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS; RISK ASSESSMENT; SOFTWARE;

EURASIA; EUROPE;

EID: 68049126563     PISSN: 0013936X     EISSN: 15205851     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1021/es803002j     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Principles andFramework, ISO14040: 2006; ISO: Geneva, Switzerland, 2006.
2. Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and Guidelines, ISO 14044: 2006; ISO: Geneva, Switzerland, 2006.
3. Potting, J.; Blok, K. Life-cycle assessment of four types of floor covering. J. Cleaner Prod. 1995, 3, 201-213.
4. Wenzel, H.; Hauschild, M.; Alting, L. Environmental Assessment of Products, Methodology, Tools and Case Studies in Product Development; Chapman & Hall: Hingham, MA, 1997; Vol. 1.
5. Tolle, D. Regional scaling and normalization in LCIA. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 1997, 2, 197-208.
6. Potting, J.; Schöpp, W.; Blok, K.; Hauschild, M. Site dependent life-cycle impact of acidification. J. Ind. Ecol. 1998, 2, 63-87.
7. Huijbregts, M. A. J.; Schopp, W.; Verkuijlen, E.; Heijungs, R.; Reijnders, L. Spatially explicit characterization of acidifying and eutrophying air pollution in life-cycle assessment. J. Ind. Ecol. 2000, 4, 75-92.
8. Moriguchi, Y.; Terazono, A. A simplified model for spatially differentiated impact assessment of air emissions. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2000, 5, 281-286.
9. Ross, S.; Evans, D. Excluding site-specific data from the LCA inventory: how this affects life cycle impact assessment. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2002, 7, 141-150.
10. Norris, G. A. Life cycle emission distributions within the economy: Implications for life cycle impact assessment. Risk Anal. 2002, 22, 919-930.
11. Pennington, D.; Margni, M.; Ammann, C.; Jolliet, O. Multimedia fate and human intake modeling: Spatial versus nonspatial insights for chemical emissions in Western Europe. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39, 1119-1128.
12. Potting, J.; Hauschild, M. Z. Spatial Differentiation in Life Cycle Impact Assessment: A decade of method development to increase the environmental realism of LCIA. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2006, 11, 11-13.
13. Krewitt, W.; Trukenmuller, A.; Bachmann, T.; Heck, T. Country-specific damage factors for air pollutants - A step towards site dependent life cycle impact assessment. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2001, 6, 199-210.
14. Hauschild, M.; Potting, J. Spatial differentiation in life cycle impact assessment - the EDIP 2003 methodology. In Guidelines from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency; Danish Environmental Protection Agency: Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005.
15. Jolliet, O.; Margni, M.; Charles, R.; Humbert, S.; Payet, J.; Rebitzer, G.; Rosenbaum, R. IMPACT 2002+: A new life cycle impact assessment methodology. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2003, 8, 324-330.
16. Toffoletto, L.; Bulle, C.; Godin, J.; Reid, C.; Deschênes, L. LUCAS - A new LCIA method used for a Canadian-specific context. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2007, 12, 93-102.
17. Bare, J. C.; Norris, G. A.; Pennington, D. W.; McKone, T. TRACI. The tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts. J. Ind. Ecol. 2002, 6, 49-78.
18. Seppälä, J.; Posch, M.; Johansson, M.; Hettelingh, J.-P. Country-dependent characterisation factors for acidification and terrestrial eutrophication based on accumulated exceedance as an impact category indicator. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2006, 11, 403-416.
19. Van Zelm, R.; Huijbregts, M. A. J.; van Jaarsveld, H. A.; Reinds, G. J.; de Zwart, D.; Struijs, J.; van de Meent, D. Time horizon dependent characterization factors for acidification in life-cycle assessment based on forest plant species occurrence in Europe. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2007, 41, 922-927.
20. Frischknecht, R.; Steiner, R.; Jungbluth, N. Ökobilanzen: Methode der ökologischen knappheit - Ökofaktoren 2006; ÖBU: Zü rich, Switzerland, 2008.
21. Amann, M.; Bertok, I.; Cofala, J.; Gyarfas, F.; Heyes, C.; Klimont, Z.; Schöpp, W. Cost Effective Control of Acidification and Ground Level Ozone. Second Interim Report to the European Commission, DG-X1; IIASA: Laxenburg, Austria, 1996.
22. Ciroth, A.; Hageluken, M.; Sonnemann, G.; Castells, F.; Fleischer, G. Geographical and technological differences in life cycle inventoriessShown by the use of process models for waste incinerators. Part I. Technological and geographical differences. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2002, 7, 295-300.
23. Finnveden, G.; Nilsson, M. Site-dependent life-cycle impact assessment in Sweden. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2005, 10, 235-239.
24. Nigge, K. Generic spatial classes for human health impacts, part I: Methodology. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2001, 6, 257-264.
25. Nigge, K. Generic spatial classes for human health impacts, part II: Application in a life cycle assessment of natural gas vehicles. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2001, 6, 334-338.
26. Potting, J.; Hauschild, M. Background for Spatial Differentiation in Life Cycle Impact Assessment - The EDIP 2003 Methodology, Environmental project no. 996; Danish Environmental Protection Agency: Copenhagen, Denmark, 2005.
27. Bellekom, S.; Potting, J.; Benders, R. Feasibility of applying site-dependent impact assessment of acidification in LCA. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2006, 11, 417-424.
28. Yi, I.; Itsubo, N.; Inaba, A.; Matsumoto, K. Development of the interregional I/O based LCA method considering region-specifics of indirect effects in regional evaluation. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2007, 12353-364.
29. Narita, N.; Nakahara, Y.; Morimoto, M.; Aoki, R.; Suda, S. Current LCA database development in Japan - Results of the LCA project. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2004, 9, 355-359.
30. Nansai, K.; Moriguchi, Y.; Suzuki, N. Site-dependent life-cycle analysis by the SAME approach: Its concept, usefulness, and application to the calculation of embodied impact intensity by means of an input-output analysis. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39, 7318-7328.
31. SimaPro 7.1; Pré International: Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 2008; www.pre.nl/simapro/default.htm.
32. GABI 4.3; PE International: Stuttgart, Germany, 2007; www.gabisoftware. com.
33. Umberto 5.5; IFU Hamburg: Hamburg, Germany, 2007; www. umberto.de.
34. Frischknecht, R.; Jungbluth, N.; Althaus, H.; Doka, G.; Dones, R.; Heck, T.; Hellweg, S.; Hischier, R.; Nemecek, T.; Rebitzer, G.; Spielmann, M.; Wernet, G. Ecoinvent 2.0: Overview and Methodology; Swiss Centre for Life-Cycle Inventories:, Dübendorf, Switzerland, 2007.
35. Cicas, G.; Hendrickson, C. T.; Horvath, A.; Matthews, H. S. A regional version of a US economic input-output life-cycle assessment model. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2007, 12, 365-372.
36. Weber, C. L.; Matthews, H. S. Embodied environmental emissions inUSinternational trade, 1997-2004. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2007, 41, 4875-4881.
37. Hettelingh, J.; Posch, M.; Potting, J. Country-dependent characterisation factors for acidification in Europe - A critical evaluation. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2005, 10, 177-183.
38. CASES project, FP6, deliverable D.02.2 "External costs, Euro/ tonne values", CASES Project, 2008; www.feem-project.net/ cases/downloads- deliverables.php.
39. Heijungs, R.; Suh, S. The Computational Structure of Life Cycle Assessment; Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2002.
40. Davis, T. Algorithm 832: UMFPACK V4.3 - An Unsymmetric-Pattern Multifrontal Method. ACM T. Math Software 2004, 30, 196-199.
41. Jones, E.; Oliphant, T.; Peterson, P. SciPy: Open source scientific tools for Python, 2001; www.scipy.org.
42. Ascher, D.; Dubois, P.; Hinsen, K.; Hugunin, J.; Oliphant, T. Numerical Python, 2001, www.numpy.org.
43. Sedlbauer, K.; Braune, A.; Humbert, S.; Margni, M.; Schuller, O.; Fischer, M. Spatial differentiation in LCA: Moving forward to more operational stability. Technikfolgenabschätzung Theorie Praxis. 2007, 16, 24-31.
44. Manneh, R.; Margni, M.; Rosenbaum, R.; Samson, R.; Deschênes, L. Development of Regionalized Characterization Factors for (Eco)Toxicity: A Tool for Reducing Uncertainty. SETAC Europe 18th Annual Meeting: Warsaw, Poland, 2008.
45. Pfister, S.; Koehler, A.; Hellweg, S. Assessing the environmental impact of freshwater consumption in LCA. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43, 4098-4104.
46. Reap, J.; Roman, F.; Duncan, S.; Bras, B. A survey of unresolved problems in life cycle assessment, part 2: impact assessment and interpretation. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2008, 13, 374-388.
47. Simpson, D.; Fagerli, H.; Jonson, J.; Tsyro, S.; Wind, P.; Tuovinen, J. P. Transboundary Acidification, Eutrophication, And Ground Level Ozone in Europe, Part 1, Unified EMEP Model Description; The Norwegian Meteorological Institute: Oslo, Norway, 2003.
48. Alcamo, J. The RAINS Model of Acidification: Science and Strategies in Europe; Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1990.
49. Huijbregts, M.; Gilijamse, W.; Ragas, A.; Reijnders, L. Evaluating uncertainty in environmental life-cycle assessment. A case study comparing two insulation options for a Dutch one-family dwelling. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37, 2600-2608.
50. Hellweg, S.; Fischer, U.; Hofstetter, T.; Hungerbuhler, K. Site-dependent fate assessment in LCA: Transport of heavy metals in soil. J. Cleaner Prod. 2005, 13, 341-361.
51. Udo de Haes, H. A.; Heijungs, R.; Suh, S.; Huppes, G. Three strategies to overcome the limitations of life-cycle assessment. J. Ind. Ecol. 2004, 8, 19-32.