NDLI: Environmental and economic assessment of utility poles using life cycle approach

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Lu, Hangyong Ray El Hanandeh, Ali
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	Due to increasing demand for utility poles and the banning of native forests logging in Australia, it is necessary to find sustainable alternatives to roundwood utility poles. Currently, steel and concrete are the most common alternatives. Veneer-based composite (VBC) is a newly developed product made from hardwood plantation mid-thinning. To assess the viability of VBC, comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) analysis were conducted. Two end-of-life scenarios for VBC pole were assessed: incineration with energy recovery and landfilling. Five impact categories were considered: global warming (GWP); acidification (AP); eutrophication (EP); fossil depletion (FDP) and human toxicity (HTP). VBC pole with incineration showed the best environmental performance, particularly on GWP (63.22 kg-CO2-eq), AP (0.29 kg-SO2-eq), FDP (30.78 kg-Oil-eq) and HTP (2.27 kg-1,4-DB-eq), which are less than half of concrete and steel poles. However, VBC had higher EP than concrete and steel due to use of adhesives and preservatives. VBC pole also had the lowest LCC ($1529), due to use of low-value materials and lower manufacturing cost. The LCC showed that both VBC scenarios performed equally on economic grounds. Sensitivity analysis showed that service life was the most sensitive parameter affecting both environmental and economic results, especially the VBC. Transportation distances and fossil fuel consumption also had significant effects on LCA result. Monte Carlo analysis further revealed that despite the high levels of uncertainties in the input parameters, the overall ranking of the options remained the same with VBC being the best performer and concrete the least.
Starting Page	1047
Ending Page	1066
Page Count	20
File Format	PDF
ISSN	1618954X
Journal	Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy
Volume Number	19
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	16189558
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2016-10-26
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	VBC Concrete Steel Pole LCA LCC Sustainable Development Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Industrial and Production Engineering Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology Environmental Economics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Environmental Chemistry Environmental Engineering Economics and Econometrics Business, Management and Accounting Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

The use of life cycle tools to support decision making for sustainable nanotechnologies

Development of impact assessment methodologies for environmental sustainability

Emergy-based life cycle assessment (Em-LCA) for sustainability appraisal of infrastructure systems: a case study on paved roads

Life cycle impact assessment research developments and needs

Environmental management of bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration based on a life cycle assessment approach

Using eco-efficiency in sustainable supply chain management; a case study of furniture production

Sustainability assessment of Ricinus communis biodiesel using LCA Approach

LCA and LCC of the world’s longest pier: a case study on nickel-containing stainless steel rebar

Comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of bio-oil production from fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB)

Environmental and economic assessment of utility poles using life cycle approach

Similar Documents

The use of life cycle tools to support decision making for sustainable nanotechnologies

Development of impact assessment methodologies for environmental sustainability

Emergy-based life cycle assessment (Em-LCA) for sustainability appraisal of infrastructure systems: a case study on paved roads

Life cycle impact assessment research developments and needs

Environmental management of bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration based on a life cycle assessment approach

Using eco-efficiency in sustainable supply chain management; a case study of furniture production

Sustainability assessment of Ricinus communis biodiesel using LCA Approach

LCA and LCC of the world’s longest pier: a case study on nickel-containing stainless steel rebar

Comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of bio-oil production from fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB)

Environmental and economic assessment of utility poles using life cycle approach