Quantified Eco-Efficiency: An Introduction with Applications

330 Pages·2007·3.105 MB·English

by  Gjalt Huppes, Masanobu Ishikawa

QUANTIFIED ECO-EFFICIENCY
ECO-EFFICIENCYIN INDUSTRYAND SCIENCE
VOLUME 22
Series Editor: Arnold Tukker, TNO-STB, Delft, The Netherlands
Editorial Advisory Board:
Martin Charter, Centre for Sustainable Design, The Surrey Institute ofArt & Design, Farnham,
United Kingdom
John Ehrenfeld,International Society for IndustrialEcology, New Haven, U.S.A.
Gjalt Huppes,Centre of Environmental Science, LeidenUniversity, Leiden, The Netherlands
Reid Lifset,Yale University School of Forestry andEnvironmental Studies,New Haven, U.S.A.
Theo de Bruijn, Center for Clean Technology andEnvironmental Policy (CSTM), University of
Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
Quantified Eco-Efficiency
An Introduction with Applications
Edited by
Gjalt Huppes
CML, Department of Industrial Ecology,
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
and
Masanobu Ishikawa
Graduate School of Economics,
Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
AC.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-10 1-4020-5398-3 (HB)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-5398-6 (HB)
ISBN-10 1-4020-5399-1 (e-book)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-5399-3 ( e-book)
Published by Springer,
P.O. Box 17, 3300 AADordrecht, The Netherlands.
www.springer.com
The Conference was supported by the Center of International Joint Research for Economic
Analysis and Policy (COREAP) of the 21 Century COE Program of Kobe University in Japan.
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 2007 Springer
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
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Table of Contents
Preface vii
Corresponding Authors ix

1 An introduction to quantified eco-efficiency analysis 1
Gjalt Huppes and Masanobu Ishikawa
General M ethods
2 MMaximum abatement costs for calculating cost-effectiveness
of green activities with multiple environmental effects 41
Tosihiro Oka, Yoshifumi Fujii, Masanobu Ishikawa,
Yu Matsuno and Shu Susami
3 From thermodynamic efficiency to eco-efficiency 79
Reinout Heijungs
4 The price of toxicity. Methodology for the assessment of
shadow prices for human toxicity, ecotoxicity and abiotic
depletion 105
Toon van Harmelen, René Korenromp, Ceiloi van
Deutekom, Tom Ligthart, Saskia van Leeuwen and
René van Gijlswijk
Cases in Agriculture
5 Conservation reconsidered: a modified input-output analysis
of the economic impact of China’s land conservation polic y 129
Fan Zhang
v
vi Table of Contents
Cases in Industry
6 Eco-efficiency in redesigned extended supply chains;
furniture as an example 163
Ottar Michelsen
7 Practical experiences with reducing industrial use of
water and chemicals in the galvanising industry 181
Johannes Fresner, Josef Mair, Hans Schnitzer, Christoph
Brunner, Gernot Gwehenberger and Mikko Planasch
8 Cost-efficient solutions can speed up ecological (and social)
development – A proposal 211
Ernst-Josef Spindler
Cases in Products and Consumption
9 Environmental performance of households 223
Mette Wier, Line Block Christoffersen,
Jesper Munksgaard, Trine S. Jensen, Ole G.
Pedersen and Hans Keiding
10 Eco-efficiency analysis of an electrochromic smart
window prototype 247
Spiros Papaefthimiou, Elleni Syrrakou and
Panayiotis Yianoulis
11 UUpgrade planning for upgradeable product design 261
Kentaro Watanabe, Yoshiki Shimomura,
Ak ira Matsuda, Sh insuke Kondoh and Yasushi U meda
Cases in Recycling
12 A strategic policy model for promoting secondary
materials use 285
Nur Indrianti, Shinobu Matsuoka and Masaaki Muraki
13 Eco-efficiency analysis of the plastic recovery systems
in Hyogo eco-town project 307
Helmut Yabar and Tohru Morioka

Index 329
Preface
This volume results from the work for the first and second conference on
quantified eco-efficiency analysis for sustainability. Most papers are based
on work presented at the first conference. However the general introduc-
tion to eco-efficiency, in chapter 1, reflects the enormous experience
gained in the process of editing the diverse papers resulting from the con-
ference.
As several papers show, eco-efficiency analysis is developing fast into a
mature method of analysis, with a broad domain of applications. On meth-
ods, we selected two papers. One - presented at the conference but now
detailed on the basis of further work - refers to the Maximum Abatement
Cost method, see chapter 2. It avoids to a large extent value choices and
assumptions, as on the validity of neo-classical assumption on the welfare
meaning of stated private preferences regarding environmental effects.
Using actual cost of emission reduction, it indicates domains of efficient
and inefficient environmental improvements in projects with multiple en-
vironmental impacts. Some further empirical work on the integration to-
wards s a single environmental indicator uses a shadow price method, ap-
plied at the level of LCA type midpoint impact categories, in chapter 4. A
deviating voice is on the fundamentals of the eco-efficiency concept, in
chapter 3. Are we using the right concepts; might other concepts, better
linked to a natural science practice of technical input-output efficiency not
be more fruitful for sustainability analysis in the long term?
The applied analysis covers the domains of agriculture, industry, prod-
ucts and consumption, and recycling, with cases as small as single prod-
ucts and technologies and as broad as regional recycling activities or large
scale reforestation plans. In agriculture, land conversion schemes, espe-
cially reforestations plans are analysed using regional input-output analy-
sis, see chapter 5. The industrial cases refer to supply chain management in
furniture for improved eco-efficiency, in chapter 6, and the galvanising
industry in chapter 7. An eco-efficiency based social procedure is designed
vii
viii Preface
in chapter 8 using cost advantages of environmental improvements to fi-
nance further improvements. Cases on products and consumption range
from broad analysis of households performance, in chapter 9; to a specific
product with high eco-efficiency potential, the smart window, in chapter
10; to methods for extending product life time through upgradeable prod-
uct design, in chapter 11. Finally, there is a focus on recycling, one general
paper in chapter 12 for selective promotion of secondary materials use at a
general policy level, and one on advanced methods and technologies for
regional plastics recycling (chapter 13).
The introduction to quantified eco-efficiency analysis, in chapter 1, re-
flects the development of ideas since the first conference. Parts of it have
been published in the special issue on eco-efficiency of the Journal of In-
dustrial Ecology. We thank the Journal for allowing us to take over sec-
tions from three papers there. The shift in content since then has been to
better indicate the relation between macro level sustainability, as quality of
the environment combined with global economic growth, and the micro-
level of choices on products, technologies and policies, which through eco-
efficiency analysis can better be geared to macro-level sustainability.
There is direct relevance for eco-innovation and for general sustainability
policy, aligning and integrating policies for economic development with
environmental policies. This work surely is not finished yet and deserves
broader attention in the sustainability analysis community.
Finally, we would like to thank EBARA Company from Japan who not
only are the main sponsor of the conferences on Quantified Eco-Efficiency
Analysis for Sustainability, but also are the sponsor of this book. We owe
them gratitude for the unselfish advancement of sustainability science,
from a truly global perspective.

The editors
Gjalt Huppes
Masanobu Ishikawa
Corresponding Authors
Fresner, Johannes (ch. 7)
STENUM GmbH
Geidorfgürtel 21, 8010 Graz, Austria
E-mail [e-mail]
Harmelen, Toon van (ch. 4)
TNO Institute of Environment, Energy and Process Innovation
P.O. Box 1, NL-7300 AH Apeldoorn, Netherlands
E-mail [e-mail]
Heijungs, Reinout (ch. 3)
CML, Department Industrial Ecology, Leiden University
P.O. Box 9518, NL-2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
E-mail [e-mail]
Huppes, Gjalt (editor, preface, ch. 1)
CML, Department Industrial Ecology, Leiden University
P.O. Box 9518, NL-2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
E-mail [e-mail]
Indrianti, Nur (ch. 12)
E-mail [e-mail]
Ishikawa, Masanobu (editor, preface, ch. 1)
Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University
2-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan
E-mail [e-mail]
Michelsen, Ottar (ch. 6)
Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway
E-mail [e-mail]
ix