Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Environmental performances assessment of urban projects is essential to meet the current challenges of urban sustainable development. In recent years, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been applied to urban scale to assess complex systems such as districts, urban facilities and territories. Yet, application of LCA to large scale is challenging in terms of data modelling. To overcome this challenge, integration of Building Information Model (BIM) to LCA could reduce efforts during the data acquisition, as well as allowing the feedback of LCA results into BIM. To ensure interoperability e.g. with energy simulation tools, digital mock-up using an open information standard must be preferred. To answer this need, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) developed the open standard CityGML which is an XML-based data model that defines classes and relations for 3D object in cities (e.g. buildings, roads, water bodies etc.). This format also provides for domain-specific extension to other objects or attributes using Application Domain Extensions (ADE). To date, LCA data requirements have not been fully integrated into the CityGML format nor its ADE. The aim of this paper is to propose extension of CityGML and Energy-ADE standards for exchanging information for LCA simulation at urban scale. The scope of the study is limited to the integration of information necessary for LCA of buildings’ construction and renovation. First, data requirements are listed and then compared to CityGML and Energy-ADE structures to identify missing information. Finally, propositions and recommendations are presented to fully integrate information needed for LCA at urban scale into CityGML and Energy-ADE. This paper paves the way for further integration of LCA models with CityGML.

Planning Nature Based Solutions (NBS) to address urban challenges requires an approach that embeds the multiple dimensions of NBS to effectively portray their use and impact. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides a comprehensive assessment methodology in this regard. This paper discusses the environmental assessment of NBS via LCA using urban metabolism as an overarching approach to model the urban ecosystem. Performing a dynamic assessment with time series data is suggested as a way of identifying hotspots of the indicators studied within a determined time frame, allowing the assessor to observe and mitigate extremities and make informed decisions on desired temporal patterns. Dynamic assessment is supported by two simulation methodologies: Building Information Modelling for the built environment and Agent Based Modelling for social behavioural patterns.

ArcelorMittal, world leader in  steel production, is working together with industrial partners from the cement and chemical industries, other energy intensive sectors, for potential synergies between the respective manufacturing processes and how these could contribute to the reduction of overall CO emissions. Based on this project, the session aimed at demonstrating the place of LCM methods and tools in support of  regional and/or local policy frameworks. Industrial representatives and policy makers involved in the panel presented and discussed the technical and political challenges faced when developing and implementing disruptive technologies and associated business models.

The use of life cycle approaches—purely or in combination with non-life cycle methods—to assess product systems from a multi-dimensional perspective arises as a current need in the path towards actual sustainability. While pure life cycle approaches involve mainly life cycle sustainability assessment, a wide range of novel approaches are currently under study in order to overcome the limitations typically linked to multi-dimensional assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis. This is done through the synergistic combination of life cycle (mainly, life cycle assessment) and non-life cycle (techno-economic assessment, data envelopment analysis, energy systems modelling, agent-based modelling, land change and ecosystem services modelling, urban metabolism analysis, interdisciplinary policy assessment, material flow analysis, etc.) methods. The main potentials, fields of application and pending issues associated with these tools are summarised herein.

Life cycle sustainability assessments (LCSA) are a comprehensive source of information on product performance to support decision-making processes toward sustainable production and consumption. Multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) approach provides a structured decision modelling that considers the value judgments of the decision-makers and it has been proved to be useful to support decision-making based on LCSA results. We proposed an approach able to take into account LCSA performances when making decisions. We applied our approach through a case study of tire life extension scenarios selection. The scenario with retreading is the solution that offer the best compromise between the three sustainable dimensions with more than 63% probability to rank first for Weighted sum, Topsis and Prométhée II MCDA methods.

Within the current political and industrial transition to a bio-based economy, food waste can be an alternative resource for biobased chemicals. This chapter describes a case study that evaluates the prospect for Swedish production of biobased chemicals such as succinic acid from food waste. The evaluation is addressed from multiple systems perspectives. From a technical and resource system perspective, the results of the case study show that production seems possible. However, from a social system perspective succinic acid production currently lacks institutional support and actor commitment and alignment for realizing development in Sweden. From an environmental and life cycle perspective, the scoping of the analysis is decisive for the results. The study shows that multiple perspectives complement each other when seeking a nuanced evaluation of technical innovation and give insights for the intended value chain.

Interpretation, presentation, and visualization of life cycle assessment (LCA) results are key steps for ensuring proper decision support. Despite the interpretation being a crucial step, it is often not performed in a systematic way. For example, sensitivity analysis, variability and uncertainties analyses, comparison with results coming from different disciplines and domains are not properly done. So far, numerous LCA studies have been published and are often used by decision makers (both in business and policy contexts) to support the identification of hotspots or for drawing conclusions from meta-reviews while missing a good interpretation. Moreover, improving current practices in the visualisation of the results may help both the interpretation and the communication of LCA by a broader audience.

Bar charts and other usual ways of presenting LCA results depict one average or typical situation, lacking to represent the diversity of individual cases and the uncertainties associated to input data or modelling assumptions. This paper presents ways of visualizing variable results in comparative LCA. The main concept is to perform at once calculations representing this variability. Based on Monte Carlo analysis, the approach is enabled by the LCA software RangeLCA, developed by RDC Environment. Results of all simulations can be plotted in function of one or two influential parameters. A clear and complete view can hence be obtained as well as more reliable conclusions. Instead of answering the question “Is a system better than another one in specific cases?”, the presented graphs help LCA studies to answer a much broader question: “In which range of situations is a system better than another?”.

Sustainability is becoming more and more a strategic growth driver for numerous companies. In this context transparency on the environmental strengths and weaknesses of products and processes and related opportunities and risks is crucial. Accordingly, the assessment of sustainability aspects is gaining importance for companies and their customers along the value chain. Life cycle-based methodologies as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) but also other assessment systems are used in decision-making processes, product development and marketing activities. Many companies have a public corporate sustainability policy backed up with commitments in the form of quantitative targets. LCA methodology may be used as a tool supporting the identification of ‘hot spots’ in the value chain and measuring progress towards sustainability targets. In practice, however, common issues and challenges stand in the way of a full deployment of LCA methods in industry. It is important for companies to find common ground on how to implement these approaches, which data and impact assessments to be used and how results should be interpreted. ISO rules give a good basis for that work, though it is not sufficient for several questions. For exchanging experiences, updating or adopting methods, and generating data the International Sustainability Practitioners Network (ISPN) was created in 2012. The ISPN is an exchange forum for LCA methodology in the context of industry and comprises sustainability experts from a range of different industry sectors. To share experiences from the different activities, examples of good practices of this cross-sectoral initiative and to discuss opportunities for improving sustainability assessments within the companies are introduced. This article highlights challenges and solutions in terms of data availability and uncertainty, streamlining and using standardization processes as well as communication of results with non-LCA-experts.

This is the synthesis of the presentation of the session entitled “Sustainable design of complex systems, products and services with user integration into design” of the LCM-2017 conference. This session was interested in sustainable design which is of high interest for a large range of stakeholders. Indeed, customer’s expectations, regulations and market pressure are some drivers that moves design teams towards the consideration of sustainable dimensions over the life cycle of an industrial system. Integration of users into the product design development becomes more and more crucial, for example, through service oriented offers, involving the users as effective actors of the product design. One of the weak point associated being that users may have bad or unexpected behaviour during use phase, inducing then increased impacts and placing the use phase as the main contributor. New approaches, methods, and tools used by or for industrial stakeholders in order to face such challenges were presented and discussed. The session started with product oriented presentations and proposals, and slightly moved to the concepts of service oriented design and integration of human into the loop.