Towards a framework for life cycle thinking in the assessment of nanotechnology

Bauer, Chr.; Buchgeister, Jens; Hischier, Roland; Poganietz, Witold‐Roger; Schebek, Liselotte; Warsen, Jens

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.04.022

Cited by 139 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(24 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

109

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…• Renewable energy mix: FCEV 12 has comparable emissions to BEV 13 , and performs more than 50% better than ICV 14 . • EU energy mix: FCEV has about 50% higher emissions than BEV, and about 25% higher emissions than ICV.…”

Section: Green and Clean Claims: Not Supported For Mulching Film Applmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Green and clean claims: Supported for MWCNT PEM FC production and µ-CHP plants; Not supported and comparable for car applications 7 LDPE: low density polyethylene, 8 PBAT: poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate), 9 HT-PEM-FC: high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, 10 µ-CHP: micro-combined heat and power plant, 11 Overall environmental performance (single score for 17 impact categories), 12 FCEV: fuel cell electric vehicle, 13 BEV: battery electric vehicle, 14 ICV: internal combustion vehicle. [31]…”

Section: Green and Clean Claims: Not Supported For Mulching Film Applmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The system thus analyzed is variously known as the value chain, the supply chain, or the life cycle. Here we will use the term life cycle and introduce the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach as the key tool that can be used to better understand and address the challenges related to the environment and human health due to the development of nano-based products/technologies [7,[13][14][15]. LCA is used to map the environmental impact throughout the whole life cycle of a product or technology, from extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, use and end-of-life treatment [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Green and Clean: Reviewing the Justification of Claims for Nanomaterials from a Sustainability Point of View

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology with the potential to contribute towards sustainability. However, there are growing concerns about the potential environmental and human health impacts of nanomaterials. Clearly, nanomaterials have advantages and disadvantages, and a balanced view is needed to assess the overall benefit. The current "green and clean" claims of proponents of nanomaterials across different sectors of the economy are evaluated in this review study. Focusing on carbon emissions and energy use, we have reviewed 18 life cycle assessment studies on nanomaterials in the solar, energy, polymer, medical and food sectors. We find that the "green and clean" claims are not supported for the majority of the reviewed studies in the energy sector. In the solar sector, only specific technologies tend to support the "green and clean" claims. In the polymer sector, only some applications support the "green and clean" claims. The main findings show that nanomaterials have high cradle-to-gate energy demand that result in high carbon emissions. Synthesis of nanomaterials is the main contributor of carbon emissions in the majority of the studies. Future improvements in reducing parameter uncertainties and in the energy efficiency of the synthesis processes of nanomaterials might improve the environmental performance of nanotechnologies.

show abstract

Section: Green and Clean Claims: Not Supported For Mulching Film Applmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Green and Clean Claims: Not Supported For Mulching Film Applmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Green and Clean: Reviewing the Justification of Claims for Nanomaterials from a Sustainability Point of View

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The potential human and ecotoxicity of these materials is not yet fully understood. Alternatively, nanocomponents used as fillers in composite materials are immobilized and will not impact human and ecotoxicity in the use phase unless a breakdown of the composite matrix occurs (9). However, this will most likely occur after disposal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…complementary approach to account for socio-economic impacts/benefits when accessing nanoproducts (9,41,42). Already, Lloyd and co-workers have demonstrated the incorporation of economic (cost) benefit to LCA (21,22).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Examination of Existing Data for the Industrial Manufacture and Use of Nanocomponents and Their Role in the Life Cycle Impact of Nanoproducts

Meyer

Curran

Gonzalez

2009

Environ. Sci. Technol.

128

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This work examines the manufacture and use of nanocomponents and how they can affect the life cycle impact of resulting nanoproducts. Available data on the production of nanoproducts and nanocomponents are used to identify the major groups of nanocomponents studied in this paper: inorganic nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials, and specialty/composite materials. A comparison of existing results for life cycle assessments of nanocomponents and nanoproducts is used to possibly identify trends in nanomanufacturing based on material grouping with regard to nonrenewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Continuing work is needed in this area to incorporate other factors such as toxicity and resource consumption in addition to energy use and global warming potential to fully understand the role of nanomanufacturing in the life cycle of nanoproducts.

show abstract