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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): principles and practical implications for industrial projects This article discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of the application of the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. LCA enables to consider the environmental impacts of the whole production system, including upstream and downstream processes and to estimate their consequences already at the project planning stage. It was illustrated using the case study of the planned furniture production plant representing the industrial sector. The conventional simplified cradle-to-gate LCA analysis, using SimaPro software and the ReCiPe Endpoint method, was performed. It revealed that unlike the findings of EIA made with the support of traditional methods, not waste, airborne emissions and noise, but the particleboard and the fibreboard used by the planned furniture production plant have the most detrimental impact on the environment in all impact categories. The greatest damage it causes in the areas of protection of resources followed by ecosystems. The research proved high applicability of EIALCA approach for the evaluation of the environmental impacts of planned industrial projects.

This article examines the concept of eco-efficiency at a regional level as an approach to promote the sustainable transformation of regions, using the regions of Poland as an example. The combined application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) – the input-oriented BCC (Banker/Charnes/Cooper) model – has been chosen as a tool for the comprehensive eco-efficiency assessment, due to its high capability to measure regional eco-efficiency. The ultimate goal of this approach is to support the strategic decision-making process. The research brings numerous findings. Firstly, it exposes that four (Mazowieckie, Podlaskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie and Wielkopolskie) of the sixteen Polish regions are being relatively eco-efficient. Certainly, the fact that agriculture and services contribute the most to the creation of GDP in these regions has an influence on the achieved results. Secondly, the study proves that Śląskie region, having the most detrimental impact on the environment in all areas of protection, i.e. human health 0.127 DALY·ha−1, ecosystems 0.000557 SPECIES.YR·ha−1 and resources 3009 $·ha−1, is the most eco-inefficient. The causes of the observed eco-inefficiency of Polish regions are also explored, with the conclusion that the fundamental ones are cumulative airborne emissions (primarily carbon dioxide) and the excessive consumption of fuels, energy and heat in relation to the produced value of goods and services. Finally, heavy industry remains a basic source of environmental pressure and thus the decision makers ought to pay greater attention to the implementation of the best available techniques.

The inverse problem of life cycle assessment, used in designing for environment, is about determining the optimal values of environmental inputs that provide the required environmental impacts. The notion of the inverse problem of life cycle assessment is explained here using a case study of a coffee machine (abstract model SimaPro, based on models Sima and Pro described in SimaPro 8.1 software). The dependencies between input and output signals were defined by nonlinear functions of several variables. Next, linearization was used and coefficient aki was calculated. On the basis of 3 hypothetical experiments, recommendations have been made on the reduction of the value of the factors that are the most detrimental for the environment: the consumption of aluminium, electricity, and paper for coffee filters, for the analysed product. The results prove the high applicability and usefulness of the proposed approach during environmental evaluation and enhancement of products over the full product life cycle.

This paper evaluates the eco-efficiency performance of agriculture at the sector level using the joint application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques. The research has been performed for the agricultural production of the 28 member states of the European Union (the EU-28). The foundation for the calculation of the eco-efficiency performance was a statistically selected set of impact categories derived from the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase as input values and economic indicators, with the gross domestic product (GDP) of their agriculture as the output value. The results of the analysis showed that the agricultural sectors of 10 member states of the European Union (i.e., Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, and Sweden) are relatively eco-efficient. The remaining 18 member states of the EU-28 have eco-inefficient agricultural sectors, though to a varying extent. This means that their agricultural sectors consume too many natural resources (in particular, energy), use too much fertilizer, and produce considerable amounts of airborne emissions in relation to the current level of GDP per hectare. These insights into the eco-efficiency performance of agriculture in the EU-28 may contribute to the adoption of better management techniques and more effective agricultural policies.

Received: 22 April 2015 Abstract Accepted: 7 July 2015 The aim of this work is to compare the environmental impacts of two production processes of tissue paper using virgin pulp (virgin fiber) or waste paper pulp (recycled fiber). This comparison is based on the materials and energy used as well as emissions and waste resulting from the production of tissue paper. Life cycle assessment (LCA), ReCiPe method, was chosen as the analysis tool. The results of the research proved that electricity has the most considerable participation in the overall environmental impacts in both production processes, followed by either virgin pulp or heat. Consequently, these two production processes are the greatest contributors to the following midpoint environmental impact categories: human toxicity, climate change, human health and ecosystems, and fossil depletion. The analysis based on endpoint impact categories proved that the production process based on waste paper is more environmentally friendly than the one based on virgin pulp in all impact categories: human health, ecosystems, resources. This is largely because of its lower material and energy requirements in the entire life cycle. Due to the fact that the tissue paper is the final use of fiber, using recycled waste paper is strongly recommended. The obtained research results are a valuable source of management information for the decision makers at both company and national levels required to improve the environmental performance of tissue paper production.