Application of Environmental Input-Output Analysis for Corporate and Product Environmental Footprints—Learnings from Three Cases

Kjær, Louise Laumann; Høst-Madsen, Niels Karim; Schmidt, Jannick Højrup; McAloone, Tim C.

doi:10.3390/su70911438

Cited by 40 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…An LCA study is a very powerful tool to identify the phases where some of the most environmentally-critic processes take place, the subjects that are involved (manufacturer, user, etc. ), and the information needed to implement improvements and solutions [28]. The lifecycle analysis, or cradle-to-grave analysis, methodology is an internationally-standardized method that is considered one of the most effective management tools for identifying and assessing the environmental impacts related with a product or service.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon and Energy Footprints of Prefabricated Industrial Buildings: A Systematic Life Cycle Assessment Analysis

Bonamente

Cotana

2015

Energies

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Abstract:A systematic analysis of green-house gases emission (carbon footprint) and primary energy consumption (energy footprint) of prefabricated industrial buildings during their entire life cycle is presented. The life cycle assessment (LCA) study was performed in a cradle-to grave approach: site-specific data from an Italian company, directly involved in all the phases from raw material manufacturing to in-situ assembly, were used to analyze the impacts as a function of different design choices. Four buildings were analyzed and results were used to setup a parameterized model that was used to study the impacts of industrial prefabricated buildings over the input parameter space. The model vs. data agreement is within 4% for both carbon and energy footprint. The functional unit is 1 m 3 of prefabricated building, considering a 50-year lifetime. The results of the four buildings decrease from 144.6 kgCO 2eq /m 3 and 649.5 kWh/m 3 down to 123.5 kgCO 2eq /m 3 and 556.8 kWh/m 3 as the building floor area increases from 1048 m 2 to 21,910 m 2 . The use phase accounts for the major impact (approximate 76%). It is found that the carbon footprint is proportional to the energy footprint, the proportional factor being 0.222 kgCO 2eq /kWh within 0.5% accuracy. Finally, a systematic study of the sensitivity of input parameters (insulation, lifetime, foundation type) is presented.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon and Energy Footprints of Prefabricated Industrial Buildings: A Systematic Life Cycle Assessment Analysis

Bonamente

Cotana

2015

Energies

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“…; Kjaer et al. ), otherwise there is a high risk of cut‐off errors from omitted scope 2 and 3 emissions—which has been shown to exceed 75% of the carbon footprint in some service companies (Huang et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our EIO analysis was based on the FORWAST database (FORWAST ; Kjaer et al. ), which is mass balanced, thus also covering the end‐of‐life phase of employed equipment.…”

Section: Modeling Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic and Environmental Impact Trade‐Offs Related to In‐Water Hull Cleanings of Merchant Vessels

Pagoropoulos

Kjær

Dong

et al. 2017

J of Industrial Ecology

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Merchant vessels are equipped with antifouling systems to prevent accumulation of marine organisms on the hull-a phenomenon known as fouling. In many cases, however, fouling accumulates and in-water hull cleaning is required. Hull cleanings are part of a hull management scheme, and although they are an established practice, their associated environmental and economic trade-offs and conflicts have remained largely unexplored. The purpose of this article is to quantitatively assess both economic and environmental impacts of hull management schemes on the operation of tanker vessels. After identifying induced and avoided costs and environmental impacts from the hull management system, we used both temporally and spatially distributed models to capture the degradation of the antifouling system as well as the global sailing profile of the vessels. Last, we analyzed how each of the modeled impacts varied with the frequency of hull cleanings within the hull management scheme. Our analysis revealed a convex relationship between the frequency of hull cleanings and fuel savings. The higher the frequency of hull cleanings, the less fuel savings can be achieved per cleaning. In terms of costs, from some point on the costs of the service are likely to offset the savings-especially if fuel prices are low. In regards to climate change, avoided emissions due to fuel savings are likely to outweigh the limited impacts from the service itself. Last, while ecosystem impacts from marine, terrestrial, and freshwater eco-toxicity are likely to increase from hull cleanings, they are subject to high uncertainties. Keywords:antifouling systems fuel efficiency industrial ecology life cycle management product-service systems shipping Supporting information is linked to this article on the JIE website Conflict of interest statement: The authors have no conflict to declare.

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“…Provided that the money spent on consultancy equates to or exceeds the amount of money saved from buying fewer products, the economic rebound effect could be partly mitigated, since more service intensive uses typically have lower impacts per money spent than product intensive uses (Kjaer et al. ).…”

Section: Framework Step Two: Requirements For Absolute Resource Decoumentioning

confidence: 99%

Product/Service‐Systems for a Circular Economy: The Route to Decoupling Economic Growth from Resource Consumption?

Kjær

Pigosso

Niero

et al. 2018

J of Industrial Ecology

322

258

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Summary Product/service‐systems (PSS) that focus on selling service and performance instead of products are often mentioned as means to realize a circular economy (CE), in which economic growth is decoupled from resource consumption. However, a PSS is no implicit guarantee for a CE, and CE strategies do not necessarily lead to decoupling economic growth from resource consumption in absolute terms. Absolute resource decoupling only occurs when the resource use declines, irrespective of the growth rate of the economic driver. In this forum paper, we propose a two‐step framework that aims to support analyses of PSS and their potential to lead to absolute resource decoupling. In the first step, we present four PSS enablers of relative resource reduction that qualify as CE strategies. In the second step, three subsequent requirements need to be met, in order to successfully achieve absolute resource decoupling. Conditions and limitations for this accomplishment are discussed. Danish textile cases are used to exemplify the framework elements and its application. We expect that the framework will challenge the debate on the necessary conditions for CE strategies to ensure absolute resource decoupling.

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Application of Environmental Input-Output Analysis for Corporate and Product Environmental Footprints—Learnings from Three Cases

Cited by 40 publications

References 33 publications

Carbon and Energy Footprints of Prefabricated Industrial Buildings: A Systematic Life Cycle Assessment Analysis

Carbon and Energy Footprints of Prefabricated Industrial Buildings: A Systematic Life Cycle Assessment Analysis

Economic and Environmental Impact Trade‐Offs Related to In‐Water Hull Cleanings of Merchant Vessels

Product/Service‐Systems for a Circular Economy: The Route to Decoupling Economic Growth from Resource Consumption?

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