Assessing the environmental performance of a university campus using a life cycle assessment approach

IF 4.7 3区 环境科学与生态学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Şenay Çetin Doğruparmak, Simge Çankaya, Murat Efgan Kibar, Beyhan Pekey
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Abstract

Universities undertake critical duties in the development of countries and increasing the level of welfare. Therefore, to achieve sustainable development goals, it is important that they focus their efforts on sustainable campus practices and contribution to society. In this work, organizational life cycle assessment was conducted to identify major environmental aspects and the most impactful processes related to the education and research activities of Kocaeli University. Life cycle impact assessment was performed by EF 3.0 method to evaluate sixteen environmental impact categories and they were comparatively assessed for the two scenarios: present situation (PS) and alternative scenario (AS—which includes increasing renewable energy rate in electricity generation). The major environmental aspects were identified as climate change and use of fossil resources. They constituted approximately 41% and 20% of overall environmental burden of the university campus for the year of 2022; respectively. Considering the processes related to the university campus activities, electricity consumption and heating with natural gas were determined as the most impactful processes which accounted for approximately 80% of the overall environmental burden. On the contrary, treatment of wastewater in the biological wastewater treatment plant located on the university campus ensured 6% environmental saving on overall environmental burden. Comparing two scenarios, it was determined that all impact categories decreased in AS compared with PS; except from the impact category for mineral and metal resource use. According to the uncertainty analysis, AS performed better than PS by 60% of the iterations for overall environmental burden.

使用生命周期评估方法评估大学校园的环境绩效
大学在国家的发展和提高福利水平方面承担着重要的责任。因此,为了实现可持续发展的目标,重要的是他们把精力集中在可持续的校园实践和对社会的贡献上。在这项工作中,进行了组织生命周期评价,以确定与Kocaeli大学的教育和研究活动有关的主要环境方面和最具影响力的过程。采用EF 3.0方法对16个环境影响类别进行了生命周期影响评价,并对现状情景(PS)和可替代情景(as)两种情景进行了对比评价。主要的环境因素被确定为气候变化和化石资源的使用。到2022年,它们约占大学校园总环境负担的41%和20%;分别。考虑到与大学校园活动相关的过程,电力消耗和天然气供暖被确定为影响最大的过程,约占整体环境负担的80%。相反,在位于大学校园的生物污水处理厂处理废水,确保整体环境负担节省6%。比较两种情况,确定与PS相比,AS的所有影响类别都有所减少;除矿产和金属资源使用的影响类别外。根据不确定性分析,对于总体环境负担,AS比PS多执行60%的迭代。
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来源期刊
Environment, Development and Sustainability
Environment, Development and Sustainability Economics, Econometrics and Finance-Economics and Econometrics
CiteScore
10.20
自引率
6.10%
发文量
754
期刊介绍: Environment, Development and Sustainability is an international and multidisciplinary journal covering all aspects of the environmental impacts of socio-economic development. It is also concerned with the complex interactions which occur between development and environment, and its purpose is to seek ways and means for achieving sustainability in all human activities aimed at such development. The subject matter of the journal includes the following and related issues: -mutual interactions among society, development and environment, and their implications for sustainable development -technical, economic, ethical and philosophical aspects of sustainable development -global sustainability - the obstacles and ways in which they could be overcome -local and regional sustainability initiatives, their practical implementation, and relevance for use in a wider context -development and application of indicators of sustainability -development, verification, implementation and monitoring of policies for sustainable development -sustainable use of land, water, energy and biological resources in development -impacts of agriculture and forestry activities on soil and aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity -effects of energy use and global climate change on development and sustainability -impacts of population growth and human activities on food and other essential resources for development -role of national and international agencies, and of international aid and trade arrangements in sustainable development -social and cultural contexts of sustainable development -role of education and public awareness in sustainable development -role of political and economic instruments in sustainable development -shortcomings of sustainable development and its alternatives.
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