Accounting for land use in life cycle assessment: The value of NPP as a proxy indicator to assess land use impacts on ecosystems

Taelman, Sue Ellen; Schaubroeck, Thomas; Meester, Steven De; Boone, Lieselot; Dewulf, Jo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.055

Cited by 94 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The land occupation associated with background and foreground systems in terms of exergy units (GJ ex ) was quantified, as depicted in Equation (8). This method was proposed by Taelman et al [43] and based on landcover class and the land surface occupied by technologies. The authors provided a spatial differentiation of the characterization factor (net primary productivity (NPP)), expressed in exergy terms (MJ ex /m 2 .year) for 40 land use types (e.g., urban land, grasslands-high livestock density, forest-with agriculture activities, agriculture, et al) at the continent, country and region levels, including Chile.…”

Section: Exergy Component Of Land Resourcementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

2019

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The competition and interlinkages between energy, water, and land resources are increasing globally and are exacerbated by climate change and a rapid increase in the world population. The nexus concept has emerged for a comprehensive understanding related to the management and efficiency of resource use. This paper assesses water-energy-land nexus (WELN) efficiency through integration of the principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and exergy analysis, using the Chilean energy sector (CES) as a study case. The cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) and cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) are used as indicators for WELN efficiency. The results show the production of 1 MWh of electricity required 17.3 GJ ex , with the energy component of WELN (fossil and renewable energy sources) being the main contributor (99%). Furthermore, the renewable energy technologies depicted higher CDP of the water-energy-land nexus due to lower CExC and higher technology efficiency concerning non-renewables. The water and land resources contributed slightly to total exergy flow due to low quality in comparison with the energy component. Nevertheless, water availability and competition for land occupation constitute important issues for reducing environmental pressures and local conflicts. This study demonstrated the feasibility of exergy analysis for the evaluation of WELN efficiency through a single indicator, which could facilitate the comparison and integration with different processes and multi-scales.Energies 2020, 13, 42 2 of 20The nexus concept is an systematic approach for improvement of resource management, which can reach high degrees of complexity depending on scales and processes [9]. Consequently, different qualitative and quantitative methods for conceptualizing the relationship between natural resources have been proposed. Ringler et al.[10] developed a comprehensive qualitative framework for assessing the water, energy, land and food nexus (WELF), highlighting the relevance of land in the nexus. Nevertheless, the authors did not provide methods for the WELN-nexus evaluation. Siciliano et al. [11] have recently reported on the effect of large scale farm investment in the European Union on the water-energy-land-food (WELF) nexus, using indicators related to resource availability, scarcity and access. Although the authors describe several interlinkages between the resources, the quantitative evaluation of the nexus is not clearly highlighted. Karabulut et al. [12] studied the ecosystem-water-food-land-energy (WFLE) nexus by considering the ecosystem as the main issue within this nexus. The authors highlightsthe relationship between interventions and environmental impacts. In this case, the nexus evaluation is qualitative, and the matrix proposed can be adapted to different scales to investigate the trade-offs, synergies and antagonisms.Different approaches have been used to quantitatively evaluate the WELN. Silalertruska and Gheewala [13] carried out the evaluation of the WELN of sugarcane production in Thailand, using wat...

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Section: Exergy Component Of Land Resourcementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

2019

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“…On top, GSA and foresight techniques may be used in the LCIA step, to include temporal and spatial information in the characterization factors (CFs). For example, Taelman et al [81] calculated spatially-differentiated CFs based on GIS-based net primary production data to account for land use as a natural resource in LCA. Levasseur et al [82] introduce the concept of dynamic LCA, where the temporal profiles of emission are considered, and a dynamic characterization model is used to obtain time-dependent CFs.…”

Section: A Life Cycle Assessment (Lca)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Holistic Sustainability Framework for Waste Management in European Cities: Concept Development

et al. 2018

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Waste management represents a challenge for public authorities due to many reasons such as increased waste generation following urban population growth, economic burdens imposed on the municipal budget, and nuisances inevitably caused to the environment and local inhabitants. To optimize the system from a sustainability perspective, moving the transition towards a more circular economy, a better understanding of the different stages of waste management is necessary. A review of recently developed sustainability frameworks for waste management showed that no single framework captures all the instruments needed to ultimately provide a solid basis for comprehensive analyses of the potential burdens associated with urban waste management. Bearing this limitation in mind, the objective of this research is to propose a conceptual and comprehensive sustainability framework to support decision-making in waste management of European cities. The framework comprises a combination of methods capable of identifying future strategies and scenarios, to assess different types of impacts based on a life cycle perspective, and considers the value of waste streams, the actors involved, and possible constraints of implementing scenarios. The social, economic, environmental, technical and political domains are covered, and special attention is paid to impacts affecting foremost the local population.

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“…Human health can also be linked with income/prosperity (Bocoum et al 2015) and happiness (Sabatini 2014). Furthermore, ecosystem damage may lead to loss in biotic resource provision (Taelman et al 2016).…”

Section: Interconnectedness Among Areas Of Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Revision of What Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Should Entail: Towards Modeling the Net Impact on Human Well‐Being

Schaubroeck

Rugani

2017

J of Industrial Ecology

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Summary The main goal of a sustainability assessment is to evaluate the impact of systems (e.g., human or natural ones) on areas sought to be protected and maintained over time (e.g., human well‐being, ecosystems, etc.). These are called areas of protection (AoPs). Life cycle sustainability assessment is a type of sustainability assessment that focuses on the impact of industrial production systems on AoPs. To further this field, three conceptual challenges should be tackled: (1) framing which areas should primarily be sustained and hence on which the impact should be assessed, that is, (re)defining of the AoPs; (2) accounting for the interconnectedness among AoPs (e.g., influence of ecosystems on human well‐being); and (3) the assessment of both benefit and damage to the AoPs (e.g., benefit of industrial products and damage of their production). The aim of this study is to provide a first roadmap to address these three issues and to suggest potential solutions. Regarding the first issue, our conclusion is that human well‐being, encompassing health and happiness, is the primary AoP. This is based on the argument that the sustainability concept is inherently anthropocentric. In this regard, other entities such as ecosystems as a whole are sustained in light of human well‐being. The well‐being adjusted life years, interpreted as years of perfect well‐being, is pinpointed as the most promising holistic indicator. To conduct a respective sustainability assessment that tackles the remaining two issues—integrated system modeling of the earth and its support to well‐being—is argued as the most suitable approach.

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Accounting for land use in life cycle assessment: The value of NPP as a proxy indicator to assess land use impacts on ecosystems

Cited by 94 publications

References 54 publications

Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

A Holistic Sustainability Framework for Waste Management in European Cities: Concept Development

A Revision of What Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Should Entail: Towards Modeling the Net Impact on Human Well‐Being

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