The use of LCA in the water industry and the case for an environmental performance indicator

Friedrich, Elena; Pillay, S.; Buckley, C.A.

doi:10.4314/wsa.v33i4.52938

Cited by 32 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Electricity consumption dominates the overall GHG emissions of water treatment for three of the four studied WTWs, which agrees with a number of previous studies (Friedrich et al 2007;Racoviceanu et al 2007;Vince et al 2008;Stokes and Horvath 2009;Stokes and Horvath 2011). Therefore, if water companies want to make significant reductions in the carbon burdens of their WTWs, they need to reduce their reliance on the national grid, which for most countries generates electricity using fossil fuels (Griffiths-Sattenspiel and Wilson 2009).…”

Section: Overall Water Treatment C and Ghg Budgetssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Friedrich et al 2007;Racoviceanu et al 2007; Stokes and Horvath 2011), and one study has examined the influence of raw water quality on electricity consumption at a WTW (Santana et al 2014), as far as we are aware this is the first to produce carbon budgets for several WTWs that are focussed on the emissions derived from water treatment processes for the purposes of C removal. The calculated carbon emissions are therefore those resulting from the anthropogenic processing of natural C within the fluvial system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the last decade, energy use by the water industry has been considered within life-cycle assessments (LCAs) (Rothausen and Conway 2011), with the general consensus being that the impact of energy production, as the demand for electricity is high at WTWs for pumping water, represents the greatest environmental burden of the water industry (Friedrich et al 2007). For example, for several WTWs in California that abstract from surface waters, LCA analysis demonstrated that the operation, rather than construction or maintenance, of a WTW accounted for approximately 80-90% of energy use during their lifetime, and that treatment processes, rather than supply and distribution, accounted for the majority of these operational costs (Stokes and Horvath 2009;Stokes and Horvath 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with aquatic carbon removal during drinking water treatment

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Peatlands and other terrestrial ecosystems export large amounts of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to freshwater ecosystems. In catchments used for supplying drinking water, water treatment works (WTWs)can remove large quantities of this organic matter, and can therefore play a unique modifying role in DOC processing and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the fluvial system. During this study we quantified the GHG emissions due to processes associated with carbon (C) removal during water treatment at four contrasting WTWs in the UK. Our results demonstrate that the removal of DOC from raw water supplies via coagulation, leading to the formation of sludge, usually makes it less susceptible to short-term oxidation when compared to DOC remaining in the fluvial system. Although this could be considered a means of reducing CO2 emissions from waterborne carbon, the current practise of land spreading of sludge is unlikely to represent a long-term C sink and therefore water treatment probably only delays the rate at which fluvial C re-enters the atmosphere. Furthermore, we estimate that indirect CO2 emissions resulting from electricity use during water treatment, together with the use of chemicals and CO2 degassing from the water during treatment, far outweigh any potential CO2 reductions associated with DOC removal. Thus, the post-treatment handling of sludge has the potential to mitigate, but not to negate, GHG emissions associated with water treatment processes.

show abstract

Section: Overall Water Treatment C and Ghg Budgetssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with aquatic carbon removal during drinking water treatment

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We use the term ''case'' for the system that is of interest. As sustainability is a complex issue, we do not expect to (just) get one real number for an estimate of the current level of sustainability, although we want to mention that there are (comprehensive) LCA scores (Friedrich et al 2007), resilience or adaptive capacity scores (National Research Council 2015;Scholz 2017a;Scholz et al 2012), and sustainability indices (Böhringer and Jochem 2007;Mori and Christodoulou 2012;Morse 2015) as quantitative parameters (see Fig. 11).…”

Section: Model Validity Of the Regression-based Lens Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing complexity: from visual perception to sustainable transitions—contributions of Brunswik’s Theory of Probabilistic Functionalism

Scholz

2017

Environ Syst Decis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Coping with the multitude of information, relationships, and dynamics of the biotic and abiotic environment is a fundamental prerequisite for the survival of any organismic system. This paper discusses what contribution the Theory of Probabilistic Functionalism (TPF) of Egon Brunswik (1903Brunswik ( -1955, which was originally developed for visual perception (including certain cognitive processes) and later for judgment, may provide today. The present paper elaborates that the principles of TPF go beyond the common weighting and regression analysisbased model of information processing that has been associated with the Brunswikian Lens Model. We argue that Brunswik's TPF rather provides basic principles of how organisms interact with complex environmental systems when processing cues (instead of information) and thus are able to produce evolutionarily stable representations of and judgments about the environment. TPF was formulated with no references to physiological processes. The present paper aims to demonstrate how well these principles correspond with current biophysical and neurophysiological findings, models, and simulations of sensation. We then discuss in what ways planning groups may be seen as organisms and how groups resemble and differ from (biological) organisms on the level of the individual and below. Based on this, we suggest how the principles of TPF can be used to describe planning groups' activities when constructing planning variants or scenarios for sustainable transitioning. We illustrate the ways in which (under ideal constraints that may be provided in ideal transdisciplinary processes) planning groups follow principles such as vicarious mediation. Here, we reflect on the ways decision theoretic tools (such as Formative Scenario Analysis and Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis) can serve to construct robust (i.e., ''evolutionarily stable'') orientations for the future. It is difficult to validate big theories such as TPF. Thus, special attention is paid to the question of how strategies of validation (according to normal scientific principles) for different principles and TPF as such can be developed. We conclude that (in the context of sustainable transitioning) TPF can be utilized from a descriptive, prescriptive, and normative perspective. All three perspectives call for different strategies of validation.

show abstract

“…A wider review of literature and RWH system design tools illustrates that appraisal beyond financial benefit is lacking [18][19][20]. An appraisal under a single objective "maximise whole-life financial benefit of water reuse" omits many of the nuanced benefits offered by RWH systems.…”

Section: Existing Cost-benefit Approaches To Rwh Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rainwater Harvesting Typologies for UK Houses: A Multi Criteria Analysis of System Configurations

Melville‐Shreeve

Ward

Butler

2016

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Academic research and technological innovation associated with rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in the UK has seen a shift of emphasis in recent years. Traditional design approaches use whole life cost assessments that prioritise financial savings associated with the provision of an alternative water supply. However, researchers and practitioners are increasingly recognising broader benefits associated with rainwater reuse, such as stormwater attenuation benefits. This paper identifies and describes a set of novel RWH system configurations that have potential for deployment in UK houses. Conceptual schematics are provided to define these innovations alongside traditional configurations. Discussion of the drivers supporting these configurations illustrates the opportunities for RWH deployment in a wide range of settings. A quantitative multi criteria analysis was used to evaluate and score the configurations under a range of emerging criteria. The work identifies several RWH system configurations that can outperform traditional ones in terms of specified cost and benefits. Selection of a specific RWH technology is shown to be highly dependent on user priorities. It is proposed that the system configurations highlighted could enable RWH to be cost-effectively installed in a broad set of contexts that have experienced minimal exploitation to date.

show abstract

The use of LCA in the water industry and the case for an environmental performance indicator

Cited by 32 publications

References 13 publications

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with aquatic carbon removal during drinking water treatment

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with aquatic carbon removal during drinking water treatment

Managing complexity: from visual perception to sustainable transitions—contributions of Brunswik’s Theory of Probabilistic Functionalism

Rainwater Harvesting Typologies for UK Houses: A Multi Criteria Analysis of System Configurations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About