Comparative resources

Table 6.3-1 compares resource estimates from NUREG/... 

The first well-known LCA study was funded by Coca-Cola in 1969. Its purpose was to compare resource consumption and emissions associated with beverage containers. During the energy crisis, several studies were performed with an emphasis on energy. Before 1990, LCA studies dealt mainly with emissions and use of resources and were limited to technical systems. 

Similarly, metrics provide a means for comparing resource consumption and pollutant emissions for the manufacture of various products. The comparison of the metrics for various processes serves to highlight those areas, such as high energy intensity or toxics emissions, that pose potential business risks. An important characteristic of the metrics is that they are stackable - that is, they can be combined (or stacked) to calculate environmental impact per pound of product over the series of processes that comprise a supply chain. 

Plots such as this can be used to compare actual to planned progress. If progress Is delayed at any point, but the completion date cannot be slipped, the plot can be used to determine how many extra resource units have to be employed to complete the project on time. 

In an ambitious study, the AIMS method was used to calculate the absorption and resonance Raman spectra of ethylene [221]. In this, sets starting with 10 functions were calculated. To cope with the huge resources required for these calculations the code was parallelized. The spectra, obtained from the autocorrelation function, compare well with the experimental ones. It was also found that the non-adiabatic processes described above do not influence the spectra, as their profiles are formed in the time before the packet reaches the intersection, that is, the observed dynamic is dominated by the torsional motion. Calculations using the Condon approximation were also compared to calculations implicitly including the transition dipole, and little difference was seen. 

Acetic acid has a place in organic processes comparable to sulfuric acid in the mineral chemical industries and its movements mirror the industry. Growth of synthetic acetic acid production in the United States was gready affected by the dislocations in fuel resources of the 1970s. The growth rate for 1988 was 1.5%. 

Product innovation absorbs considerable resources in the fine chemicals industry, in part because of the shorter life cycles of fine chemicals as compared to commodities. Consequently, research and development (R D) plays an important role. The main task of R D in fine chemicals is scaling-up lab processes, as described, eg, in the ORAC data bank or as provided by the customers, so that the processes can be transferred to pilot plants (see Pilot PLANTS AND microplants) and subsequently to industrial-scale production. Thus the R D department of a fine chemicals manufacturer typically is divided into a laboratory or process research section and a development section, the latter absorbing the Hon s share of the R D budget, which typically accounts for 5 to 10% of sales. Support functions include the analytical services, engineering, maintenance, and Hbrary. 

A realistic assessment of biomass as an energy resource is made by calculating average surface areas needed to produce sufficient biomass at different aimual yields to meet certain percentages of fuel demand for a particular country (Table 2). These required areas are then compared with surface areas available. The conditions of biomass production and conversion used ia Table 2 are either within the range of 1993 technology and agricultural practice, or are beheved to be attainable ia the future. 

S. La22ari, A Histoy of Federal Tax Poliy Conventional as Compared to Renewable and Nonconventional Energy Resources, 88-455E, The Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, Washington, D.C., June 7, 1988. 

The remaining step in the hazard identification and risk assessment procedure shown in Figure 1 is to decide on risk acceptance. For this step, few resources are available and analysts are left basically by themselves. Some companies have formal risk acceptance criteria. Most companies, however, use the results on a relative basis. That is, the results are compared to another process or processes where hazards and risks are weU-characterized. 

Perhaps the biggest contribution that technological advancement in petroleum production will make is bringing large volumes of unconventional petroleum resources, eg, heavy oil and tar sands, into a viable economic realm by lowering the unit cost of production. Compared to the inventory of conventional petroleum reserves and undiscovered resources, the physical inventories of such unconventional petroleum resources are extremely large for example, the Athabasca tar sands in Alberta, Canada, are estimated to contain 360 x 10 m (2250 x 10 bbl) of in-place petroleum (19). This volume is equivalent to the total inventory, ie, the combined cumulative production, reserves, and undiscovered resources, of world conventional cmde petroleum. In... 

The use of nuclear power has been a topic of debate for many years. Nuclear fuel represents a resource for generating energy weU into the future, whereas economically recoverable fossil fuel reserves may become depleted. Worker exposure, injuries, and fataHties in nuclear fuel mining are reportedly far less compared to those associated with recovery and handling of fossil fuels. Potential hazards associated with transporting and storing radioactive wastes do exist, however. 

On the positive side, the three-dimensional nature of the resource provides it with a distinct advantage compared to other solar technologies. Specifically, because siting usually involves placing the individual turbines as high as possible, typically spacing turbines about 2 to 3 blade diameters apart crosswind and 10 diameters apart downwind, only a small fraction of a wind farm area is actually occupied. The rest of the land remains available for other appHcations, such as crop production or Hvestock grazing. 

Roundwood equivalent is also sometimes used. It refers to the volume of logs or other round products required to produce a given quantity of lumber, plywood, wood pulp, and other wood products (2). Roundwood equivalents may be used ia assessiag the overall wood resource supply and demand or ia comparing wood products measured ia different units. 

Natural Gas. Natural gas, an abundant fuel resource in the United States, has sufficient reserves to fuel over 10 x 10 U.S. vehicles per year for the next 50 years (122). Natural gas is used in two forms as a transportation fuel compressed or Hquefied at low temperatures. Tanks for the storage of compressed natural gas are heavy and larger in volume than for Hquid fuels. However, the added cost is offset by an expected lower pump price compared to gasoline (123). Whereas the lack of pubHc natural gas fueling stations and other factors make natural gas more attractive for fleet vehicles in the United... 

The importance of the penicillins as a class of heterocyclic compounds derives primarily from their effectiveness in the treatment of bacterial infections in mammals (especially humans). It has been estimated that, in 1980, the worldwide production of antibiotics was 25 000 tons and, of this, approximately 17 000 tons were penicillins (81MI51103). The Food and Drug Administration has estimated that, in 1979 in the U.S.A., 30.1 x 10 prescriptions of penicillin V and 44.3 x 10 prescriptions of ampicillin/amoxicillin were dispensed. This level of usage indicates that, compared to other methods of dealing with bacterial infection, the cost-benefit properties of penicillin therapy are particularly favorable. Stated differently, penicillin treatment leads to the elimination of the pathogen in a relatively high percentage of cases of bacterial infection at a relatively low cost to the patient in terms of toxic reactions and financial resources. 

B) Any contamination of the environment or damage to natural resources at a facility owned or operated hy Seller or a facility/location chosen hy Seller for its disposal of Wastes or any other facility at which Seller s Wastes may he released or threatened to he released, including any liability imposed by federal, state and local laws, regulations and ordinances, including, but not limited to, the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 USC 9601 etseq., the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42 USC 6901 et seq., or comparable and applicable state legal requirements or any extension or revision thereof or... 

Then, the absolute reduction in frequency, consequence, or risk can be calculated and compared to the cost of implementing the improvement, allowing you to determine whether the change represents the best use of resources to improve safety. 

Another way of interpreting absolute risk estimates is through the use of benchmarks or goals. Consider a company that operates 50 chemical process facilities. It is determined (through other, purely qualitative means) that Plant A has exhibited acceptable safety performance over the years. A QRA is performed on Plant A, and the absolute estimates are established as calibration points, or benchmarks, for the rest of the firm s facilities. Over the years, QRAs are performed on other facilities to aid in making decisions about safety maintenance and improvement. As these studies are completed, the results are carefully scrutinized against the benchmark facility. The frequency/consequence estimates are not the only results compared—the lists of major risk contributors, the statistical risk importance of safety systems, and other types of QRA results are also compared. As more and more facility results are accumulated, resources are allocated to any plant areas that are out of line with respect to the benchmark facility. 

In the United States, in particular, recent legislation has mandated sweeping improvements to urban air quality by limiting mobile source emissions and by promoting cleaner fuels. The new laws require commercial and government fleets to purchase a substantial number of vehicles powered by an alternative fuel, such as natural gas, propane, electricity, methanol or ethanol. However, natural gas is usually preferred because of its lower cost and lower emissions compared with the other available alternative gas or liquid fuels. Even when compared with electricity, it has been shown that the full fuel cycle emissions, including those from production, conversion, and transportation of the fuel, are lower for an NGV [2]. Natural gas vehicles offer other advantages as well. Where natural gas is abundantly available as a domestic resource, increased use... 

Sometimes LCA stops at the end of the inventory step. There may be two explanations for this. One is that all emissions and resource depletion improve, when compared to a reference alternative. Tu this case an impact assessment is not required. 

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