Engineering sustainability the need for eco efficiency and eco - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• M. Hauschild

COSI launch 28 November 2014 1

Engineering sustainability

– the need for eco‐efficiency and eco‐effectiveness

Michael Hauschild (mzha@dtu.dk) Technical University of Denmark

• M. Hauschild

COSI launch 28 November 2014 2

Outline

• Sustainability challenge
• Eco‐efficiency and Life cycle assessment
• Eco‐efficiency and eco‐effectiveness

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COSI launch 28 November 2014 3

The sustainability challenge

(Graedel and Allenby, 1995)

• I is the environmental impact
• Pop is the global population
• is the Affluence, the material standard of living
• is the Technology factor – environmental impact per

created value

GDP I person GDP Pop T A P I      

person GDP

GDP I

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The sustainability challenge

• The global population may level off around 10 billion
• Material standard of living will grow strongly in newly

industrialised countries (Asia, South America)

• The environmental impact already exceeds sustainable

levels in many areas

• So what is the challenge?

GDP I person GDP Pop I   

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Factor 4, 10 or 20

The technology factor, , – the impact caused by our creation of wealth and economic value must decrease 4‐20 times in order to

• counterbalance the expected growth in population and

material standard of living

• achieve the needed reduction in the environmental

impact …i.e. be environmentally sustainable

GDP I

GDP I person GDP Pop I   

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Eco‐efficiency

Eco‐efficiency reflects the “environmental price” of obtaining a service, meeting a need, creating a value Eco‐efficiency is the reciprocal of the technology factor in the IPAT equation Improved eco‐efficiency means creating more with less Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the tool to assess eco‐efficiency

Eco-efficiency = Delivered service Environmental impact = 1/T

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The life cycle of a product

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Emission Emission CAS.no. to air to w ater Substance g g 2-hydroxy-ethanacrylate 816-61-0 0,0348 4,4-methylenebis cyclohexylamine 1761-71-2 5,9E-02 Ammonia 7664-81-7 3,7E-05 4,2E-05 Arsenic ( As ) 7440-38-2 2,0E-06 Benzene 71-43-2 (cur 5,0E-02 Lead ( Pb ) 7439-92-1 8,5E-06 Butoxyethanol 111-76-2 6,6E-01 Carbondioxide 124-38-9 2,6E+02 Carbonmonoxide ( CO ) 630-08-0 1,9E-01 Cadmium (Cd) 7440-46-9 2,2E-07 Chlorine ( Cl2 ) 7782-50-5 4,6E-04 Chromium ( Cr VI ) 7440-47-3 5,3E-06 Dicyclohexane methane 86-73-6 5,1E-02 Nitrous oxide( N2O ) 10024-97-2 1,7E-02 2,4-Dinitrotoluene 121-14-2 9,5E-02 HMDI 5124-30-1 7,5E-02 Hydro carbons (electricity, stationary combustio

• 1,7E+00

Hydrogen ions (H+)

• 1,0E-03

i-butanol 78-83-1 3,5E-02 i-propanol 67-63-0 9,2E-01 copper ( Cu ) 7740-50-8 1,8E-05 Mercury( Hg ) 7439-97-6 2,7E-06 Methane 74-82-8 5,0E-03 Methyl i-butyl ketone 108-10-1 5,7E-02 Monoethyl amine 75-04-7 7,9E-06 Nickel ( Ni ) 7440-02-0 1,1E-05 Nitrogen oxide ( NOx ) 10102-44-0 1,1E+00 NMVOC, diesel engine (exhaust)

• 3,9E-02

NMVOC, pow er plants (stationary combustion)

• 3,9E-03

Ozone ( O3 ) 10028-15-6 1,8E-03 PAH ikke specifik 2,4E-08 Phenol 108-95-2 1,3E-05 Phosgene 75-44-5 1,4E-01 Polyeter polyol ikke specifik 1,6E-01 1,2-propylenoxide 75-56-9 8,2E-02 Nitric acid 7782-77-6 (c 8,5E-02 Hydrochloric acid 7647-01-0 (c 1,9E-02 Selenium ( Se ) 7782-49-2 2,6E-05 Sulphur dioxide( SO2 ) 7446-09-5 1,3E+00 Toluene 108-88-3 4,8E-02 Toluene-2,4-diamine 95-80-7 7,9E-02 Toluene diisocyanat ( TDI ) 26471-62-5 1,6E-01 Total-N

• 2,6E-05

Triethylamine 121-44-8 1,6E-01 Unspecified aldehydes

• 7,5E-04

Uspecified organic compounds

• 1,5E-03

Vanadium 7440-62-2 1,8E-04 VOC, diesel engine (exhaust)

• 6,4E-05

VOC, stationary combustion (coal fired)

• 4,0E-05

VOC, stationary combustion (natural gas fired)

• 2,2E-03

VOC, stationary combustion (oil fired)

• 1,4E-04

Xylene 1330-20-7 1,4E-01 Zinc ( Zn ) 7440-66-6 8,9E-05

Product life cycle Inventory of elementary flows Category indicator results for product

Life cycle assessment

Global warming 174.000 kg CO2-eq Ozone depletion 0 kg CFC11-eq Acidification 868 kg SO2-eq Photochemical ozone formation 200 kg C2H4-eq Nutrient enrichment 3.576 kg NO3

• -eq

Human toxicity 3,401011 m3 air Ecotoxicity 2,16107 m3 water Land use 170 hayr

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Relative and absolute sustainability

Eco‐efficiency supports relative sustainability (“more sustainable than…”)?

‐ Same or higher functionality with less environmental impact

Absolute sustainability (“sustain‐able”)?

‐ Where is the boundary beyond which the activity becomes unsustainable? ‐ What is sustainable in absolute terms?

Lower impact Higher impact Sustainable Unsustainable

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Efficiency and effectiveness

• Doing the things right or doing the right things ?
• (eco)efficiency: reaching the goal causing minimal

environmental impact

• … but is it the right goal?
• … what about rebound effects where increased

efficiency may lead to increased consumption?

• … where are the boundaries for sustainability?

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A sustainable level of impact

• Sustainability: Fulfilment of needs

– Today and in the future – Which needs? – How to fulfil them? – For how many?

• Carrying capacity: The maximum impact that an

ecosystem can sustain without experiencing permanent changes in its structure or central functionalities

– ”No” effect – For all categories of environmental impact

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Absolute sustainability boundaries

Safe operating space Pre‐industrial level 1950 ‐now

Rockström et al., 2009

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Sustainability person equivalents

Impact category Sustainable impact (person.year) Carrying capacity approach (indicator based on) Climate change 0.98 ton CO2‐eq Resilience (2° target) Climate change, alternative 0.52 ton CO2‐eq Resilience (350 ppm CO2) Ozone depletion 7.8*10‐2 kg CFC‐11‐eq Resilience (7.5% decrease in average ozone conc.) Photochemical ozone formation 47 kg NMVOC‐eq Protection of sensitive species (3 ppm h AOT40) Terrestrial acidification 1.4*103 mole H+ eq Buffer flow (1080 mole H+ eq/ha/year) Terrestrial eutrophication 1.8*103 mole N eq Buffer flow (1270 mole N eq/ha/year) Freshwater eutrophication 0.46 kg P eq Resilience (0.3 mg/L P) Marine eutrophication 31 kg N eq Resilience (1.75 mg/L N) Freshwater ecotoxicity 1.0*103 [PAF]*m3*day Protection of sensitive species (HC5(NOEC)) Land use, soil quality 1.2 tons eroded soil Buffer flow (0.85 tons/(ha*year)) Land use, biodiversity loss 9.5*103 m2*year Resilience (31% un‐conserved land are) Water depletion 490 m3 Buffer flow (2100 km3/year)

Bjørn & Hauschild, 2014

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Case study: LCA of 4 windows

Function: allow daylight into a building equivalent to light being transmitted through an area of 1.23x1.48 m2 with visible light transmittance of at least 0.7 for 20 years

Owsianiak et al. (2014)

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Results normalised against current levels of impact

0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4

Person years

Current impact Person Equivalents

Wood Wood/aluminum PVC Wood/composite

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COSI launch 28 November 2014 16

Results normalised against sustainable levels of impact

0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4

Person years

Sustainable impact Person Equivalents

Wood Wood/aluminum PVC Wood/composite

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Interpretation of sustainability normalised scores

• Consumer perspective:

– How large a part of my space is occupied by this product or activity? – Is it worth that much to me if my consumption must stay within the sustainability boundaries?

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We need to combine eco‐efficiency and eco‐effectiveness

• Target solutions that are sustainable also in absolute

terms

• All technologies and products have a life cycle – analyse it

to avoid problem shifting, and include all relevant environmental impacts

• Benchmark the solutions on their eco‐efficiency
• Relate improvement to absolute boundaries, considering

rebound effects

• Do the right things right

– Employ the highest eco‐efficiency towards achieving a sustainable solution – Remember that sustainability also has a social and an economic dimension

Engineering sustainability

• M. Hauschild

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Sustainability calls for many skills

• Sciences: Define sustainability and create the

basis for making it operational

• Engineering: Make sustainability operational by

creating sustainable technologies

• Business: Develop sustainability management,

business models, communication

• … addressing all three dimensions of

sustainability

• Together: Educate and train professionals that

will support sustainable transitions at all levels in society