Anticipatory Life Cycle Assessment of sol-gel derived anti-reflective coating for greenhouse glass

Tsoy, Natalya; Prado, Valentina; Wypkema, Aike; Quist, Jaco; Mourad, Maurice C. D.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.246

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the other case studies, the ecoinvent database or literature is used to illustrate the background processes. In order to emphasize the origin of the data (lab-scale or commercial-scale data) and whether the data concerns the fore-or background, a color code within the system describing flow sheet is helpful [65,[71][72][73][74].…”

Section: Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Emerging technologies are expected to contribute to environmental sustainable development. However, throughout the development of novel technologies, it is unknown whether emerging technologies can lead to reduced environmental impacts compared to a potentially displaced mature technology. Additionally, process steps suspected to be environmental hotspots can be improved by process engineers early in the development of the emerging technology. In order to determine the environmental impacts of emerging technologies at an early stage of development, prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) should be performed. However, consistency in prospective LCA methodology is lacking. Therefore, this article develops a framework for a prospective LCA in order to overcome the methodological inconsistencies regarding prospective LCAs. The methodological framework was developed using literature on prospective LCAs of emerging technologies, and therefore, a literature review on prospective LCAs was conducted. We found 44 case studies, four review papers, and 17 papers on methodological guidance. Three main challenges for conducting prospective LCAs are identified: Comparability, data, and uncertainty challenges. The issues in defining the aim, functionality, and system boundaries of the prospective LCAs, as well as problems with specifying LCIA methodologies, comprise the comparability challenge. Data availability, quality, and scaling are issues within the data challenge. Finally, uncertainty exists as an overarching challenge when applying a prospective LCA. These three challenges are especially crucial for the prospective assessment of emerging technologies. However, this review also shows that within the methodological papers and case studies, several approaches exist to tackle these challenges. These approaches were systematically summarized within a framework to give guidance on how to overcome the issues when conducting prospective LCAs of emerging technologies. Accordingly, this framework is useful for LCA practitioners who are analyzing early-stage technologies. Nevertheless, further research is needed to develop appropriate scale-up schemes and to include uncertainty analyses for a more in-depth interpretation of results.

show abstract

Section: Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Voglhuber-Slavinsky et al (2022) proposed to explicitly acknowledge uncertainty and use different scenario's to address uncertainty. Where Tsoy et al (2019) states that the performance of ex-ante LCA increasingly requires the involvement of stakeholders, the necessary assumptions in defining these scenarios are based on discussion with relevant stakeholders and "not on firm statements that are gratuitously presented as correct" (Ott et al 2022). Similar to Ott et al (2022), this study uses scenario and sensitivity analysis to deal with the encountered uncertainty.…”

Section: Ex-ante Lca Upscaling and Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ex-ante life cycle assessment of commercial-scale cultivated meat production in 2030

Sinke¹,

Swartz

Sanctorum

et al. 2023

Int J Life Cycle Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose Cultivated meat (CM) is attracting increased attention as an environmentally sustainable and animal-friendly alternative to conventional meat. As the technology matures, more data are becoming available and uncertainties decline. The goal of this ex-ante life cycle assessment (LCA) was to provide an outlook of the environmental performance of commercial-scale CM production in 2030 and to compare this to conventional animal production in 2030, using recent and often primary data, combined with scenario analysis. Methods This comparative attributional ex-ante LCA used the ReCiPe Midpoint impact assessment method. System boundaries were cradle-to-gate, and the functional unit was 1 kg of meat. Data were collected from over 15 companies active in CM production and its supply chain. Source data include lab-scale primary data from five CM producers, full-scale primary data from processes in comparable manufacturing fields, data from computational models, and data from published literature. Important data have been cross-checked with additional experts. Scenarios were used to represent the variation in data and to assess the influence of important choices such as energy mix. Ambitious benchmarks were made for conventional beef, pork, and chicken production systems, which include efficient intensive European animal agriculture and incorporate potential improvements for 2030. Results and discussion CM is almost three times more efficient in turning crops into meat than chicken, the most efficient animal, and therefore agricultural land use is low. Nitrogen-related and air pollution emissions of CM are also lower because of this efficiency and because CM is produced in a contained system without manure. CM production is energy-intensive, and therefore the energy mix used for production and in its supply chain is important. Using renewable energy, the carbon footprint is lower than beef and pork and comparable to the ambitious benchmark of chicken. Greenhouse gas profiles are different, being mostly CO2 for CM and more CH4 and N2O for conventional meats. Climate hotspots are energy used for maintaining temperature in reactors and for biotechnological production of culture medium ingredients. Conclusions CM has the potential to have a lower environmental impact than ambitious conventional meat benchmarks, for most environmental indicators, most clearly agricultural land use, air pollution, and nitrogen-related emissions. The carbon footprint is substantially lower than that of beef. How it compares to chicken and pork depends on energy mixes. While CM production and its upstream supply chain are energy-intensive, using renewable energy can ensure that it is a sustainable alternative to all conventional meats. Recommendations CM producers should optimize energy efficiency and source additional renewable energy, leverage supply chain collaborations to ensure sustainable feedstocks, and search for the environmental optimum of culture medium through combining low-impact ingredients and high-performance medium formulation. Governments should consider this emerging industry’s increased renewable energy demand and the sustainability potential of freed-up agricultural land. Consumers should consider CM not as an extra option on the menu, but as a substitute to higher-impact products.

show abstract

“…Regarding the egalitarian perspective, global warming was the main contributor at 94%, followed by terrestrial acidification, with only 2%. There are few studies on LCA of sol-gel coatings in the literature, and because of confidentiality issues relating to the chemicals used, their inventory and impact assessment results have not been reported [39].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regionalised Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-Based Materials in Construction; the Case of Hemp Shiv Treated with Sol-Gel Coatings

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Interest in intrinsically low-energy construction materials is becoming mainstream, and bio-based materials form a key part of that group of materials. The goal of this study was to analyse the environmental impact of applying a sol-gel coating on hemp shiv, in order to improve the durability of this innovative bio-based material, using a regionalised LCA model, taking into account regional specific peculiarities. This study analysed the environmental performance of using bio-based materials in the building envelope compared with traditional synthetic construction materials, and compared the impact of a regionalised approach with a global approach. The carbon footprint of treated hemp shiv in a wall with a U-value of 0.15 W/m2.K was compared to untreated hempcrete and a reference cavity wall with the same U-value. Considering the environmental damage caused by the production of hemp shiv, nitrogen fertiliser was the hotspot. The LCA results showed that, using innovative bio-based materials in construction, treated hemp shiv with sol-gel can decrease the carbon footprint of a building envelope through carbon sequestration. Using the more accurate site-specific information in life cycle inventory and impact assessment methods will result in more consistent and site-appropriate environmental results for decision-making.

show abstract

Anticipatory Life Cycle Assessment of sol-gel derived anti-reflective coating for greenhouse glass

Cited by 12 publications

References 44 publications

How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance

How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance

Ex-ante life cycle assessment of commercial-scale cultivated meat production in 2030

Regionalised Life Cycle Assessment of Bio-Based Materials in Construction; the Case of Hemp Shiv Treated with Sol-Gel Coatings

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About