PMID: 16509298Mar 3, 2006Paper

Is cumulative fossil energy demand a useful indicator for the environmental performance of products?

Environmental Science & Technology
Mark A J HuijbregtsJaap Struijs

Abstract

The appropriateness of the fossil Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) as an indicator for the environmental performance of products and processes is explored with a regression analysis between the environmental life-cycle impacts and fossil CEDs of 1218 products, divided into the product categories "energy production", "material production", "transport", and "waste treatment". Our results show that, for all product groups but waste treatment, the fossil CED correlates well with most impact categories, such as global warming, resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication, tropospheric ozone formation, ozone depletion, and human toxicity (explained variance between 46% and 100%). We conclude that the use of fossil fuels is an important driver of several environmental impacts and thereby indicative for many environmental problems. It maytherefore serve as a screening indicatorfor environmental performance. However, the usefulness of fossil CED as a stand-alone indicator for environmental impact is limited by the large uncertainty in the product-specific fossil CED-based impact scores (larger than a factor of 10 for the majority of the impact categories; 95% confidence interval). A major reason for this high uncertainty is nonfossil...Continue Reading

References

Jun 29, 2002·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Mathis WackernagelJørgen Randers

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Citations

Mar 27, 2012·Environmental Science & Technology·Alexis LaurentMichael Z Hauschild
Sep 11, 2014·Environmental Science & Technology·Jakob T RørbechThomas F Astrup
Sep 1, 2009·Journal of Environmental Management·Göran FinnvedenSangwon Suh
Mar 11, 2016·Environmental Science & Technology·Zoran J N SteinmannMark A J Huijbregts
Dec 29, 2013·Waste Management·Alexis LaurentThomas H Christensen
May 15, 2013·Journal of Environmental Management·Mathieu VigneJean-Louis Peyraud
Nov 10, 2015·Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management·Rickard Arvidsson, Magdalena Svanström
Oct 20, 2012·American Journal of Public Health·Lawrence H BrownDeon V Canyon
Jan 16, 2015·Environmental Science & Technology·Erinn G RyenEric Williams
Jul 26, 2018·Waste Management & Research : the Journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA·Francesco Di Maria, Federico Sisani
Feb 7, 2015·Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management·Hanna L TuomistoPalle Haastrup
Aug 29, 2007·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Llorenç Milà i CanalsLauren Basson
Apr 7, 2020·Journal of Environmental Management·Shahana Y JanjuaWahidul K Biswas
Mar 7, 2021·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Luis CarralAlicia Munín Doce
Nov 14, 2020·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Nam-Chol OSong-Il Kim
Jan 30, 2010·Environmental Science & Technology·Mark A J HuijbregtsA Jan Hendriks
Sep 20, 2008·Environmental Science & Technology·Gregor WernetKonrad Hungerbühler
Apr 14, 2021·Waste Management & Research : the Journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA·Federico SisaniFrancesco Di Maria
Jul 30, 2010·Environmental Science & Technology·Scott M KaufmanNickolas J Themelis
Dec 17, 2008·Environmental Science & Technology·Scott KaufmanHelmut Rechberger
Sep 28, 2010·Environmental Science & Technology·Michaelangelo D TaboneAmy E Landis
May 6, 2015·Environmental Science & Technology·Rickard ArvidssonMagdalena Svanström
Dec 15, 2012·Environmental Science & Technology·Deborah L SillsJefferson W Tester

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