Wood in Our Future: The Role of Life-Cycle Analysis Proceedings of a Symposium (1997) / Chapter Skim
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EUROPEAN ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGIES
EUROPEAN ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGIES
Pages 36-46
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From page 36... ...
"issue guidance that recommends principles that executive agencies should use in making determinations about the preference and purchase of environmentally preferable products." This is one of several reasons why tools are needed to scientifically assess the overall environmental performance of products and their associated industrial systems. In numerous industrial countries, life-cycle assessment and its most developed component, life-cycle inventory analysis, are now recognized as belonging to that category of tools.
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2. The impact assessment, in which the flows compiled in the inventory are translated into environmental impacts (natural resources depletion, greenhouse effect, photochemical smog, water toxicity, and so on)
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Extension of the system allows reduction of nonelementary flows to elementary ones (Figure 4-11. Natural Resources .' ~D .
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The European Commission, under pressure from northern European countries, is considering life-cycle analysis studies of oaks, spruces, and beeches. Concurrently, the French Ministry of the Environment is contemplating a lifecycle study of poplars and Oregon pines.
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Therefore, considering a forestry system model in which 100 percent of the harvested wood comes from planted trees ensures that the burdens estimated in the life-cycle inventory for the forestry step are conservative. FORESTS AS NATURAL SYSTEMS Forests, like other natural systems, are complex (Figure 4-3)
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3. The ecopoints have the same dimension and can be added up to obtain four separate partial scores for air emissions, water releases, energy consumption, and waste outputs.
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Critical volumes corresponding to air emissions for which a regulatory limit coexists are then added up to obtain a total air critical volume. Critical volumes corresponding to water releases for which a regulatory limit exists also are added up in order to obtain a total water critical volume.
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These safeguard subjects are chosen because the Swedish Parliament has decided to protect human health, preserve biologic diversity, maintain a longterm housekeeping of natural resources, and protect the natural and cultural landscape. For each subject, a valuation of the basis of the willingness to pay has been derived.
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For the greenhouse effect, emissions TABLE 4-1 Environmental problem types Depletion Pollution Damage Depletion of abiotic resources Depletion of biotic resources Enhancement of greenhouse effect Depletion of ozone layer Human toxicity Ecotoxicity Photochemical oxidant forming Acidification Vitrification Waste heat Odor Noise Damage to ecosystems and landscapes Victims Source: Centrum Milieukunde Leiden (CLM)
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From page 45... ...
Normalization of the Effect Scores The effect scores from the environmental profile can be "normalized" by comparing them with a reference effect score, for example, to the yearly world total contribution to a given environmental problem. This can help with interpretation of the environmental profile, and in fact it can be viewed as the first step of the evaluation.
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From page 46... ...
USDA Forest Resource Bulletin PNN-RB-168. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
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