Industrial ecology in integrated assessment models

Pauliuk, Stefan; Arvesen, Anders; Stadler, Konstantin; Hertwich, Edgar G.

doi:10.1038/nclimate3148

Cited by 213 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 85 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

182

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…TIMES explicitly model the future changes in the energy system, one of the major limitations of LCA [22]. The integration improves the temporal and technological representativeness, completeness and precision of inventories.…”

Section: Advantages Of Integrating Esom and Lcamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…TIMES models tend to have a relatively limited scope for assessing environmental burden, often only tracking primary pollutants from operating energy-related infrastructure [7,18]. Most of them ignore up-stream emissions associated with imports [8] or consumption of resources linked to energy use, such as freshwater (of importance for the growing literature on the so-called water-energy nexus [21,22]). Moreover, they lack the detailed impact assessment methodologies used in LCM.…”

Section: Advantages Of Integrating Esom and Lcamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Integrating Energy System Models in Life Cycle Management

Astudillo

Vaillancourt

Pineau

et al. 2018

Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The energy supply chain is the backbone of industrialised societies, but it is also one of the leading causes of global environmental burden. Life cycle management (LCM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) are increasingly being used in combination with energy system optimisation models (ESOM) to better represent the energy sector and its dynamics, and facilitate better decision-making. The integration of ESOM and LCA can enable powerful analyses, but not without difficulties. In this chapter, we review studies linking a well-known bottom-up ESOM (TIMES) with LCA databases and identify the principal challenges and how they have been addressed. One of the main integration challenges is the identification of equivalent processes between life cycle inventories and ESOM databases: the mapping problem. Other concomitant issues such as double counting and parameter consistency have been identified and are also investigated.

show abstract

Section: Advantages Of Integrating Esom and Lcamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Advantages Of Integrating Esom and Lcamentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Energy System Models in Life Cycle Management

Astudillo

Vaillancourt

Pineau

et al. 2018

Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Each of these integrated models is a set of multidisciplinary models consisting of macroeconomic models (e.g. CGE models), energy systems models (which can be based on SD), land and water use models and GHG emissions models [106]. Based on exogenous drivers, the models can be used for calculating GHG emissions in different scenarios.…”

Section: Integrated Models Used For Ipcc Scenarios Modelling and Assementioning

confidence: 99%

Methods for assessing future scenarios from a sustainability perspective

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Future scenarios are often used to address long-term challenges characterised by uncertainty and complexity, as they can help explore different alternative future pathways. Scenarios can therefore be a useful tool to support policy and guide action towards sustainability. But what sustainability aspects are put forward in scenarios and how are they assessed? This paper aims to explore how to assess future scenarios, categorised according to Börjeson et al. (Futures 38:723-739, 2006) i.e. predictive, explorative and normative scenarios. By conducting a literature review and a document analysis, we map tools and methods that are currently used to assess environmental and social sustainability aspects in scenarios. We also draw on experiences from methods for impact assessments of Swedish municipal comprehensive plans, which can be considered as future scenarios. We identify whether some sustainability aspects are less recurrent than others in the reviewed assessments or even left out. We find that there is no single tool that can be used to assess scenarios. Some quantitative tools based on databases may be more suitable for assessing scenarios within a shorter time horizon, whereas qualitative assessment methods might better fit the purpose of long-term transformative scenarios. We also find that assessment frameworks may be useful to guide the assessment, as to what its intended purpose is and which sustainability aspects to include. Finally we discuss whether further assessment tools are needed in order to include a wider array of potential environmental or social consequences of the content of scenarios.

show abstract

“…Maps of material stocks would be useful to characterize spatial patterns of material stocks and thereby analyze stock-flow-service relations and the spatial distribution of human activities on earth much more consistently than is possible today. Insights from such empirical efforts could also help improve integrated assessment models [12] that currently play a key role in evaluating transformation pathways, e.g., in analyses of options for climate-change mitigation [151].…”

Section: New Conceptualizations Of Eco-efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been used in international assessment reports [11] and can help improving integrated assessment models [12]. Many sustainability problems are related to the mass of resources extracted (e.g., depletion of non-renewable resources, effects of renewable resources) or wastes/emissions discharged per unit of time, thus motivating analyses of yearly flows of materials or energy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Material Stock–Flow–Service Nexus: A New Approach for Tackling the Decoupling Conundrum

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fundamental changes in the societal use of biophysical resources are required for a sustainability transformation. Current socioeconomic metabolism research traces flows of energy, materials or substances to capture resource use: input of raw materials or energy, their fate in production and consumption, and the discharge of wastes and emissions. This approach has yielded important insights into eco-efficiency and long-term drivers of resource use. But socio-metabolic research has not yet fully incorporated material stocks or their services, hence not completely exploiting the analytic power of the metabolism concept. This commentary argues for a material stock-flow-service nexus approach focused on the analysis of interrelations between material and energy flows, socioeconomic material stocks ("in-use stocks of materials") and the services provided by specific stock/flow combinations. Analyzing the interrelations between stocks, flows and services will allow researchers to develop highly innovative indicators of eco-efficiency and open new research directions that will help to better understand biophysical foundations of transformations towards sustainability.

show abstract

Industrial ecology in integrated assessment models

Cited by 213 publications

References 85 publications

Integrating Energy System Models in Life Cycle Management

Integrating Energy System Models in Life Cycle Management

Methods for assessing future scenarios from a sustainability perspective

The Material Stock–Flow–Service Nexus: A New Approach for Tackling the Decoupling Conundrum

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About