Is cumulative fossil energy demand a useful indicator for the environmental performance of products?
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen (Netherlands). Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Wetland and Water Research, Faculty of Science
The appropriateness of the fossil Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) as an indicator for the environmental performance of products and processes is explored with a regression analysis between the environmental life-cycle impacts and fossil CEDs of 1218 products, divided into the product categories 'energy production' (including heat and electricity production), 'material production', 'transport', and 'waste treatment'. Results show that, for all product groups but waste treatment, the fossil CED correlates well with most impact categories, such as global warming, resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication, tropospheric ozone formation, ozone depletion, and human toxicity (explained variance between 46% and 100%). It is concluded that the use of fossil fuels is an important driver of several environmental impacts and thereby indicative for many environmental problems. It may therefore serve as a screening indicator for environmental performance. However, the usefulness of fossil CED as a stand-alone indicator for environmental impact is limited by the large uncertainty in the product-specific fossil CED-based impact scores (larger than a factor of 10 for the majority of the impact categories; 95% confidence interval). A major reason for this high uncertainty is nonfossil energy related emissions and land use, such as landfill leachates, radionuclide emissions, and land use in agriculture and forestry. 38 refs., 4 figs., 4 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 20712312
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 40, Issue 3; Other Information: m.huijbregts@science.ru.nl; ISSN 0013-936X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
LIFE CYCLE
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FOSSIL FUELS
ENERGY DEMAND
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
RESOURCE DEPLETION
ACIDIFICATION
EUTROPHICATION
OZONE
LAND USE
TOXICITY
SANITARY LANDFILLS
CORRELATIONS
POWER GENERATION
PRODUCTION
WASTE PROCESSING
TRANSPORT
ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY
INCINERATORS