The use of LCA to develop eco-label criteria for hard floor coverings on behalf of the european flower

Baldo, Gian Luca; Rollino, Sara; Stimmeder, Gerhard; Fieschi, Maurizio

doi:10.1007/bf02978886

Cited by 26 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a very helpful tool in this regard as it not only provides an account of materials and energy involved in a product or system but also measures the associated environmental impacts (Earth Summit 2002;International Organization for Standardization 1997). LCA has been applied to develop eco-label criteria for hard floor coverings (Baldo et al 2002), compare building insulation products (Schmidt et al 2004a, b), assess the potential environmental impacts that might result from meeting energy demands in buildings (Osman and Ries 2007), as well as to the assessment of the CO 2 emissions reduction in the construction field through the selection of materials for houses of low environmental impact (Abeysundra et al 2007). Researchers have also employed LCA as a tool to analyze energy consumption of processing construction components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental life cycle assessment of a commercial office building in Thailand

Kofoworola

Gheewala

2008

Int J Life Cycle Assess

170

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Background, aim, and scope To minimize the environmental impacts of construction and simultaneously move closer to sustainable development in the society, the life cycle assessment of buildings is essential. This article provides an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of a typical commercial office building in Thailand. Almost all commercial office buildings in Thailand follow a similar structural, envelope pattern as well as usage patterns. Likewise, almost every office building in Thailand operates on electricity, which is obtained from the national grid which limits variability. Therefore, the results of the single case study building are representative of commercial office buildings in Thailand. Target audiences are architects, building construction managers and environmental policy makers who are interested in the environmental impact of buildings. Materials and methods In this work, a combination of input-output and process analysis was used in assessing the potential environmental impact associated with the system under study according to the ISO14040 methodology. The study covered the whole life cycle including material production, construction, occupation, maintenance, demolition, and disposal. The inventory data was simulated in an LCA model and the environmental impacts for each stage computed. Three environmental impact categories considered relevant to the Thailand context were evaluated, namely, global warming potential, acidification potential, and photo-oxidant formation potential. A 50-year service time was assumed for the building. ResultsThe results obtained showed that steel and concrete are the most significant materials both in terms of quantities used, and also for their associated environmental impacts at the manufacturing stage. They accounted for 24% and 47% of the global warming potential, respectively. In addition, of the total photo-oxidant formation potential, they accounted for approximately 41% and 30%; and, of the total acidification potential, 37% and 42%, respectively. Analysis also revealed that the life cycle environmental impacts of commercial buildings are dominated by the operation stage, which accounted for approximately 52% of the total global warming potential, about 66% of the total acidification potential, and about 71% of the total photo-oxidant formation potential, respectively. The results indicate that the principal contributor to the impact categories during the operation phase were emissions related to fossil fuel combustion, particularly for electricity production. Discussion The life cycle environmental impacts of commercial buildings are dominated by the operation stage, especially electricity consumption. Significant reductions in the environmental impacts of buildings at this stage can be achieved through reducing their operating energy. The results obtained show that increasing the indoor set-point temperature of the building by 2°C, as well as the practice of load shedding, reduces the environmental burdens of buildings at the operation stage. On a n...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental life cycle assessment of a commercial office building in Thailand

Kofoworola

Gheewala

2008

Int J Life Cycle Assess

170

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“…The analysis of the whole production process of Perlato di Sicilia illustrates the environmental performance and the hot spots of the entire production cycle of marble. In addition to this case study, a comparison with existing European Ecolabel criteria for hard floor coverings (Baldo et al 2002) has been made for completing the environmental analysis (European Commission 2002a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble

Traverso

Rizzo

Finkbeiner

2009

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Background, aim, and scope: The building sector is strategically important for achieving sustainability. Therefore, the improvement of energy and environmental performances are relevant targets because precious building materials such as marble have a significant impact on the environment. The aim of this paper is an analysis of a typical Sicilian marble (Perlato di Sicilia) to evaluate its energy and environmental performance. Marble plays an important role in the economy of Italy and has a global market share of 58% in terms of exports. For the main production areas of marble, relevant environmental performance data are missing except for one region (Tuscany-Massa e Carrara province). Perlato di Sicilia, the main marble of Custonaci (Sicily), has never been analyzed previously. Materials and methods: Life cycle assessment (LCA) according to ISO 14040/44 is applied to marble tiles and slabs. For the life cycle inventory, data were collected from a representative plant in the Custonaci basin. In this small area of 69 km 2, about 54 quarries and related cutting plants are concentrated. The impact assessment includes the following categories: global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and photochemical oxidation (POCP), following the CML-IA baseline 2007. Results: The results of the impact assessment for 1 m3 of marble tiles are 314.8 kg CO 2eq of GWP, 1.19 kg SO 2eq of AP, 0.073 g PO 4 - -eq of EP, and 0.046 kg ethylene eq of POCP. For slabs, the corresponding results were 200.1 kg CO 2eq of GWP, 0.77 kg SO 2eq of AP, 0.053 kg PO 4 - -eq of EP, and 0.029 kg ethylene eq of POCP. The total embodied energy values of tiles and slabs are, respectively, 1,772 MJ/m 3 and 1,168 MJ/m 3. This comparison shows that tiles manufacturing has higher values of embodied energy and environmental performance indicators. The value of the Custonaci slabs is reasonable compared to the Carrara marble (mainly slabs), and the embodied energy value of which is between 698 MJ/m 3 and 1,414 MJ/m 3. The main contribution to the energy consumption is due to electricity demand: 80% for tiles and 75% for slabs. Moreover, a comparison with the European type I Ecolabel criteria for natural hard floor coverings has been carried out to understand the range of the environmental impacts of Perlato di Sicilia compared to the thresholds reported in European Decision 272/2002. Conclusions, recommendations, and perspectives: This study is the first LCA of a typical Sicilian marble. The environmental interventions of the Custonaci marble appear to be slightly higher than Carrara marble. The nature of Custonaci marble and the technology involved in its production have reached the same performance level as in Carrara. Nevertheless, Custonaci marble is on the way to being an environmentally friendly product, as is shown by the comparison with Ecolabel criteria. The hot spots determined in this study are: the amount of spoils produced during the extraction step, the disposal of sludge resulting from cutting and...

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“…It is therefore evident that ecological impacts shall be identified by examination of the interactions of products/services with the environment, including the use of energy and natural resources, from a life-cycle perspective. Within the Ecolabel Regulation, Life Cycle Assessment considerations play a crucial role to highlight 'hot spots' in the entire production chain of the considered products/services and help to identify the most appropriate set of ecological criteria available for answering to those as mentioned earlier, preliminary conditions [20].…”

Section: ) How Green Is Your Productmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Life Cycle Thinking and its Practical Application to Agri-Food System

Nazir¹

2017

International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology

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Global agri-food system will face great pressure to meet the continuing demands for food due to the increasing number of world population. The high demand requires an increase in food production and agricultural output, which, therefore, means more raw materials, water, energy, and other resources needed. Increasing the amount of these resources for agri-food system will harm the environment since carbon dioxide generated by the burning of fuel will then result in global warming and climate change. This paper discusses global issues related to sustainable agri-food system, such as climate change, sustainability, green products, food loss and food mileage relationships with emissions. It describes Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) philosophy and how LCT is operated into practical applications, using Spanish Agri-food system as an example, and challenges for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applications in supporting sustainable agri-food systems. Environmental impacts associated with agri-food system need to be reduced. The use of an LCA framework to determine the areas with the greatest impact and reduction strategies for agri-food operation is a viable strategy to reduce the environmental impacts in facing the increasing global demand. Nevertheless, the application of LCA in agri-food systems varies due to global, regional, and local differences in its practice. Thus, it makes it difficult for general LCAs to be conducted on agri-food system. Despite the increasing number of LCA studies in agri-food system, the literature on methodological aspects, and case studies, some challenges still need to be addressed to ensure that LCA provides significant results.

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The use of LCA to develop eco-label criteria for hard floor coverings on behalf of the european flower

Cited by 26 publications

References 1 publication

Environmental life cycle assessment of a commercial office building in Thailand

Environmental life cycle assessment of a commercial office building in Thailand

Environmental performance of building materials: life cycle assessment of a typical Sicilian marble

Understanding Life Cycle Thinking and its Practical Application to Agri-Food System

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