Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
---|---|---|---|---|
96.21 KB | Adobe PDF |
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The remediation of contaminated sites supports the goal of sustainable development but may also have
environmental impacts at a local, regional and global scale. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has increasingly
been used in order to support site remediation decision-making. This review article discusses existing
LCA methods and proposed models focusing on critical decisions and assumptions of the LCA application
to site remediation activities. It is concluded that LCA has limitations as an adequate holistic decisionmaking
tool since spatial and temporal differentiation of non-global impacts assessment is a major hurdle
in site remediation LCA. Moreover, a consequential LCA perspective should be adopted when the different
remediation services to be compared generate different site’s physical states, displacing alternative
post-remediation scenarios. The environmental effects of the post-remediation stage of the site is generally
disregarded in the past site remediation LCA studies and such exclusion may produce misleading
conclusions and misdirected decision-making. In addition, clear guidance accepted by all stakeholders
on remediation capital equipment exclusion and on dealing with multifunctional processes should be
developed for site remediation LCA applications.
Description
Keywords
Contaminated site Site remediation Life cycle assessment (LCA) Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) Risk assessment (RA)
Citation
Publisher
Elsevier