sustainable indicators footprints as examples alon shepon

Sustainable indicators footprints as examples

Alon Shepon

outline

• Indicators in general• Ecological footprint• Water footprint• Carbon footprint

definition

• Measurement tools to quantitatively assess the appropriation of ecosystem services, resources, and establish the environmental load.

• We encountered LCA, MFA, EIOLCA, Net energy Analysis.

• We will examine three other frameworks to assess sustainability

Ecological footprint analysis

1. Land type is divided into 6 types, grazing (meat, wool), crop (food fodder, oil etc), forest (timber, fuel, rubber), build-up (transportation, industry), fish, burning fossil fuel.

LL

6

1L

LL

6

1L

L

EQFYFABC

EQFYF Y

P EF

L

L

ecological footprint

biocapacityLand

available

Yield factorproduc

tion

yield

Equivalence factor

Yield factor (YF) calculation

N

i

Ni,

W

i

Wi,

iNi,

iWi,

L

Y

PA

Y

PA

A

AYF

Area to produce product i with world

yield

Area to produce product i with national yield

Trade - the footprint of consumption is basically the products and services produced for local consumption minus the import

The equivalence convert land type into world average biologically productive area: global hectare

iepc EFEFEFEF

EQF(gha/ha) 2005Primary Cropland 2.64Forest 1.33Grazing Land 0.50Marine 0.40Carbon 1.33Built-up Land 2.64

Overshoot

Earth Overshoot Day marks the day when humanity begins living beyond its ecological means:

[ world biocapacity / world Ecological Footprint ] x 365 = Ecological Debt Day

Water footprint of a product

► the volume of fresh water used to produce the product, summed over the various steps of the production chain.

► when and where the water was used:a water footprint includes a temporal and spatial dimension.

[Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

Water footprint of a product

Grey water footprint

► volume of polluted water, the amount of water needed to dilute to standard acceptable level:

natCC

L

max

Blue water footprint

► volume of surface or groundwater consumed

(not returned immeditely to catchment)

Blue = BlueWaterEvap+BlueWaterIncop+LostRetunFlow

Green water footprint

► volume of rainwater consumed

Green = GreenwaterEvap+GreenwaterIncop

Assessing the water footprintof crop and animal products

Water footprint of a crop• Crop water use (m3/ha) / Crop yield (ton/ha)

Water footprint of an animal• Sum of water for feed, drinking and servicing

Water footprint of a crop or livestock product• Distribute the water footprint of the root product over its derived

products

Crop water requirement

1. Calculate reference crop evapotranspiration ET0 (mm/day)

2. Calculate crop evapotranspiration Etc (mm/day)Etc = ET0 Kc where Kc = crop coefficient

3. Calculate crop water requirement CWR (m3/ha)CWR = Σ Etc [accumulate over growing period]

Green water use by crop =

min (Etc , Peff)

Blue water use by crop =

max(Etc - Peff, 0)

Water footprint of biofuels from different crops [litre/litre]

[Gerbens-Leenes, Hoekstra & Van der Meer, 2009]

HarvestingCotton plant Seed-cotton

Cotton seed

Cotton lint

Cotton seed cake

Cotton seed oil

Grey fabric

Fabric

Final textile

Cotton linters

Cotton, not carded or combed

Cotton, carded or combed (yarn)

Hulling/extraction

Garnetted stock

Carding/Spinning

Yarn waste

Knitting/weaving

Wet processing

Finishing

Cotton seed oil, refined

Ginning

18.0

63.0

82.0

35.0

47.0

16.0

33.0

51.0

20.0

10.0

00.1

07.1

00.1

00.1

99.0

95.0

10.0

05.0

00.1

00.1

00.1

00.1

99.0

95.0

10.0

05.0

82.0

35.0

Legend

Value fraction

Product fraction

Production chaincotton

45% 41% 14%2.6 *1011 m3 water3.5% from all crops

Water footprint of a nation

► total amount of water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation.

National water footprint =water footprint within country+ virtual water import– virtual water export

Arrows show trade flows >10 Gm3/yr

Regional virtual water balances(only agricultural trade)


0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Chi

na

Indi

a

Japa

n

Pak

ista

n

Indo

nesi

a

Bra

zil

Mex

ico

Rus

sia

Nig

eria

Thai

land

Italy

US

A

Wat

er fo

otpr

int (

m3/c

ap/y

r)

Domestic water consumption Industrial goods Agricultural goods

Water footprint per capita

Global average water footprint


The total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly to support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)

Carbon footprint analysis

Sum up

• Footprints are indicators of sustainability, valuable tools for policy and decision making

• Reduce a complex analysis into a scalar figure• Their simplicity is their Achilles heel• Other sustainable indicators exist; alternatively a

combination can reveal a broader picture• Research is needed to acquire new methodologies and

improve existing indicators

More info

• www.footprintnetwork.org – full of info on the ecological footprint including annual reports and the science behind.

• Our ecological footprint, reducing the Human’s impact on earth, M. Wackernagel and W. Reed, 1996

• Water footprint - http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/

http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

sustainable indicators footprints as examples alon shepon

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