Accounting for the Ecological Footprint of Materials in Consumer Goods at the Urban Scale
Accounting for the Ecological Footprint of Materials in Consumer Goods at the Urban Scale
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DOI：
10.3390/su5051960
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发表时间：
2013-05
期刊：
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Meidad Kissinger;Cornelia Sussman;Jennie Moore;W. Rees
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Meidad Kissinger;Cornelia Sussman;Jennie Moore;W. Rees
生态足迹分析（EFA）可以被城市用来计算他们对全球可再生资源的持续需求。到目前为止，全民教育还没有作为一种城市政策和规划工具得到充分实施，部分原因是当地数据的可用性有限。在本文中，我们专注于城市生态足迹的材料消耗组成部分，并确定了“组成部分，固体废物生命周期评估方法”，克服了数据的局限性，使用数据，许多城市定期收集：城市，固体废物成分数据，作为代理材料消耗。该方法需要从工艺生命周期评估研究中获得能源使用和/或二氧化碳排放数据，以及农业和林地数据，以计算材料的生态足迹转换值。我们回顾了城市中常用的12种材料的工艺LCA文献，并确定了每种材料的生态足迹转换值。我们发现了有限数量的原始LCA研究，但能够为每种材料生成一系列值。我们的价值观强调了城市识别材料消耗量和单位生产影响的重要性。纺织品和铝等材料具有较高的生态足迹，但与纸张和尿布等产品相比，它们在城市废物流中所占的比例相对较小。地方政府使用固体废物LCA方法有助于明确确定与他们代表居民管理的废物相关的生态负荷。这种直接联系可用于向市民宣传有助于城市可持续性的管理、回收和对生态负责的消费选择。
Ecological footprint analysis (EFA) can be used by cities to account for their on-going demands on global renewable resources. To date, EFA has not been fully implemented as an urban policy and planning tool in part due to limitations of local data availability. In this paper we focus on the material consumption component of the urban ecological footprint and identify the ‘component, solid waste life cycle assessment approach’ as one that overcomes data limitations by using data many cities regularly collect: municipal, solid waste composition data which serves as a proxy for material consumption. The approach requires energy use and/or carbon dioxide emissions data from process LCA studies as well as agricultural and forest land data for calculation of a material’s ecological footprint conversion value. We reviewed the process LCA literature for twelve materials commonly consumed in cities and determined ecological footprint conversion values for each. We found a limited number of original LCA studies but were able to generate a range of values for each material. Our set of values highlights the importance for cities to identify both the quantities consumed and per unit production impacts of a material. Some materials like textiles and aluminum have high ecological footprints but make up relatively smaller proportions of urban waste streams than products like paper and diapers. Local government use of the solid waste LCA approach helps to clearly identify the ecological loads associated with the waste they manage on behalf of their residents. This direct connection can be used to communicate to citizens about stewardship, recycling and ecologically responsible consumption choices that contribute to urban sustainability.