Quantifying Environmental Impacts

Quantifying Environmental Impacts

1. We need to do more for the environment, using less resources

2. 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

3. Carbon Footprint

   • An open bracket term meaning and working the same as ecological impact but also embodies green house gas emissions

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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