Ichiro Daigo

Lifespan of Commodities, Part I: The Creation of a Database and its Review

We compiled more than 1,300 data sets from various sources and identified some differences among the types of goods and among regions. With the reviewed data noted in this article, we established a database, named LiVES (Lifespan Database for Vehicles, Equipment, and Structures), and will disclose it on the Internet to share the information.In the present article, the available information from various reports on product lifespan was reviewed. Although we found a large number of data for many durables, the definition of lifespan in published articles varied, which limited our ability to compare reported values. We therefore first defined lifespan and then compared the international and historical data.Lifespan is an essential parameter for the accounting and analysis of material stocks and flows, one of the main research topics in industrial ecology. Lifespan is also important as a parameter that portrays the current and historical situation of industrial metabolism, which is an area of interest to industrial ecologists. In the present article, the available information from various reports on product lifespan was reviewed. Although we found a large number of data for many durables, the definition of lifespan in published articles varied, which limited our ability to compare reported values. We therefore first defined lifespan and then compared the international and historical data. We compiled more than 1,300 data sets from various sources and identified some differences among the types of goods and among regions. With the reviewed data noted in this article, we established a database, named LiVES (Lifespan Database for Vehicles, Equipment, and Structures), and will disclose it on the Internet to share the information.

Lifespan of Commodities, Part II: Methodologies for Estimating Lifespan Distribution of Commodities

Lifespan of commodities is essential information for material flow analysis and material stock accounting. Lifespan data is available in the literature; however, it varies in definition and in methodology employed. This article reviews and categorizes different types of lifespan distribution and distribution estimation methodologies, and investigates the relationship and differences between lifespan definitions and estimation methodologies. Lifespan distribution of commodities can be classified into five types from two perspectives: base year for which the distribution is drawn, and vertical axis of the distribution. The methodologies for estimating lifespan distribution were classified into four types and the details of each methodology and the relationship to the definition of lifespan were also clarified. This article also examines differences in actual lifespan data — between the types of distribution, the definitions, and the employed methodologies — by comparing reported data in literature. Any of the four methodologies are theoretically applicable and provide the same value of a lifespan; however unless accurate data such as census statistics are available, lifespan data can vary, and therefore we must be very cautious about the representativeness of sample data.

Framework for Resilience in Material Supply Chains, With a Case Study from the 2010 Rare Earth Crisis

In 2010, Chinese export restrictions caused the price of the rare earth element neodymium to increase by a factor of 10, only to return to almost normal levels in the following months. This despite the fact that the restrictions were not lifted. The significant price peak shows that this material supply chain was only weakly resistant to a major supply disruption. However, the fact that prices rapidly returned to lower levels implies a certain resilience. With the help of a novel approach, based on resilience theory combined with a material flow analysis (MFA) based representation of the neodymium magnet (NdFeB) supply chain, we show that supply chain resilience is composed of various mechanisms, including (a) resistance, (b) rapidity, and (c) flexibility, that originate from different parts of the supply chain. We make recommendations to improve the capacity of the NdFeB system to deal with future disruptions and discuss potential generalities for the resilience of other material supply chains.

Macroscopic Evidence for the Hibernating Behavior of Materials Stock.

Hibernating stock is defined as material stock that is no longer used, but is not yet recovered. Although hibernating stock plays a role in materials recoverability, its contribution to the overall material cycle is not clearly understood. Therefore, an analysis of the time-series potential generation of steel scrap in Japan was performed and compared against the actual recovery, proving that the steel scrap recovered each year exceeds the annual generation potential and providing the first macroscopic evidence of hibernating stock recovery. These results indicate that hibernation behavior should be considered when evaluating materials recoverability. The particular characteristics of hibernating stock were also identified. These materials tend to be located far from scrap yards and/or have low bulk density, while also minimally obstructing new activity. In fact, hibernating materials are typically only recovered when they obstruct new activity. Hence, in order to increase steel recoverability, the recovery cost must be reduced. The end-of-life recycling rates (EoL-RRs) were also evaluated, and were found to exhibit a significant change over time. Consequently, the annual EoL-RR cannot be considered as a representative value, and a value for the EoL-RR(s) of relevant year(s) that has been evaluated over the entire period should be used instead.

Novel Indicators for the Quantification of Resilience in Critical Material Supply Chains, with a 2010 Rare Earth Crisis Case Study

We introduce several new resilience metrics for quantifying the resilience of critical material supply chains to disruptions and validate these metrics using the 2010 rare earth element (REE) crisis as a case study. Our method is a novel application of Event Sequence Analysis, supplemented with interviews of actors across the entire supply chain. We discuss resilience mechanisms in quantitative terms–time lags, response speeds, and maximum magnitudes–and in light of cultural differences between Japanese and European corporate practice. This quantification is crucial if resilience is ever to be taken into account in criticality assessments and a step toward determining supply and demand elasticities in the REE supply chain. We find that the REE system showed resilience mainly through substitution and increased non-Chinese primary production, with a distinct role for stockpiling. Overall, annual substitution rates reached 10% of total demand. Non-Chinese primary production ramped up at a speed of 4% of total market volume per year. The compound effect of these mechanisms was that recovery from the 2010 disruption took two years. The supply disruption did not nudge a system toward an appreciable degree of recycling. This finding has important implications for the circular economy concept, indicating that quite a long period of sustained material constraints will be necessary for a production-consumption system to naturally evolve toward a circular configuration.

Comparison of Water Footprint for Industrial Products in Japan, China and USA

Recently, water scarcity has received attention. With the development of industries and the growth of population, the amount of water use has increased. In order to evaluate the water use of industrial products, the method of estimating water footprint (WF) has been developed. WF is defined as the amount of water use during the lifecycle of products or services. In this study, we estimated WF of industrial products in Japan, China, and the U.S. using input-output analysis. It was found that WF for BOF crude steel in Japan was estimated as 0.62 m3/t, whereas WF for EAF crude steel in Japan was estimated as 0.85 m3/t. WF of crude steel in China was estimated as 0.99 m3/t. In the U.S. the pig iron, crude steel and ferroalloy cannot be divided into each sector, so we cannot compare the results of the U.S. to those of Japan and China. In WF for a passenger car, the indirect water use dominated their WF in all countries. To compare the results in each sector between countries appropriately, consistency of industrial sector in the data for water use is required.

Methods to Evaluate Environmental Aspects of Materials

This chapter introduces Life cycle assessment (LCA) as it can be used in connection with metals. Rather than stressing the connection of LCA with ISO standards, it evolves the methodology from its historical origins, chemcial engineering and accounting, and discusses it applicability to material specific issues. Beyond the obvious success of LCA and its wide appeal, especially in decision making circles, the approach is still a methdology in the making with some weak points, which need more elaboration. Some directions in which to search for such an evolution are outlined. MFA is used as a tool for two primarily objectives. One is to characterize material cycles for natural resource conservation. The enhancement of material recycling and the reduction of the size of the final sink are part of the objective of natural resource conservation. Characterizing the overall picture in terms of material flow is useful for understanding patterns of resource use and losses of material to the environment. In the second primary objective, MFA is used for risk assessments of substances. MFA helps to clarify where substances originate, what channels they follow, and what agents are at work in the overall life cycle of a substance, from the mining to the final sink. An MFA analysis could target either all of the substances involved in a given space or could be limited to one or more material(s) and substance(s) in a given space. Focusing on the total amount of all substances, as in EM- MFA, provides useful information, and analysis of a specific substance provides different, and also useful, information. The static and dynamic approaches to conduct MFA are expounded. In addition, two measures for estimating the material stock: bottom-up approach and top-down approach, are also interpreted. Recent progresses in MFA case studies, such as future demand prediction, issues in metal recycling, and MFA on minor metals are introduced.

A database and characterization of existing lifespan information of electrical and electronic equipment

LIFESPAN of product is essential information for material flow and stock accounting (MFA/MSA) as well as discussing possible contribution of product lifespan extension to waste prevention and materials/energy savings. There are a number of literatures on actual lifespan distribution of products in our society; however, existing information is not well organized. The authors created a database named LiVES (Lifespan database for Vehicles, Equipment, and Structures) by reviewing existing lifespan data of various types of product including electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) [1]. In this study, the overview and characteristics of lifespan data of EEE included in the database was reported.

Development of Methodology for Quantifying Collection Ratio of Post-Consumer Products Based on Material Flow of Steel

Some post-consumer products are not collected appropriately and are remained or disposed by unconventional methods. In order to conserve resources, the collection ratio of such products should be increased. To date, few definitive methods to quantify the collection ratio have been developed because the amount of dissipative products cannot be measured. In this paper, a new statistical method was developed to quantify the collection ratio of post-consumer products. This method is based on the identification of dynamic material flow of steel used in such products. The collection ratios of buildings, constructions, and machines were estimated. The amount of discarded post-consumer products during a year was calculated dynamically from their lifetime distributions and production history in which steel was used prior to that year. Uncertainty derived from the lifetime distributions was considered in the calculations. Finally, the collection ratios of the products were obtained with uncertainty as 1.00 (buildings), 0.00-0.22 (constructions), and 0.39-0.53 (machines).

EcoBalance 2016-responsible value chains for sustainability (October 3-6, 2016, Kyoto, Japan)

The International Conference on EcoBalance, organized by the Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan (ILCAJ), has been held as a biennial conference in Japan since 1994 (Morimoto 1999; The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2000; Inaba et al. 2003; Matsuno et al. 2005; Matsuno and Moriguchi 2007; Nakajima and Matsuno 2009; Nansai et al. 2011; Miyamoto et al. 2013; Kondo et al. 2014). With the life cycle concept as its core concept, EcoBalance has become recognized as one of the world’s premier conferences for academic, industry and government professionals. EcoBalance serves as a forum for discussions on environmental performance evaluation, information disclosure regarding evaluation results, and for the development and implementation of the methods discussed. The 12th EcoBalance conference, EcoBalance 2016, was convened on 3–6 October 2016 in Kyoto, Japan. The overall theme of EcoBalance 2016 was, BResponsible value chains for sustainability .̂ EcoBalance 2016 aimed to discuss the challenges associated with incorporating sustainable value chains that create corporate value in business, collaborating with various stakeholders, and identifying solutions based on scientific knowledge. Given this context, we invited three distinguished keynote speakers who shared their insights on the role of life cycle thinking and how it can be used to achieve responsible value chains. In the scientific program, 310 presentations covered overarching topics (methodology of life cycle assessment (LCA), applications in practice, policy implications, etc.), and intensive discussions were used to forge links between the areas of science, real practice and policymaking. Over the course of the conference, 372 international attendees from 28 countries contributed to numerous valuable discussions. In addition to the main scientific program, several official side-events were convened on corporate information disclosure, E-waste, sustainable food supply chains, urban mining and global LCA data access network. This year, we convened an BEcoBalance International School^ on a trial basis to provide attendees with the opportunity to acquire fundamental, but state-of-the-art, knowledge on life cycle assessment from distinguished international experts. These two courses, BLife Cycle Assessment: theory and practice^ by Prof. Sangwon Suh from the University of California, Santa Barbara in the USA, and BCurrent Developments in Life Cycle Impact Assessment^ by Prof. Francesca Verones from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway were both well attended. A Young Researchers Meeting was also held to give young attendees the opportunity to communicate with each other and network. Taken together, these events helped attendees to benefit from their * Masaharu Motoshita m-motoshita@aist.go.jp