Defining and Mapping LCA Networks: Initial Results

Context The European Commission (EC) recognised Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as "the best framework for assessing the potential environmental impacts of products". It also identified "the need to improve data availability and quality worldwide by internationally cooperating on LCA data and methods". The life cycle approach is also part of the 2011 Communication on "A resource-efficient Europe – Flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 Strategy". To support these life cycle based EU policies, the EC has started the "European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (EPCLA)"[1]services (e.g. consulting or research services), tools (e.g. LCA tools, ecodesign tools), databases (e.g. LCI databases) and the corresponding developers and providers. in 2005. This Platform is implemented and coordinated by the EC Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Environment and Sustainability, in close collaboration with DG Environment. The Platform works on the basis of coherent and quality-assured life cycle data, methods, and studies. The LCA Resource Directory is one of the deliverables of the Platform. This application has been running since 2006 and it contains lists of Novelty The LCA Resource Directory has recently been further developed so that it can contain and organize LCA case studies and metadata on these studies. The new LCA Resource Directory will be launched during the Fall 2011. Methods The new functionalities of the LCA Resource Directory allow users (LCA expert and non-expert) to browse a database of LCA studies. Thanks to the searching tool, a user can sort the information available as metadata and identify relevant LCA studies according to his/her interests. Many of the fields of the template used to characterize LCA studies are based on the ISO 1404x series. Some fields of the template are mandatory (e.g. functional unit and system boundary) in order to assure that the information showed in the application fulfills most of the requirements of the ISO 14044 for reports to be disclosed to the public. Other fields of the template include: "Intended application(s)", "LCIA impact categories" and "Compliance". The LCA study has to be uploaded on the Directory. Moreover, a final verification step is performed by the web application administrator to ensure quality and consistency. The application is open worldwide (http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/directory.vm). Any research group, company, university, etc. is now able, after registration, to upload studies and give metadata on them using a template. DG JRC will be in charge of the maintenance of the application and will populate the Directory with the first set of studies during the Fall 2011. An open call to relevant research groups and institutions will be send in order to populate the Directory with registered users and studies. Conclusions With these new capabilities of the Resource Directory, the EPLCA makes progress in its aim of promoting life cycle thinking when making available to all kind of LCA practitioners a good quality database of LCA studies, together with a searching tool. [1] http://lct.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Objective. Environmental education is an important tool for raising awareness of sustainability and environmental issues and ultimately, changing behavior to create a sustainable society. The authors have developed a novel environmental education program using LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)software, which addresses global warming as one of the global environmental problems. This program aims to making learners (1)realize the “link” between daily life and global warming through the life cycle of consumer products (e.g. mobile phones, notebooks, pens), and (2)explore ways to reduce CO2 emissions in daily life based on life cycle thinking. The objective of the present study is to analyze the influences of the program on learners’ environmental awareness and attitude as well as their pro-environmental behavior intention.Results and Discussion. The program was implemented in three classes of second-year high school students in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. Questionnaire surveys were conducted with 126 students to analyze the effects of the program. Pretest-posttest design was used to measure the changes in sense of the “link,” key determinants of behavioral intention (e.g. a sense of responsibility), and pro-environmental behavior intention. Pass analysis was performed using the survey data to reveal a mechanism that explains the change in pro-environmental behavior intention caused by the implementation of the program. Results of the analysis suggested that the realization of the “link” between daily life and CO2 emission based on life cycle thinking seems to increase a sense of responsibility, and then the increase mainly seems to induce the formation of or the increase in behavioral intention towards CO2 reduction. In addition, after implementing the program, another survey was conducted to collect data on students’ impression of the program. Most students answered that the use of LCA software left strong impression on them. Qualitative analysis of students’ description about the reasons why it was impressive suggested that the calculation using LCA software contributes to not only understanding life cycle thinking in general but also realizing the “link” between their own actions and CO2 emissions, and the effectiveness of their own behavioral changes.Conclusions. The environmental education program that the authors developed is effective to enhance pro-environmental behavior intention by making students realize the “link” between daily life and global warming based on life cycle thinking. Especially the use of the LCA software that is the core of the program contributes to making students realize that their own actions in daily life is closely connected to global warming.

Application of life cycle thinking towards sustainable cities: A review

The rapidly evolving field of nanotechnology has sparked a great level of interest and enthusiasm from the research and industrial community. Given the enormous promise that engineered nanomaterials and nanoproducts offer, it is essential to investigate the potential life cycle environmental impacts of emerging nanotechnologies for guiding their sustainable development. One rapidly emerging class of engineered nanoscale materials is carbon nanofibers (CNFs). While studies regarding the toxicological impacts of CNFs are needed, holistic understanding of the impact of CNFs and nanoproducts using systems analysis is central for their safe and sustainable development. Systems analysis with life cycle thinking offers a good tool for evaluating the broader impacts of emerging technologies at an early stage of research. This chapter will examine the needs, challenges, and promises of life cycle assessment (LCA) in the evaluation of CNFs and CNF-based products. A general introduction to LCA is explained in the first part of the chapter and the challenges and promises for the LCA of nanoproducts are identified. The use of LCA in guiding sustainable development of nanotechnology is illustrated in greater detail with a discussion on LCA of CNFs in section 2. Section 3 describes the life cycle energetic impacts of the use of CNFbased polymer composites in auto body panels as a potential replacement for traditional materials. A brief discussion of the toxicological impacts of CNFs is presented in section 4. Section 5 summarizes the major findings and provides directions for future research. Nanotechnology is a fast emerging technology with large number of consumer goods containing engineered nanomaterials already in production [1, 2]. The potential impact of nanotechnology derives from the fact that unprecedented material properties are being discovered in nanoscale materials that enable a broad spectrum of novel applications. One such class of materials is carbonaceous nanomaterials. The last 25 years have seen the discovery of a variety of carbonaceous nanomaterials including fullerenes, nanotubes, nanohorns, and nanofibers [3]. Carbon Nanofibers (CNFs) belong to a new class of materials that have exceptional mechanical properties like high tensile strength (12000 MPa) that is approximately 10 times that of steel [4, 5]. Besides mechanical strength, CNFs possess novel electrical properties like high electrical conductivity. These properties of CNFs are being explored in a variety of ways by imparting functionalities in various intermediate and final value-added consumer products. Applications include the use of CNFs as reinforcements for high strength polymer nanocomposites, use in carbon-lithium batteries, and electrically

For educating a wide audience on the environmental impact of their daily life decisions, the Eco-Confessional has been developed as an interactive exhibit and a serious game. In this, the effectiveness of promoting sustainable lifestyles through life cycle thinking was explored. Based upon life cycle assessments, the eco-confessional reveals the environmental impact of eco-sins and good deeds performed in everyday life in a playful way. As the Eco-Confessional was being exhibited, it was evaluated to measure the impact of the new communication format. The goal of the project was to increase sustainable behavior by influencing both the desire and the ability to make sustainable decisions. The evaluation revealed that these goals were mostly achieved. By combining life cycle data with gamification elements, the Eco-Confessional succeeded in implementing a new scientainment approach to environmental education, which promotes life cycle thinking among the public.

Feeding a growing, increasingly affluent population while limiting environmental pressures of food production is a central challenge for society. Understanding the location and magnitude of food production is key to addressing this challenge because pressures vary substantially across food production types. Applying data and models from life cycle assessment with the methodologies for mapping cumulative environmental impacts of human activities (hereafter cumulative impact mapping) provides a powerful approach to spatially map the cumulative environmental pressure of food production in a way that is consistent and comprehensive across food types. However, these methodologies have yet to be combined. By synthesizing life cycle assessment and cumulative impact mapping methodologies, we provide guidance for comprehensively and cumulatively mapping the environmental pressures (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, spatial occupancy, and freshwater use) associated with food production systems. This spatial approach enables quantification of current and potential future environmental pressures, which is needed for decision makers to create more sustainable food policies and practices.

Green chemistry and life cycle assessment are two methodologies used in environmental studies, both theoretically and practically. The purpose of this analysis was to assess whether and how green chemistry principles could be integrated into the life cycle assessment methodology and to local and international industrial policies to achieve sustainability goals at the territorial level. First, some contributions that life-cycle thinking gives to green chemistry and vice versa are proposed, based on existing research. Data are provided using tables to summarise contents and graphs to outline interconnections, also considering the four steps of life cycle assessment, showing some available references of previous studies. Secondly, some possible points of integration between the 12 principles of green chemistry and environmental policies are listed. For each principle of green chemistry, a possible integration with international and local strategies is proposed. A list of references that might be useful to investigate possible patterns of study for territorial and industrial uses, is provided too. The results show that life cycle thinking and green chemistry can be integrated into theoretical and practical case studies, since many interconnections exist. These interconnections permit one to use the best characteristics of each method to improve the reliability of the other method and, finally, to solve environmental, industrial, and engineering problems with a more comprehensive approach. In addition, green chemistry principles can be easily associated with main environmental policies at the international, national, regional, and local levels. This allows one to use results, knowledge, and expertise of the green chemistry framework and apply them to industries, territories, and communities. The similarities highlighted in this analysis need further investigation in future studies since they can help decision making process in sustainability policies.

The construction industry and the resulting built environment has been a major focus of discussions on the interactions between production and the environment. As a major consumer of resources and generator of emissions and solid waste has also been a focus for the development of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Despite the suitability of LCA to the delivery of environmental issues in the construction industry, many authors made explicit some characteristics related to buildings that hinder the development of LCA studies. Aiming to change this scenario this paper proposes a review of different approaches of LCA research to identify barriers and opportunities of each approach and the possibilities of their application, identifying ways to simplify the process of applying the life cycle thinking. The research identified the massive use of databases, demonstrating the need to include data from developing countries through the availability of data by mandatory environmental audits. It would contribute to access to information of industrial processes.

The Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan (ILCAJ) was established in October 2004. The goal of ILCAJ is to promote academic activities related to life cycle thinking and to share expert knowledge with colleagues from widerranging backgrounds. Professor Ryoichi Yamamoto, University of Tokyo, has taken responsibility as Chairman of ILCAJ. In April 2005, ILCAJ has successfully established its publication organ (in Japanese), The Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan (J LCA Jpn). The issues appear every 3 months. J LCA Jpn publishes peer-reviewed research articles, commentaries and discussions, (technical) reports, lecture notes, and presentations of research groups in Japan, along with others. In Int J Life Cycle Assess 12(6):348– 350, we were happy to announce the collaboration with J LCA Jpn for the purpose of exchanging knowledge, new insights, experiences, and information across the different languages. The Corner JLCA Jpn aims to be a bridge between the LCA community of Japan and that of the whole world. All abstracts of research articles published in J LCA Jpn, as well as commentaries and discussions, will simultaneously appear in Int J Life Cycle Assess, Corner: JLCA Jpn, in order to introduce Japanese activities to our readers. In addition, some selected research papers from J LCA Jpn will be submitted to Int J Life Cycle Assess for publication following peer review. We hope that this collaboration will stimulate the global exchange of information through professional pathways. The following abstracts were published in J LCA Jpn Vol. 4, No. 4.

Sustainability transformation is a multi-dimensional and comprehensive approach covering various aspects, environmental, economic, and social, and transformation itself. To give direction to sustainability action, sustainable development goals (SDGs) play an essential role. Even though SDGs are comprehensive and give orientation for sustainability actions, they neither cover the solutions to be implemented nor quantify the transformation. In this regard, circular economy (CE) is a useful approach when it comes to finding possible solutions. Within the context of CE, life cycle thinking plays an essential role, and tools, such as environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and social LCA (sLCA), are widely used. Another important aspect that should be considered within CE is the labor market effects. The labor market will strongly be shaped by CE and the implementation of CE depends on labor market conditions. Yet, means to meaningfully measure the labor market needs and impact of CE are still missing. This chapter takes a closer look into how labor market assessment and life cycle thinking can be combined in order to implement sustainable industrial transformation.

The role of sustainability and life cycle thinking in U.S. biofuels policies

The application of life cycle thinking in the context of European waste policy

LCA (life cycle assessment) is an environmental evaluation tool for a product system based on life cycle thinking. After ISO14040 established in 1997, seven years have passed, and LCA has begun to be use in business. However, it is difficult to evaluate an open-loop recycling system or a system which produces several kinds of products. It seems to be a cause that a conventional LCA is an evaluation tool for a product system with single function unit. In this study, a new LCA method for a system with multi-function units was developed, which was based on matrix LCA method.

Sustainability evaluation of the large-scale pig farming system in North China: an emergy analysis based on life cycle assessment

7 - Life cycle assessment and environmental profiling of building materials