Valoración de un producto ecológico

Ponencia presentada en el VI Congreso Internacional de Ingeniería de Proyectos celebrada en Barcelona en el año 2002In this communication, a methodology for integrating these requirements is proposed. The LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology is applied to identify environmental improvement options; the LCC (Life Cycle Cost) methodology is proposed to evaluate the life cycle cost of the initial product and the environmental improvement options; and the Contingent Valuation (CV) technique is applied to estimate the customer’s willingness to pay for a sustainable product that incorporates the proposed environmental improvements. Finally, the proposed methodology will be applied to improve an existing office table.En esta comunicación se presenta una metodología que permite integrar el requerimiento ambiental en el coste de un producto. Para ello, se aplicará la metodología ACV (Análisis del Ciclo de Vida) para identificar alternativas de mejora ambiental a un producto existente, la metodología CCV (Coste del Ciclo de Vida) para valorar el coste del producto inicial y de cada alternativa ecológica, y la metodología de la Valoración Contingente (VC) para evaluar la disposición a pagar del consumidor por un producto catalogado como ecológico por incorporar dichas mejoras ambientales. Finalmente, se aplicará la metodología propuesta para mejorar el diseño de una mesa de oficina existente actualmente en el mercado

Carbon metric of the household sector in the use stage according to ISO 16745: A case study

The upward trend in the residential sector of energy use has significant consequences in terms of environmental impacts. Determining the carbon metric (CM), as part of the whole carbon footprint of a building, contributes to quantify the carbon emissions related to the building's use stage. Although many carbon footprint calculators exist in other sectors, none has been specifically designed and applicable to the building one. However, ISO 16745 provides guidelines for calculating and reporting the CM of existing buildings in operation. In this context, this work sets a methodology to measure the CM of existing households' use stage, based on ISO 16745 and split into three stages. The implementation of the methodology to a case study proved its applicability since it enabled the data collection task through the designed survey, and allowed the energy carriers and end-uses be disaggregated, quantified and clearly reported for user's knowledge. The study outlined that calculating the CM and, more specifically, reporting and making the results publicly available, help raise users' awareness about reducing greenhouse gas-related emissions, and provide new ideas for monitoring, benchmarking and proposing policies at individual member state and EU levels

Nuevos criterios ecológicos para la concesión de la etiqueta ecológica europea a los revestimientos rígidos

El objeto de este artículo es dar a conocer los nuevos criterios ecológicos que deberán cumplir los revestimientos rígidos para la consecución de la etiqueta ecológica comunitaria. La etiqueta ecológica europea constituye un sistema de certificación único, cuyo objetivo es ayudar a los consumidores europeos a identificar los productos y servicios más ecológicos y respetuosos del medio ambiente. Sin embargo, a pesar de que es un instrumento voluntario de ayuda a las empresas para mejorar su actuación ambiental y promocionar sus productos y servicios que respetan el entorno, su uso no es generalizado dentro del sector de revestimiento rígido. A nivel europeo, a fecha de hoy existen 385 modelos de baldosas rígidas con etiqueta ecológica concedida según la Decisión 2002/272/CE, distribuidos en 20 empresas de Italia, Francia y España. A nivel nacional, únicamente existen 11 modelos de baldosas con la Etiqueta Ecológica Europea repartidos en 2 empresa

Green public procurement in office buildings: integration of building sustainability assessment tools criteria

Comunicació presentada al 23rd International Congress on Project Management and Engineering (Málaga, 10-12 July 2019).Each year European Union (EU) public authorities spend the equivalent of 17% the EU Gross Domestic Product on the purchase of goods, services and works. In this line, Green Public Procurement (GPP) can shape production and consumption trends and a significant demand from public authorities for greener goods will create or enlarge markets for environmentally friendly products and services, also increasing innovation and efficiency in the use of energy and materials. Particularly, the construction sector is greatly responsible for environmental pollution and problems related to sustainability and is required to be proactive in improving its performance as one of the primary sectors, where GPP can boost significant potential to drive the creation of a greener economy. In parallel, tools for Building Sustainability Assessment (BSA) provide an estimate of the impact of a building on the environment according to its site location, based on Environmental Impact Assessment methodology. This study provides an analysis of the GPP criteria for the sector of office building design, construction and management, and the criteria covered by the BSA tool VERDE (Green Building Council Spain).Las autoridades públicas de la Unión Europea (UE) invierten un 17% del Producto Interior Bruto de la UE en la compra de bienes, servicios y obras. En este contexto, la Compra Pública Verde (CPV) tiene la capacidad de establecer las tendencias sobre producción y consumo, de manera que una demanda de bienes verdes por parte de las autoridades fomenta la ampliación de mercados basados en productos y servicios respetuosos con el medio ambiente, incrementando también la innovación y eficiencia en el uso de energía y recursos materiales. En concreto, el sector de la edificación es responsable de gran parte de los problemas ambientales relacionados con la sostenibilidad y por ello es un sector prioritario en el que la CPV tiene un potencial significativo. Paralelamente, las herramientas para la Evaluación de la Sostenibilidad de los Edificios proporcionan una estimación del impacto ambiental de un edificio de acuerdo a su localización, basándose en la metodología de Evaluación del Impacto Ambiental. Este estudio presenta un análisis de los criterios de CPV para el sector de los edificios de oficinas, en su diseño, construcción y gestión, y los criterios de la herramienta de certificación de la sostenibilidad de edificios VERDE (Green Building Council España)

Environmental and cost performance of building’s envelope insulation materials to reduce energy demand: Thickness optimisation.

Thermal insulation materials play an important role in the challenge of nearly zero-energy buildings thanks to their potential in reducing building’s energy demand and carbon emissions. However, increasing the thickness of the insulation material in the building’s envelope has implications from the energy, environmental and economic viewpoints. In this context, efforts should be made to optimise insulation thickness to balance all these aspects. This study presents a methodology to analyse optimum insulation material for the building’s envelope (roof, façade and floor) and its thickness to achieve energy demand reductions in the operation phase of the building, which is based on the Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing methodologies to integrate both environmental and economic aspects, respectively. The system boundary includes the life cycle stages of product and use defined by recent European standards. A selection of eleven alternative insulation materials, both conventional and emerging ones based on natural products, were chosen to conduct the study. After applying the methodology to a single-family house in Spain and performing a sensitivity analysis, the results revealed that sheep wool and recycled cotton, jointly with traditionally used mineral and glass wool, should be promoted in the construction industry as they offer the highest eco-efficient performance among the analysed insulation materials. Reductions of up to 40% in energy demand compared to regulations standards can be achieved in theeco-efficiency context

Carbon footprint in Higher Education Institutions: a literature review and prospects for future research

Higher Education Institutions (HEI) or universities, as organisations engaged in education, research and community services, play an important role in promoting sustainable development. Therefore, they are increasingly linked to the initiative of calculating their carbon footprint (CF), which is a tool to assess sustainability from the perspective of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The aim of this study is to carry out a systematic review of the current situation of CF assessment in academic institutions by analysing different key elements, such as the time period, methodologies and practises, calculation tools, emission sources, emission factors and reduction plans. The review protocol considered articles published until March 2021. Of the articles reviewed, 35 are aimed specifically at calculating the CF of HEI, while the remaining articles consist of review, activity-specific CF assessment or GHG emission reduction articles. Clear differences have been identified when results are compared for the normalised CF (average of 2.67 t CO2e/student, ranging from 0.06 to 10.94) or the percentage of carbon offsetting, only considered in 14% of the studies and ranging from 0.09 to 18%. The main reason for this is the lack of standardisation as regards the time metric (year, semester), functional unit (student, employee, area) and data collection boundary (scope 1, 2, 3), the emissions sources and emission factors, mainly for scope 3 (water consumption and treatment, waste treatment, office, ICT and laboratory consumables, commuting and travel, construction materials, canteens, etc.), and the inclusion or not of the effect of carbon offset projects to offset the CF (aim of the project and absorption sources and factors). However, despite the differences, a reduction over time is clearly observed. Therefore, CF in HEI requires further improvements and solutions to a number of challenges, including the definition of representative emission sources, the creation of a robust emission factor database and the development of tools/methodologies that cover all the needs of this type of organisation

Environmental and cost comparison of different insulation materials for the building’s envelope to reduce energy demand

Comunicación presentada en el 21st International Congress on Project Management and Engineering CIDIP 2017(Cádiz, 12th - 14th July 2017).Thermal insulation materials play an important role in the challenge of nearly zero-energy buildings due to their potential in reducing building’s energy demand and carbon emissions. However, increasing the insulation material thickness in the building’s envelope has implications both from the energy, environmental and economic point of view. This study presents a comparison among different insulation material for the building’s envelope (roof, façade and floor) to achieve energy demand reductions during the operation phase of the building. To do so, the Life Cycle Assessment and the Life Cycle Costing methodologies are applied to eleven alternative insulation materials, both conventional and those emerging based on natural products, and six energy efficiency scenarios. As a case study, a detached singlefamily house located on the east coast of Spain has been selected. The results reveal that sheep wool and recycled cotton, jointly with the traditionally-used mineral and glass wool, are the most eco-efficient alternatives.Los materiales de aislamiento térmico juegan un papel importante en diseño de los edificios de energía casi nula debido a su gran potencial en la reducción de la demanda energética del edificio y las emisiones de efecto invernadero. Sin embargo, el aumento del espesor del material aislante en la envolvente del edificio tiene implicaciones energéticas, ambientales y económicas. En este contexto, este estudio presenta una comparación entre diferentes materiales de aislamiento térmico de la envolvente del edificio (cubierta, fachada y suelo) con el fin de reducir la demanda energética durante la fase de uso del mismo. Para ello, se aplican las metodologías de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida y Coste de Ciclo de Vida a once materiales aislantes alternativos, tanto convencionales como emergentes basados en productos naturales en seis escenarios de reducción de la demanda energética. Como caso de estudio, se ha seleccionado una vivienda unifamiliar aislada ubicada en la costa este de España. Los resultados revelan que la lana de oveja y el algodón reciclado, conjuntamente con la lana mineral y de vidrio tradicionalmente utilizadas, son las alternativas más eco-eficientes

Declaraciones Ambientales según ISO14025 en el sector de la construcción. Parte 2: Recubrimientos cerámicos

Este artículo tiene como finalidad aportar información relativa a los Programas, tanto generales como sectoriales, que han desarrollado Reglas de Categoría de Producto (RCP) para diferentes tipos de recubrimientos cerámicos, y mostrar ejemplos de Declaraciones Ambientales publicadas relativas a los mismos.This article is intended to provide information about Programs, both general and sector-based, that have developed Product Category Rules (PCR) to different types of ceramic tilings, and show examples of Environmental Declarations about them

Declaraciones Ambientales según ISO 14025 en el sector de la construcción. Parte 1: Marco normativo y metodología

Este artículo se centra en las Declaraciones Ambientales reguladas por la norma ISO 14025 (2006) en el sector de la construcción.This article focuses on the Environmental Declarations regulated by ISO 14025 (2006) standard in the construction industry

Carbon footprint assessment tool for universities: CO2UNV

Universities, as organisations engaged in education, research and community services, play an important role in promoting sustainability and should be an example of a sustainable organisation. The Carbon Foot- print (CF) is a very useful decision-making tool that allows organisations to measure and communicate the effect of their activities on the environment. To do so, it is necessary to have tools capable of calcu- lating, tracking and reporting their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as guiding the actions for reducing and offsetting them. The aim of this article is to present a tool specifically designed to calcu- late the carbon footprint of universities, called CO2UNV. This tool is able to quantify the CO 2 equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions for scopes 1 (direct GHG emissions), 2 (electricity indirect GHG emissions) and 3 (other indirect GHG emissions), for a university as a whole and for the different buildings/units that it is made up of. It includes, by default, the typical emission sources of an education centre and their corresponding emission factors. However, it is totally adaptable to any other type of organisation thanks to the possibil- ity of including new emission sources and of updating all the emission factors (by default and new). It is also capable of evaluating the evolution of the CF over time, and the CO 2 e offsets achie ved by contribut- ing to offset projects. The results report includes input data and the graphical representation of results. Finally, CO2UNV is applied to calculate and offset the CF of the Universitat Jaume I (Spain), and the study concludes with its validation according to applicability and accuracy criteria.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume