Agrofair bananas towards integral sustainable label with pesticide footprint tool
Uncovering toxicity impacts to improve regional banana production
The cost of fraud: health consequences of fraudulent emissions tests
INTERVIEW | At the end of 2015, it became known that Volkswagen Group has been cheating with emission tests for diesel engines over the last six years, resulting in on-road emissions vastly exceeding the legal standards for nitrogen oxides in Europe and the United States. PRé’s Laura Golsteijn interviewed Rik Oldenkamp, one of the researchers who quantified the public health consequences of this fraud.
Why the Succes of Circular Economy is Owned by Chemicals
Interpretation of metrics: DALYs and damage to human health
One reason why we care about the environmental impact of our choices is that they affect human health. But how do you quantify that? The most commonly used metric is Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY), taking into account the years lost to premature death and expressing the reduced quality of life due to illness in years as well. How can you use this in life cycle assessment and what are the points of contention you should be aware of?
How To Unite the Two Viewpoints On Toxicity?
Manufacturing companies usually look at a product’s toxicity from two points of view: “How sustainable is the product regarding human health and the environment?” and “Does the product pose a risk to specific groups of people, e.g. the workers involved in its production?”
How to Use USEtox® Characterisation Factors in SimaPro
USEtox®, available in SimaPro, is a well-known model for characterising the toxic impacts of chemical emissions in a life cycle assessment (LCA). But what is it exactly and how do you use it? This article gives a short overview.
Normalisation: New Developments in Normalisation Sets
This is the second in a series of articles where PRé's own consultants explain a step in the LCIA process and the way their own expertise fits into that step. Tommie Ponsioen is a technical consultant at PRé, with expertise in LCA methodology and database development. This article explains normalisation, the third step in LCIA, and describes new developments in the field.
Characterisation: New Developments for Toxicity
This is the first in a series of articles where PRé's own consultants explain a step in the LCA process and the way their own expertise fits into that step. First up is Laura Golsteijn, who is not just an expert on characterisation in LCIA, but also earned a PhD based on her original characterisation research.
LC-Impact Culmination | Presentation of the outcomes
The work of LC-impact is nearing its culmination, after 3.5 years. The outcomes will be presented during a special session, which is organized during the SETAC Europe annual meeting in Glasgow.
LC-Impact Culmination | Training Materials Available
The work of the LC-impact project is nearing its culmination. PRé is actively participating in this project, together with other 16 European partners from academia, industry, and SME’s.The first course materials for LC-impact have been developed.
Identifying best existing practice for characterization modeling in life cycle impact assessment
Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is a field of active development. The last decade has seen prolific publication of new impact assessment methods covering many different impact categories and providing characterization factors that often deviate from each other for the same substance and impact. Here you can read the journey towards identifying the best existing practice for characterization modeling in life cycle impact assessment.
Oct 17-18 | Product Environmental Footprint
Feb 19-20 | SimaPro and LCA: essentials
Feb 19-21 | SimaPro and LCA: in-depth
Mar 19-20 | Product Environmental Footprint
Apr 22-23 | SimaPro and LCA: essentials
Apr 22-24 | SimaPro and LCA: in-depth