Land use and biodiversity
A large portion of the global environmental impacts of a product's life cycle can be addressed using the “classical” LCA impact categories such as Global Warming Potential or Ozone Depletion Potential.
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Another set of environmental impact categories, which are more complicated to address but which experience increasing attention in the public dialogue are impacts on site-specific conditions such as impacts on different ecosystem functions like accumulation of ground water and filter capacity of soil or the biodiversity.
Already in 2002, the department of life cycle engineering developed a method which was improved and enhanced in co-operation with international partners from industry and research to finally create a fully operative calculation tool (LANCA, Land Use Indicator Value Calculation Tool).
Following ecosystem functions can be taken into account using the developed method within the LCA:
- Erosion Resistance: The ability of soil to prevent erosion beyond natural erosion
- Mechanical filtration capacity: The ability of soil to filter a suspension by mechanical absorption of pollutants to soil particles
- Physicochemical filtration capacity: The ability of soil to absorb dissolved substances from soil solution to prevent it from penetration into ground water
- Groundwater recharge capacity: The ability of soil to contribute to natural replenishment
- Biotic production potential: The ability of soil to produce biomass.
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Further important ecosystem functions, which are being integrated in the LCA methodology within the scope of current research projects (see projects) are carbon storage in soils and biomass as well as the conservation of biodiversity.
In these areas as well, methods were developed and are enhanced and tested in the department of life cycle engineering in co-operation with various partners.
With the current efforts to harmonize the different approaches, the department provides an important contribution in the context of the international LCA research.
