...Costing Systems 2 Identifying the full range of sustainability impacts a vital stage in better decision making. A number of companies have begun the transition to improved social and environmental cost accounting using methodologies such as activity-based costing (ABC), life-cycle assessment (LCA), and full cost accounting (FCA) (Epstein, 2008). ABC assumes that activities related to products, services, and customers cause the costs. ABC first assigns costs to the activities performed by the organization (direct labor, employee training, regulatory compliance) and then attributes these costs to products, customers, and services based on a cause-and-effect relationship (Epstein, 2008) The main advantages of ABC include an assessment of costs of individual activities, based on their use of resources; accurate costing of activities to be obtained throughout an organization; ease of identification where high (and low) costs are being incurred (and the cause), and serving as a valuable tool for both business and process improvement. It also helps with future product planning; ie: the cost of all activities associated with a product or service can be accurately determined before it is launched. This can then help with determining pricing, and any associated expenditure. However there are disadvantages to ABC as well. It may be difficult to set up or establish, particularly if an organization is using more traditional accounting methodologies. It can be time consuming if...
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...Individual Assignment 2: LCA of two products Life Cycle Assessment of Nissan Cars *ASR: Automobile Shredder Residue. ASR is what remains after material recycling is done to recover as much ferrous and non-ferrous metallic material as possible from the automobile shredder residue. Nissan conducted LCAs since the early 1990s, and made quantitative comparisons to understand the environmental impact of materials that were changed in the following parts. * Radiators * Air conditioners * Front-end modules * Back doors Based on the results of the LCA Project carried out by the LCA Committee of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association from October 1997 to March 2001, Nissan reviewed in-house LCA methods and calculated results for major models. * May 2005: Inventory analysis was certified as being in accordance with the LCA method stipulated in JIS Q14040 by the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry. Models that have undergone LCA: Skyline (made in Japan), Dualis (made in England) To develop more environmentally-friendly vehicles, LCAs are also conducted for new technologies that are introduced. These results are used to achieve the goals set out in the Nissan Green Program 2010* and the Nissan QCT-C* management policy, which clarify our environmental efforts. * *Nissan Green Program 2010: An environmental program that establishes activity plans and specific numerical targets for Nissan to...
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...The Life Cycle Project for Envi Studies 101 – Due April 3, 2013 Part 2 – Supplemental Information RVCC – Spring - 2013 The over-arching concern is where does a product come from, how is it made and used, and where does it ultimately go in old-age? And how do all these stages and elements of the process impact the environment? The real world is also complicated by the fact that it is not just a composite or final product that has a life cycle, but generally a number of the components within the product have a cycle that plays out too. Our goal then is to gain some degree of understanding of how everything we use goes through a chain of causation and usage that has potentially many impacts on resources, human life and planetary ecosystems. One approach to the research component of this project is given further below for a generic cell phone. You don’t have to follow the approach given for your product as long as what you do is logical, reasonably complete, clearly written and covers the key elements in a Life Cycle Analysis, which are: What are 2-3 key raw materials required to make the product? Perhaps Hydrocarbons (oil, coal or natural gas) are needed somewhere in the process of extracting, refining or processing of raw materials. Such carbon resources may be needed to make fuel, electricity, plastics, industrial chemicals, medicines, etc. Perhaps concrete or other industrial materials are required. Ore may be needed and require smelting for metals such...
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...Gurlovleen Mann Operations Management September 10, 2014 Eco Design Eco design is an approach to design of a product with special consideration for the environmental impacts of the product during its whole lifecycle. In a life cycle assessment the life cycle of a product is usually divided into procurement, manufacture, use and disposal. Eco Design products are flexible, reliable, durable, adaptable, modular, dematerialized and reusable. In addition to proving economical reasonability and social compatibility, these products represent an ecological necessity. After watching the video on eco design I have learned a lot about eco design. In video there was information that same as human beings all the products are conceived and born mean that they are made from scratch. They grow same as human beings and also they change. They move around and one day same as human beings they disappear forever. And like all human beings they leave their memories or footprints. They conserve energy, water, and raw and processed material. From one moment to the next they generate noise, vibration, volatile substances and even electromagnetic waves, which can be very harmful for the environment. For example the greenhouse gas effect, water pollution, air pollution and ground pollution.so however we design the products we can predict that impact and keep it to a minimum. But that hasn’t been the case every time. We always been using dangerous and hazardous products all the time....
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...essential vitamins and nutrients that cater to the well being of both adults and children; this includes calcium, vitamins A, B & D. The history of milk began in the Neolithic age (the new stone age), a time when humans started the transition from hunting and gathering to a more settled way of life. Life Cycle of Milk Supply Chain: Environmental and societal impact of Milk; The dairy industry poses a number of challenges to the health of the environment- * Methane emission- this is release from cows’ during the digestion process either by belching or flatulence. Statistics vary on how much methane an average dairy cow expels on a daily basis. Some experts say 100 liters to 200 liters, while others say it's up to 500 liters a day. This amount of methane is comparable to pollution expelled by a vehicle * Carbon emission- according to studies carried out by the U.S dairy carbon footprint study, it showed that carbon footprint of a gallon of milk is approximately 17.6 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents. This will usually occur during milk freight and distribution. * Water pollution-Disposal of organic wastes without treatment leads to pollution of water resources hence, causing a rapid growth of microscopic algae that kill fishes and other aquatic life. Furthermore, ammonia released from manure can lease to acid rain causing environmental harm. * Land conversion - The dairy industry is also responsible for majority of land conversion, particularly in the tropics...
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...Career Counseling Term Paper [SCHOOL NAME HERE] [YOUR NAME HERE] [DATE HERE] Person-in-Environment The person-in-environment theory concentrates on the situation one may find him or herself in over the course of one’s life. For example, various life stages may include preparing to graduate from high school, going into college, graduating from college, getting married, buying a home, having children, and so forth. These various situations impact the person in different ways. Also, the social context in which the person experiences these stages is also relevant. For example, if a person is entering college and is seeking employment in an area in which other people of the same age are not seeking higher education, there will be some conflicting priorities, needs and abilities that the person will encounter and have to cope with. Another term used to describe the person-in-environment theory is “ecological system” (Zunker, 2012, pg. 57). While this term is more commonly used when talking about flora and fauna in the wild, it is very applicable to career counseling as well. The career world is often congruent to that of the animal kingdom. There are hierarchies, competition for resources, and inevitably someone thrives and someone fails. By focusing on this corresponding model as an analogy to how one’s career may evolve over time and through various obstacles, a career counselor can help a person to focus on external issues and how to best handle them. This is...
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...This paper presents a life cycle assessment of beeswax candles in the effort to confirm that beeswax candles are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than other comparable variations. Various types of candles are burned every year by millions of consumers; the United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that candle and incense sales exceeded a million dollars in 1999 (Knight, Levin, & Mendenhall, 2001). Beeswax candles, however, are one of the few sustainable and environmentally friendly types of candles available to consumers. Through the exploration of how the collection beeswax affects bees, the energy used and pollution created through candle production and transportation, and the effects burning candles and their disposal have on the environment, a thorough life cycle assessment will support the claim that beeswax candles are the most sustainable and environmentally friendly candle available on the market. To support the aforementioned claims, the environmental effects of other types of candles will be compared to those of beeswax candles. The collection of beeswax can be traced back millions of years and these traditional ways of beekeeping are still used today (Bradbear, 2009, p.1). Breadbear describes that beekeepers have found that the end of a flowering season is the best time of the year to harvest the honey (2009, p. 42). She explains more thoroughly, The honeycomb can be simply cut into pieces and sold as fresh, cut comb honey. Alternatively...
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...Germany; Phone: +49 821 7000-181; Fax: +49 821 7000-100; Email: ewuerdinger@bifa.de Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 2. HISTORICAL OUTLINE 3. METHODOLOGY OF LCA 4. PRESENTATION OF COMPARATIVE DATA 4.1 STARCH POLYMERS 4.1.1 Starch polymer pellets 4.1.2 Starch polymer loose fills 4.1.3 Starch polymer films and bags 4.1.4 Starch nanoparticles as fillers in tyres 4.2 POLYHYDROXYALKANOATES (PHA) 4.3 POLYLACTIDES (PLA) 4.4 OTHER POLYMERS BASED ON RENEWABLE RESOURCES 4.5 NATURAL FIBRES 5. SUMMARISING COMPARISON 6. DISCUSSION 7. CONCLUSIONS 7.1 7.2 SUMMARY AND FURTHER ELABORATION OF FINDINGS OUTLOOK AND PERSPECTIVES 8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 9. REFERENCES ANNEX 1: OVERVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE CYCLE COMPARISONS FOR BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW ANNEX 2: CHECKLIST FOR THE PREPARATION OF AN LCA FOR BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS a ABS CH4 cm CO2 CR pallet d ECCP EPS eq. g GF pallet GHG GJ ha HDPE kg l LCA LDPE LLDPE MJ m3 MSWI N2O PCL PE PET PHA PHB PLA PVOH PWB PO4 PP PS PVOH PE R&D SO2 TPS year acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene methane centimetre carbon dioxide pallet made of chinareed as reinforcement...
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...Life cycle assessment is internationally used to assess the potential environmental performance of a product from an initial concept to the end of the products life. LCA considers five main areas that include resources, manufacturing, distributions, use, and end of life. Since all products are in some way harmful to the environment, lifecycle analysis helps to determine which products are most harmful based on the resources, energy, and carbon consumed over a products life. Life cycle analysis takes into account the impacts on the environment at each stage of a product’s life cycle, and highlights the stages where it is the most largely affected, which means that more time can be spent designing solutions, rather than finishing the project...
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...Phase 1: Goal The goal of LCA is to assess the potential life cycle environmental impacts associated with the production, use and end-of-life management options for individual types of materials used. This information is used to identify where in which life cycle the main environmental impacts occur. Then, an improvement can be done to minimise the environmental impacts. The intended audience is to the public. The reason is because opinions from the public also can be taken into consideration in making decision when comparing the environmental effects. Phase 1: Scope The time horizon is used as system boundaries in LCA because present and future environmental impact of present-day production and consumption of materials must be considered....
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...Introduction In this decade, the environmental status of earth is frequently debated. The impacts of human activities cause major environmental problems such as greenhouse gases and global warming. Therefore it is essential to find out which of them has major effects on environment. The depletion of natural resources, or other environmental issues demonstrate that there is not enough awareness concerning to consequences of human activity. That is why the term of sustainability was emerged. Carbon footprint and water footprint are special tools to measure the effects on the environment. It is better to have a look to definition of sustainability ; sustainability means use natural recourses by considering future generations demand for natural recourse. In this report, water footprint and carbon footprint are calculated for SMART building. Smart building is new building which was constructed for researchers to study in it and have special smart controller to control the consumption resources in order to optimize energy usage. This report is divided in two parts, carbon footprint calculations and water footprint calculation for major materials and recourses. Methodology and assumption This report is included some calculations based on assumption .Also some information about SMART building has been acquired from the builder. Complementary data, namely embodied factors has been obtained from recent reports and government website. ...
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...Environmental scanning is the first portion to an organization’s strategic management and is very important to the corporation. Environmental scanning is gathering information for the external and the internal of the company. A SWOTT is the best way to gather the information. A SWOTT is determining the strengths, the weaknesses, the opportunities, the threats, and the trends of the organization. Starbucks is a coffee shop that sets out to be different from the competitors. The company does not just focus on coffee but “bring a feeling of connection” to the people. Starbucks mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit- one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time”. Starbucks is a multi-billion dollar corporation and is the go to place if someone is looking for a great cup of coffee. By using an environmental scan and determining strategies the company uses to have competitive advantages will help explain why the company is so successful. Determining the values and what measurement guidelines Starbucks uses will promote how the corporation stands out for the rest of the competitors in the market. The internal and external environments of Levi Strauss and Apple computer describes how each company changed company focus by structuring the position of demographics to gain access to marketing trends and dealings with government regulations. Each company has proven capabilities for the organization’s success and taken responsible infrastructure...
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...Life Cycle Assessment study of starch products for the European starch industry association (AAF): sector study Vercalsteren An, Dils Evelien, Boonen Katrien Study accomplished under the authority of the European starch industry association (AAF) 2011/TEM/R/104 August 2012 All rights, amongst which the copyright, on the materials described in this document rest with the Flemish Institute for Technological Research NV (“VITO”), Boeretang 200, BE-2400 Mol, Register of Legal Entities VAT BE 0244.195.916. Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ________________________________________________________________ 3 List of Figures ___________________________________________________________________ 4 List of Tables ____________________________________________________________________ 5 CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 2.1. 2.2. 2.3. Introduction ________________________________________________________ 7 Definition of goal and scope ___________________________________________ 9 9 9 10 Introduction Goal definition Scope definition CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 4.1. Life cycle data inventory _____________________________________________ 15 life cycle impact assessment __________________________________________ 19 19 LCIA methodology 4.2. Environmental profiles of starch products 20 4.2.1. Environmental profile of native starches _________________________________ 20 4.2.2. Environmental profile of liquid glucose (including Glucose and Fructose syrups) __ 20 4.3. Carbon...
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...DANTES Environmental costs and environmental impacts in a chemical industry eLCC and LCA on two colorants Stefan Bengtsson & Li Sjöborg Product Stewardship & Sustainability Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry April 2004 Preface This report is the result of our master thesis work at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. The project was performed at Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry Sweden and at the department of Environmental System Analysis (ESA) at Chalmers. Sver ker Molander at ESA and Karin Sanne at Akzo Nobel have been the supervisors for this thesis work and we’d like to thank both of them for their support and their many good ideas. Additional thanks goes to the employees at Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry Support Unit Sweden and to everyone we have been in contact with when collecting data to this thesis. Thank you! Göteborg, May 2004 Stefan Bengtsson Li Sjöborg Summary As the awareness of environmental problems increases so does the demands and guidelines from legislations and customers that deal with the environmental problems of the industries products and manufacturing processes. For a large international chemical company such as Akzo Nobel these increasing demands lead to costs for administrative work, taxes, testing, additional staff and investments. The aim of this study is to determine the properties of these “environmental costs” for the products of a chemical company. The study has focused on the production of two colorants. A surfactant (Berol 09)...
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...3 Case study on Plastics : PET Bottle Life Cycle of Plastics Crude Oil Polymer Product Use Waste Recovery Polymer Product Use Overview of PET bottle recycling Containers and Packaging Recycling Law Specified business entities Fiber Industry (wash, crash, melt, spin) Bottle Industry Obligation to recycle Local governments (deporimerization) Consumers Selective collection and storage Selective discarding Players Producers n n n n Plant designers Product designers Energy suppliers Related industrial sectors Consumers Municipal and governmental authorities Waste treatment agencies Role of KIH ‘configuration engine’ To inform players of their role in life cycle as a stakeholder To accumulate knowledge/information of life cycle from information suppliers To interpret massive life cycle data with transparency for rational decision making 1. 2. 3. Overview of PET bottle recycling Containers and Packaging Recycling Law Specified business entities Fiber Industry (wash, crash, melt, spin) Bottle Industry Obligation to recycle Local governments (deporimerization) Consumers Selective collection and storage Selective discarding Objective of this case study To develop a ‘configuration engine’, which takes LCA as an environmental metric concurrently with an economic metric, for chemical process designer, To clarify steps, tools and information in a form of business-model. To show actual design...
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