The environmental impacts of global food supply chains are growing with the need for their measurement and management. This paper explores the operations of a global supply chain for extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) according to a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The LCA assessment...

Using life cycle assessment methodology, this analysis evaluates how two carbon reduction strategies affect cotton plantings regionally and methods used to produce cotton. Because cotton production emits large amounts of carbon, the design of a reduction policy as either excluding soil...

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied to estimate the <i>cradle-to-grave</i> environmental impact of agricultural products or processes. Furthermore, including in the analysis an economic evaluation, from the perspective of an integrated life...

Stand-alone environmental indicators based on life cycle assessment (LCA), such as the carbon footprint and water footprint, are becoming increasingly popular as a means of directing sustainable production and consumption. However, individually, these metrics violate the principle of LCA known...

The purpose of this study is to evaluate ethanol cost- effectiveness with regards to carbon dioxide emissions. Actually, bio-fuel production is only viable thanks to the tax credit policy resulting in economic ‘deadweight’ loss. The environmental performance is assessed under the Life Cycle...

A more objective method for measuring the energy needs of businesses, System Energy Assessment (SEA), measures the combined impacts of material supply chains and service supply chains, to assess businesses as whole self-managing net-energy systems. The method is demonstrated using a model Wind...

Many European municipalities develop energy supply concepts based on renewable energies to reduce energy related greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate regional and rural economies. Improvement of security of supply using regional energy sources is an additional motivation for renewable energy...

This paper assesses and compares existing and new technologies for space heating in Germany (e.g., heat pumps, and solar thermal and wood pellet systems) in terms of their environmental impacts. The various technologies were analyzed within the context of the new German legislation. The...

Forest sustainability and forest certification are important natural resource management and environmental issues. Forest certification addresses the social and environmental issues in the acquisition of raw materials (e.g., lumber to be used in the building process). Life cycle assessment is a...

As freshwater is a vital yet often scarce resource, the life cycle assessment community has put great efforts in method development to properly address water use. The International Organization for Standardization has recently even launched a project aiming at creating an international standard...