Comparing the incomparable? A review of methodical aspects in the sustainability assessment of wood in vehicles

Abstract

Purpose The choice of materials used for a vehicle can contribute to reduce negative environmental and social impacts. Bio-based materials are considered a promising solution; however, the sustainability effects still need to be assessed. Depending on the material assessed, it is questionable which environmental and social impact categories or subcategories should be included since recommendations in guidelines are vague and case studies in this regard are limited. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the choice of impact categories, methods, and indicators for E-LCA and S-LCA when assessing wood as substitute for conventional materials in automotive applications. Method The research is based on a literature review covering 115 case studies of S-LCAs and E-LCAs focusing either on wood-based products or on components in automotive applications. The selected case studies were analyzed according to the following criteria: considered stakeholder groups and chosen subcategories (S-LCA sample), sector or product system (S-LCA sample), year of publication and geographical scope (S-LCA and E-LCA sample), chosen LCIA method(s) and impact categories, objective(s) of the studies, analyzed materials and used software support (E-LCA samples). Results and discussion For S-LCA some relevant social topics for bio-based product systems, like food security or land- and worker-related concerns, could be identified. The E-LCA literature suggests that the objective and material type determine calculation approaches and impact category choices. Some material-related environmental issues like biodiversity loss in the case of bio-based product systems or ecotoxicity for steel and toxicity in the case of aluminum could be identified. For S-LCA the geographical and sectorial context and the affected stakeholders are the determining factors for methodical choices, however, the results show almost no difference in subcategory choice and geographical context. Influencing factors for methodical choices in E-LCA might be the objective of the study, data availability, the up-to-dateness of the LCIA approach, the geographical scope of the study, the materials analyzed, and the availability of software support. Conclusion Some relevant environmental and social impact categories as well as influencing factors on methodical choices could be identified from existing literature. However, a clear picture on these issues could not be drawn. Further research is needed on the motivation of researches on certain methodical choices as well as on environmental issues connected with materials or geographical-related social topics.

How Green are Redox Flow Batteries?

“…Comparability is not only an issue because the technologies are in different TRLs, but also because many methodological decisions needed to be made in LCAs, and a variety of LCIA methods is available. [69] Rahman et al [25] synthesized results for LCAs of different ESS and summarized the impacts reported in the respective studies. They found that the ranges of impact per ESS are quite broad (e. g., À 439 to 810 gCO 2 equiv.…”

“…[69] The environmental issue most often analyzed in LCAs on automotive components, wood products, or LIBs is climate change (CC). [27,[69][70][71] In the 22 studies reviewed here, however, the most frequently investigated impact categories (other than CC) are abiotic resource use (ARU), ecotoxicity (Etox), human toxicity (HT) and respiratory effects (RE). Still, the relevance of certain impact categories in the context of different ESS is rarely discussed.…”

“…This selection process depends on factors like the objective of the study, the environmental issues associated with the product, process, or material under investigation, the availability of an LCIA method and how up‐to‐date it is, as well as the geographical scope of the study [69] . Also methodological choices are often made with reference to previous studies with a similar research focus [69] . The environmental issue most often analyzed in LCAs on automotive components, wood products, or LIBs is climate change (CC) [27,69–71] .…”

Energy Accounting and Performance: A theoretical Perspective

“…The first problem is that (fossil) energy sources may be exhausted shortly, and the other problem is the increase in emissions produced by fossil energy, which causes greenhouse gases. Here the relationship between energy and the environment began to take place in global energy policies, which helped in the emergence of the concept of environmental sustainability since sustainability requires considering the four pillars (economic, political, social, and environmental) of equal importance, so sustainable energy resources must be Economically viable, politically supported, socially just and environmentally acceptable (Mair-Bauernfeind et al, 2020). As a result, the global trend for countries and companies has been to focus on energy resources and emission reductions for sustainable development (Al-Fatlawi, Al Farttoosi, & Almagtome, 2021).…”

European Hophornbeam Biomass for Energy Application: Influence of Different Production Processes and Heating Devices on Environmental Sustainability

“…Regarding this aspect, several indices have been tested to be included as impact categories for the LCA method. Neglecting the issues of the millennium assessment, the method has been applied to the forestry and biomass sector in numerous studies [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], as reported in Table 1. However, few of the case studies analyzed dealt with broadleaf species (rarely used for heat production and sometimes reporting unusual functional units) with different physiological characteristics, growth (related to forest management), and interaction with the environmental compartments (air, water, soil) that host biodiversity.…”