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Sustainable Production and

Sustainable Consumption

Raymond R. Tan, Ph.D.

Full ProfessorChemical Engineering Department

Center for Engineering & Sustainable Development ResearchDe La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

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What environmental impacts are caused by these emissions?

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Major Issues of the 21st Century

• Climate change• Resource depletion

Fossil fuelsWater and food (e.g., fisheries)Soil

• Biodiversity loss• Pollution• Wealth Inequity

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E3 Framework of Sustainability

ETHICS

ECONOMICS

ENVIRONMENT

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Achieving Sustainability

There are two fundamental types of problems:

Designing industrial systems to be more inherently efficient and green

Selecting the best technology or management action for a given application

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Measuring Environmental Performance

• Concentration based metricsmg/l BODppm

• Efficiency based metricskg CO2 per kWh

kg CO2 per km

• Macro level intensity metricskg CO2 per US$ GDP

kg CO2 per per capita

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Waste Management Hierarchy

Source Reduction

Recycle/Reuse

Treatment

Disposal

Cleaner production

Pollution control

Often essential to ensure compliance to environmental regulations

May yield joint environmental and economic benefits

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What is LCA?

Life-cycle assessment is an objective process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used and wastes released to the environment and to evaluate and implement opportunities to effect environmental improvements.

-- SETAC (1993)

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Key LCA Concepts

• Extended system boundaries – “cradle to grave”• Fair comparison – define the functional unit• Multiple pathways by which environment is

damaged constitute decision criteria• Inherently quantitative approach involves:

Models (mathematical representation)Streamlining (simplification) Cut-off (identification of system boundary)

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Some problems for which life cycle framework is appropriate

• Can a country reduce oil imports or greenhouse gas emissions by using biofuels?

• Does the use of fluorescent lamps increase mercury releases to the environment?

• Should a retail company encourage reuse of plastic bags or reduce plastic film thickness?

• Should governments mandate producers of electronic goods to handle their disposal?

• To what extent does water supply limit the potential of large-scale bioenergy systems?

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The Generic Life Cycle

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A Typical Life Cycle System(Culaba and Purvis, 1999)

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Components of LCA

• Goal & scope definition• Inventory analysis (LCI)• Impact assessment (LCIA)

ClassificationCharacterizationValuation

• Interpretation

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LCA Components and Framework

Goal and scope

definition

Interpretation

Impact assessment

Inventory analysis

Applications: Product

development & improvement

Strategic planning

Public policy making

Marketing Others

LCA Framework

Source: ISO 14040 (1997)

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Impact Assessment

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Information Flow In LCA Models

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“Forward” LCA Model(Heijungs and Suh, 2002)

The LCA model allows environmental effects to be estimated for a given state of technology:

g = BA-1f (Life cycle inventory)

h = Qg (Life cycle impacts)

Environmental Index = f(g, h)

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The ISO Standards for LCA (as of 2005)

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Current ISO Standards

Standard Title and Content

14040 Principles and framework

14044 Requirements and guidelines

14047 Examples of application of ISO 14042

14048 Data documentation format

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LCA Uses: Products & Processes

• Fuels• Electricity• Cars• Packaging Materials• Appliances• Paper• Diapers• Drinking Cups• PCs and Accessories

• Chemicals• Food Products• Beverages• Batteries• Construction

Materials• Garments• Semiconductors• Iron and Steel• Buildings and houses

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LCA Users: Private Firms

• Procter & Gamble• General Motors

Corp.• Volvo• Credit Suisse• The Body Shop• BP Amoco• IBM• Motorola• AT&T

• Dow Chemical• Nestle• Coca-Cola Co.• TetraPak• Scott Paper Co.• ExxonMobil• Shell• Hoechst• Monsanto

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Illustrative Case Studyon

Carbon Footprints

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Carbon Emissions

• Emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 are widely believed to be driving global climate change

• These emissions are highly correlated with energy use and industrial activity

• Global emissions are in the order of 30 109 tons per annum

• The Philippines contributes about 0.3% of global emissions

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What is a Carbon Footprint?

The carbon footprint of a product or a service is the cumulative level of CO2 (or greenhouse gas) emissions generated directly or indirectly to deliver the commodity to the end-user.

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What is the carbon footprint of this meal?

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Carbon Emissions Breakdown of Fossil Power Sources

SOURCE: Varun et al., “LCA of renewable energy for electricity generation systems—A review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (in press)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

Coal

Oil

Gas

Nucle

ar

gC

O2/k

Wh

Decommissioning

Operation

Construction

Fuel combustion

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Carbon Intensities of Different Power Sources

0

200

400

600

800

1000

Coal

Oil

Gas

Nucle

ar

Win

d

PV

Bio

mass

Sola

r th

erm

al

Hydro

g C

O2/k

Wh

.

SOURCE: Varun et al., “LCA of renewable energy for electricity generation systems—A review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (in press)

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Input-Output Models of Carbon Emissions

• Emissions from highly interconnected economic systems need to be modelled using life cycle concepts.

• It is necessary to account not just for direct emissions, but also indirect emissions arising from sectoral interdependencies.

• Input-output based modeling is appropriate for this application (Heijungs & Suh, 2002; Hendrickson et al., 2006)

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Input-Output Models of Carbon Emissions

x = (I – A)–1 y

g = R x

where:

I = identity matrix

A = technical coefficient matrix

y = net output vector

x = gross output vector

R = direct emissions intensity matrix

g = emissions vector

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Application of I/O Model to Analysis of Philippine Carbon Emissions

• Obtained 2000 IO Tables from Philippine Government at three levels of disaggregation:11 Sectors60 Sectors250 Sectors

• Obtained published sectoral direct carbon emissions (http://earthtrends.wri.org/pdf_library/country_profiles/cli_cou_608.pdf)

• Currently reconstructing detailed/disaggregated emissions profile from energy use statistics

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Philippine Sectoral Carbon Intensity

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Partial Results Using 60-sector I/O

Tables • Carbon emission levels per P1,000 of major

agricultural crops:Rice, 5.8 kgCorn, 5.1 kgCoconut, 4.7 kgSugarcane, 8.5 kg

• Carbon emission levels for services provided by:Private educational institutions, 2,200 kg per

P150,000Hotels and restaurants, 11.7 kg per P1,000

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LCA Research in the Philippines

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What Our Research Group at DLSU Has Done

• Advised Philippine Government (DOE, DOST) on life cycle issues leading to policy actions

• Basic R&D published in LCA journals and books• Integrated LCA into postgraduate and

undergraduate curriculum • Delivered workshops and seminars for NGO’s.• Collaborated with overseas partners• Developing e-learning materials on LCA• Established LCA information clearinghouse

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LCA R&D

Applications• Transportation systems

Fuels Modes

• Energy systems Power plants Biofuels Efficient lamps

• Manufacturing systems Pulp and paper Electronics Biopharmaceuticals

Methods• Fuzzy modelling• Artificial intelligence• Monte Carlo• Linear and non-linear

programming• Data quality• Decision analysis• Hybridization and

streamlining

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Conclusion

• Life cycle thinking blurs the boundary between production and consumption

• Quantitative methods such as LCA allow for rational evaluation of different goods from an integrated systems standpoint

• Carbon footprinting applies some aspects of life cycle thinking to climate change issues.

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Thanks for your attention

Comments and questions are welcome

Or contact me at

raymond.tan@dlsu.edu.ph

Phone/Fax: +632-524-0560

http://sustech.dlsu.edu.ph