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NAMUT > Resource efficiency & criticality > Flashcards

Resource efficiency & criticality Flashcards

1
Q

Why is research in terms of efficieny & criticality neccessary?

A
  • demand for resources and their variety has increased due to growing importance for industrial and technological development
  • pollution of environment by littering products
  • social impact of resources extraction & use (e.g., working conditions in mines,…)

–> therefore an efficient use of resources is needed:

  • establish it as a strategy
  • measures to reduce resources use, reduce environmental impacts
  • methods to asses these measures
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2
Q

Why is it important to measure resource efficiency?

A
  • so far only an idea
  • to put it into daily practice, you need ways to “measure” the resource efficiency of products, processes, industries, regions and countries
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3
Q

Where is resource efficieny located with the three aspects of sustainability: environment, social aspects, economy

A
  • within economy & environment
  • resource efficient does not necessarily mean environmentally friendly
  • environmental burden can be outweighed by (economic) value added
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4
Q

What does decoupling mean?

A
  • economic activity (GDP): decouple resource use from economic growth (more value per kilogram)
  • resource use: better eco-efficiency (more value per impact)
  • environmental impact: decouple environmental impact from resource use (less impacts per kilogram)
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5
Q

What is a resource?

A

Material and non-material assets occurring in nature that are at some point in time deemed useful for humans:

  • Raw materials
  • Biomass
  • Environment like water, soil, air
  • Land
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6
Q

what is the formula of resource efficiency?

A

Ratio of economic value added and resources input:

resource efficiency =value added/resource input (use)

Aim: Achieving a value added with the lowest possible resource input

–> results depend HIGHLY on indicator selection (e.g., value added: e.g., price or miles driven; resource input: e.g., CO2 emissions or raw material consumption)

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7
Q

In which categories can resource efficiency be divided?

A

name: xy; economic dimensions; environmental dimension

double loser: no resource efficiency; worse; worse

trade off: weak resource efficiency; worse & better

win-win: sstrong resource efficiency; better; better

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8
Q

How can resource efficiency be measured?

A

In general: added value/resource efficiency

EU level: GDP/DMC (direct material consumption)

Germany: GDP/DMC

Product asssesssment: based on mass, e.g. Virtual water

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9
Q

What are the problems of the resource efficiency calculations?

A
  • Results are easy to communicate but not scientifically valid

–> no cause effect chain to area of protection (e.g., if label says 500 kg of materials has been used you don’t know what materials have been used, how much of which material who have different impacts on environment and resource efficiency)

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10
Q

What are the results of resource efficiency calculation dependent on?

A

1) the definition of resource efficiency
2) the definition of “resource input” (raw material consumption vs raw material consumption & environmental pollution)
3) selection of indicators of quantification of value added & environmental pollution (e.g., car example)

–> concept of resource efficieny is very helpful for sustainable development but harmonizing terminologies & calculation methods are needed

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11
Q

Explain the example of rare earthin regard to resource criticality.

A
  • china dominates market –> situation is relaxed but Europe is still dependend on China and USA
  • Rare earths are indispensable in the high technology industry, e.g. PC, batteries, e-mobility
  • Rare earths can not usually be substituted by other metals
  • Recycling rare earth products is technically and economically difficult
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12
Q

What is the definition of resource criticality?

A

risk of supply disruption & vulnerability (potential socioeconomic impacts of supply disruption) to it

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13
Q

What is a supply risk?

A

• Possible restrictions along the supply chain can lead to limited availability of resources

–e.g., Coltan is extracted in political instable countries e.g. Congo.

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14
Q

What does vulnerability mean?

A

How severe are the Impacts of supply disruption for a country or company:

• Examples:

  • Import dependency (e.g., dependency of Germany on oil)
  • Economic importance (e.g., oil, coal, gas..
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15
Q

What are the different levels to assess criticality?

A

Macro level (country, regional)

Meso level (company) (works the same way as macro and micro level)

Micro level (product)

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16
Q

What are two methods to assess criticality on product level within LCA?

A
  • Geopolitical Supply Risk (GeoPolRisk); University of Augsburg and Waterloo
  • ESSENZ method developed by Bach et al. (2016) - TUB SEE

• Not only abiotic (e.g., fossil energy carriers) but also biotic resources (biomass) can be critical

17
Q

Explain Criticality assessment on country level.

A

• Many studies exist, from & for different countries

–European study:

  • Vulnerability: Economic importance
  • Supply risk: concentration of primary supply from raw materials producing countries, considering their governance performance and trade aspects.

or SCARCE developed by TUB

  • -> considered more indicators than in the European studies
  • -> petroleum oil had the highest criticality
18
Q

What is the definition of the ESSENZ method?

A

“Integrated method to comprehensively assess/measure resource efficiency“

19
Q

What are the goals to develop this method?

A

–Multidimensional evaluation beyond the mass of products

–> All sustainability dimensions are considered: also social aspects

–Several industrial sectors

–Applicable indicators (companies can apply them without a lot of effort

–Considering the entire supply chain

20
Q

What are the three sustainability dimensions of ESSENZ?

A
  • social
  • economic
  • environmental
21
Q

What are the dimensions of resource efficiency and the considered categories in regard to the environmental dimension?

ESSENZ

A

dimension of resource efficiency: environmental impacts

considered categories: climate change, eutrophication, acidification, ozone layer depletion, smog

  • -> assessment is done using LCA
  • -> method: CML-IA
22
Q

What are the dimensions of resource efficiency and the considered categories in regard to the economic dimension?

ESSENZ

A

dimension of resource efficiency: physical & socio-economic availability

considered categories:
physical: abiotic resource depletion

socio-economic availability:
e.g., the concentration of reserves, production companies (the more countries have metal reserves or produce the material the lower the supply risk), companion metal, trade barriers (China imposed export restrictions, leading to high price increases and thus shortages in many companies/countries), political stability (war, revolution…),…

23
Q

Explain physical availability.

ESSENZ

A

• Consists of geological availability…
–Metals in the earth crusts
–Can be extracted and used for products
–> Resource deposits affect availability significantly

• Anthropogenic availability…

–Metals in the technosphere as a result of years of resource extraction
–Big parts of anthropogenic stocks can be recovered (urban mining)
–In some cases, anthropogenic stocks are just as large as geological stocks (e.g., copper)
–> Anthropogenic stocks affect resource availability significantly

24
Q

Explain socio-economic availability.

ESSENZ

A
  • -> Is the criticality assessment of ESSENZ
  • -> same as supply risk

• Possible restrictions along the supply chain can lead to limited availability of resources (E.g. existing structures like politically unstable regimes)

–Coltan is extracted in politically unstable countries e.g. Congo.

25
Q

What are the dimensions of resource efficiency and the considered categories in regard to the social dimension?

ESSENZ

A

dimension of resource efficiency: social acceptance

considered categories:
compliance with social & environmental standards

26
Q

Explain social acceptance?

ESSENZ

A

–Screening factors for social compliance: Child labor, forced labor and conflict zones

–Screening factors for environmental compliance are determined with help of Environmental performance Index

–Social and environmental aspects of the product, e.g. used materials, is getting more and more important for consumer

–When social and environmental standards are violated -> consumer boykott

27
Q

What are the characteristics of ESSENZ?

A
  • method to assess product systems →use of mineral resources in products
  • global method →can be applied by companies all over the world and/or with different production locations
  • -> Import shares are not considered – one set of indicators for all countries
  • provides characterization factors (analogue to LCA) for 45 mineral resources (metals, minerals and fossil fuels)
  • -> results are updated regularly
  • CFs have to be multiplied with the Bill of Material (= amount of materials the product consists of)
    –-> CF x inventory flow

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