Transcript Energy Efficiency through Product & Process Design

This project has been assisted by
the New South Wales Government
through its Energy Efficiency Training Program
Energy Efficiency
through Product & Process
Design
Prepared by
Prepared by Plastics Industry Manufacturers of Australia (PIMA)
in partnership with Australian Management Academy (AMA);
executed in collaboration with EcoProducts
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Office of Environment and Heritage, Department of Premier and Cabinet
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Energy Efficiency
through Product & Process
Design
Module 4 – Life Cycle Thinking
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Products Agency
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Key Points
1. Products have a life cycle from production
through to disposal (cradle-to-grave)
2. Environmental impacts occur throughout the
life cycle
3. Thinking through the life cycle is useful for
reducing environmental impacts
4. There are potential benefits beyond energy
cost reductions in manufacturing
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Products Agency
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Product Life Cycle
Recycling
Feedstocks
Polymer
Primary
Manufacturing Processing
Secondary
Processing
DIstribution
Use
Disposal
Landfill
Production Phase
Use Phase
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Products Agency
End-ofLife
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Life Cycle Thinking
"Consumers are increasingly interested in the world
behind the product they buy. Life Cycle Thinking implies
that everyone in the whole chain of a product's life cycle,
from cradle to grave, has a responsibility and a role to
play, taking into account all the relevant external effects.
The impacts of all life cycle stages need to be considered
comprehensively when taking informed decisions on
production and consumption patterns, policies and
management strategies.”
- Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, UNEP
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Life Cycle Thinking
• Looks at the whole product life cycle
• Seeks to understand a product’s life cycle in
relation to environmental impacts to:
– Understand sources of environmental impacts
– Compare alternative products and processes
– Identify key opportunities for improvements in
environmental performance
– Avoid ‘burden shifting’
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Products Agency
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Why Does LCT Matter?
1. Marketing
– Customers are increasingly concerned about
environmental impacts
– Positive message around environmental performance
– 'Green' procurement policies
– Selling energy savings or lower carbon
footprint down the supply chain
– Eco-labels
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Products Agency
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Why Does LCT Matter?
2. Environmental Obligations
– Energy Efficiency Obligations Act
• for large companies
– Australian Packaging Covenant
• Sustainable Packaging Guidelines promote a life cycle
approach
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Products Agency
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Why Does LCT Matter?
3. Corporate Responsibility
– Assists in identifying the most important areas for
improvement
– Allows measurement of improvement
– Avoids ‘burden shifting’
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Products Agency
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Tools for Assessing
Environmental Impact
• There are several methods to assess the
environmental impact of a product:
–
–
–
–
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Streamlined LCA
Carbon Footprint
Embodied Energy
• Applied over all or part of the life cycle
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Products Agency
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Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA)
• A method for “environmental accounting”
– Create inventory of inputs and outputs
– Calculate indicators of environmental impact
•
•
•
•
Multiple-criteria assessment
ISO 14040 - 14044 standards
Time and information intensive
Still requires interpretation and
value-based judgments
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Products Agency
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Streamlined LCA
• Due to complexity of full LCA, some
assessments use only particular environmental
indicators
– Embodied water
– Embodied energy
– Carbon footprint (Greenhouse gas emissions)
• May only measure part of the life cycle
“Cradle-to-gate”
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e.g.
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Carbon Footprint
• ‘Carbon Footprint’ is the cumulative greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions caused by the processes
used to extract resources, manufacture, and
deliver a product or service to the user
• Single criteria – related to climate change
• PAS 2050, Carbon Trust
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Products Agency
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Embodied Energy
• ‘Embodied energy’ is the cumulative energy
used to extract resources, manufacture and
deliver a material or product to the user
• Often used as a quick comparison of the
relative environmental impact, as many
impacts are related to energy use
• Embodied energy of plastics is relatively high
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Products Agency
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Embodied Energy of Mass
Cement
MDF
Glass
Steel
Polymers
Copper
Aluminium
0
50
100
150
Embodied Energy (MJ/kg)
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Products Agency
200
250
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Embodied Energy by
Volume
Cement
MDF
Glass
Steel
Polymers
Copper
Aluminium
0
250
500
750
1,000
Embodied Energy (GJ/m3)
© Australian Management Academy & Eco
Products Agency
1,250
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Embodied Energy by
Product
The embodied energy of the materials is not the
whole story. Also need to consider:
• Amount of material used per product
• Energy for additional processing
• Distribution
• End-of-life treatment
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Products Agency
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Life Cycle Energy Use
• Energy efficiency reduces environmental impact
• Energy efficient manufacturing reduces the
embodied energy (and carbon footprint) of
products
• Further consideration of life cycle can enable
reduction in total life cycle energy use
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Products Agency
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Production Phase
Recycling
Feedstocks
Polymer
Primary
Manufacturing Processing
Secondary
Processing
Distribution
Use
Disposal
Landfill
Production Phase
Use Phase
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Products Agency
End-ofLife
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Polymer Manufacturing
Polymer
1 PET
2 HDPE
3 PVC
4 LDPE
5 PP
6 PS
Engineering
Typical energy
used (MJ/kg)
43
22
30
26
21
40
> 50
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Products Agency
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Primary Processing
Typical energy used
(MJ/kg)
Processing step
Compounding
4-8
Drying
1-4
Injection molding
7 - 20
Blow molding
5 - 15
Blown film extrusion
5 - 10
Extrusion (profile, sheet, pipe)
3-7
Thermoforming from sheet
2-7
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Products Agency
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Use Phase
Recycling
Feedstocks
Polymer
Primary
Manufacturing Processing
Secondary
Processing
Distribution
Use
Disposal
Landfill
Production Phase
Use Phase
© Australian Management Academy & Eco
Products Agency
End-ofLife
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Distribution
Energy use
(MJ/tonne.k
m)
0.25
Typical
distance
(km)
1,000 km
Typical
energy use
(MJ/kg)
0.25
Truck freight
1.0 – 2.4
500 km
1
Container
shipping
0.4 – 0.5
5,000 km
2.5
Air freight
6.9 – 9.9
5,000 km
40
Mode of
transport
Railway freight
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Products Agency
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Use Phase
Product
Light weight
vehicle
components
Energy saving
Reduced vehicle weight and improve fuel
efficiency
Plastic wine bottles Increased aircraft payload
Light weight crates
increased truck fuel efficiency during
distribution
Collapsible crates
Higher stacking density, fewer truck
movements
Thermal insulation
Reducing heat loss
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Products Agency
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End-of-Life Use
Recycling
Feedstocks
Primary
Processing
Secondary
Processing
DIstribution
Use
Disposal
Plastic
Manufacturing
Landfill
Production Phase
Use Phase
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Products Agency
End-ofLife
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End-of-Life
End-of-life action
Effect on Life Cycle Energy
Recycling
Recycling takes less energy than production of
virgin plastic. Also reduces demand for virgin
plastic.
Energy recovery
Energy recovery from calorific value of plastics
can reduce demand for other fuel sources
Landfill
Depends on weight & logistics network, but
usually negligible use of energy compared to
other life cycle phases
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Products Agency
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Life Cycle Thinking
Life cycle thinking during product & process design
can improve environmental performance
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Products Agency
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Summary
1. Products have a lifecycle that can be
understood by Life Cycle Thinking (LCT)
2. Energy is used throughout the life cycle.
3. Energy efficient processes reduce energy use
4. Products can also be designed to save energy
throughout the life cycle
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Products Agency
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