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Life Cycle Assessment as an Environmental Sustainability Tool

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 5638

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Yahong Dong

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Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Avenida Wai Long, Taipa, Macao
Interests: Life cycle assessment; Carbon neutrality; Sustainable development; Green buildings
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the rapid development of economy and society, environmental damage should be quantitatively evaluated using assessment tools. Life cycle assessment (LCA) incorporates the “cradle-to-grave” life cycle stages of products and quantifies the inputs and outputs of unit processes within the system boundary in accordance with a functional unit. LCA has been widely adopted to evaluate the environmental impacts of products, regions, and organizations. With the broader demand for sustainability assessment, LCA has evolved to encompass two other dimensions, namely, social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). LCA is now being implemented at different levels of assessment to support decision making not associated with product optimization, such as green building design, strategies and plans, low-carbon pathways, etc. Despite a growing trend of LCA studies in a variety of areas, there remain several unsolved issues, including methodological challenges, difficulties of communication, the incorporation of LCA in industries, alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), etc. There is a great need to further investigate LCA as an environmental assessment tool, and to promote the future development and applications of LCA.

This Special Issue intends to improve the understanding of LCA and foster its applications in different disciplines. Therefore, we encourage contributions from engineering, social science, natural sciences, management, business, economics, education, etc. We welcome submissions to this Special Issue related, but not limited to, the following topics:

New methods of LCA;
Integration of three pillars;
LCA applications to products;
Implementation of LCA in circular economy;
LCA integrated with other techniques;
Life cycle carbon neutrality;
Challenges in LCA;
Improving the geographical and temporal resolution of LCA;
Applications of S-LCA and LCC;
Incorporating LCA to SDG;
Development of databases;
Carbon footprint;
Applications of LCA in green buildings.

Prof. Dr. Yahong Dong
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

life cycle assessment
life cycle costing
social life cycle assessment
sustainability assessment
carbon footprint
carbon neutrality
low carbon
triple bottom line
Sustainable Development Goals
circular economy

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 5011 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Life Cycle Assessment of Ordinary Portland Cement Production in South Africa: Mid-Point and End-Point Approaches

by Busola Dorcas Akintayo, Oludolapo Akanni Olanrewaju and Oludolapo Ibrahim Olanrewaju

Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 3001; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16073001 - 3 Apr 2024

Viewed by 1149

Abstract

Several environmental impacts are associated with cement production, ranging from high greenhouse gas (GHG) levels to high energy consumption (fossil fuel and electricity) to high resource usage. Due to the growing demand for cement in the industry and limited studies in South Africa, it is essential to evaluate the environmental impact of cement production in the South African context. In this study, an analysis of the production model of South African (SA) cement plants was carried out to quantify its impacts and decipher how they consequently affect lives, resources, and the ecosystem. This study carried out a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of cement using both the mid-point and end-point approaches of the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). This study carried out a cradle-to-gate analysis of 1 kg of cement produced in a typical SA plant. The result showed that for every 1 kg of cement produced, 0.993 CO₂ eq was emitted into the atmosphere; 98.8% was actual CO₂ emission, and its resultant effect was global warming, which causes changes in climatic conditions. Also, 1.6 kg of 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (1,4-DCB) eq was emitted into the air and water, which caused high toxicity in these media, and for every 1 kg of cement produced, 0.139 kg of oil eq was produced, and its effect was seen in fossil resources’ scarcity. The end-point result showed that 55,404 was the potential number of human lives that could be endangered annually; 133 species had the potential to be endangered annually, and the effect of a potential scarcity of resources caused a total marginal price increase of ZAR 6.2 billion due to these damages. In conclusion, this study prescribed mitigation and adaptation strategies to counter these environmental impacts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Assessment as an Environmental Sustainability Tool)

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21 pages, 3539 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lifecycle Assessment of Two Urban Water Treatment Plants of Pakistan

by Shayan Jamil, Saimar Pervez, Fiza Sarwar, Rameesha Abid, Syed Umair Ullah Jamil, Hassan Waseem and Kimberley A. Gilbride

Sustainability 2023, 15(23), 16172; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316172 - 21 Nov 2023

Viewed by 1503

Abstract

Water treatment technologies are striving to retain their ecological and economic viability despite the rising demand, conventional infrastructure, financial constraints, fluctuating climatic patterns, and highly stringent regulations. This study evaluates the lifecycle environmental impact of urban water treatment systems within the two densely populated South Asian municipalities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The scope of this study includes a process-based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the entire water treatment system, particularly the resources and materials consumed during the operation of the treatment plant. The individual and cumulative environmental impact was assessed based on the treatment system data and an in-depth lifecycle inventory analysis. Other than the direct emissions to the environment, the electricity used for service and distribution pumping, coagulant use for floc formation, chlorine gas used for disinfection, and caustic soda used for pH stabilization were the processes identified as the most significant sources of emissions to air and water. The water distribution consumed up to 98% of energy resources. The highest global warming impacts (from 0.3 to 0.6 kg CO₂ eq./m³) were assessed as being from the coagulation and distribution processes due to extensive electricity consumption. Direct discharge of the wash and wastewater to the open environment contributed approximately 0.08% of kg-N and 0.002% of kg-P to the eutrophication potential. The outcome of this study resulted in a thorough lifecycle inventory development, including possible alternatives to enhance system sustainability. A definite gap was identified in intermittent sampling at the treatment systems. However, more stringent sampling including the emissions to air can provide a better sustainability score for each unit process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Assessment as an Environmental Sustainability Tool)

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15 pages, 2289 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Municipal Solid Waste Management Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Banepa Municipality, Nepal

by Prasesh Pote Shrestha, Anish Ghimire, Mohan B. Dangi and Michael A. Urynowicz

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 9954; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139954 - 22 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2206

Abstract

In this study, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method has been used to evaluate the environmental impacts of various municipal solid waste (MSW) management system scenarios in Banepa municipality, Nepal, in terms of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), human toxicity potential (HTP), abiotic depletion potential (ADP), and photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP). There are at least six possible scenarios of MSW management in Banepa: the current or baseline scenario (Scenario 1); composting with landfilling (Scenario 2); material recovery facility (MRF) recycling, composting, and landfilling (Scenario 3); MRF and anaerobic digestion (AD); composting, and landfilling (Scenario 4); MRF, composting, AD, and landfilling (Scenario 5); and, finally, incineration with landfilling (Scenario 6). Using both information from Ecoinvent 3.6 (2019) and published research articles, a spreadsheet tool based on the LCA approach was created. The impact of the recycling rate on each of the six abovementioned scenarios was evaluated using sensitivity analysis, which showed that the recycling rate can considerably decrease the life-cycle emissions from the MSW management system. Scenario 3 was found to have the least overall environmental impact with a GWP of 974.82 kg CO₂ eq. per metric ton (t), EP of 0.04 kg PO₄ eq./t, AP of 0.15 kg SO₂ eq./t, HTP of 4.55 kg 1,4 DB eq./t, ADP of −0.03 kg Sb eq./t, and POCP of 0.06 kg C₂H₄ eq./t. By adoption of MRF and biological treatments such as composting and AD, environmental impact categories such as AP, EP, HTP, ADP, POCP, and GWP can be significantly reduced. The findings of this study can potentially serve as a reference for cities in the developing world in order to aid in both the planning and the operation of environmentally friendly MSW management systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Life Cycle Assessment as an Environmental Sustainability Tool)

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