Life Cycle Assessment of the Environmental Impact of the Station

Thomas GIBON, LIST - Luxembourg

Transcript

1. The environmental impacts of human presence in Antarctica Life cycle assessment in the Last Frontier Thomas Gibon, LIST
2. Sustainability assessment The life cycle assessment (LCA) method Source: Pré-sustainability Product life cycle stages Source: Pré-sustainability Iterative LCA methodology Codified by ISO 14040
3. Environmental impacts of human presence In Antarctica Operating a research station Research in human-induced pollution in Antarctica has traditionally focused on immediate, local pollution: hydrocarbons, disturbance of flora and fauna, persistent or bioaccumulative compounds LCA offers a new systemic perspective, including global impacts, upstream along the supply chain of products and services used on-site Antarctic operations are also highly specific: personnel transportation by sea and air, use of special fuels (namely Special Antarctic Blend, SAB) As Antarctic operations are by nature scientific research, aimed at understanding and solving urgent environmental issues, the question of their own, intrinsic impacts is topical https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12972
4. Environmental impacts of human presence In Antarctica Greenhouse gas emissions from Casey station operations, and comparison 127 17 13 11 9,1 8,3 7,3 7,1 6,1 4,7 0,0 20,0 40,0 60,0 80,0 100,0 120,0 140,0 Casey station Belgium Switzerland Luxembourg Germany Netherlands European Union (27) United Kingdom France World t CO2 eq./capita/year Location Annual CO2 footprint of an average expeditioner/citizen (Crossin et al. 2020 and Global Carbon Budget, 2025) Waste disposal and others Jet fuel for A319-115 LR flights Jet fuel for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft SAB for boilers SAB for on-site vehicles SAB for heat SAB for electricity MGO for Aurora Australis, to transport SAB to Casey, freight and cargo to Casey and waste from Casey Total https://ourworldindata.org/ consumption-based-co2 https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12972
5. Environmental impacts of human presence In Antarctica Important take-aways • Significant climate change impacts from reliance on fossil fuels • Other impacts linked with fuel combustion also high (fossil fuel depletion, particulate matter emissions) • The most effective decarbonisation measures are efficiency improvements in transportation • On-site improvements (smart temperature regulation, solar panels, battery) amount to very little due to the overwhelming impact of transport Operating a research station 127 126 125 107 126 126 126 103 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Baseline Tem perature setpoint reduction Building bench- m arking New icebreaker Solarat Casey Station Solarat W ilkins Aerodrom e Load leveling battery Com bined scenarios t CO2 eq./capita/year Decarbonisation measure How to decarbonise a polar station?