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Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics
CASTLE Conference -Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy-
Barcelona, 21 October 2015
Extending LCA method to assess and compare water use of biological and technical production systems
Anne Rödl
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 2
Outline
1. Background
2. Challenges for the assessment
3. Presentation of the new method
4. Conclusion
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 3
• solid biofuels worldwide major source of renewable energy (IEA 2015)
• promotion of renewable energies within the EU (Directive 2009/28/EG)
• need to measure and to compare environmental impacts of bio based products and their fossil based alternatives
• special interest in water use: because strong interrelation between water and energy use
Background
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 4
Why assessing bio based products?
• increasing cultivation of biomass crops because of political decisions
• potential change of natural or already cultivated landscapes
• concerns about the potential environmental impacts
causes for environmental impacts:
biological production systems technical production systems
land use/ land use change land use/ land use change
disturbance of natural nutrient cycles use of raw materials
deterioration of soil (erosion, contamination) use of energy
deterioration of water release of emissions
production of waste production of waste
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 5
Biological vs. technical
What are biological production processes?
• resources produced by living organisms
• mostly renewable resources
• example: agriculture, forestry, cultivation and use of microorganisms
What are technical production processes?
• industries which are not working with bio based materials
• mostly extraction of non-renewable raw materials and their industrial processing
• example: mining, processing industry
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 6
• biomass cultivation is often rain water fed
• industrial manufacturing processes need an active water input from humans
Differences in terms of water use
biological production technical productiongreen water input blue water inputnatural water cycle anthropogenic water cycle
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 7
Natural and anthropogenic water cycle
Red lines: anthropogenic water cycle
Blue lines:natural water cycle
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 8
Definition of water colours
Blue water: groundwater, surface water; can be easily extracted by humans
Green water: soil water, can only be extracted by vegetation
Gray water: polluted water
White water: water vapour
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 9
• different water types used with different intensities
• regional differences in water availability and quality
• impacts on the input and output side of the analyzed system
Difficulties in assessing water use
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 10
Methodological deficiencies
• no agreed methodology to assess water use in LCA
• some attempts for LCA or Water Footprint studies
• e.g. Maes et al. (2009); Boulay et al. (2011); Ridoutt & Pfister (2010 & 2013), Berger (2014)
• looking often at land use change effects on the water regime
• only few assess qualitative aspects
• green water use mostly not considered
• principles, requirements and guidelines for water footprinting set in ISO14046 since 2014
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 11
need to find a common unit
initial thoughts:
• human point of view
• rating is influenced by human value system
• taking into consideration the human benefit of a natural good
result: using blue water as the common unit
Blue water equivalents [ble]
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 12
Conversion of water colours
• pathways of transition from one water
type to the other (green ↔ blue )
it should be possible to find a concept
for translating the amount of one water
type into another
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 13
Part of the total evapotranspiration which is evaporated from continents returns to continents
with precipitation (after Van der Ent et al. 2010).
Concept green into blue
Green Water – Recycling Factor fGWR
Continent fGWR [in %]
Europe 66
North Amerika 42
South Amerika 59
Africa 62
Asia 58
Australia/Pacific 29
average 57
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 14
Calculation of green water consumption
Green water consumption [ble]= evaporatedgreenwater ∙ 1 − f
• result: green water consumption expressed in blue water equivalents
• evaporated green water:• plant transpiration
• evaporation from interception
• less the amount of water exported with the product
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 15
Overview new method
Water inputColour I
Water inputColour II
Life cycle inventory subtract Water output with same
quality (I and II)
Calculating the consumed amount of water = blue water equivalentsincl. conversion of water types (colours)
Life cycle impact assessment
Calculation of characterization factors reflecting: • the regional water availability• water quality
climate anthropogenicwater management
soil waterdeficit
quality changes due to use
Water consumption (blue water equivalents)*
Impact category indicator for “water use”
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 16
1000 m³ withdrawal from: dry area
high anthropogenic pressure on natural resources
heavy pollution of the used water
퐼푛푑 = 퐶 ∙ 퐼푑푥 − 퐼푑푥 − 퐼푑푥 + 푟푒푄 ∙ 퐼푑푥
4440푏푙푒 = 1000 ∙ 1,5 + 0,5 + 1 + 900 ∙ 1,6
IndWU > inventory result (withdrawal)
critical water consumption
Impact indicator values
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 17
1000 m³ withdrawal from: humid area
low anthropogenic pressure on natural resources
improvement of water quality
퐼푛푑 = 퐶 ∙ 퐼푑푥 − 퐼푑푥 − 퐼푑푥 + 푟푒푄 ∙ 퐼푑푥
20푏푙푒 = 1000 ∙ 0,7− 0,5− 0 + 900 ∙ (−0,2)
IndWU < inventory result (withdrawal)
acceptable water consumption
Impact indicator values
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Anne Rödl, Water Use in LCA 18
Conclusions
easy application
adaptable to the needs and possibilities of the user
use within LCA or as single indicator
no consideration of impact endpoints
meets the requirements of the standard for Water Footprints ISO14046
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Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics
Contact:
[email protected]+49 40 42878 3528
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