Author(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe, Ramzy Kahhat Abedrabbo, Gustavo Larrea Gallegos, Kurt Ziegler Rodríguez
(Español) Most developing nations have had to perform a swift transition from the voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation actions engaged in the Copenhagen Accord, to the relatively ambitious mitigations signed in the frame of the Paris Agreement. Consequently, Peru is currently creating its national structure to combat climate change through mitigation and adaptation actions. Nationally-determined contributions (NDCs) are the planned interventions that nations report for intended reductions in GHG emissions. In fact, Peru has now committed to reduce its annual GHG emissions by 30% in 2030 with respect to a business-as-usual estimation for that same year. The 76 NDCs have been divided into six main sectors: energy, transport, industrial processes, agriculture, forestry and waste. In this context, the main goal of this study is to provide a critical review of the validity and effectiveness of current mitigation NDCs proposed by the Peruvian government to comply with the Paris Agreement. Moreover, the analysis is accompanied by a discussion on how the use of life-cycle methods, namely Life Cycle Assessment, can be of utility in terms of policy support to evaluate the mitigation potential of these NDCs, as well as in the identification of additional contributions in sectors where the mitigation potential has been obviated. The expansion of system boundaries beyond the national context to account for the globalized nature of current market flows or the modelling of indirect impacts of a particular policy appear as relevant advantages of including life-cycle methods in public climate policy. The analysis, which is intended to be of utility to policy-makers in Peru and in other developing and emerging economies across the world, suggests that life-cycle methods arise as adequate tools to monitor the environmental appropriateness of adopting or adapting low-carbon technology to the local context.
Open linkAuthor(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe, Kurt Ziegler Rodríguez, Isabel Quispe Trinidad, Ramzy Kahhat Abedrabbo y otros
(Español) Cement production is one of the main drivers of the construction sector worldwide. While cement demand has plateaued in many developed nations recently, several emerging and developing economies have experienced important increases in demand. This is the case of Peru, a nation with a growing economy and a high demand for seismic-resistant infrastructures and housing. Recent estimates have shown that cement is responsible for approximately 5–10% of worldwide anthropogenic CO2 emissions, of which more than half are linked to the production of clinker, due to the use of fossil fuels and direct clinkering emissions. To face this concern in the Peruvian context, producing a more sustainable product with improved environmental performance, it is necessary to first understand the environmental profile of current production standards. Therefore, this study analyzed the environmental impacts, specifically climate change, of cement production in three relevant national cement plants to identify the main greenhouse gas mitigation strategies throughout the whole supply chain. Three different types of cement produced in the three different plants were analyzed: ordinary Portland cement, cement with added natural pozzolan and cement with added blast furnace slag. Life Cycle Assessment was used to quantify the GHG emissions linked to the production of one standard bag of cement. Although results were in the lower range as compared to the literature, these varied significantly across the cement plants, reaffirming that Portland cement tends to have higher global warming impacts than when blended cement is produced, although the energy carrier for the kiln or the import of clinker can have an influence on the final results.
Open linkAuthor(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe y otros
(Español) Feeding the world’s population sustainably is a major challenge of our society, and was stated as one of the key priorities for development cooperation by the European Union (EU) policy framework on food security. However, with the current trend of natural resource exploitation, food systems consume around 30% of final energy use, generating up to 30% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Given the expected increase of global population (nine billion people by 2050) and the amount of food losses and waste generated (one-third of global food production), improving the efficiency of food systems along the supply chain is essential to ensure food security. This study combines life-cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiency of Spanish agri-food system and to propose improvement actions in order to reduce energy usage and GHG emissions. An average energy saving of approximately 70% is estimated for the Spanish agri-food system in order to be efficient. This study highlights the importance of the DEA method as a tool for energy optimization, identifying efficient and inefficient food systems. This approach could be adopted by administrations, policy-makers, and producers as a helpful instrument to support decision-making and improve the sustainability of agri-food systems.
Open linkAuthor(s): Marco Gusukuma Higa, Ramzy Kahhat Abedrabbo
(Español) As with every technology, televisions (TV) are prone to replacement due to technological evolution of the equipment itself (e.g. CRTs to flat panels) or the system (e.g. signal). While the former is commonly a gradual change that depends on the consumer, the latter could be sudden, as it depends on national regulations. When an abrupt change happens, it can generate an abnormal volume of equipment at the end of life. Thus, the principal motivation of this research is to estimate the amount of CRT TV sets that will be stored by users in 2025, the end of the analog switch-off (ASO) in Peru. Dynamic Material Flow Analysis (D-MFA) was applied to estimate flows and stocks of CRTs from residential, business and public sources between 2005 and 2017. Because of data constraints in the Business and Public (B&P) sector, two scenarios were modeled to lower the uncertainty of the estimated number of TV sets. Results show that between 2.6 and 5.7 million CRT TV units, equivalent to 41,100 and 68,200 metric tons of leaded glass and 4500 and 8000 metric tons of lead, were placed in residential and B&P facilities in 2017 and will have become obsolete at the end of ASO. Projections for 2025, the final ASO year, indicate that between 0.27 and 5.86 million CRT TV units will be stored in those places. If planned correctly, resources embedded in CRT TV could create an urban mining opportunity, but an inadequate waste management plan that excludes appropriate recycling technologies could generate significant environmental impacts.
Open linkAuthor(s): Isabel Quispe Trinidad, Ramzy Kahhat Abedrabbo y otros
(Español) Energy consumption linked to non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and increases resource depletion. In this context, the use of agricultural solid residues such as rice husk, coffee husk, wheat straw, sugar cane bagasse, among others, has been widely studied as an alternative energy source in order to decrease the use of fossil fuels. In Peru, up to 693,308 metric tons of rice husk is generated annually and at present, 85% is burned in the open air or disposed in rivers, harming human health and contaminating our environment. On the other hand, official Peruvian energy policy is to incorporate the use of renewable energy sources, such as agricultural residues. Consequently, the aim of the study is to perform a technical and environmental assessment of the production of energy from rice husk as an alternative energy source to coal in Peru. Rice husk from Peru was characterized to identify its physical properties and chemical composition. In order to perform the environmental assessment, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was employed. LCA is a standardized methodology to identify and quantify the environmental impacts from initial obtention of materials, through production, distribution and use to final disposal (ISO 14040, 2006 and ISO 14044, 2006). Four scenarios were evaluated, varying in paddy rice yield and dryer efficiency. The results show that the environmental impacts to obtain 1 MJ from rice husk, including elements in the global warming, acidification and eutrophication categories, are less than that from 1 MJ obtained from coal, 97%, 88% and 80% less, respectively. However, the opposite was found in water depletion, with the use of coal to generate heat having a 98% better impact over rice husk.
Open linkAuthor(s): Gustavo Larrea Gallegos, Ian Vázquez Rowe, Ramzy Kahhat Abedrabbo y otros
(Español) Demand for grapes to produce pisco in southern-coastal Peru is expected to double by 2030. However, the appellation of this beverage confines the production and limits the space for agricultural expansion, leading to a situation in which potential competition for resources with established constraints is foreseen. Hence, the objective of this study is to understand the environmental impacts, focused on climate change and water consumption, linked to the agricultural dynamism in the valleys of Ica and Pisco due to an increase in the demand of pisco. For this, the viticulture system was analyzed regarding predicted changes in terms of expansion, displacement or intensification using a consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) approach, identifying the environmental consequences of these shifts. A two-step CLCA model was used based on the results of a previous attributional study, in which marginal effects were estimated following the stochastic technology-of-choice model (STCM) operational framework. Results identified a potential for the increase of pisco production based on crop substitution in the valleys of Ica and Pisco and suggest that greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption will be reduced locally, but the displaced agricultural production would reverse this tendency. Regardless of the policy implications of the results in the analyzed system, the proposed methodology constitutes a robust methodology that can be applied to other highly constrained agricultural systems, namely, those regulated by geographic indications.
Open linkAuthor(s): Karin Bartl y (Español) otros
(Español) The objective of this study was to determine and to compare the Carbon Footprint (CF) of the coffee roasting process carried out by using two technologies with different sources of energy. To this aim, two coffee roasting companies were selected in the rainforest of Peru. These companies apply concentrated solar and photovoltaic energy, and electricity from the local grid as source of energy during the coffee roasting process. For this determination, primary data was collected from the two companies located in the province of Satipo, Junin, Peru. The information obtained was analyzed according to the procedures and requirements of ISO 14040 (Life Cycle Analysis) to obtain the carbon footprint, and then processed with the software "SimaPro" to evaluate the environmental impacts due to the effect of climate change. The results indicated a CF of the solar energy roasting process of 0.318 and a CF of the local electricity grid production of 0.744 kg CO2-eq per kg of roasted coffee. This represents a difference in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of 134%. Within the factory activities, the stage with the highest environmental impact or "hotspot" was the roasting stage, where the most sophisticated machines are used and generated emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. From this, proposals and recommendations to improve the strategies include an approach to clean technologies for a sustainable development in the sector, among others.
Download publication (309.21 KB)Author(s): Ian Vázquez Rowe y (Español) otros
(Español) Reducing food losses (FL) has been identified as an essential means of increasing food security, while reducing pressure on natural resources. To assess the reliability of future strategies to reduce and manage FL along the food supply chain (FSC), not only their quantification but also the ‘qualification’ in both economic and nutritional terms must be considered. The methodology proposed in this work allows to quantify FL at the distinct stages of the FSC (agricultural production, postharvest and storage, processing, distribution, households and extradomestic consumption). In addition, economic and nutritional FL are estimated. A Nutritional Food Losses Footprint (NFLF) index is proposed to assess and balance the variables described. This index is used to define food recovery strategies focused on those food categories and stages of the FSC with lesser efficiency. NFLF distinguishes between food losses from cradle to gate (FL-ctog) and food losses from gate to grave (FL-gtog) depending on the scope of the analysis. The former provides information to producers, while the latter creates awareness among consumers. Furthermore, the potential for FL reduction is estimated through the quantification of avoidable and unavoidable FL. Our study is focused on the Mediterranean region, in particular on Spain. Almost 20% of the national food production is estimated to be lost or wasted. Vegetables, fruits and meat result the food categories less efficient. Household consumption is the main responsible of FL generation, followed by agricultural production. Each Spanish citizen is estimated to throw away around 180€ per year, while a 76% could be saved.
Open link