Environmental performance indicators

T he use of LCA for communicating environmental achievements to interest groups is an important option. In many practical situations, LCA requires much time and effort, and more simple rules of thumb are needed.. Some of these use Environmental Performance Indicators, the so-called EPIs. LCA can be used to full advantage to develop EPI-based rules of thumb. ... 

Harmsen GJ. Sustainable process design. In Weijnen MPC, Herder, PM, eds. Environmental Performance Indicators in Process Design and Operation. Proceedings of EFCE Event 616. Delft Delft University Press, 1999 59-68. 

VNCI. Guideline Environmental Performance Indicators for the Chemical Industry. Leidschendam, Netherlands VNCI, 2001. 

Table 2 Environmental Performance Indices for Above-grade Wall Designs (From Ref. 10)...

The objective performance of the environment can be measured in terms of physical quantities (temperature, noise, illuminance, etc.). The human perception and assessment can be expressed by a person with so-called subjective environmental performance indicators, such as control of environment or specific items (ventilation, noise, light, etc.), acceptability of the environment or a specific item (air quahty, thermal comfort, colour, etc.) and complaints or symptoms related to the environment (irritating eyes, skin, headaches, etc.). 

Each CER obtained was analysed using a comprehensive set of environmental performance indicators (EPIs). An overall ranking of CERs was made difficult by the lack of a universal standard. In addition, there was frequently little or no quantitative information, making some of the individual EPI assessments subjective. 

An overall ranking of the companies is then produced based on how many of the environmental performance indicators have been met in the CER. 

There is also pressure on the Commission to offer greater flexibility in the reporting of environmental performance. The present requirement to produce a single environmental statement means that it is unlikely to meet the requirements of all stakeholders, as by their very nature they have very different interests. Therefore new proposals are likely to allow companies to produce reports tailored to meet the different stakeholders expectations from a core of independently validated environmental performance information. The proposals are also likely to allow companies to report on environmental performance indicators, on the assumption that they will provide a basis for comparison with national, regional or sectoral benchmarks on a year-by-year basis. 

How relevant and how reliable is the data on which companies are assessed Sources of data can range from predominantly subjective questionnaires to precise scientific measurement. Environmental performance indicators need to be identified and agreed upon, at least on an industry basis. How they are to be measured should be clearly specified. It will always be difficult to compare CERs from large multinationals with those from small and medium enterprises, particularly as the former could be reporting at any one of a number of different levels - site, national, regional, business or corporate. 

In Chapter 6, a comprehensive analysis is produced for each chemicals industry CER. An overall comparison of the CERs has been developed by evaluating the degree to which each CER has utilised the environmental performance indicators (see Tables 7.3(a) to 7.3(d)). 

Phenone is produced by the acetylation of benzyl chloride with o-xylene via a Friedel-Crafts reaction. Calculate the environmental performance indices, knowing the material balance elements given in Table 1.1 (Christ, 1999). 

Ren, X., 20(X). Development of environmental performance indicators for textile process and product. Journal of Cleaner Production 8, 473—481. 

Effectively managing and communicating company environmental performance to such a wide variety of receptors requires some form of systematisation. This can take the form of Environmental Management Systems (EMS), Environmental Accounting (EA), Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) and environmental reporting. 

Many studies also have been conducted on environmental costing in an organization or a supply chain (Roy et al. 2009). As Nikolopoulou and lerapetritou (2012) have mentioned, there are many systematic methods which can be used as environmental performance indicators of product and process such as product life cycle assessment (LCA) and minimal environmental impact. Letmathe and Boost (2000) proposed cause and effect analysis to assign environmental cost. Be Beer and Friend (2006) considered 5 types of costs including internal and external costs and also regarded environmental revenues. 

When producing a statement, the operator may use relevant existing environmental performance indicators, making sure that the indicators chosen ... 

Friedrich, E., Pillay, S., Buckley, C., 2007. The use of LCA in the water industry and the case for an environmental performance indicator. Water SA33,443-452. 

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