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Voluntary tools for environmental management of products

University of Padova A.A. 2011-2012 Second Cycle Degree Programme (MSc Level) in Environmental Engineering Ing. Alessandro Manzardo a lessandro.manzardo@unipd.it Environmental Impact Assessment. Voluntary tools for environmental management of products.

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Voluntary tools for environmental management of products

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  1. University of Padova A.A. 2011-2012 Second Cycle Degree Programme (MSc Level) in Environmental Engineering Ing. Alessandro Manzardo alessandro.manzardo@unipd.it Environmental Impact Assessment Voluntary tools for environmental management of products

  2. The market is demanding for green production and products “The world has its best chance in decades to make serious progress on both the climate and economic fronts”(Ban Ki-moon-United nations 2009) Over 100 billion euros will be invested in Italy to the latest requirement of the 2020 European Policy (IEFE-Bocconi 2009) To restart economic growth towards low-carbon ecnomy …investements for low carbon technologies and markets will be the 4% of the world GDP within 18 months (Leeds University 2009) The main bank gorpu in the owrld are working togheter to set specific investments fund for those companies that are working for cleaner production and consumption (CDP,2009)

  3. The Green Consumer profile “Despite of ecnomic crisis, the green products market share is growing fast to 62%. Conusmers seems to pay even more attention when looking at social responsibility. ”Carbon Trust 2009 Fonte:Camera di Commercio di Milano - 2005

  4. Forcings of environmental Innovation Envrionment Consumers Financial Market Binding requirements There is a strong need for innovative tools for the management of processes and products toward green production

  5. And so..what Organization are looking for? PRODUCT QUALITY Situazione ottimale PROCESSE OPTIMIZATION CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Situazione da evitare PRODUCTION COSTS TOOLS TO MANAGE ECO EFFICIENCY!!!!

  6. How to be competitive in The Green Economy PRODUCTS ANALYTIC TOOLS A B X Y N Org. A Raw material ORGANIZATION Org. B Components Org C Product Life Cycle Assessment Use Org X Waste Recy. Org Y End of Life Treatment MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

  7. The answer of the Scientific Community DEVELOPMENT OF FOCUSED TOOLS DEVELOPMENT OF OLYSTIC TOOLS CO2 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT WATER ECOEFFICIENCY ENERGY PRODUCTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

  8. ISO/TC 207 – Environmental Management SCOPO:ISO/TC 207's scope is standardization in the field of environmental management tools and systems. AMBITI: ISO/TC 207 is the committee under which the ISO 14000 series of environmental management standards are being developed. Struttura

  9. ISO STANDARDS ON VOLUNTARY TOOLS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT OF PRODUCTS TERMINOLOGY ISO 14050 ORGANIZATION PRODUCTS Life Cycle Assessment ISO 14040-44 ISO/TR 14047 ISO/TS 14048 ISO/TR 14049 ISO/DIS 14045 ISO/WD2 14046 ISO/CD2 14067 Environmental Management Systems ISO 14001 ISO 14004 ISO/TR 14061 ISO 14064 Environmental Performances Indicators ISO 14031 ISO/TR 14032 Ecolabelling ISO 14020 ISO 14021 ISO 14024 ISO/TR 14025 Environmental Audit ISO 19011 Environmental issues of products ISO Guide 64

  10. NOT ONLY WITHIN ORGANIZATION NOT ONLY PROCESSES FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE Life Cycle Aapproach = LIFE CYCLE ASSESSSMENT ISO 14040 EVALUATIONof ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS And of theirPOTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS associated to PRODUCTS In their LIFE CYCLKE

  11. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LIFE CYCLE APPROACH Energy use Climate change Acidification Impatti Others…. Solid waste Human Toxicity Eutrophication Carbon Footprint Water Footprint Eco-profile

  12. HISTORY OF LCA (1) The very firts analysis are form the 1969 whenCoca Colawanted to understandwhic was the best packaging for its drink Glass? Plastic? or Alluminium can? which of this material is the best for reuse at the end of life? Which is the best management strategy at the end of life of the product? Reuse? Disposal?

  13. First studies (early ’70) Energy Efficiency Raw material conusmption Waste management Development (’80, ’90) Corporate responsibility Boom (1992) UN Earth Summit Europe(2005) Key role in the Europena Policy on Envrionment HISTORY OF LCA (1) Resouces analysis, focus on specific issues Petrol crisis “LCA is among the most promising new tools for a wide range of environmental management tasks” Ecolabel, EPD, transports, recycling, plastic material..

  14. LCA: potential applications Costs: < environmental Impacts > Material and energy efficiency < input 2. Design: < waste Focus on environmental issues form the very beginning of the design processes leads to lower environmental impacts and costs < costs 3. Marketing

  15. ISO STANDARDS ON LCA UNI EN ISO 14040:2006“Environmental management – Lice Cycle Assessment - Principles" Give a general framework for practicioners, applications, limits of LCA, it is intended to be used by different users and stakeholders even if they have a limited knowledge on LCA UNI EN ISO 14044:2006“Enviromental Management - Lice Cycle Assessment– requirements and Guidelines It was designed for the conduction, management and critical review of Life cycle assessment. It gives guidelines for impact assessment, results interpretation, and the evalutaion of data and their quality. ISO / TR 14047:2003“Environmental management - Life cycle impact assessment - Examples of application of ISO 14042” ISO / TS 14048:2002“Environmental management - Life cycle assessment – Data documentation format” ISO / TR 14049:2000“Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Examples of application of ISO 14041 to goal and scope definition and inventory analysis” ISO 14046:“Enviromental Management - Lice Cycle Assessment– Water Footprint” ISO 14067: Enviromental Management - Carbon Footprint” ISO 14045: Enviromental Management - Lice Cycle Assessment–Eco-efficiency”

  16. ISO STANDARDS ON LCA • The content of ISO 14040: • Description of methodology • Description of terminology • Conduction of the sudy and reporting • Which are the main critical issues: • Open to interpretation • No data are given in the standard • No methods are “standardized” Data base aree fundamental Software are used to do the assessment

  17. LCA objectives: Build an inventoryof inputs and outputs Conduct a qualitative and quantitaive evaluation of such inputs and outputs Identifythe most significantaspects of the system under study Evaluate the Potential Environmental Impacts

  18. LCA examples: 1. Marine engine Risultats: midpoint assessment

  19. LCA examples: 2. Waste management Risultats: End point assessment Human Health Ecosystem Quality Resources

  20. LCA examples: 3. Construcction material INSULATING MATERIAL Polystyrene Panel Cork panel Cork panel Impacts are -98% of the Polystyrene Panel Impacts

  21. The methodology ISO 14044 – § 4.2 Definition of the scope and objective of the study Interpretation ISO 14040 ISO 14044 – § 4.5 Inventory Analysis Impacts Assessment ISO 14044 – § 4.4 ISO 14044 – § 4.3

  22. ISO 14040 - LCA LCA – What should be considered? Raw materials Extraction of raw materials, transports to the site of first operations Energy Use of energy for all the different processes and their origin Production • Production processes: • processing of raw materials; • processes for end-products production; • packaging and distribution; • use (re-use) and maintanance. End of life operations Analysis of the processes and resources necessary to reuse, energy recovery, landfill etc etc.

  23. Output • Product • Co-product • Waste • Emissions to • the atmosphere • Emissions to water • Emissions to soil • Raw mateerial transports • Production • Use/reuse • Recycle/disposal SYSTEM BOUNDARIES ISO 14040 - LCA • Raw material • Water • Energy

  24. The methodology ISO 14044 – § 4.2 Definition of the scope and objective of the study Interpretation ISO 14044 – § 4.5 Inventory Analysis Impacts Assessment ISO 14044 – § 4.4 ISO 14044 – § 4.3

  25. ISO 14044 - § 4.2 - Goal & Scope definition Goal and scope definition Needs to be clearly defined and be consistent with the intende application Objective of the study Define without biasis the intende application, the intents of the study, the people that will use the results, the intention of using the results for communication and comparative pourposes. • Determine the environmental hotspots? • Compare alternatives design? • Give insights on waste management issues?

  26. Fundamental issues m2 of surface painted Time life of the painting ISO 14044 - § 4.2 - Goal & Scope definition Function and functional unit The function of the products describe its main characteristics, the functional units quantify these functions Product Systems It represents the processes involved and their connetcion in term of energy and materials flows! System Boundaries Determine the processes considered in the study Limits Which processes are excluded and why,territorial limits, time limits, data quality etc, assumptions Example of function: Wood painting

  27. ISO 14044 - § 4.2 - Goal & Scope definition Product system and System Boundaries Environment Boundaries Raw material acquisition Other systems Other systems Transport Production Product Flows Product Flows Use Elementary Flows Elementary Flows Energy Recycle Waste treatment

  28. ISO 14044 - § 4.2 - Goal & Scope definition • Potential approaches: • Gate to gate Only production processes are considered • Cradle to gate from raw materials to the output of a specific stage of the life cycle such as production… • - Cradle to grave encompasses all the life cycle of the products

  29. The methodology ISO 14044 – § 4.2 Definition of the scope and objective of the study Interpretation ISO 14044 – § 4.5 Inventory Analysis Impacts Assessment ISO 14044 – § 4.4 ISO 14044 – § 4.3

  30. Input-output includes: • Use of resources • Release to air, soil, warter Referred to the product system ISO 14044 - § 4.3 - L.C. Inventory Analysis Inventory Analysis Inventory analysis consists of the gatahering of all relevant data (material and energy flows ) of the products systems Input-output approach). • These data are collected in reference withe the objective of the study (e.g. focusing on climate change we would collect data on GHG emissions). • Impact assessment are based on these data. • PRIMARY DATA: directly measured and collected on the field • SECONDARI DATA: from data base! • TERTIARY DATA: from estimation

  31. The methodology ISO 14044 – § 4.2 Definition of the scope and objective of the study Interpretation ISO 14044 – § 4.5 Inventory Analysis Impacts Assessment ISO 14044 – § 4.4 ISO 14044 – § 4.3

  32. ISO 14044 - § 4.4 - L.C. Impact Assessment

  33. ISO 14044 - § 4.4 - L.C. Impact Assessment Impact assessment steps Mandatory steps 1. Selection of impact categories, indicators and quantification models 2. Classification: of inventory data within impact categories 3. Carachterization: quantification of impact categories Eco profile of the product life cycle Optional steps Normalization: determine the gravity of the impact to a reference value Aggregation Weighting Quality data Analysis

  34. The methodology ISO 14044 – § 4.2 Definition of the scope and objective of the study Interpretation ISO 14044 – § 4.5 Inventory Analysis Impacts Evaluation ISO 14044 – § 4.4 ISO 14044 – § 4.3

  35. INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS ISO 14044 - § 4.5 - L.C. Interpretation What to do?: Identify relevant aspects Evaluate those aspects Conclusions, limits and reccomendations

  36. Environmental Impacts Assessment of Renewable Energy sources: litterature review • To support the understanding of renewable Energy sources impacts, several scientific papers have been published in the past years: • Over 20 scientifc papers were considered in this study • In general they are focused on the assessment of only two Environmental Indicators: • Climate Change (IPCC 2007) • Energy Use/Energy Pay Back Time (CED) • Are there other relevant impact categories to be considered? • Is it enough to look at just one indicator when setting energy intervention plans and policies?

  37. Single issue assessment versus full life cycle assessment • Life Cycle Assessment, thanks to its holistic approach, is the tool to assess environmental impacts of product, processes and services in several impact categories • IPCC 2007 and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) focus only on one specific environmental issue

  38. Case Study: Goal and Scope • Goal of the Study: conduct a Life Cycle Assessment study, according to ISO 14040-14044, on 1 kWp Monocrystalline PV panel in order to: • verify which impacts are most relevant; • identify which processes should be improved in order to reduce environmental impacts • The product system consists of the processes necessary to produce a solar panel. • The function is the production of a PV panel. • The functional unit is the kilo Watt peak (kWp) • Data: primary data from a company in the North East of Italy; secondary data from Ecoinvent data Base; data refers to the production of 2010 • LCIA: Three different methods were used: • Eco-indicator 99 • IPCC 2007 • Cumulative Energy Demand

  39. Case Study: Goal and Scope, characteristics of the PV Panel

  40. Case Study: Goal and Scope, processes considered • The following processes were excluded because of lack of information: • Balance of System • Transport to Installation Site • Installation processes • Maintanance and operations • End of Life • CRADLE TO GATE APPROACH WAS ADOPTED 5

  41. Results and interpretation: IPCC 2007

  42. Results and interpretation: Cumulative Energy Demand

  43. Results and interpretation: Ecoindicator 99Characterization

  44. Results and interpretation: Ecoindicator 99Weighting

  45. Discussion • Through LCIA using Eco-Indicator emerged that also Respiratory Inorganics is a significant Impact category • When using IPCC 2007 and CED we can measure environmental impacts in a specific category, but we miss the relation with other categories • The three methods partially identify the same processes as significant and suggest to intervene to reduce environmental impacts with a different priority

  46. Conclusions • In order to assess Environmental impacts of RES, CED and IPCC methods are generally used. • Are there other relevant impact categories to be considered? • Is it enough to look at just one indicator when setting energy intervention plans and policies? • In this Study LCA methodology (Eco-indicator) was used to assess the different environmental impacts of 1kWp PV panel. • There are other significant categories to be considered when studying RES technologies such as RESPIRATORY INORAGNICS • Only using an holistyc approach, like the LCA one, is possible to have a clear view of environmental impacts and set intervention strategies that really come to a reduction of environmental impacts • Other recently published papers support these results (e.g. Ruben Laleman, Johan Albrecht, Jo Dewulf. Life Cycle Analysis to estimate the environmental impact of residential photovoltaic systems in regions with low solar irradiation. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews; 2010)

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