Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Quantifying Environmental Impacts
- We need to do more for the environment, using less resources
- Ecological Footprint
- A simple concept that is
easy to work out - promoting
individual responsibitly
- Does not account for
resource depletion, uneven
resource distribution,
increasing population or
industrial impact
- Carbon Footprint
- An open bracket term
meaning and working the
same as ecological impact
but also embodies green
house gas emissions
- Green House Gas Emissions
- A Greenhouse gas is a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation
- Water Vapour is the highest
contributor to the greenhouse
gas effect at roughly 36 - 72%,
with carbon dioxide in second at
9 - 26%
- Global
Warming
potential is a
unit that is
known for each
gas, and can be
converted to
carbon dioxide
equivalent for
easy
comparison
- Sustainablilty Reporting
- From 2013, UK requires reporting of GHG emissions
by LSE-listed companies
- Allows greater transparency via single, consistent standard and provides information enabling companies to
reduce long term costs, including energy
- Life Cycle Assessment
- Goal is to assess impacts associated with the
production, distribution, use, and disposal of a product
- Determine objective of study - Define system boundaries - Develop flowchart - Select appropriate functional unit - Select
impact categories - Select level of detail - Complete life cycle inventory - Interpret results
- Embodied resources - the idea of having embodied
energy, embodied carbon and embodied water
within processes, products and materials stems from
LCA
- Can take a very long time and can be both complex and costly - the lifecycle flowchart helps more quickly determine envirnmental impact at a more basic level
- Global Climate Initiatives
- 1997 Kyoto agreement - international envirnmental
treaty with the goal of stabilization of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere at a level deemed safer than current
levels - didn't wotk out too well