Regionalized LCI Modeling: A Framework for the Integration of Spatial Data in Life Cycle Assessment

Reinhard, Juergen; Zah, Rainer; Hilty, Lorenz M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44711-7_18

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The previous study (Ding et al 2020) shows that the practice of calculating the emission per unit area of land use (tEF) is a very convenient and straightforward way to link with GIS and calculate emissions directly from crop-specific land-use planning. Such practice of constructing inventory on the unit area of land use can also be found in the regionalized LCI studies (e.g., see Reinhard et al 2017). The tEF concept highlights the necessary adopting such practice to facilitate integrating GIS in the territorial LCA studies.…”

Section: The Application Of the Territorial Emission Factors (Tef)mentioning

confidence: 97%

Application of territorial emission factors with open-access data—a territorial LCA case study of land use for livestock production in Wallonia

Ding

Bourrelly

Achten

2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose This work aims to facilitate the territorial LCA applications through a case study on land use for livestock production in Wallonia (South region in Belgium), emphasizing the role of GIS and constructing inventory mainly with open-access data at the subnational level. Methods We first established a coherent fodder-livestock interaction (e.g., how much grassland was used for cattle) according to feed requirement and local production. Then we collected data mainly from public data sources to estimate the inventory for a unit head of each animal category and unit area of each fodder crop type at the subnational level. Using the fodderlivestock interaction and collected data, we calculated the territorial emission factors for animal land use, which aggregates the life cycle emissions from unit area of land use containing fodder crops and livestock that these fodder crops feed. We also distinguished the in-and off-territory impacts. Results and discussionBy comparing with local confidential data and life cycle inventory databases, the results calculated with open-access data show a certain level of consistency. Therefore, these open-access data are proved to help conduct the initial territorial assessment to identify the hotspots of farming practices at the subnational level even in the absence of complete information. In addition, by applying the territorial emission factors for animal land use, the case study emphasizes the role of the geographic information system in the territorial LCA. Conclusions This work contributes to operationalizing the territorial LCA study on the animal-related territory, facilitating the development of more uniform methods to establish life cycle inventory across different countries in Europe for the agricultural sector. We also pointed out the potentials for future work.

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Section: The Application Of the Territorial Emission Factors (Tef)mentioning

confidence: 97%

Application of territorial emission factors with open-access data—a territorial LCA case study of land use for livestock production in Wallonia

Ding

Bourrelly

Achten

2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…One could treat each raster cell as a separate activity, though it is difficult to imagine how such an approach could scale beyond simple case studies. 22 Raster maps probably have more potential as external data sources that can be combined with inventory results. Feeding raster maps of activity parameters into LCIA models could offer significant advantages, especially if multiple environmental stressors could be assessed simultaneously.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matrix-based Methods for Regionalized Life Cycle Assessment

Mutel¹,

Hellweg²

2023

Preprint

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We develop a comprehensive computational framework for matrix-based regionalized life cycle assessment (LCA). When life cycle inventories and impact assessment methods have different spatial scales, spatial allocation is needed to map inventory locations to impact assessment spatial units. We review spatial allocation based on intersected areas and existing background emissions, and propose using additional spatial inventory data as a third type of allocation, which we call extension tables. Extension tables allow for detailed maps of individual processes, or even separate maps for specific process emissions — a significant improvement over the assumed uniform spatial density of process datasets. Extension tables can also be applied to existing process datasets. New LCA matrix formulae are developed for all three forms of spatial allocation, and these formulae allow for the expression of results on multiple spatial scales. As the final calculation result is a matrix, instead of a single value, the most damaging processes, emissions, and spatial units for every spatial scale used can be easily identified and combined. A case study of ecosystem damage due to freshwater consumption from irrigation of cotton in the United States is used to illustrate the different approaches. We implement our framework in an accessible open-source software package, including multiple additional examples.

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“…The "unit world" assumption (Reinhard et al 2017) in conventional LCAs has been criticized and challenged, especially for the agricultural system, where high spatial sensitivity is present (Antón et al 2014, Reinhard et al 2017). Site-dependent impact categories like acidi cation and eutrophication are especially susceptible to (misleading) results obtained from spatially indifferent standard LCA (Mutel and Hellweg 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mutel et al (2012) matched inventory with SCFs by calculating spatial autocorrelation to choose the most appropriate spatial scale of impact assessment. Reinhard et al (2017) developed a calculation framework to transform spatial raster data into unit process datasets structure in Ecoinvent, which allows an automated site-speci c generation and assessment of regionalized unit process datasets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating life cycle assessment into landscape studies: a postcard from Hulunbuir

Liu

Wang

et al. 2022

Landsc Ecol

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ContextConventional life cycle assessment (LCA) has been increasingly criticized for lacking spatial information, especially for agricultural systems where high spatial sensitivity is present. ObjectivesThe objective of this research is twofold: rst, to assess the potential environmental impacts and the production e ciency of pastoralism farming, and, second, to identify the in uence of the spatial distribution of farms on the environmental impacts, if any. MethodsA cradle-to-gate spatialized agricultural LCA was conducted for 45 farms surveyed from the Hulunbuir Grassland by splitting direct onsite processes from upstream processes, adopting the spatialized characterization factors (SCFs) of IMPACT World+. ResultsContrasting results were observed for different impact categories regarding whether upstream or onsite processes served as the environmental hotspot. While direct onsite animal emissions did not show spatial dependence at the inventory stage, its resulting impact scores demonstrated the most contrasting spatial patterns among various impact categories, depending on whether and how spatial resolution and location were introduced during the LCIA stage. ConclusionsA cradle-to-gate spatialized agricultural LCA was proposed and applied to assess the environmental impacts of pastoralism farming in Hulunbuir Grassland. The overall spatial dependence of the LCA results was weak, if present, it depended on the interactions between spatial variation within the life cycle inventory and the spatial resolution and location of the SCFs. Environmental burden shifting occurred between different impact categories, and it remains a policy challenge as how to increase the production e ciency in the pastoralism system.

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Regionalized LCI Modeling: A Framework for the Integration of Spatial Data in Life Cycle Assessment

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

Application of territorial emission factors with open-access data—a territorial LCA case study of land use for livestock production in Wallonia

Application of territorial emission factors with open-access data—a territorial LCA case study of land use for livestock production in Wallonia

Matrix-based Methods for Regionalized Life Cycle Assessment

Integrating life cycle assessment into landscape studies: a postcard from Hulunbuir

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