Social Life Cycle Assessment: Specific Approach and Case Study for Switzerland
| Autor: | Evelyn Lobsiger-Kägi, Luis López, Tobias Kuehn, Raoul Roth, Vicente Carabias, Christian Zipper |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Environmental effects of industries and plants
Renewable energy technologies Renewable Energy Sustainability and the Environment 020209 energy Geography Planning and Development 333.79: Energie 0211 other engineering and technologies TJ807-830 02 engineering and technology 010501 environmental sciences Management Monitoring Policy and Law TD194-195 01 natural sciences Renewable energy sources Environmental sciences Performance reference point Sustainability 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering GE1-350 Social life cycle assessment 021108 energy Relevance analysis 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Zdroj: | Sustainability Volume 10 Issue 12 Sustainability, Vol 10, Iss 12, p 4382 (2018) |
| ISSN: | 2071-1050 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/su10124382 |
| Popis: | This article proposes a specific social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) approach, to be applied in a case study on energy production in Switzerland. The aim of the present study is to describe the social conditions along the global supply chains and to compare them with the social situation in Switzerland. Therefore, a specific S-LCA methodology was developed that combines a relevance analysis with a performance reference point (PRP) assessment. The relevance analysis is carried out to identify the most relevant unit processes and S-LCA indicators and the Swiss PRPs (SPRPs) are designed to compare the social issues along the value chain to the situation in Switzerland. The methodology was applied to two life cycle stages of the copper supply chain (resource extraction and wire production), relevant for the production of renewable energy technologies, where it was found that the most critical step is mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to the artisanal way of mining. The proposed methodology offers a comprehensive overview for the analysis of supply chains and the comparison of different life cycle phases. Nevertheless, the methodology can result in a very coarse resolution with low validity. However, if the data and the results are treated transparently, they provide meaningful information about the social conditions along the supply chain. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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