nach oben

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment

Erschienen in:

01.06.2014 | COMMENTARY AND DISCUSSION ARTICLE

On the uncanny capabilities of consequential LCA

verfasst von: Sangwon Suh, Yi Yang

Erschienen in: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment | Ausgabe 6/2014

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

Purpose

Plevin et al. (2014) reviewed relevant life cycle assessment (LCA) studies for biofuels and argued that the use of attributional LCA (ALCA) for estimating the benefits of biofuel policy is misleading. While we agree with the authors on many points, we found that some of the arguments by the authors were not presented fairly and that a number of specific points warrant additional comment. The main objective of this commentary is to examine the authors’ comparative statements between consequential LCA (CLCA) and ALCA.

Methods

We examined the notion that the LCA world is divided into CLCA and ALCA. In addition, we evaluated the authors’ notion of “wrong” models.

Results

We found that the authors were comparing an idealized, hypothetical CLCA with average (or less than average), real-life ALCAs. Therefore, we found that the comparison alone cannot serve as the basis for endorsing real-life CLCAs for biofuel policy. We also showed that there are many LCA studies that do not belong to either of the two approaches distinguished by the authors. Furthermore, we found that the authors’ notion of “wrong” models misses the essence of modeling and reveals the authors’ unwarranted confidence in certain modeling approaches.

Conclusions

Dividing the LCA world into CLCAs and ALCAs overlooks the studies in between and hampers a constructive dialog about the creative use of modeling frameworks. Unreasonable confidence in certain modeling approaches based on their “conceptual” superiority does not help support “robust decision making” that should ultimately land itself on the ground.

Vorheriger Artikel Marlo’s windows: why it is a mistake to ignore hazard resistance in LCA

Nächster Artikel Stochastic decision modeling for sustainable pavement designs

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

This quote appears in the preface of The Order of Things by Foucault (1970) which refers to a Jorge Luis Borges’ book that again quotes a “certain Chinese encyclopedia”. Whether the original literature noted as “certain Chinese encyclopedia” really exists is unknown but it is likely to be a fictitious creation of Borges.

“We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of the past and the cause of the future. An intellect which at any given moment knew all of the forces that animate nature and the mutual positions of the beings that compose it, if this intellect were vast enough to submit the data to analysis, could condense into a single formula the movement of the greatest bodies of the universe and that of the lightest atom; for such an intellect nothing could be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes.” [Laplace 1902; A philosophical essay on probabilities].

How one classifies an LCA study as either of the two is yet another interesting problem, which is discussed in the following section.

This was the reason we tried to avoid these terms in our publications.

In Box and Draper 1987; Empirical model-building and response surfaces.

There are “dynamic” GEMs in the literature, but the nature of these models is, strictly speaking, still comparative static.

“A model is essentially a theoretical construct which enables us, starting with some actual or hypothetical data, to arrive at some interesting empirical conclusions. It must start on the ground. It must end on the ground. In between, you can fly as high as you want, but land on the ground again. There are too many models which are still flying.” [W. Leontief 1975].

Berndes G, Bird N, Cowie A (2011) Bioenergy, land use change and climate change mitigation. Bioenergy, Land Use Change and Climate Change Mitigation. Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, New Zealand: IEA Bioenergy

Box GE, Draper NR (1987) Empirical model-building and response surfaces. John Wiley & Sons, Oxford, England

Duchin F (forthcoming) The transformative potential of input–output economics for addressing critical resource challenges in the 21st century. In: Baranzini M, Rotondi C, Scazzieri R (eds) Scale Constraints, Resource Rents, and Structural Dynamics. Cambridge University Press

Farrell A, Plevin R, Turner B, Jones A, O’Hare M, Kammen D (2006) Ethanol can contribute to energy and environmental goals. Sci 311(5760):506–508CrossRef

Foucault M (1970) The order of things. Random House, New York

Guinee JB, Gorree M, Heijungs R, Huppes G, Kleijn R, de Koning A, van Oers L et al (2002) Handbook on life cycle assessment: operational guide to the ISO standards. Kluwer Academic Pubisher, Dordrecht

ISO (2006) ISO 14040: Environmental management—life cycle assessment—principles and framework. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland

Laplace PS (1902) A philosophical essay on probabilities. J. Wiley, New York

Leontief W (1975) Models and decisions, a transcript of Leontief’s verbal speech. In: Vogely WA (ed) Mineral Materials Modeling, Resources for the Future, Washington, DC, USA

Moriguchi Y, Kondo Y, Shimizu H (1993) Analysing the life cycle impacts of cars: the case of CO2. Ind Environ 16:42–45

Pesonen H-L, Ekvall T, Fleischer G, Huppes G, Jahn C, Klos ZS, Rebitzer G, Sonnemann GW, Tintinelli A, Weidema BP (2000) Framework for scenario development in LCA. Int J Life Cycle Assess 5(1):21–30

Plevin R (2009) Modeling corn ethanol and climate. J Ind Ecol 13(4):495–507CrossRef

Plevin RJ, Delucchi MA, Creutzig F (2014) Using attributional life cycle assessment to estimate climate-change mitigation benefits misleads policy makers: attributional LCA can mislead policy makers. J Ind Ecol 18(1):73–83. doi:10.1111/jiec.1274

Rose A (1995) Input–output economics and computable general equilibrium models. Struct Change Econ Dyn 6(3):295–304

Searchinger T, Heimlich R, Houghton R, Dong F, Elobeid A, Fabiosa J, Tokgoz S, Hayes D, Yu T (2008) Use of US croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change. Sci 319(5867):1238–1240CrossRef

Suh S, Taff S, Goodkind A, Yang Y, Kim J, Bae J, Yee S (2012) Sustainable pathways to achieving biofuel policy goals: a web-based simulation tool. http://forio.com/simulate/umn/rfs2/simulation. Accessed February 25, 2014

Weidema BP, Ekvall T, Pesonen HL, Rebitzer G, Sonnemann GW, Spielmann M (2004) Scenarios in LCA. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), Pensacola FL

Wenzel H (1998) Application dependency of LCA methodology: key variables and their mode of influencing the method. Int J Life Cycle Assess 3(5):281–288CrossRef

Yang Y, Bae J, Kim J, Suh S (2012) Replacing gasoline with corn ethanol results in significant environmental problem-shifting. Environ Sci Technol 46(7):3671–3678CrossRef

York R (2012) Do alternative energy sources displace fossil fuels? Nat Clim Chang 2(6):441–443

Titel: On the uncanny capabilities of consequential LCA
verfasst von: Sangwon Suh
Yi Yang
Publikationsdatum: 01.06.2014
Verlag: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erschienen in: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment / Ausgabe 6/2014
Print ISSN: 0948-3349
Elektronische ISSN: 1614-7502
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-014-0739-9

Springer Professional

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu Ihrer Lizenz zu erhalten.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 6/2014

Stochastic decision modeling for sustainable pavement designs

Life cycle assessment handbook—a guide for environmentally sustainable products by Mary Ann Curran (ed), ISBN: 978-1-118-09972-8, 640 pp, 2012

A preliminary LCA case study: comparison of different pathways to produce purified terephthalic acid suitable for synthesis of 100 % bio-based PET

Reply to the editorial “Product environmental footprint—breakthrough or breakdown for policy implementation of life cycle assessment?” written by Prof. Finkbeiner (Int J Life Cycle Assess 19(2):266–271)

A cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of wood fibre-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) and polylactic acid/thermoplastic starch (PLA/TPS) biocomposites

Life cycle assessment of vegetable products: a review focusing on cropping systems diversity and the estimation of field emissions