Maria Ljunggren Söderman

Environmental impacts of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles—what can we learn from life cycle assessment?

PurposeThe purpose of this review article is to investigate the usefulness of different types of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of electrified vehicles to provide robust and relevant stakeholder information. It presents synthesized conclusions based on 79 papers. Another objective is to search for explanations to divergence and “complexity” of results found by other overviewing papers in the research field, and to compile methodological learnings. The hypothesis was that such divergence could be explained by differences in goal and scope definitions of the reviewed LCA studies.MethodsThe review has set special attention to the goal and scope formulation of all included studies. First, completeness and clarity have been assessed in view of the ISO standard’s (ISO 2006a, b) recommendation for goal definition. Secondly, studies have been categorized based on technical and methodological scope, and searched for coherent conclusions.Results and discussionComprehensive goal formulation according to the ISO standard (ISO 2006a, b) is absent in most reviewed studies. Few give any account of the time scope, indicating the temporal validity of results and conclusions. Furthermore, most studies focus on today’s electric vehicle technology, which is under strong development. Consequently, there is a lack of future time perspective, e.g., to advances in material processing, manufacturing of parts, and changes in electricity production. Nevertheless, robust assessment conclusions may still be identified. Most obvious is that electricity production is the main cause of environmental impact for externally chargeable vehicles. If, and only if, the charging electricity has very low emissions of fossil carbon, electric vehicles can reach their full potential in mitigating global warming. Consequently, it is surprising that almost no studies make this stipulation a main conclusion and try to convey it as a clear message to relevant stakeholders. Also, obtaining resources can be observed as a key area for future research. In mining, leakage of toxic substances from mine tailings has been highlighted. Efficient recycling, which is often assumed in LCA studies of electrified vehicles, may reduce demand for virgin resources and production energy. However, its realization remains a future challenge.ConclusionsLCA studies with clearly stated purposes and time scope are key to stakeholder lessons and guidance. It is also necessary for quality assurance. LCA practitioners studying hybrid and electric vehicles are strongly recommended to provide comprehensive and clear goal and scope formulation in line with the ISO standard (ISO 2006a, b).

Recovering energy from waste in Sweden: a systems engineering study

Abstract The possibilities for recovering energy from waste in Sweden around the year 2010 are explored in this paper. To capture the issue from the perspectives of both the waste management and the district heating systems, separate systems engineering studies are performed for each. Four questions are explored: (1) Is recovering energy from waste economic from a waste management system perspective?; (2) Is there a significant untapped energy resource in the form of waste in Sweden?; (3) Is recovering energy from waste economic from a district heating system perspective?; and (4) What are the global warming implications of recovering energy from waste? The results show that recovering energy from waste is part of all solutions studied, since energy recovery is necessary in order to fulfil the coming ban on landfilling of combustible and organic waste. However, the optimal quantity of energy to recover from waste differs considerably depending on the system perspective taken. From a waste management point of view, the economically optimal solution is to combine heat recovery with a high level of materials recovery. In this case, the quantity of heat recovered is close to the present Swedish level. From a district heating point of view, the potential could be 2–6 times larger. In terms of global warming implications, the preferable solution is to combine materials recovery and combined heat and power from waste. By bringing both the waste management and the district heating systems into focus, knowledge has been gained. The district heating study reveals a future market for heat recovery from waste that could be significantly larger than today. The waste management study points out that new policy instruments will be introduced in Swedish waste management that could direct waste towards increased energy recovery if the materials recovery sector does not develop strongly. These potential changes would have been more difficult to foresee had one system or the other been restricted to consideration as part of the system environment.

Including indirect environmental impacts in waste management planning

Activities within waste management systems, such as energy and material recovery, can lead to indirect environmental impacts that occur outside of waste management systems. In this paper, the effect of including indirect greenhouse-gas emissions on the choice of waste management solutions on a national level is explored. The global warming potentials (GWPs) of future waste management solutions for Sweden are compared. These include direct and indirect GWPs resulting from recovering power, heat, biogas, materials and nutrients. Furthermore, two of the assumptions that are presumed to be crucial for determining the indirect GWPs are examined in sensitivity analyses. It was found that indirect GWPs of waste management could be large when comparing a range of waste management solutions. Including indirect GWPs may even change the ranking of the solutions. However, the estimates of the indirect GWPs are sensitive to the assumptions made. Including them involves large uncertainties. Despite this, some general conclusions regarding the preferability of the respective solutions can be drawn. Including indirect environmental impacts is important when providing information to support strategic planning that involves choosing among waste management solutions. Ultimately, it is a question of improving the ability of waste management planners to design environmentally sustainable and robust waste management systems. Increased knowledge of the indirect environmental impacts of waste management can contribute to providing such an improvement.

Are scarce metals in cars functionally recycled

Improved recycling of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) may serve as an important strategy to address resource security risks related to increased global demand for scarce metals. However, in-depth knowledge of the magnitude and fate of such metals entering ELV recycling is lacking. This paper quantifies input of 25 scarce metals to Swedish ELV recycling, and estimates the extent to which they are recycled to material streams where their metal properties are utilised, i.e. are functionally recycled. Methodologically, scarce metals are mapped to main types of applications within newly produced Swedish car models and subsequently, material flow analysis of ELV waste streams is used as basis for identifying pathways of these applications and assessing whether contained metals are functionally recycled. Results indicate that, of the scarce metals, only platinum may be functionally recycled in its main application. Cobalt, gold, manganese, molybdenum, palladium, rhodium and silver may be functionally recycled depending on application and pathways taken. For remaining 17 metals, functional recycling is absent. Consequently, despite high overall ELV recycling rates of materials in general, there is considerable risk of losing ELV scarce metals to carrier metals, construction materials, backfilling materials and landfills. Given differences in the application of metals and identified pathways, prospects for increasing functional recycling are discussed.

Erratum: Environmental impacts of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles—what can we learn from life cycle assessment? [International Journal of Life CycleAssessment, DOI 10.1007/s11367-014-0788-0]

This is a corrigendum and clarification on behalf of the authors. Figure 4 in the original version of this article (Nordelöf et al. 2014a) has been corrected as regards the results for the Nissan Leaf BEV. The corrected Fig. 4 is presented below, calculated using the 2008 EU-mix electricity causing 467 g CO2/kWh (Maas 2013) for the well-to-wheels life cycle, as intended and stated in the original article. The previous Fig. 4 incorrectly showed results based on a Belgian electricity mix. A related clarification, and correction, is made in section K.2, BCalculation of BEV results^, in the Supplementary Information (Nordelöf et al. 2014b), where the last sentence of the last paragraph of the section should state: BValues can be approximated to 18 g CO2-eq/km for the net equipment life cycle, after recycling has been credited, and 79 g CO2-eq/km for the WTW life cycle based on the WTT stage.^ Additionally, for clarification as regards Table 4 of the original article, the first sentence of the table caption should state: BSensitivity of exemplified production related equipment life cycle GHG emissions to the lifetime driven distance, when presented per kilometer.^ Correspondingly, the following two sentences should be added to the second paragraph of section F, BExplanation of Table 4^, of the Supplementary Information (Nordelöf et al. 2014b): BThe data from the three studies has been selected and extracted at different levels of aggregation, and implies no harmonization of system boundaries between the examples. For full details about the equipment life cycle results of each study, we refer to the original references.^ Finally, and most importantly, neither the corrections related to Fig. 4, nor the clarifications related to Table 4, alter any of the discussion or conclusions presented in the original article.

ProSUM: Prospecting secondary Raw Materials in the Urban Mine and Mining Wastes

ProSUM - Latin for “I am useful” - aims to provide better information on raw materials from secondary origins. It focuses in particular on the content of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) from Batteries (BATT), Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), End of Life Vehicles (ELV) and Mining Wastes (MIN) available for processing in Europe. However, data for these products are usually very scattered amongst a variety of institutions, including government agencies, universities, NGOs and industry. This deficit is addressed in this H2020 funded project. ProSUM will establish a European network of expertise on secondary sources of CRMs, vital to todays high-tech society. It coordinates efforts to collect secondary CRM data and collate maps of stocks and flows for materials and products in the “urban mine”. The project will construct a comprehensive inventory identifying and mapping CRM stocks and flows across the European Union (EU). Via a user-friendly, open-access Urban Mine Knowledge Data Platform (EU-UMKDP), it will combine and relate them to primary raw materials data from the EU-FP7 Minerals4EU project and communicate the results online through the future European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI) at large. It will also provide update protocols, standards and recommendations to maintain and expand the EU-UMKDP in the future.

The economic value of imports of combustible waste in systems with high shares of district heating and variable renewable energy

This study analyses the socio-economic value of trade of combustible waste, taking Denmark as an example for importing countries with large district heating networks and already high shares of variable renewable energy. An integrated systems analysis framework allowed to assess under which circumstances import of wastes leads to less expensive waste management and energy, accounting for increasing ambitions for a circular economy and renewable energy. The dynamics of both systems are captured through two optimization models, which are solved simultaneously. OptiFlow optimizes Danish waste management and transport, and Balmorel, the Northern European energy system. Results show that waste import to cover the existing Danish incineration overcapacity during wintertime has definite economic value. Conversely, summertime import can have negative value unless a gate fee is received, with the exception of imports of waste with high calorific content (>16.2 GJ/t). In some cases, mothballing of up to 14% of the existing incineration plants is a cost-efficient alternative to decrease the level of over-capacity. In the longer term, results show a socio-economic value of importing waste, being mainly sensitive to assumptions regarding biomass prices and wind power cost, as the technologies would compete with incineration plants. The present methodology can be applied to other countries where waste-to-energy participates in district heating, and where variable renewable electricity and constraints on biomass resources are becoming important. A pan-regional approach regarding waste management planning to maximize the value from combustible waste might be desired, along with a coherent taxation to avoid competition based on tax differences.