Author(s): Daniel Verán Leigh, Ian Vázquez Rowe
(Español) Purpose: Low-carbon emissions are usually related to hydropower energy, making it an attractive option for nations with hydropower potential as it enables them to meet increasing electricity demand without relying on burning fossil fuels. In fact, the new wave of hydropower plant construction is occurring mainly in tropical areas where an additional environmental impact must be considered: biogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the degradation of biogenic carbon in reservoirs. Peru is planning to install up to 2000 MW in hydropower until 2021, but the input and output flows, as well as the environmental impacts that these generate, have not been explored. Hence, a set of three hydropower plants built in the past decade located in the Peruvian Andes were analyzed from a life cycle perspective. The main objective of the study is to generate detailed life cycle inventories for each of these three hydropower plants with the aim of obtaining specific information for current conditions in Peru. Methods: The life cycle assessment methodology was applied to compute the environmental impacts. Data collection was based mainly on primary data obtained directly from the hydropower companies, although biogenic emissions were modeled considering local net primary productivity conditions and other site-specific conditions. Although the calculation of GHG emissions related to hydropower plants was a priority, considering the important policy implications of decarbonizing the Peruvian electricity grid, other environmental categories, such as eutrophication or the depletion of abiotic resources, were also considered. The IPCC method was used to calculate GHG emissions, whereas a set of eight additional impact categories were computed using the ReCiPe 2016 method. Results and discussion: Results show that GHG emissions per unit of electricity generated were in the lower range of emissions observed in the literature, in all three cases below 3 g CO2eq/kWh. Biogenic emissions represented less than 5% of the total GHG emissions despite their location in a tropical nation, due to the arid conditions of the landscape in the Andean Highlands, as well as the mild temperatures that are present in the reservoirs. In terms of stratospheric ozone depletion, a GHG with ozone depletion properties, N2O, was the main source of impact. Conclusions: The results are intended to be of utility for an array of applications, including relevance in decision-making in the energy sector and policy-making at a national level, considering the implications in terms of meeting the nationally determined contributions to mitigate climate change in the frame of the Treaty of Paris.
Open linkAuthor(s): Daniel Verán Leigh, Gustavo Larrea Gallegos, Ian Vázquez Rowe
(Español) Purpose: Road construction and transportation generate significant environmental impacts. Hence, it is increasingly important to understand the environmental burdens produced throughout the different stages of road development: construction, maintenance, traffic, and end-of-life. In this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) was used as an environmental management methodology to determine the impacts associated with a 22.4 km stretch of the South Pan-American (PS) highway in the province of Lima, Peru, one of the main access routes for traffic and goods entering Lima, located in a hyper-arid area parallel to the Pacific Ocean. Methods: Life cycle modeling included the site-specific estimation of particulate matter emissions due to tire abrasion, brake lining, and road surface dust. In addition, different modeling options for combustion emissions for vehicles were considered. For this, sensitivity and uncertainty analysis were undertaken considering different emission standards and current vehicle fleet characteristics. The impact assessment stage included the calculation of climate change emissions, as well as air quality and abiotic depletion impact categories. Results and discussion: Results demonstrate that environmental impacts are mainly attributable to traffic, representing in all impact categories assessed over 97% of burdens. The sensitivity analysis suggests that the use of secondary data from commonly used life cycle databases is a good proxy for the estimation of global warming potential impacts in the transport sector. However, for air quality categories, important variability was detected based on modeling assumptions. Conclusions: This study intends to serve as a reference for the life cycle modeling of controlled access highways in developing countries, particularly in hyper-arid or desert areas.
Open linkAuthor(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.
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