BACKGROUND OF THE CARBON FOOTPRINT STUDY

Transcription

1 CARBON FOOTPRINT STUDY BACKGROUND OF THE CARBON FOOTPRINT STUDY 1. Study context 2. Objectives of the study 3. Functional unit 4. Modelling assumptions and cut-off rules 4.1. Manufacturing phase 4.2. Distribution phase 4.3. Use phase 4.4. End of life phase 4.5. Data origin 5. Impact indicator 5.1. Global warming indicator 5.2. Bill of materials (BOM)

2 1. Study context This study consists in the analysis and comparison of the carbon footprint of six different thermal receipt printers (three of them are produced by and the three other ones are produced by s competitors). This study was issued by Bureau Veritas CODDE according to the ISO 14 04X principles applied only to the carbon footprint aspects and the needs explained by. This study has been carried out with the EIME software. The EIME Software, version 4, distributed by Bureau Veritas CODDE since May 2003, is based on databases especially dedicated to electrical and electronic products. These databases have been created with data coming from the French Federation of Electric, Electronic and Communication Industries (FIEEC), based on the Life Cycle Assessments (ISO 1404X standards) of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). The database release which has been used for the study of the study is the release The modelling of the product has been issued in EIME with data gathered through the dismantling and inventory of the products. Note: The study has been carried out according to the current technological knowledge state. For the studied printers, the main function is to provide printed receipts to customers. As a consequence, the functional unit chosen for the study is: Print 300 receipts per day during 5 years. Based on information, it has been decided to take a 5 year expected life span for the studied printers. See fig. 1 below. 4. Modelling assumptions and cut-off rules According to the information given by, the six products were modeled in EIME software. The life cycle phases which have been taken into account are: manufacturing, distribution, installation, use and end of life. The system boundaries are presented in fig. 2 below: Fig. 2 Presentation of the main parameters included in the study INPUTS Raw material, transport, electricity, water Manufacturing OUTPUTS Waste emission to air, 2. Objectives of the study The main objective of this study is to analyse and compare the carbon footprint of 6 different thermal receipt printers. Oil, raw material (packaging) Distribution 3. Functional unit The carbon footprint is a relative approach, which is structured around a functional unit. As defined in the ISO , the functional unit defines the quantification of the identified functions of the product. The purpose of a functional unit is to provide a reference to which the inputs and outputs are related. This approach will ensure comparability of LCA results. Electricity, raw material Electricity, other consumables Installation Use As a consequence, the functional unit of a product is based on its main technical characteristics. It will help to compare the environmental impacts of several products and then identify the aspects of the product which need to be modified to improve their environmental profile (reduce their impacts); it will give the working/research priorities to the design teams., pretreatment recycling, incineration, landf illed End of life Fig. 1 Reference flow data used to calculate the functional unit Product 100GT 100ECO TM-T88V TM-T20 TM-H6000IV IBM 2CR/2NR Reference flow paper rolls paper rolls paper rolls paper rolls paper rolls Quantity of product, packaging and others complementary part in the Functional Unit 527kg 508kg 527kg 493kg 531kg 603kg Weight of the product 2.163kg 2.131kg 2.164kg 2.059kg 5.028kg 6.005kg Weight of the final packaging 0.505kg 0.721kg 0.356kg 0.297kg 1.296kg 3.167kg Quantity and weight of the paper 1499 paper rolls rolls used over the average lifetime 524.5kg 1444 paper rolls 505.5kg 1499 paper rolls 524.5kg 1403 paper rolls 491kg 1499 paper rolls 524.5kg paper rolls 594kg 1 The length of the receipts depends on the printers. Paper consumption has been measured under test conditions using the respective printers connected via USB, printing a specified print pattern with ESCPOS command base (ESC/POS compatible mode for Star models). Paper rolls: 80mmx80m (WxL), 55 g/m² (weight), 0,35kg (weight per roll), 80mm (Paper diameter), 12mm (Paper core).

3 4.1. Manufacturing phase Product manufacturing The whole architecture of the printers has been described in EIME according to the data gathered by and to the dismantling of the product. The main parts of the products (materials, electronic devices and components, accessories ) have been modelled. For each life cycle step, it has been considered: Raw material manufacturing Supplying Energy and water consumption Air emission Water emission Waste production Waste treatment process Only a few materials or processes were not taken into account due to a lack of information and the relative weight was too small to be significant in the study. The total weight of these missing elements represents only a small part of the printer weight. We consider that more than 95% of the weight has been described. The manufacturing processes have been taken into account: injection of the plastic parts, forming of the metallic part, soldering of the electronic components by reflow and wave processes. To describe the transport of materials and components from suppliers to manufacturing and assembling plants (in China), we have considered average distances according to their geographical origins. The same hypothesis were made for each printers. China: Average transport between the raw materials producers and manufacturing assembly plant: 1,000 km in boat. The following flows were excluded from the studies framework because of the difficulty of attributing a particular reference flow and of their non significant contribution to the global impact: The construction and maintenance of infrastructures as well as their lighting, heating and cleaning The production and maintenance of the tool manufacturing and of the systems and transport infrastructure The employee transportation The flow of administrative, management, R&D and marketing departments The waste treatment process of the scrap generated during the manufacturing phase Packaging Main packaging the packaging was modelled according to the received packaging which is the normal packaging used for sending the printer to (or competitors) customers. The packaging includes the cardboard transport box, the user manual, the CD if relevant and the different plastic bags Distribution phase The hypothesis formulated on the printers is the following one: the products are transported from the manufacturing site in China to a warehouse in Germany by boat, then to the distributors and customers by truck. It is then considered an average transport of: 19,000 km by boat 1,000 km by truck (in China and in Europe) The used transport distance assumptions are extracted from the product category rules of the PEPEco passport program. For competitors printers, it was assumed that the same logistic scheme was applied Use phase Considering the use of the printers, the following scenario has been used: Hypothesis on the average life span (in years): 5 years. It is assumed to be the same for all printers. See fig. 3 below. We considered one European user and the energetic model related to the European electricity provider: European electricity mix: Coal: 18.65%, Lignite: 10.51%, Fuel Oil: 4.18 %, Natural Gas: 20.05%, Nuclear: %, Non thermal:12.65% (10.29 hydro+2.13 Wind other), Process Gas: 1.06%, Free Electricity: 2.76% (geothermal,solar, biomass and animal products, industrial waste, municipal waste, non-specified assumed being impact free) (category: Comm renewable electricity ) Four of the six printers have a switch to turn the power off. Such devices can help to reduce the electricity consumption of the printers while they are not in use. Fig. 3 Energy consumption over 5 years² Modes Time repartition 100GT 100ECO TM-T88V TM-T20 TM-H6000IV IBM 2CR/2N R Operation (Job mode) 25% 5.1 kwh 6.1 kwh 6.6 kwh 5.9 kwh 4.5 kwh 11.4 kwh - receipt Ready mode 75% kwh 33.9 kwh 33.6 kwh 27.6 kwh 36.3 kwh kwh Sleep mode 0% Not available Off mode 0% NC Switch available No switch NC Switch available NC Switch available NC Switch available No switch Unplugged mode 0% 0kWh 0kWh 0kWh 0kWh 0kWh 0kWh Use phase energy consumption, based on data (NC = Not considered) ² Power consumption has been measured under test conditions. 300 receipts per day and 30 cheques (for multifunction printers) per day. Power on for 24 hours and 0 hours power off per day, 365 days per year for 5 years, printers connected through USB IF, OS= Windows XP, Printing method = with Windows driver, Font receipt = Windows font, Font cheque = device font, same printed pattern, Input : AC230V/50Hz, Printing time: 5 Minutes, Not Printing time:15 Minutes. Test results based on averaged power consumption of 3 units.

4 Consumables and maintenance Only the consumables due to the receipts printing are considered here. These consumables are: The paper rolls used for receipt printing, based on information. It was considered that a paper roll is composed of: Paper (340.5g) Corrugated cardboard (9g) PE film (0.5g) This composition can be different, depending on the printer s producer but no information was available.the transportation of paper rolls is taken into account. The hypothesis is that the distance is 1000km by truck. The other consumables not considered are: The cartridge boxes for the checks printing 4.4. End of life phase We assumed that the printers, at the end of their life, are collected following a scenario in compliance with the WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC. That is to say that the products are decontaminated (electronic card, external wires...), and shredded in order to recycle, incinerate or landfill the different materials. According to the recycling potential, incinerating potential and the landfill potential, calculated with EIME software with the Eco DEEE method², combined with the weight of the 2 Calculation Eco DEEE method: components which need special end-of-life treatment, a scenario of end-of-life path will provide the relative environmental impact of this treatment. The End of life process was modelled in EIME software according to the path we define. NOTE: The grey parts of the below diagram are not taking into account the model. The impacts related to the recycling will be allocated to another new product which will include these recycled elements and that s why they are outside of the system s borders. The recycling impact of the materials is taken into account in the manufacturing process. The impacts related to landfill are not considered in the calculation because of the lack of information to evaluate the real impact of land filling waste of electrical and electronic equipment. However, we considered the impact of the transportation from the special end of life treatment site to the landfill centre. Therefore we have chosen a grinding scenario (to extract the polluted parts). See fig. 4 below. Fig. 4 End of Life path for the printers End of Life Product Collect Depollution Shredding Sourcing (100 km) Incinertation Electronic card and other electronic components sourced out by depollution Materials flows (100 km) Landf ill (400 km) (100 km) Recycle Treatment The grey part is not considered in the End of Life impact of the product. The benefit of recycling material is attributed to the product using recycling material.

5 4.5. Data origin Data producer Data about paper and electricity consumption and use scenario has been provided by Data about the manufacturing phase has been gathered by Bureau Veritas CODDE thanks to the dismantling of the products Data about the end of life and the distribution are based on homogenous hypothesis for all products Temporal representativeness The data collection was launched in December 2010 and is representative of the technology used for the years LCI database used The following table (fig. 5) resumes the data origin we had used in this study and that are available in EIME data base version 11.0 (upgrade July 2009). See fig. 5 below. 5. Impact indicator The EIME software helps to issue an environmental evaluation of a product over 11 types of major impacts on the environment, such as air toxicity, water toxicity, water eutrophication, non renewable material depletion. As has made the choice to focus on a simple criterion: the carbon footprint of the products, only the global warming potential (GWP) has been evaluated Global warming indicator The greenhouse effects and its consequences. The global warming is a major environmental issue. Originally, the greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon which allows to keep the temperature rather stable at the surface of the Earth. Indeed, without those gases, the average temperature on the planet would be -19 C instead of 14 C. As a consequence, this natural phenomenon allows the development of the life on Earth. Though, the human activities have drastically increased the production of greenhouse gases to a point where the planet cannot absorb it as fast as it is produced, leading to the raise of the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere, thus to the raise of the temperature on the planet. This increase can lead to weather disturbances, the melting of the ice caps, a raise of the level of the oceans and the disappearing of lands under water. As a consequence, reducing the carbon footprint of our activities becomes a priority. Actions and politics The consciousness of this problem has been increasing in the last years, from some people to a wide amount of the population. This consciousness has led persons and politics to take decision in order to reduce the greenhouse gases emission. The first notable global measure was the Kyoto protocol, ratified by almost all countries, which stipulates that the developed countries reduce their emission of 5.2% from 1990 level by Fig. 5 Origin of the data used for the modelling Inventory data EIME module Source of data Year Stainless steel Steel (Stainless) Ecobilan Engineering judgement- BUWAL 98 (secondary steel)- ETH 96 (chromium) 1996 Galvanised steel Steel (electrogalvanised) IISI (International Iron and Steel Institute) 2002 Aluminum Aluminum (Al, primary) EAA European Aluminum Association 2008 ABS ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, molded by injection) PC PC (Polycarbonate, molded by injection) PA66 PA 6-6 (Polyamide resin 6-6, Molded by injection) Electronic board PWB (Printed Circuit Board FR4, 4 layers) + Electronics Components + Welding process and finishing Data collected on site by CODDE 2006 Copper Copper (wires, 0.6 mm) CODDE study based on industrial data 2005 End of life treatment End of life (PWB treatment) End of life (Cable treatment) CODDE study based on EcoInvent et DEAM data 2005 Electricity Electricity (Europe) DEAM mix, ETH sources for energies 2005 PS PSE (Polystyrene Expandable) PS (Polystyrene, general purpose, GPPS) Cardboard Cardboard (Corrugated) European database for Corrugated Cardboard Life Cycle Studies FEFCO 2006 PVC PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride, Moulded by Injection) Paper Paper (Virgin) CODDE study (based on EcoInvent and literature) 2000 HDPE PE (High Density, HDPE, Moulded by injection)

6 On a longer-term basis, another decision, the factor 4, is to reduce the global emission of 50% from the 1990 level by This reduction is based on the fact that today, we need the equivalent of the capacity of CO 2 absorption of two planets. Considering that developing countries will not be able to reduce their emissions, the developed countries will have to reduce them by 75%. The same idea has been made for the 2100 horizon, leading to the factor 9 (considering the increasing of the population). Characterisation methods The carbon footprint of a product is due to the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and other greenhouse emissions (e.g. methane, SF6, etc ) associated with a product along its life cycle. In this study, the characterisation factors used are extracted from data of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC). The method used is called: IPCC 2007 (GWP100). This indicator allows to evaluate the contribution to the global warming of atmosphere by releasing specific gases. It is expressed in grams of CO 2 equivalent. Indeed, the main contributor to the global warming in term of quantity is the CO 2, which is used as a reference. The following table (fig. 6) presents the characterisation factor associated with each contributing substance (in g eq. CO 2 /g): See fig. 6 below. The causes for these emissions are for example the electricity production in power plants, heating with fossil fuels, transport operations due to fuel combustion and other industrial process Bill of materials The material content of the product is available as BOM (Bill of materials). It is the sum up of all materials chosen in the EIME database but also all the materials used for the components from the EIME database (transistor, semi-conductors, LCD screen panel). Fig. 6 Characterisation factors for GWP (IPCC 2007 GWP 100) Contributing substance GWP expressed in g eq. CO 2 Contributing substance GWP expressed in g eq. CO 2 CFC 11 (CFCl3) 4,600 CFC 113 (CF2ClCFCl2) 6,000 CFC 114 (CF2ClCF2Cl) 9,800 CFC 115 (CF3CF3Cl) 7,200 CFC 12 (CCl2F2) 10,600 CFC 13 (CF3Cl) 14,000 Carbon Dioxide (CO2, fossil) 1 Carbon Monoxide (CO) 1,57 Carbon Tetrachloride (CCl4) 1,800 Carbon Tetrafluoride (CF4) 5,700 Chloroform (CHCl3, HC-20) 30 Hexafluoroethane (C2F6, FC116) 11,900 HCFC 123 (CHCl2CF3) 120 HCFC 124 (CHClFCF3) 620 HCFC 141b (CFCl2CH3) 700 HCFC 142b (CF2ClCH3) 2,400 HCFC 21 (CHCl2F) 210 HCFC 22 (CHF2Cl) 1,700 HCFC 225ca (C3HF5Cl2) 180 HCFC 225cb (C3HF5Cl2) 620 HFC 134 (C2H2F4) 1,100 HFC 134a (CF3CH2F) 1,300 HFC 143 (C2H3F3) 330 HFC 143a (CF3CH3) 1,300 HFC 152a (CHF2CH3) 120 HFC 227ea (CF3CF2CHF2) 3,500 HFC 23 (CHF3) 12,000 HFC 236fa (CF3CF2CH2F) 9,400 HFC 245ca (CF3CF2CH3) 640 HFC 32 (CH2F2) 5,500 HFC 41 (CH3F) 97 HFC 4310 mee 1,500 Halon 1201 (CHF2Br) 470 Halon 1211 (CF2ClBr) 1,300 Halon 1301 (CF3Br) 6,900 Methane (CH4) 21 Methyl Bromide (CH3Br) 5 Methyl Chloride (CH3Cl) 16 Methyl Chloroform (CH3CCl3, HC-130) 140 Methylene Chloride (CH2Cl2, HC-130) 10 Contributing substance GWP expressed in g eq. CO 2 Perfluorobutane (C4F10) 8,600 Perfluorocyclobutane (C4F8) 10,000 Perfluorohexane (C6F14) 9,000 Perfluoropentane (C5F12) 8,900 Perfluoropropane (C3F8) 8,600