Life Cycle Assessment as a rational Basis for Environmental Policy - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications DETEC Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

Life Cycle Assessment as a rational Basis for Environmental Policy

H.P. Fahrni Federal Office for the Environment

Zurich, August 27-29 2007

Division

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Structure of presentation

• 1. How it began
• 2. Four examples of LCA with political impact
• Looking for the best packaging material
• Recycling or elimination ?
• Biogenic fuels - are they as environmentally sound

as stated ?

• Criteria for clean and efficient cars
• 3. Positive side effects of LCA application
• 4. Outlook and conclusion

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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How it began

LCA have a relatively long tradition in Switzerland: In 1984 the Federal Office for the Protection of the Environment published “Ökobilanzen von Packstoffen” a booklet with inventories of different packaging materials, as tin plate, glass, paper and cardboard and several plastics (LD-PE, HD-PE, PS, PVC) .

For the aggregation of the environmental impact of different pollutants to air or to water the tool of critical volumes was

• used. It is calculated by dividing the mass of the pollutant by

the concentration limit stipulated by the law for the same pollutant.

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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The best packaging

• Since 1985, FOEN acquired and enhanced the

instrument of life cycle analysis. Therewith, the big retailers were able to optimize the most important

• packaging. The goal was, to reduce environmental

impact over the whole life cycle.

• we got light weight packaging (reduced material

consumption and waste quantities).

• Private companies, producer of packaging material

and retailers became acquainted with LCA and began to use it in other environmental areas than waste and packaging.

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 8 9 % 9 8 % 8 % 9 8 % 8 % 9 8 % 8 % 9 8 % 8 8 % 9 8 % 8 8 % 9 8 % 8 % 9 8 %

Impact assessment [%]

Greenhouse effect Depletion of. strat. ozone Heavy metals Carcinogens Summer smog Acidification Winter smog Eutrophication

100% = 76'300 Eco-PTS *10

• 8 /

EW- Glas 181 g EW-PET 24 g EW-PET 24 g EW-PET 24 g Alu 14.7 g WB/Alu 28,6 g EW-PET 24 g

Small beverage containers (33 cl)

impact assessment with eco-indicator

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Recycling or Elimination

• Should used paper rather be burnt with energy

recovery in MSWI or is it better to recycle it to produce cardboard and recycled paper ?

• Is it from an ecological point of view better to burn

used motor oil in cement kilns or should we try to recycle it ?

• Similarly for spent solvents: recycling or burning as

fuel in specially equipped incinerators ?

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Some figures about the impact of the production of new and of recycled paper

Production of 1 kg recycled paper, incl. deinking

• Water

10 – 20 dm3

• used paper 1,1 – 1,3 kg
• wood
• Energy

1 – 3 kWh

• Chemical oxygen

2 – 5 g demand in water

Production of 1 kg new paper incl. pulp production

• 30 – 100 dm3
• -
• 2,2 - 2,5 kg
• 3 – 6 kWh
• 5 – 50 g

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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LCA as decision instrument already in 1986

• Waste should only be recycled if this results in

less environmental pollution than disposal of the waste and manufacture of a new product.

• Recycling needs to be economically viable in the

long term.

In 1986 NGOs, scientist and authorities came together with representatives from economy to elaborate the “Guidelines for waste management in Switzerland”. They agreed on the following principle: This wording stipulates the application of life cycle assessment for decisions in waste management guideline.

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1 2 3 4 5 6

85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04

various recycling

glass paper & cardb. compost Mixed MSW; 2.58 mio. tons

348 kg/cap. (since 2000, incineration only )

Results: Municipal Solid waste and separately collected material

Total MSW in 2004: 4.99 million tons (672 kg/cap.)

[mio. tons] 48% 2,41 mio. tons 324 kg/cap. Year

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Biofuels – as ecological as stated ?

Emissions of greenhouse gas relative to gasoline Environmental impact ecoindicator

EMPA: Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten: Ökologische Bewertung von Biotreibstoffen

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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What is the political impact of the study on biogenic fuels ?

The Federal administration is actually preparing an

• rdinance on tax exemption for biologically produced

fuel to specify a law already decided by the Swiss parliament FOEN will propose:

• Biogenic fuels may profit from tax exemption, if they

lead to a clear reduction of green house gas emissions (at least 40%) and if they don’t cause an environmental impact which is more than 25% greater than the impact

• f fossil fuels.
• This means e.g.: no advantages for products which

lead to deforestation in countries of origin.

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Criteria for ecological and efficient cars I

• Traffic is still an important source of air pollution,

(e.g.: nitrogen oxides, precursors of ozone as hydrocarbons, particulate matter as pm10)

• Traffic consumes about half of fossil fuels in

Switzerland emission of 17 mio. tons of CO2/year

• Traffic noise disturbs a big part of the population

We need criteria for the evaluation of the environmental impact of cars.

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Criteria for ecological and efficient cars II

Why do we need these criteria ? When developing a strategy to reduce pollution of ambient air with particulate matter (pm10, Feinstaub) we found it necessary to use also economic instruments to reduce emissions of pm10 from cars with diesel engines. We need criteria for the definition of a gradual tax scale, which reflects the overall environmental impact of different cars.

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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How to evaluate the environmental impact from different cars

For each model of a car sold in Switzerland exists already a data base (Typenprüfung) with the measured emissions of

• Particulate matter(PM10)
• NOx
• HC
• CO2
• Noise
• fuel consumption
• In addition we take also in to account the process of fuel

production.

• The inventories are calculated with ecoinvent and results are

aggregated as ecopoints following the method of ecological scarcity.

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Criteria for ecological and efficient cars

The 12 cars with lowest ecopoints

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Criteria for ecological and efficient cars

The 12 cars with most ecopoints

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Positive side effects

• Application of LCA helps to better understand the

life cycle of goods. We learn which phases in the life cycle of a product are ecologically the most important ones

• Already the elaboration of the inventories may help

us to detect the most important possibilities for improvement of products.

• By comparing LCA of alternative products

companies have a valuable instrument for a continuous improvement of their production.

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The best packaging for milk

In 1990, the issue of best packaging got lots of public and political

• attention. In cooperation with companies as MIGROS, TetraPack

and Milk distributors we developed LCA for different packaging

Polyethylen bag Refillable bottle, PC LPB-board

• Refil. Glass bottle

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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A very energy consuming step in the life cycle of a milk packaging

The open refrigerator !

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Conclusions I

• Life cycle assessment are used in the preparation of

decisions in the field of environmental policy. LCA are applied and have consequences

• Holistic approaches may be more reliable and stay

useful over a longer period of time than narrow, focused LCA.

• LCA are only the a stable base for decisions, when

everybody can comprehend and reproduce the

• results. Therefore we need:
• clear and reliable scientific bases
• a transparent process of calculation of inventories

and of evaluations

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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Conclusions II

• LCA provide valuable information for consumers. If

used for the allocation of labels, it becomes a helpful instrument for decisions about consumption of products and services.

• The environmental impact as evaluated with LCA is

in many case only one element in decision making. The convenience of a product for the consumer or the price of a product have their influence also.

• Life cycle assessment will not answer ethical
• questions. We have to decide ourselves, if we want

to transform wheat to gasoline for cars or if we do better use it to feed hungry people.

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LCM 2007 LCM a rational Basis for Environmental Policy H.P. Fahrni

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We still need a further „broadening“ of inventories There is a lot of challenging work for scientists and researchers

Thank You for Your Attention