Ecological footprint environmental evaluation

Reprinted from Herva, M., Alvarez, A., Roca, E. Combined application of energy and material flow analysis and ecological footprint for the environmental evaluation of a tailoring factory. Journal of Hazardous Materials 237—238, 231—239. Copyright (2012), with permission from Elsevier. 

Another important aspect to be examined related to biofuels production is its environmental sustainability. It is not always easy to assess the ecological footprint of biofuels, as they involve many factors that are linked in a complex way. In 2008, a roundtable for sustainable biofuels set 12 criteria (partially updated in 2011) for the evaluation of biofuel sustainability ... 

Material and energy balances are as well the basis of ecological assessments. These should not only focus on possible achievements concerning reductions of greenhouse gases or primary resource consumptions but also on other environmental impacts too. Life-cycle assessment (LCA, see ISO 14040 and 14044) is the tool to do this. LCA quantifies and evaluates a number of environmental impacts caused by products, production systems or services. Contrary to other concepts, Uke for example, the carbon footprints or CO2 abatement costs LCA provides the possibility to cover ecological issues more comprehensively and differentiated. 

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