NDLI: Vehicle manufacturing water use and consumption: an analysis based on data in automotive manufacturers’ sustainability reports

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Semmens, John Bras, Bert Guldberg, Tina
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	The goal of this study is to develop an estimate of water use and consumption in automotive manufacturing to enhance the data quality of vehicle life cycle assessments that include life cycle water impacts. A benchmark is developed to compare water resources across manufacturing and nonproduction-related manufacturing processes, including an indication whether indirect water consumption due to electricity generation is significant.Data from 12 original equipment manufacturers’ (OEM’s) sustainability reports are examined for the years 2006 to 2010. Distinctions are made between “water use” and “water consumption.” These factors are divided by total reported production to develop use and consumption values in cubic meter/vehicle for comparison. Additionally, total energy consumption is converted to indirect water consumption based on the water consumed in the generation of electricity for the electricity grid mix.Excluding outliers, average direct water use is 5.20 and 5.95 m$^{3}$/vehicle for manufacturing and company-wide activities, respectively, with corresponding standard deviations of 1.42 and 1.20 m$^{3}$/vehicle. Average direct water consumption was calculated to be 1.25 and 4.29 m$^{3}$/vehicle for manufacturing and company-wide activities, respectively, with corresponding standard deviations of 0.52 and 1.56 m$^{3}$/vehicle. Average indirect water consumption due to electricity consumption is found to be 2.21 m$^{3}$/vehicle. Variability arises through different understandings on the words “consumption” and “use,” reporting continuity between years and in classification of data as it relates to manufacturing, nonmanufacturing, or company-wide activities.These water values show that needs vary widely across OEMs. Additionally, the magnitude of the indirect water consumption results indicates that OEMs should focus on both indirect and direct water consumption to reduce their overall water footprint. The results also highlight the potential for significance and variability in indirect water consumption, in particular for “cradle-to-gate” type of impact assessments, dependent on electricity generation water consumption assumptions. It is hoped that with the introduction of water reporting standards like the International Organization of Standardization 14046, manufacturers will provide a more comprehensive summary of their water use and consumption in the future.
Starting Page	246
Ending Page	256
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09483349
Journal	The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Volume Number	19
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	16147502
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2013-06-18
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Automotive Electricity Inventory Water consumption Water use Environment Environmental Economics Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology Environmental Chemistry
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Environmental Science

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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
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