Life Cycle Assessment in the Print Industry

Abstract

SummaryThis article compares life cycle assessment studies performed on imaging equipment for the consumer market in order to identify common practices, limitations, areas for improvement, and opportunities for standardization. The analysis suggests that comparisons across studies are significantly hampered by variability in scope, transparency, data sources, and assumptions; it identifies sources of discrepancy and variability. Of particular concern to printing devices was the definition of a functional unit, which can vary significantly depending on the capabilities and use patterns of a printer. Standardization of the functional unit and related assumptions has a high potential to increase quantitative comparability across studies. At the same time, standardizing the functional unit by paper usage excludes the possibility of comparison to alternative communication media.

Comparing linear and circular supply chains: A case study from the construction industry

“…In addition to these steps, scenario analysis is integrated into the framework to model potential impacts of various recommendations. The environmental impact can be measured in many different ways depending on the chosen life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method (Bousquin et al, 2012). One of the categories within the method as per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) standard is the global warming potential over 100 years (GWP100) in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (kgCO 2 -eq).…”

“…Energy sources are an important driver of environmental impacts that have to be considered when performing LCA (Bousquin et al, 2012). The analysis presented in Section 4 has revealed a significant difference in environmental impacts related to the use of electricity between the production processes of P1 and P2, with emissions related to the use of electricity in the manufacturing of P1 being 75.15% lower than the ones related to P2.…”

Life cycle assessment for printed newspapers in Northwestern Mexico

“…According to Pihkola (2010), accurate energy consumption data will be very helpful to identify what is needed to make the necessary reductions for achieving increased energy efficiency and a stronger environmental profile. A similar argument was made by Bousquin et al (2012), who stated that the impact of electricity in the printing sector is heavily influenced by the behavior of the user.…”

“…From globally harvested industrial wood, 42% is used for making paper and, within the forest products industry, 84% of the energy consumed is used to produce pulp and paper, making it the third largest energy consumer (Bousquin et al 2012). The paper industry is also well known for the excessive amounts of water it requires for its production.…”

Dynamics of disruptive innovations in outperforming global brands: a study in Mexico

“…High reliability is associated to no leaks, average reliability relates to sporadic leaks, and low reliability reflects frequent leaks. The choice of levels was derived from previous studies indicating that definitions of functionality differ considerably among printing devices (Bousquin et al, 2012). Table 1 summarises the attributes and levels used in the CBC experiment.…”