Safeguard objects: What is worthwhile on life?

The weighting process starts with identifying “safeguard objects”. These are defined as elements of the natural environment that the community considers them worthy of protection. They include

• Human health

• Ecological quality

• Natural and semi-natural ( man-made) habitats

• Biodiversity

• Depletion of natural resources

• Economical productivity, specially in agriculture (EPS 1996)

• Aesthetic values in nature (EPS 1996)

The last two categories were proposed in the Environmental Priority Strategy (EPS) developed by Volvo in Sweden (Steen, Ryding 1992). EPS uses the Environmental Load Units discussed earlier in this course (Week 3) for quantifying the costs of emissions to the environment. The costs caused by the depletion of natural resources are measured by projecting the costs of mining the last remaining reserve of a given mineral or fossil fuel. The costs of lowering productivity are quantified by the estimated loss of income in agriculture. The costs of damaging the other safeguard subjects are estimated by the willingness of people to pay to protect them (the New York Park Restoration Program of Bette Middler succeeded because people were willing to donate their money for places they had never been to). In summary, all factors that may worsen the environment are measured in dollars or other currency.

Goedkoop (1995) in his first formulation of Eco-indicators tackled the difficult question as to how one compares impacts on humans with impacts on other biota. He proposed the following equivalency: One additional death per million inhabitants per year =health complaints caused by smog periods=reducing an ecosystem by 5% of its population.

Steen, B; Ryding, S.O. 1992 “The EPS Enviro-accounrting Method” Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Federation of Swedish Industries, Goteborg; Goedkoop, M. 1995, “The Eco-indicator1995, Amersfoort press.

Impact categories and substances to be considered

The number of substances that are considered in the inventory analysis can be very large, depending on the product or process considered. For example, more than ninety substances (e.g. CFC 11, halons, HCFCs, etc. ) need to be considered with respect to impacts on the ozone layer. Table 1 shows the Impact Categories and the number of substances considered in assessing impacts in the four Japanese methodologies mentioned earlier.

Eco-indicators 99

One of the most prominent LCA methodologies is Eco-indicators 99 (Eco-99). It was developed originally by Goedkoop (Goedkop 1995) and more recently by him and Pre Consultants in the Netherlands. The basic principle behind Eco-99 is that as many engineers as possible should be able to carry out a Life Cycle Assessment in order to evaluate the projected environmental impacts of their design. However, not all engineers can be or should be environmental specialists. Since designers cannot consult an environmental expert in every case, they need a reliable tool to measure the environmental consequences of their design decisions. The Eco-indicator 99 was designed with this need in mind.

This method is used to calculate standard indicator scores for frequently used materials and processes. These are available in the form of the Eco-indicator 99 Manual for Designers and in the software package ECO-it Design for Environment. The Eco-99 scores are based on an impact assessment methodology that transforms the data of the inventory table into damage scores which can be aggregated, depending on the needs and the choice of the user, to damage scores for each of three damage categories; and then aggregated to a single score for a particular product or process. In the 1995 edition (Eco-indicator 95) over 100 such standard indicator values were available. However, in the intervening years, major companies such as Philips have calculated several hundred of additional scores for specific materials, such as electronics and batteries, that are now included in Eco-indicators-99. With these scores, designers are able to analyze their design quickly. Of course, this task is not as easy for complex products.

For the sake of simplicity, in Eco-99 adverse effects on the environment are divided into three broad categories: Effects on human health, on ecosystems quality (flora and fauna), and on resources of the Earth.