Author(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe y otros
(Español) The production of food that is environmentally friendly and presents a high economic return is one of the current concerns for the food industry. Eco-efficiency links the environmental performance of a product to its economic value. In this context, this study combines Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) to propose a two-step eco-efficiency methodology assessment for the fish canning industry. An eco-label rating system based on a descriptive weighting of environmental (Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential and the ReCiPe Single Score Endpoint) and economic (Value Added) indicators was applied to the canned anchovy. Secondly, LCA-LCC results were coupled to linear programming (LP) tools in order to define a composite eco-efficiency index. This approach enables translation into economic terms of the environmental damage caused when a given alternative is chosen. In particular, different origins for anchovy species (South American vs. Cantabrian) and related waste management alternatives (landfill, incineration and valorization) were evaluated under this cradle to gate approach. Results indicated that substantial differences can be observed depending on the origin of the fish. Anchovies landed in Cantabria show a higher value added score at the expense of larger environmental impacts, mainly due to fuel use intensity. Moreover, its environmental scores are lowered when fish residues are valorized into marketable products, while increasing the value added. This study demonstrates the environmental and economic benefits of applying circular economy. According to this, it is possible to introduce the cradle-to-cradle concept in the fish canned industry. The methodology proposed is intended to be useful to decision-makers in the anchovy canning sector and can be applied to other regions and industrial sectors.
Open linkAuthor(s): Diego Aguilar Núñez, Felipe Loo Sánchez.
(Español) Asesor: Ian Vázquez
Tesis para optar el título de Licenciado en Ingeniería Civil
Resumen:
El sector construcción ha tenido un marcado avance en las últimas décadas, el cual es observable en las estadísticas nacionales e internacionales, atrayendo así la inversión y desarrollo urbano en distintas partes del mundo. Este intenso desarrollo trajo al contexto nuevas variables como el agotamiento de recursos y la generación de desperdicios de construcción. Los desperdicios generados por esta actividad, sea por la necesidad de eliminar la infraestructura existente o por el mismo levantamiento de nuevas estructuras, son llamados Residuos de Construcción y Demolición (RCD). Dado el estado actual y a las problemáticas presentadas, es necesario realizar un análisis de los impactos ambientales y de las implicancias económicas referentes a esta actividad. En la presente investigación, con el fin de proponer un método de estimación para hallar los indicadores de eco-eficiencia, bajo el marco de la normativa ISO 14045, se lleva a cabo el análisis de la demolición del antiguo pabellón “B” de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Tal cual se especifica en la normativa ISO, se llevó a cabo un Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV) para los impactos ambientales y para la valoración del sistema se eligió una valoración económica a través de la herramienta del Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Finalmente, combinando estos análisis en la metodología propuesta, dividiendo el impacto de cada categoría entre el costo por impacto hallado, se obtienen los indicadores de ecoeficiencia del proyecto analizado. En cuanto a los resultados, se generó la matriz de los indicadores para cada categoría de impacto. Entre las categorías más resaltantes se evidenció que, para este proyecto de demolición, en la categoría de cambio climático, se emitieron 8.79 kg de CO2 equivalente por cada sol asociado al impacto. Además, en la formación de material particulado, se emitieron 1.34E-03 kg de PM10 equivalente por cada sol asociado a este. Asimismo, se estimó que por cada metro cuadrado demolido se emitieron 38 kg de CO2 equivalente. Los indicadores hallados con la metodología propuesta podrán servir como precedente de evaluación y herramienta de toma de decisión para futuros proyectos de demolición indistintamente de su dimensión o del método de demolición implementado.
Author(s): Doris Ramos Espinoza
(Español) Asesor: Ramzy Kahhat
Tesis para optar el título de Licenciado en Ingeniería Civil
Resumen:
En la actualidad, la problemática ambiental es uno de los principales temas a abordar en diferentes consensos a nivel mundial. La tecnología, el sector energético, el sector construcción, el sector minero y otros han logrado obtener un poderío capaz de imponerse sobre la revolución científica-técnica y racionalidad ambiental. El Perú no es indiferente a la sustantividad del escenario en alusión. El sector construcción en el país es primordial en el impulso de la economía, no obstante es uno de los principales causantes del impacto ambiental negativo por el desorden que generan en dicho aspecto a lo largo del ciclo de vida de un producto de construcción. Ante la situación mencionada, diferentes institutos privados y entidades vienen desarrollando planes de sostenibilidad con el fin de hacer frente a dicha realidad. En contraste, hay una resaltante objeción, en el Perú los estudios ambientales relacionados al sector construcción son limitados. Son los proyectos de obras civiles, electromecánicas y edificaciones los cuales conforman el sector en mención. La presente tesis se centra en la cuantificación del impacto ambiental de una edificación, específicamente de una vivienda unifamiliar ubicada en Cusco, tipo de vivienda que representa el 86% del total de viviendas en el Perú. Para poder estimar el impacto ambiental se utilizó la herramienta denominada Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV) debido a que evalúa los impactos desde la extracción de materias primas útiles para la construcción hasta la demolición o fin de vida. El software utilizado Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings 5.0 basado en la metodología TRACI 2.1 y en su propio inventario, brinda resultados de categorías de impacto como potencial de calentamiento global (PCG), potencial de acidificación (PA), potencial de eutrofización (PE), consumo de energía primaria y otros. Los resultados de las categorías de impacto analizados demuestran que la primera Fase, pre uso, es la que tiene una mayor cantidad de emisión de contaminantes atmosférica que contribuye al PCG, PA, PE. Con respecto al consumo total de energía para la vivienda de 217 m2 construidos es de 3, 023 GJ. De los resultados obtenidos se concluye que se debe tener mayor atención en el proceso de producción de materiales de construcción como cemento, concreto y ladrillos, sin dejar de lado la responsabilidad de consumo de energía durante la operación de la vivienda.
Author(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe y otros
(Español) Urban environments in Latin America must begin decarbonizing their activities to avoid increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions rates due to their reliance on fossil fuel-based energy to support economic growth. In this context, cities in Latin America have high potential to convert sunlight into energy. Hence, the main objective of this study was to determine the potential of electricity self-sufficiency production and mitigation of GHG emissions in three medium-sized cities in Peru through the revalorization of underutilized rooftop areas in urban environments. Each city represented a distinct natural area of Peru: Pacific coast, Andean region and Amazon basin. More specifically, photovoltaic solar systems were the technology selected for implementation in these rooftop areas. Data on incident solar energy, temperature and energy consumption were collected. Thereafter, ArcGis10.3 was used to quantify the total usable area in the cities. A series of correction factors, including tilt, orientation or roof profiles were applied to attain an accurate value of usable area. Finally, Life Cycle Assessment was the methodology chosen to calculate the reduction of environmental impacts as compared to the current context of using electricity from the regional grids. Results showed that the cities assessed have the potential to obtain their entire current electricity demand for residential, commercial and public lighting purposes, augmenting energy security and resilience to intermittent natural disasters, with the support of decentralized storage systems. This approach would also translate into substantial reductions in terms of GHG emissions. Annual reductions in GHG emissions ranged from 112 ton CO2eq in the city of Ayacucho to over 523 kton CO2eq in Pucallpa, showing that cities in the Amazon basin would be the ones that benefit the most in terms of climate change mitigation.
Open linkAuthor(s): Carlos Mesta Cornetero, Ramzy Kahhat Abedrabbo y (Español) otros
(Español) Building stock constitutes a huge repository of construction materials in a city and a potential source for replacing primary resources in the future. This article describes the application of a methodological approach for analyzing the material stock (MS) in buildings and its spatial distribution at a city-wide scale. A young Latin-American city, the city of Chiclayo in Peru, was analyzed by combining geographical information systems (GIS) data, census information, and data collected from different sources. Application of the methodology yielded specific indicators for the physical size of buildings (i.e., gross floor area and number of stories) and their material composition. The overall MS in buildings, in 2007, was estimated at 24.4 million tonnes (Mt), or 47 tonnes per capita. This mass is primarily composed of mineral materials (97.7%), mainly concrete (14.1 Mt), while organic materials (e.g., 0.15 Mt of wood) and metals (e.g., 0.40 Mt of steel) constitute the remaining share (2.3%). Moreover, historical census data and projections were used to evaluate the changes in the MS from 1981 to 2017; showing a 360% increase of the MS in the last 36 years. This study provides essential supporting information for urban planners, helping to provide a better understanding of the availability of resources in the city and its future potential supply for recycling as well as to develop strategies for the management of construction and demolition waste.
Open linkAuthor(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe y otros
(Español) The water footprint profile was analyzed for grape used in vinification in the Ribeiro appellation (Spain) for the period 2000–2009. The ISO 14046 framework was followed to address the quantitative —freshwater scarcity— and qualitative —degradation— water-related impacts from a life cycle perspective. The timeline perspective allowed the analysis of the fluctuation of impacts for this kind of product. For the quantitative blue water-related impacts, the Available WAter REmaining (AWARE) method was implemented to assess the freshwater scarcity impacts, being the selection of characterization factors (CFs) essential to establish the main impact contributors, especially for direct water consumption at spatial scale. Blue water scarcity impact results varied considerably during the period assessed, mainly due to changes in the harvest yield. The impact results obtained from the AWARE method were compared with the results obtained with other water-related impact assessment methods —water stress index and water depletion. The results for both share the same trends as the AWARE method, with direct water consumption representing 30%–40% of the total contributions throughout the assessed period. The green water scarcity footprint was also evaluated, showing that there are perturbations in the production of surface blue water and green moisture recycled to the atmosphere. The sensitivity analysis on green water CFs showed high variations in green water scarcity footprint results, highlighting the relevance of deriving spatially differentiated and crop-specific green water CFs to assess real water consumption impacts on crop fields properly. On-field emissions were the primary responsible for water degradation impacts; in particular, those resulting from fuel consumption, pesticides application and fertilization. The sensitivity analysis conducted for pesticides emissions highlighted the necessity of a consensus dispersion model to address them.
Open linkAuthor(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe y otros
(Español) In a global framework of growing concern for food security and environmental protection, the selection of food products with higher protein content and lower environmental impact is a challenge. To assess the reliability of different strategies along the food supply chain, a measure of food cost through the environmental impact-protein content binomial is necessary. This study proposes a standardized method to calculate the Green Protein Footprint (GPF) index, a method that assesses both the environmental impact of a food product and its protein content provided to consumers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to calculate the environmental impact of the selected food products, and a Life Cycle Protein Assessment (LCPA) was performed by accounting for the protein content along the supply chain. Although the GPF can be applied to all food chain products, this paper is focused on European anchovy-based products for indirect human consumption (fishmeal) and for direct human consumption (fresh, salted and canned anchovies). Moreover, the circular economy concept was applied considering the valorization of the anchovy residues generated during the canning process. These residues were used to produce fishmeal, which was employed in bass aquaculture. Hence, humans are finally consuming fish protein from the residues, closing the loop of the original product life cycle. More elaborated, multi-ingredient food products (salted and canned anchovy products), presented higher GPF values due to higher environmental impacts. Furthermore, the increase of food loss throughout their life cycle caused a decrease in the protein content. Regarding salted and canned products, the packaging was the main hotspot. The influence of the packaging was evaluated using the GPF, reaffirming that plastic was the best alternative. These results highlighted the importance of improving packaging materials in food products.
Open linkAuthor(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe, Gustavo Larrea Gallegos y otros
(Español) Esta publicación académica se realiza en el marco del proyecto "Reducción del impacto ambiental de la Canasta Básica Alimentaria (CBA) en el Perú - WALAYA" Abstract: Food consumption accounts for an important proportion of the world GHG emissions per capita. Previous studies have delved into the nature of dietary patterns, showing that GHG reductions can be achieved in diets if certain foods are consumed rather than other, more GHG intensive products. For instance, vegetarian and low-meat diets have proved to be less carbon intensive than diets that are based on ruminant meat. These environmental patterns, increasingly analyzed in developed nations, are yet to be assessed in countries liked Peru where food purchase represents a relatively high percentage of the average household expenditure, ranging from 38% to 51% of the same. Therefore, food consumption can be identified as a potential way to reduce GHG emissions in Peru. However, the Peruvian government lacks a specific strategy to mitigate emissions in this sector, despite the recent ratification of the Paris Accord. In view of this, the main objective of this study is to analyze the environmental impacts of a set of 47 Peruvian food diet profiles, including geographical and socioeconomic scenarios. In order to do this, Life Cycle Assessment was used as the methodological framework to obtain the overall impacts of the components in the dietary patterns observed and primary data linked to the composition of diets were collected from the Peruvian National Institute for Statistics (INEI). Life cycle inventories for the different products that are part of the Peruvian diet were obtained from a set of previous scientific articles and reports regarding food production. Results were computed using the IPCC 2013 assessment method to estimate GHG emissions. Despite variations in GHG emissions from a geographical perspective, no significant differences were observed between cities located in the three Peruvian natural regions (i.e., coast, Andes and Amazon basin). In contrast, there appears to be a strong, positive correlation between GHG emissions and social expenditure or academic status. When compared to GHG emissions computed in the literature for developed nations, where the average caloric intake is substantially higher, diet-related emissions in Peru were in the low range. Our results could be used as a baseline for policy support to align nutritional and health policies in Peru with the need to reduce the environmental impacts linked to food production.
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