Potential Social Impacts regarding working conditions of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

Springer, Sally K.; Wulf, Christina; Zapp, Petra

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.04.034

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 33 publications

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“…[69][70][71][72] These impact categories represent the most commonly used indicators in these reports. Information on categories and indicators of the social aspects, their selection and further methodological information can be found in the ESI † and in Springer et al 73 Table 1 Main input and output of the process chains for RL and MEL production with substrate molasses (MOL) and sugar beet pulp (SBP) including quantitative data for process characteristics, input flows, intermediate products, and the output for LCA…”

Section: Impact Categories and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosurfactants' production with substrates from the sugar industry – environmental, cost, market, and social aspects

Schonhoff,

Stöckigt,

Wulf

et al. 2023

RSC Sustain.

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Section: Impact Categories and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosurfactants' production with substrates from the sugar industry – environmental, cost, market, and social aspects

Schonhoff,

Stöckigt,

Wulf

et al. 2023

RSC Sustain.

Self Cite

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Implications of mineral price volatility on the outcome of social life cycle assessment interpretation—a battery material case study

Orola,

Uusitalo,

Levänen

2024

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose New research methods are needed to better understand the progress toward social sustainability goals. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is one way to measure this progress, but price volatility may cause challenges in using monetary value-based S-LCA modelling with typical S-LCA databases. To address these methodological concerns, the study focuses on assessing the impacts of price volatility on S-LCA results through a comparative case study on the social risks of battery materials. Methods The Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) was used to compare cathode active material (CAM) production in Finland and globally to see how price volatility of minerals impacts the results of comparative S-LCA. Also, a sensitivity analysis was performed on the prices of multiple minerals and energy types used in NMC 811 CAM production. Results and discussion This study shows that price volatility might have an unanticipated effect on the results of S-LCA, e.g., by increasing the social risks when the mineral price is decreased due to price volatility. This may cause challenges with interpretation of the results or when results of two different studies using price data from different years are compared with each other, e.g., the results of social product declarations (SPD). However, one of the main purposes of using the SHDB is to find the countries and sectors with the highest social risks in the supply chain, and these results were less sensitive to price volatility except for lithium which also had the highest price fluctuation. Conclusions Price volatility can have significant impacts on the results of the monetary value-based S-LCA. It is recommended that the mineral price volatility is considered if developing product category rules for battery-related sectors. The importance of sensitivity analyses should be emphasized, and physical unit-based reference flow should be preferred if site-specific data collection about worker hours is possible.

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PSILCA database for social life cycle assessment: worker hours vs. raw values approach

Springer,

Wulf,

Zapp

2024

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Progressive development within the research area of social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) has recently occurred, for example, GreenDelta introduced a new direct quantification approach using raw values in the PSILCA database. This complements the concept of the activity variable worker hours, which has many advantages and disadvantages. This paper aims to assess this new approach by identifying its characteristics, opportunities, and challenges in comparison to the initial worker hours approach. Methods The general use of activity variables in S-LCA is outlined, followed by an elaboration of the characteristics, purposes, and functionalities of the worker hours approach as well as the raw values approach of PSILCA. This comparison of approaches includes different data components, calculation procedures, and their upsides and downsides and is based on materials provided by GreenDelta as well as our own elaborations. Two components of a fuel cell electric vehicle, the glider and the proton exchange membrane fuel cell, serve as sample applications for the comparison and are briefly described before their calculation is executed in the software openLCA, using both PSILCA approaches. The question of whether the differences in the approaches contradict a comparison is answered: The PSILCA results of the sample applications can be compared to derive further characteristics. Results and discussion The comparison comprises two modeling requirements for the raw values approach as well as their major consequence. They concern the execution by the practitioner: inventory indicators must be added to every unit process, the choice of inventory indicators must be the same for every unit process, the amount of the reference flow in the output always has to equal “1 USD,” and consequently, the number of unit processes has an influence on the results. Furthermore, the results of the S-LCA sample applications reveal that the direct impacts in the raw values approach tend to be greater than those in the worker hours approach. The reason can be found in the different calculation procedures as well as the different variables included. Conclusions Both approaches have benefits and drawbacks. Depending on the goal of the study to be pursued, the one or the other might be advantageous. In both cases, it is key to understand the modeling requirements and the calculation approach used to interpret the PSILCA results.

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Potential Social Impacts regarding working conditions of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

Cited by 5 publications

References 33 publications

Biosurfactants' production with substrates from the sugar industry – environmental, cost, market, and social aspects

Biosurfactants' production with substrates from the sugar industry – environmental, cost, market, and social aspects

Implications of mineral price volatility on the outcome of social life cycle assessment interpretation—a battery material case study

PSILCA database for social life cycle assessment: worker hours vs. raw values approach

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