An innovative implementation of LCA within the EIA procedure: lessons learned from two wastewater treatment plant case studies

Autor: Philippe Roux, Guillaume Junqua, Laureline Catel, Eléonore Loiseau, Ralph K. Rosenbaum, Miguel López-Ferber, Pyrène Larrey-Lassalle
Přispěvatelé: Information – Technologies – Analyse Environnementale – Procédés Agricoles (UMR ITAP), Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), IMT - MINES ALES (IMT - MINES ALES), Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] (IMT)
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Environmental Impact Assessment Review
Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Elsevier, 2017, 63, pp.95-106. ⟨10.1016/j.eiar.2016.12.004⟩
ISSN: 0195-9255
DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2016.12.004⟩
Popis: International audience; Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been identified in the literature as a promising tool to increase the performance of environmental assessments at different steps in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure. However, few publications have proposed a methodology for an extensive integration, and none have compared the results with existing EIA conclusions without LCA. This paper proposes a comprehensive operational methodology for implementing an LCA within an EIA. Based on a literature review, we identified four EIA steps that could theoretically benefit from LCA implementation, i.e., (a) the environmental comparison of alternatives, (b) the identification of key impacts, (c) the impact assessment, and (d) the impact of mitigation measures. For each of these steps, an LCA was implemented with specific goal and scope definitions that resulted in a specific set of indicators. This approach has been implemented in two contrasting Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) projects and compared to existing EIA studies. The results showed that the two procedures, i.e., EIAs with or without inputs from LCA, led to different conclusions. The environmental assessments of alternatives and mitigation measures were not carried out in the original studies and showed that other less polluting technologies could have been chosen. Regarding the scoping step, the selected environmental concerns were essentially different. Global impacts such as climate change or natural resource depletion were not taken into account in the original EIA studies. Impacts other than those occurring on the project site (off-site impacts) were not assessed, either. All these impacts can be significant compared to those initially considered. On the other hand, unlike current LCA applications, EIAs usually address natural and technological risks and neighbourhood disturbances such as noises or odours, which are very important for the public acceptability of projects. Regarding the impact assessment, even if the conclusions of the EIAs with or without LCA were partially common for local on-site impacts, LCA gives crucial additional information on global and off-site impacts and highlights the processes responsible for them. Finally, for all EIA steps investigated, interest in LCA was demonstrated for both WWTP case studies. The feasibility in terms of skills, time and cost of such implementation has also been assessed.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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