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User:Welch Ricardo/Ricardo "The Gladiator" Welch

Ricardo Adrian Allan Welch (1964- ) famously called "The Gladiator"; "Dr Carlos"; "The Emperor Of Talk"; "The Professor"; "The Voice Of The People"; "The Grassrooots Champion" was born at 3am Sunday 18th October, 1964. He was born at the Port Of Spain General Hospital in the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean in the Western Hemisphere. He was the fourth child of his mother (Gloria Peters Welch deceased) and the third child of his father (Carlton Harvey Welch deceased). Among other family members, his sisters and brothers are: Linda Peters; Elizabeth "Pinky" Welch (deceased); Allan Welch and Francis "Shepard" Quamina.

Ricardo Welch or "The Gladiator" is a household name in Trinidad and Tobago. He is one of the leading talk show host on national radio (currently on 104.7More fm)and the most controvercial individual on national radio. He is regarded by many as a frank; no nonsense; open minded; to the point; and liberal talk show host unlike his competitors at the other 30 plus radio stations in the country. He has fallen out with many politicians even his own political party (PNM). This years "The Gladiator" is celebrating nine (9) years in news and current affairs in the local media industry. It was under the NAR Government (1986-1991) the local media industry was open up in the granting of more radio and television licence to would-be interested parties or person. Back then the name Ricardo Welch as "Dr Carlos" was ringing out loud in the capital city of Port Of Spain as a grassroot "Professor". His stomping ground was the famous "University Of Woodford Square" named by the late Prime Minister Dr Eric Eustace Williams during the 1950's when Williams "Let Down His Bucket" at the then Woodford square. It was also called the "People's Parliament".

The name "Gladiator" was used as a title to describe the talk show host Ricardo Welch on national radio. Ricardo Welch got the title himself after doing a couple of historical research for a title of a new talk show program he directed on Power 102FM in 2001. He also viewed the motion picture "Gladiator" seven times. Such, also, was an inspiration to him. The management of Power 102FM had contracted "The Gladiator" to develop a new program for the station which was losing in ratings and listenership since Dale Enoch,Tony Lee and Louis Lee Sing had left the Gillette's radio station before the 2000 general election. Lindsay Gillette then Chairman of the family group of companies was appointed a UNC Senator that same year. Many viewed the internal conflict or departure of Dale, Tony and Louis at Power 102 as being political. However, Power 102 paid a great price for such interference of the media. They needed someone to reignite its image; to fill the void left and bring the station back to stardom. That person was Riardo Welch a man of grassroot up-bringing. Andy Johnson came to the Univesity Of Woodford Square in the early part of 2001 (February-March) conducting a live lunchtime outside broadcast for the station on current affairs and the heated political climate over the 18-18 parliamentary deadlock and there is where he discovered the marvelous talent of the chief debater, lecturer and leader "Dr Carlos" (Ricardo Welch).

"Dr Carlos" commanded a following that the station needed. He was very articulate, knowlegeable in many fields as in history, politics, philosophy, constitutional law, dialectrician, parliamentary procedures, social science and current affairs. He was gifted unlike others at the University Of Woodford Square. Ricardo "Gladiator" Welch was autodidactic or self-taught individual. He would go to the libraries including UWI library to research on any topic he would normlly disseminate orally for a price. "Dr Carlos" always held the view that knowlegde was not free and that every orator in the University Of Woodford Square was equal to a lecturer, professor or pastor at any given university or chapel and therefore should be payed or demand from their listening audience a fee as in ancient times. It should be noted that "The Gladiator" was also a weekly newspaper Columnist of the Trinidad Guardian during the late 90's. Whereas "The Gladiator" was and is still his radio name; "Dr Carlos" was his title at the "People's Parliament". Any politician or would-be politician must fist meet with "Dr Carlos" before talking to the masses. Question would be put to individual politician "did you meet 'Dr Carlos'?" if the answer was in the negative they were in big trouble of not being listened to or be provoked and harassed. Such was the power of Ricardo Welch during the middle of the eighties (80's)onwards.

History has recorded the contribution of a young man who grew up with his father and mother in the then Shanty Town located close to the Central Market in Port Of Spain. "Gladiator" as a child almost face death when he was four years. The Dry River next to the then Shanty Town, in what is called Beetham Estate today had overflown onto its banks and little "Gladiator" was playing in the rain that afternoon and was about to enter the river when a good friend of his mother "Tanty Phillis" (deceased) caught young Ricardo by his hand to him entering the dry river lest he drowned in the river. "Gladiator's" mother Gloria Peters Welch was a spiritualist (an Orisha worshiper) or what was called "Shango Baptist" during the 60's, 70's and 80's. Being a "Shango Baptist" in the colonial periods was a scar or stain to your good name. At age 3 "The Gladiator" was consecrated secretly under Orisha rites by his mother. His father, Carlton Welch, was very dissappointed and mad vex upon hearing(through a village maco)about the secret consecration of his child by the high priest of Orisha worshipers. "Gladiator's" father was a stout Roman Catholic. He never forgive his wife for what she did to young "Gladiator". It brought about a seperation between Ricardo Welch's father and mother. A long court battle ensued causing young Ricardo "Gladiator" Welch at age 5 to be placed in the Belmont Orphanage (later called St Dominic's Home) located in Port Of Spain. It marked the begining of a new chapter Gladiator's early life.


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Design for the Environment/Automobile Car Mats

This study was performed for the Design for the Environment course.

The main aim of this article is to evaluate, quantify, and examine effects of production of car mats on the environment while identifying possible alternatives to the current baseline material, synthetic rubber. Car mats have long been used in motor vehicles to protect the underlying floor surface. They are almost always installed in the factory and meant to last the life of the vehicle. Initially, car mats were a piece of carpet cut to fit a defined area of the carpeted floor surface. Over time, Velcro and other means of fastening have been used to secure the mats in place, eventually leading to current widely used rubber spikes and grooves (base) at the back of the mat (fibers).

The two alternatives are analyzed based on their energy requirements and environmental impact. The aim is to choose materials that require less energy to produce, involve less harmful manufacturing methods, and have the smallest footprint after their useful life (i.e. be readily recyclable). Furthermore, the car mats must be able to fulfill their basic functionality throughout the lifetime of the vehicle. The mats must prevent salt and water from reaching the floor, retain dirt and odor, withstand abrasion, and be easy to clean. The materials studied are being considered for use in Toyota’s future eco-friendly models as a response to a continually growing need for environmentally friendly vehicles. As such, it is necessary to study and determining better alternatives to the current baseline. In context of this report, the three sets of materials analyzed are as follows:

Baseline material: Synthetic rubber base with nylon fibers Synthetic rubber is the predominant material used in car mats. 6,6 Nylon fibers are then attached to the rubber base using adhesive material.

Alternative 1: Polylactic acid (PLA) base and fibers PLA is a carbon-neutral, nature-derived polymer. This material can be formed and used both as the base and fibers of the mat.

Alternative 2: Biodegradable rubber base with coir fibers Biodegradable rubber is extracted mainly from the bark of rubber trees and will degrade completely. Coir fibers are extracted from the outer husks of coconuts. Both materials are readily available and environmentally friendly.

Highlights and Recommendations

 * Considering Functional analysis, all three groups of materials have the capability of carry out the intended task for the life of the product.
 * EIO-LCA suggests that PLA production has fewer greenhouse gas and toxic releases and requires less energy.
 * Based on SLCA, PLA has fewer negative impacts on the environment during its life cycle than the other two sets of materials with a score of 75 out of 100, whereas synthetic rubber achieved a score of 68.
 * Based on Cost analysis, synthetic rubber and nylon fibers are currently the cheapest materials. Biodegradable rubber and coir on the other hand are relatively more expensive, mainly due to small production amounts of these materials compared to synthetic rubber.
 * Societal impacts of car mats in general are insignificant and identical for all three materials.

Considering the results of each analysis and importance of each area, it can be concluded that Polylactic Acid (PLA) is the most suitable material for use in car mats and it is recommended out of the studied materials. For the decision making process, see recommendation.

Project Information
Section 1 Group A23 TA: Richard Mills

Baseline: Synthetic Rubber Base with Nylon Fibers
Rubber (Styrene Butadiene Rubber - SBR) is primarily made of styrene and butadiene, both by products of petroleum refining. The processes involved in making them are extensive heating and steam cracking. Nylon 6,6 is made of adipic acid and hexamethylene diamine. The processes involved in making them are hydrogenation and oxidation. The analysis is included in SLCA (section 4.1) below.

Alternative 1: Polylactic Acid Base and Fibers
Polylactic Acid (PLA) is a semi-synthetic polymer created from renewable natural resources which impacts the environment less than the conventional polymers used in mats. The starchy plants necessary for synthesizing PLA can be harvested continually, guaranteeing a continual supply of raw material. The primary advantages of PLA are its recyclability and biodegradability. After it use in car mats, polylactic acid can be potentially be reused for other applications. If this is not possible, exposure to a suitable environment promotes degradation into it's constituent compounds. As a final resort, PLA car mats can undergo combustion, releasing water and carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere and completing the carbon cycle without releasing sulfur, nitrogen, or volatile organic compounds.

Alternative 2: Biodegradable Rubber Base with Coir Fibers
Natural rubber is derived from liquid called latex, which is extracted mainly from the bark of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) through a tapping process. Through vulcanization, rubber acquires qualities such as strength, elasticity, impermeability and resistance to abrasion and solvents. Coir is the fiber extracted from the outer husks of coconuts. Currently, all our coir comes from the state of Kerala, at India's south-west Malabar Coast. Combination of Natural Rubber and Coir could be used as new materials in car mat production. Both materials are available and environmentally friendly.

Synthetic Rubber and Nylon
Automobile mats made of synthetic rubber base (referred as rubber henceforth) with nylon fibers are most widely used in automobile industry. Their properties such as impermeability to water (rubber); trapping dirt and dust (nylon carpet) contribute to their popularity among mat manufacturers. They both fulfill the requirements of providing all weather protection and aesthetic appeal.

Polylactic Acid
Polylactic acid exhibits multiple characteristics which satisfy the criteria for car mat materials. According to industry sources, it possesses good abrasion resistance, impact resistance and toughness. These properties indicate that PLA car mats will be able to withstand the daily physical rigours of an automobile floor. Furthermore, PLA is grease and oil resistant as well, reducing the cleaning effort required when spills occur. Although PLA is generally biodegradable, it is rigid and non-degradable under life cycle conditions.

Biodegradable Rubber and Coir
Biodegradable rubber is very similar to Polylactic acid in terms of durability, flexibility, and impermeable to water. Coir fibers have proven to be a good choice of material as fibers used in mats as they are used currently for their strong fiber for products such as welcome mats and regular carpets. Also, coir fibers are easy to clean using water and other detergents. Combination of these two materials can be used in car mat manufacturing.

Summary
All materials analyzed meet the functional requirements of a car mat.

Synthetic Rubber and Nylon
Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment Table

Resource Extraction

Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR or rubber) is made from styrene and butadiene; both by-products of petroleum refining. Nearly 3.5 gallons of oil is needed to make a set of mats (assuming they weigh 4kg). Nylon 6,6 is made from organic compounds: adipic acid and Hexamethylene diamine. The processes involved consume a lot of heat. Significant environmental concerns are depletion of fossil fuels and thermal pollution.

Manufacturing

SBR is produced by the copolymerization of butadiene and styrene. Nylon 6,6 fibers are made by extruding molten nylon through spinnerets. The fibers then undergo processes such as weaving and dyeing to become a carpet. A lot of energy is used in resource extraction and manufacturing in terms of power generation and consumption has significant impact on global climate change.

Product Delivery

Packaging is usually done in plastic or cardboard. Delivery (truck) requires energy and releases gases harmful for the environment.

Product Use

Minimum maintenance required with no significant impact on the environment.

Disposal / Recycling

Rubber and Nylon generally end up at landfills and take 50-80 and 50 years respectively to decompose naturally. However both of them can be recycled in their respective ways. Incineration of rubber produces useful energy but causes pollution.

Polylactic Acid
Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment Table

Resource Extraction Polylactic acid manufacture requires starch from plants - a renewable resource. . Although this resource can be replenished, significant energy and effort is required to grow the crops. Additionally, the material drain on the environment is still present. Residues are present in this phase due to transport and similar tasks but they do not have a large impact.

Manufacturing After harvesting, the starch in the corn is separated from the husk and waste material. The starch then undergoes a series of chemical reactions to convert the starch into the polylactic acid polymer. PLA fibres and bulk material are then formed into automobile car mats. This process is material and energy intensive, producing residue from residual plant matter, waste water, and released gaseous agents.

 Product Delivery Upon manufacture of the car mats, the product is then packaged and shipped for sale. Energy is consumed from transportation and fossil fuel emissions are released as a by-product of gasoline engine use.

 Product Use During the use phase, polylactic acid car mats are inert, requiring few resources and energy. The weight added to the automobile is negligible and cleaning agents for maintainance have negligible effect. As such, there are negligible solid, liquid and gaseous residues as well.

 Disposal/Recycling The merits of PLA are especially apparent during the disposal phase. Polylactic acid can be recycled if it can be isolated from other compounds. if this is impossible, PLA based car mats can be disposed of via composting and incineration, returning the carbon dioxide and water initially absorbed by the corn plants back into the atmosphere and completing the carbon cycle. Additionally, fewer toxic residues are released from PLA mats in comparison to petrochemical compounds although solid residues may initially remain before decomposition. The natural decomposition process requires little energy.

Biodegradable Rubber and Coir
Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment Table

Resource Extraction

Natural rubber mostly comes from Pará rubber trees (Rubber tree) that grows in tropical parts of the earth. Brown fibers used in mat production are extracted from the fibrous outer shell of a coconut. Energy must be expended to plant, grow, reap, and transport the plants used in manufacturers. Small amount of wastes are produced at this stage.

Manufacturing

Coir fibers are removed by hand and softened in sea water, so that they can be woven into a selection of designs. Natural rubber is a polymer and needs to be treated with chemicals to enhance some of its properties. Emission of dust and fumes from rubber processing operations is concern of manufacturing processes.

Product Delivery

Plastic used for packaging car mats is harmful for environment and wastes from packaging process need to be recycled. Also, the delivery of the goods from manufacturers to distributers requires burning of fuels and as a result emission of GHG gases in the environment.

Product Use

The final material is a durable and environmentally friendly. No maintenance is needed throughout its life span from users other than cleaning. The design is easy to install and needs a little effort and energy.

Disposal, Recycling

Some of the methods used these days are as follow: Incineration, Reuse, and recycling. Thin rubber products will degrade naturally especially if they are subjected to natural sunlight.

Summary
SLCA Results:

Based on the SLCA results shown above, Polylactic Acid is again favored as the better choice of material for use in car mats. However, Biodegradable rubber and coir fibers are also a good choice of materials. The short coming of Alternative II is mostly due to long distance shipping requirement of coir fibers, although this can be accounted for by local production of coconut trees or use of cheaper or less harmful method of shipping.

Synthetic Rubber and Nylon
Based on EIOLCA model - US Department of commerce 1997 Industry Benchmark, the mat (rubber with nylon carpet) was broken down into the following sectors: synthetic rubber manufacturing, industrial mold manufacturing, noncellulosic organic fiber manufacturing, carpet and rug mills and adhesive manufacturing. There are no sectors for recycling of the components. Therefore, recycling is not included in this analysis. The inputs used for analysis were: conventional air pollutants, greenhouse gases, energy and toxic releases.

Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing

Synthetic rubber is the primary material used in this product. Therefore, it will have a greater share in overall environmental impact.

Significant Impacts:
 * 1510 metric ton (mt) CO2. CO2 is the largest contributor to global warming potential (gwp) – 92% of the total.
 * 17.5 terra joules (TJ) of energy is produced from natural gas. Methane, released through leakage, is a green house gas (23 times stronger that same amount of CO2) 31% of indirect emissions come from release of methane.
 * Total toxic releases are 2190 kg. 28% of this are non-point air (not readily and specifically identifiable)

Environment Concerns: Global climate change, ozone depletion, acid disposition and smog.

Industrial Mold Manufacturing

This sector does not have any significant impact. A brief summary is included in the consolidated table of environmental impacts below.

Noncellulosic Organic Fiber Manufacturing

This sector encompasses nylon fiber and polypropylene for the nylon carpet. Nylon carpet is a major component for this product.

Significant Impacts:
 * High levels of CO, SO2 and NOx are released – 6.42, 2.48 and 2.06 mt respectively. Emissions are comparable to those from synthetic rubber manufacturing sector.
 * 12.3 terra joules (TJ) of energy is produced from natural gas. Methane, released through leakage, is a green house gas (23 times stronger that same amount of CO2) 31% of indirect emissions come from release of methane.)

Environment Concerns: Global climate change, Depletion of nonrenewable resources and smog

Carpet and Rug Mills

The nylon carpet and polypropylene from previous sector need to be brought together. This is accomplished in this sector. It is related to the noncellulosic manufacturing sector and there are overlaps. This is mainly the use of industrial machines to weave, cut and dye.

Significant Impacts: 2% of 1260 toxic releases go underground.

Environment Concerns: Threat to ground water and lost of arable land.

Adhesive Manufacturing

There is no doubt that adhesives manufacturing have an impact on the environment. However, adhesives do not meet the 5% rule of mass of product and does not pose any significant threat. For more information, please refer to consolidated table below. It should be noted that sectors are not scaled.

Polylactic Acid
EIOLCA of polylactic acid car mats is complicated by the fact that its manufacture does not fit into any one specific industry sector. However, it is possible to divide the analysis into the harvesting, pre-processing, and fabrication stages and utilize intermediate values.

Crop Farming

Starchy crops are the primary raw material for PLA formation. In North America, corn presents itself as an excellent raw material. As a grain, its production corresponds to the Grain Farming sector in EIOLCA. For this sector, most of the air pollutants result from pesticide and fertizer use. The total Global Warming potential for $1 million of economic activity is 6310 MTCO2E of which 5300 MTCO2E come from the actual farming process. Additional significant contributors are fertilizer manufacturing (415 MTCO2E) and power generation (204 MTCO2E) likely used for powering machines which aid in farming and harvesting the crops. The energy consumption and toxic releases share a similar emphasis on grain farming and fertilizer manufacturing.

Cellulosic Fibre Manufacturing

PLA fibre formation does not fully correspond to the Cellulosic Fibre Manufacturing sector since starch, not cellulose is utilized. However, both these compounds are glucose polymers and their manufacturing processes are comparable. For $1 million economic activity, the global warming potential for this stage is 3460 MTCO2E with the bulk of the emissions from the organic fiber manufacturing process and power generation and supply. These two sectors also contribute most to toxic releases and energy consumption.

Carpet and Rug Mills

The final stage of mat formation involves the integration of the fibre into a mat form. The processes used are similar to those of the Carpet and Rug Mills sector in EIOLCA so the environmental effects are potentially comparable. The total GTP is 1140 MTCO2E with power generation and supply, fiber manufacturing, and carpet and rug mills as the leading pollutant and energy usage sectors.

Total Environmental Effect of PLA Mats using EIOLAC $1 million economic activity

Biodegradable Rubber and Coir
Since there is no specific values for some processes, numbers from the closest sector were used as an estimation.

Farming and Harvesting

Both natural rubber and coir come from forestry areas so we use Sector #1130: Forestry and logging from EIOLCA website. (Greenhouse Gases = 1308 MTCO2E, Energy Use = 17.351 TJ)

Manufacturing and Processing

Manufacturing of cellulosic organic fibers can be used as estimation for coir fiber production. Rubber manufacturing sector can be used for natural rubber production. (Rubber Manufacturing: Greenhouse Gases = 548 MTCO2E, Energy Use = 22.552 TJ, Air Pollution = 2.086 mt)(Coir Fiber Manufacturing = Greenhouse Gases = 3460 MTCO2E, Energy Use = 61.9 TJ, Toxic Releases = 15800 kg)

Car Mat Fabrication

Rug and Mills manufacturing sector can be used as estimation for car mat production. (Mat Fabrication: Greenhouse Gases = 866.1 MTCO2E, Energy Use = 11.2 TJ, Toxic Releases = 447 kg)

Summary

As is can be seen from the figures, Polylactic Acid is a better material choice based on the EIOLCA analysis.

Synthetic Rubber and Nylon
According to International rubber study group, cost of US export Synthetic rubber (type not specified) in 2008 was $2,012/tonne. Cost of nylon carpet is $1.37/sqft. A set (2 front and 2 rear) of mats weigh approximately 5 kg. Assuming 80% is made up of rubber and 2 sqft of nylon carpet is used, the material costs will be: $8.04 (rubber) + $2.76 (nylon carpet) = $10.80

Cost will include either sending it to the land fill or incinerating factory. Incineration have negative costs associated with as it is producing energy. So it can be a source of revenue rather than expense. Scrap rubber today costs ~$120/100 kg (Rs 5550/100 kg). This is approximately equal to $250/100kg 15 years from now taking into consideration time value of money. (Calculated at a compound interest rate of 5%)

Additional costs may be associated with the manufacture of this product. Workers involved in the production of rubber are known to face serious health hazards such as cancers, respiratory and dermatologic problems. Adequate data is not available to have a cost estimate. Other costs include tackling environmental impacts such as global climate change, smog and ground pollution caused during the lifecycle of the mat.

Polylactic Acid
It is always a challenge to design eco-friendly products which can provide similar functional capabilities for a comparable cost. As with new technologies, polylactic acid was initially expensive and limited to biomedical applications. Recently, it has become possible to manufacture this material at a lower cost, increasing the commercial viability of this technology. This price results from an increase in accessibility to renewable resources like corn and a reduction in processing energy requirements. Due to a decrease in availability of fossil fuels, the price of hydrocarbon-based polymer rubber will tend to increase in the long run. At this time, it will be more economically feasible to use mats created from renewable resources. For now, however, polylactic acid car mats provide environmental benefits at a slightly higher price than mainstream rubber mats.

Biodegradable Rubber and Coir
The current world consumption of rubber, totaling around 18 million tons per year, consists of 48% natural rubber (NR). Taking the price of natural rubber as 110 Rs per Kg (2.65 Canadian dollars per Kg) gives us:

1 ton of Natural Rubber = 2.65 x 1000 = $ 2650 (According to latest prices) Globally, around 500,000 tons of coir is produced every year. The value of coir production has been put at around $100 million annually. We now can estimate the price of 1 ton of coir about $2000.

Addition to shipping costs, burning fuels by delivery vehicles creates emissions that are harmful to the environment such as greenhouse gases.

Disposal costs of out materials can range from $0.02 - $0.05 per pound, depending on your State or region.

Summary
Although synthetic rubber production currently cost much less than Polylactic acid or coir fibers, the disposal and recycling costs related to synthetic rubber are high. Some of these costs are not easily quantifiable and so they have been ignored for many years. Considering these costs when comparing synthetic rubber to Alternativ I or II shows that polylactic acid or coir fibers, although more expensive in production are a viable replacement materials for synthetic rubber.

Societal Analysis
Considering the small scale of environmental impacts associated with car mats, the impact of car mats on the society is relatively insignificant compared to the effect of the car that it is going to be used in. Car mats are relatively cheap and can be acquired by any person who owns a vehicle. Also the main users of car mats are restricted to very few people including the driver, hence car mats do not have significant effect on society as a whole. Although it is more likely that car mats will be seen as a small step towards environmental sustainability. As such the public will view the mats as another product to promote environmental responsibility and may not be as motivated to expend the extra effort to purchase product made of environmentally friendly materials. In light of these circumstances, it will be more beneficial to have automobile manufacturers using environmentally friendly car mats in new cars to immediately reap the benefits on a large scale. Along with other “environmentally friendly” features, this could promote the automobiles to a society which is becoming increasingly interested in eco-friendly products.

Recommendation
Below is a weighted matrix which is used to identify the most feasible set of material. Each set of material is given a score out of 5 for each analysis totaling to a score out of 20. The material with highest score is then chosen.

In conclusion, as shown in Table 7.3, polylactic acid base and fibers (Alternative I) is the most feasible replacement for current baseline, synthetic rubber base and nylon fibers. Therefore, out of the three sets of materials tested, we would recommend polylactic acid to be used in future models.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Design for the Environment/Worldwide Package Cushioning

This page is part of the Design for the Environment course

The following is a comparative Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of three materials used in loose-fill package cushioning applications on a worldwide scale. Our hypothetical client is any major parcel delivery service (i.e. UPS, FedEx, DHL), and the current baseline is Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam peanuts. The first alternative is Recycled Paper (RP) shreds, available in blends of recycled/unrecycled paper products (i.e. 50/50, 80/20) in addition to purely recycled newspaper shreds. The second alternative is Starch-based polymer (SbP) foam peanuts, available in pure starch blends, or PLA-based composites. Each product’s entire lifecycle will be analyzed from an environmental assessment perspective, and will ultimately lead to a final recommendation for the most optimal package cushioning material solution. This recommendation will be dependent not only on environmental benefits, but feasibility of worldwide implementation after considering cost and relative product performance.

Project Summary
Section 1: Group A7

''DISCLAIMER: All major Wiki components were sent to BC in wiki-code form within a Microsoft Word document from all three group members via email (primarily due to coding inefficiencies, such as difficulties repeating wiki-code of similar tables). BC sequentially updated this article as group members sent in their respective parts. Once completed, group members were then asked to openly edit the combined effort of the group. Please excuse the confusion as the majority of edits were conducted by BC - they are not representative of the equal contribution by all group members.''

Highlights and Recommendations
To effectively summarize results, the work of Graedel’s (pictured right) Streamlined LCA (SLCA) was customized into a Complete Environmental Analysis category. For this category, the following original guidelines were used:

PRODUCT MATRIX ELEMENT: 1,1

Life Stage: Cradle-to-Grave

Environmental Stressor: Complete Environmental Analysis

If either of the following conditions applies, the matrix element rating is 0:
 * For the case where materials are manufactured: Metals from virgin ores are used, creating substantial waste rock residues that could be avoided by the use of suitably available recycled material. Non-renewable, threatened resources are used, with little or no effort in minimizing resource usage. Harsh, toxic chemicals are used, with little or no effort in minimizing chemical usage.
 * During processing of manufactured materials: large amounts of energy are consumed when less-energy intensive manufacturing processes are readily available.
 * During use of manufactured materials: Material readily degrades, unintentionally migrating harsh chemicals into their surrounding environment.
 * During disposal of manufactured materials: Less than 1% of total material production is recycled. Current disposal methods are irresponsible with respect to decomposition timeframes or chemical compositions of produced materials.
 * Throughout the entire life-cycle: little or no effort is being made to reduce environmental impacts by manufacturing sources (high cost is not an acceptable reason).
 * EIOLCA Analysis:
 * Total (Summation) Conventional Air Pollutants Released > 10 mt
 * Total Global Warming Potential > 5000 MTCO2E
 * Total Energy Consumption > 100 TJ
 * Total Toxic Releases > 20,000 kg
 * SLCA Analysis: Material receives a R(ERP) of less than 50

If all of the following conditions apply, the matrix element rating is 4:

 * For the case where materials are manufactured: No environmental damage results from resource extraction or during production of materials by recycling (example: petroleum).
 * During processing of manufactured materials: small amounts of energy are consumed; less-energy intensive manufacturing processes are readily investigated and implemented.
 * During use of manufactured materials: Material experiences no degradation, or degradation results in a release of no toxic/harsh chemicals or materials into the environment.
 * During disposal of manufactured materials: 100% of all produced material is easily recycled or composted.
 * Throughout the entire life-cycle: strong effort has being made to reduce environmental impacts by manufacturing sources.
 * EIOLCA Analysis:
 * Total (Summation) Conventional Air Pollutants Released < 10 mt
 * Total Global Warming Potential < 5000 MTCO2E
 * Total Energy Consumption < 100 TJ
 * Total Toxic Releases < 20,000 kg
 * SLCA Analysis: Material receives a R(ERP) of more than 75

''If neither of the preceding ratings is assigned, complete the checklist below. Assign a rating of 1,2, or 3 depending on the degree to which the product meets DFE preferences for this matrix element.''

 * Is the product designed to minimize the use of materials whose extraction or purification involves the production of large amounts of virgin materials, or non-renewable, depleting resources?
 * Is the product designed to minimize the use of materials whose extraction or purification involves the production of harsh chemicals/toxics?
 * Have efforts been made to optimize material production methods?
 * Is material diversity minimized?
 * Are future areas of research focused on environmentally-related topics?
 * Can the material meet prescribed EIOLCA guideline scores within the next 10-15 years?
 * Can the material meet prescribed the SLCA Environmentally Responsible Product Rating within the next 10-15 years?

In addition to this customized SLCA, a Feasibility Factor was applied with respect to meeting global demand:

Feasibility Factor

Recommendation
On the 26th day of March, 2009, MIE315S Group A7 formally recommended Recycled Paper package cushioning as an immediate, readily available alternative to current baseline solution Expanded Polystyrene Foam.

It is with strong optimism that Starch-based Polymer Foam will become the future solution, but due to its current infeasibility of meeting worldwide demand, such a recommendation would be irresponsible – despite overwhelming environmental benefits.

Expanded Polystyrene Foam
As EPS is the current baseline solution, any alternatives should aim to match or exceed EPS’ material properties:  Material Properties of Polystyrene

Recycled Paper
Density of Paper Types

Cost of Paper Types

Starch-based Polymer Foam
Material properties of Starch-based Foam

Functional Summary
Each of the three package cushioning materials offers unique advantages and disadvantages. EPS offers tried-and-true material properties; as evident by its current use worldwide. Recycled paper is known to be weaker, but due to its low cost, this material weakness can be offset by simply compressing more paper shreds within a package. Starch-based polymers are largely in development; however, current generation starch-based polymers approach EPS material properties, classifying them as a suitable replacement.

Expanded Polystyrene Foam
Irrelevant items in the following hybrid EIOLCA model have been set to 0 and Foam product manufacturing has been set to the sum of their values (sector 326110 to sector 33999A have been set to zero; summation added to sector 3261A0 – Foam product manufacturing). For example, input of Cutting tool and machine tool accessory manufacturing sector is now zero and the number, 1.096000 is added to foam manufacturing. This may cause some inaccuracy since heavy-duty cutting/machine tools may have been used somewhere along, but considering the relative ease of cutting EPS, its use would have been very limited.

Hybrid EIOLCA, Economic Activity

Top 3 sectors are Plastics material and resin manufacturing, Other basic organic chemical manufacturing and Petroleum refineries. Plastic material and resin manufacturing sector is containing overall economic activities of general plastic manufacturing (this sector contains itself in economic input analysis which is a wrong interpretation of system). Organic chemical manufacturing involves in producing number of additives that are added to polystyrene.

Hybrid EIOLCA, Conventional Air Pollutants

Manufacturing Styrofoam produces a lot of air pollutants, as evident above. The major pollutants are from power generations (especially coal power plants), as manufacturing plastic foam is an energy intensive process. Extracting and refining oil also uses conventional fuel such as gasoline which creates a SOx, NOx and CO in the process of combustion.

Hybrid EIOLCA, Greenhouse Gases

Green house gas is also produce when high level of energy is required. As mentioned above, plastic manufacturing sector is repeating itself. Power generation is also pointing coal power plants which produce a lot of CO2 in the reaction of coal and oxygen. Note that CO2 takes the major role in green house gas which means that most of the green house gas is from burning of conventional fuel.

Hybrid EIOLCA, Energy

Again, plastic manufacturing repeats itself. Power generation and supply shows the initial energy input to produce energy such as electricity to run gas turbine. Refining oil uses a lot of energy too because we have to heat the oil to really high temperature to vaporize oil and cool to liquidify.

Hybrid EIOLCA, Toxic Releases

Recycled Paper
A custom EIOLCA model has been created for the Recycled Paper alternative, for no existing sector specifically models recycled paper. The following criteria have been used:

Recycled Paper Custom EIOLCA

This custom EIOLCA model best represents recycled paper packaging for the following justification:
 * "Paper and paperboard mills" accounts for the virgin materials manufactured from pulp used in a recycled/unrecycled paper blend.
 * "Paperboard container manufacturing" accounts for the recycled/reused portion used in the blend, as this sector simply purchases produced paper, and does not produce it itself (from virgin materials).
 * "Surface-coated paperboard manufacturing" accounts for the recycled/reused portion of laminated cardboard used in stronger recycled paper blends (i.e. grid-based package cushioning).

Custom EIOLCA, Economic Activity

The top three sectors that perform the greatest economic activities are Paper and paperboard mills, Paperboard container manufacturing, and Surface-coated paperboard manufacturing. Paper and paperboard mills refer to the industry who manufactures paperboard from pulp. The paperboard container manufacturing sector manufactures the paperboard boxes/containers in custom-desired sizes. The surface-coated paperboard manufacturing sector manufactures the surface-coated paperboard in custom-desired dimensions.

Custom EIOLCA, Conventional Air Pollutants

The top three sectors that produce the most conventional air pollutants are Power generation and supply, Paperboard container manufacturing, and Paper and paperboard mills. The total amount of air pollutants for Power generation and supply sector is 2.913 metric tonnes, for Paper and paperboard mills is 2.557 metric tonnes, and for Paperboard container manufacturing is 0.133 metric tonnes. It is indicated that Power generation and supply sector produce the largest amount of air pollutants since most of energy (power) is generated by burning fossil fuel which produces ozone, sulphur dioxide, NO2, particulate matter and other air pollutants. These air pollutants cause acid rain and smog. Paper and paperboard mills produce the second largest amount of air pollutants, because producing paper mills uses large amounts of energy, water, and wood pulp in extremely complex series of processes. Paperboard container manufacturing produces the third highest total air pollutant emissions; at 5.2% of Paper and paperboard mills, this can be accounted for by this sector relying mostly on pre-manufactured paperboards rather than producing new paper from virgin materials. This number is most representative of recycled paper manufacturing, as a large portion of recycled paper is pre-manufactured, reused paper products.

Custom EIOLCA, Greenhouse Gases

The sectors that produce the most greenhouse gases are Paper and paperboard mills, Power generation and supply, and Truck transportation. This is because Paper and paperboard mills and Power generation and supply sectors have huge amounts of power that must be supplied and power generation creates many harmful air emissions. The Truck transportation sector also releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The most released global warming potential gas is CO2, indicating that power generation and paper processing aspects are key concerns in the recycled paper industry.

Custom EIOLCA, Energy

The top sectors for energy consumption are Paper and paperboard mills, Power generations and supply, and Truck transportation. The paper and paperboard mill sector consumes the largest amount of energy as shown above; it has 8.77 terajoules for Total energy consumption column, more than double the total energy consumption of Power generation and supply. As expected, this indicates that the largest contributor to energy on a per-mass basis is the unrecycled, virgin material used in recycled-blend (i.e. 50/50) paper. By minimizing the amount of unrecycled filler, total energy consumption can be simultaneously minimized.

Custom EIOLCA, Toxic Releases

Starch-based Polymer Foam
A hybrid EIOLCA model has been created for the Starch-based polymer alternative, for the existing sector that best models starch-based polymers, Cellulosic organic fiber manufacturing, requires some manual modifications to remove all ties to petroleum. To do so, the following sectors were manually set to zero:
 * Petroleum refineries
 * Petroleum lubricating oil and grease manufacturing
 * All other petroleum and coal products manufacturing
 * Petrochemical manufacturing

Hybrid EIOLCA, Economic Activity

Hybrid EIOLCA, Conventional Air Pollutants

Power generation and supply has the highest SO2 (1.21 mtCO2Eq) and NOx (0.548 mtCO2Eq) emissions. This makes sense because a substantial amount of power and supply are needed for the production of biodegradable starch-based polymers. For example if combustion is the main source of power generation then it is quite obvious that the by-products that are emitted react with the atmosphere creating the conventional air pollutants. Paper and paperboard mills have the highest CO (0.134 mtCO2Eq) and VOC (0.011 mtCO2Eq) emissions. This makes sense because there are various processes that paper or paperboard must go through before completion. These processes such as refiners, steam-heated rollers and machine rollers, emit pollutants that are CO and VOC or react with the air/atmosphere creating CO and VOC Fourdrinier_Machine. Both Power generation and supply and paper and paperboard mills have the highest PM10 emissions accounting for a sum of 0.041 mtCO2Eq, which is about 11% of the total PM10 for all sectors. These two sectors contribute quite a bit to the total PM10 emissions. This makes sense because of the particulates that most likely derive from combustion of fuels, high pressure devices, and the very small wood particles that most likely are airborne,. Inorganic chemical manufacturing is quite low, and this makes sense because we are dealing with an organic biodegradable polymer. It appears that power generation and supply contribute to the emission of many pollutants. This makes sense because lots of energy and supplies are needed to produce the biodegradable starch-based polymer Fourdrinier_Machine.

Hybrid EIOLCA, Greenhouse Gases

Cellulosic organic fiber manufacturing has the highest GWP (Global Warming Potential) and CO2 emissions, 2670 mtCO2Eq. This certainly makes sense since this is the central sector where the starch-based polymer is actually manufactured. All the reactions of the chemicals that go into making this starch-based polymer have various by-products and as a result have the highest GWP and CO2 emissions. Truck transportation is the only sector that contributes to CH4, with an emission of 0.057 mtCO2Eq. This sector also contributes 0.510 mtCO2Eq to N2O emissions, which is not a significant amount, but none the less, still negative effect for the environment. The exhaust fumes that come from the trucks react with the atmosphere producing sulfur dioxide and methane gas. Power generation and supply seem to be the only sector that contributes to CFC emissions. This sector emits 2.69 mtCO2Eq most likely due to the refrigeration systems to keep starch sources (such as corn, wheat and potatoes) cool, thus preventing them from premature spoiling Chlorofluorocarbon.

Custom EIOLCA, Energy

Cellulosic organic fiber manufacturing is by far the highest energy consumption sector, with a total consumption of 52.4 TJ of the total 60.1 TJ. This makes sense because this is the main process in which starch-based polymers are created. Cellulosic organic fibre manufacturing emits the most energy and this should be true because this is the most important step in creating the starch-based polymer.

Custom EIOLCA, Toxic Releases

Cellulosic organic fiber manufacturing is the leading sector in highest total air releases of toxic substances. Since this is the sector that emits the most energy then it makes sense that this sector releases the most in total releases. Due to all the chemical processes and machinery involved into producing the starch-based polymer, it is inevitable that toxic substances will be released into the air, especially with this sector using the most energy, , Chlorofluorocarbon.

SLCA
Streamlined or Semi-Quantitative Life Cycle Analysis (SLCA) is a qualitative LCA that makes use of a defined scoring system. Following Graedel’s scoring guidelines, an analyzed product (or process) may be assigned a score of 0 to 4 for each matrix element, as defined below. A score of 0 indicates a harmful environmental impact with little or no effort to investigate less environmentally-damaging alternative. A score of 4 indicates little or no environmental impact. If a score of 0 or 4 is unrepresentative of the product’s environmental impact for a designated life stage, an intermediate score is assigned – the mentioned guidelines are used to initiate discussion; ultimately leading to a score of 1, 2 or 3.

Premanufacturing
PS exhibits a significantly lower total score than RP or SbP primarily due to the origins of PS’ main ingredient, petroleum. The environmental damage caused by the extraction of petroleum is well-documented; directly impacting PS’ scores for Materials Choice, Solid and Liquid Residue categories. Gaseous residues produced an interesting result: RP was assigned a score of 0 due to the large amount of coal-refinery dependent pulp processing required for the non-recycled portion of RP blends (i.e. 50/50). SbP also scored poorly, due to concerns over the harvesting of starch sources via machine-based farming and processing. While petroleum processing is responsible for considerable gaseous releases, there is no way for the PS industry to minimize the use of those materials, and thus a score of 0 is not acceptable, as recommended by Graedel.

Manufacturing
PS finishes with the highest total in the manufacturing life-stage and most notably the best score in the Energy Use category. While PS production indeed uses appreciable amounts of energy, no other less energy-intensive method is available. However, for both RP and SbP, less-energy intensive methods are available, but are not deployed. Another interesting category is Liquid Residues, where PS achieves a score of 4, far better than RP and SbP’s scores of 1 and 0, respectively. During PS production, negligible liquid residues are produced; the process simply involves the mixing of melted PS resins. RP requires significant chemical usage during the treatment of pulp and recycled products. SbP requires large use of chemical solvents to isolate polymers (i.e. polylactic acid) within target crops/starch sources.

Delivery
Minor scoring differences are attributed to the water-sensitive properties of RP and SbP. Therefore, water-resistant packaging (i.e. polyethylene) must be used whereas PS is water-resistant in its produced state. However, packaging contributions as a whole is small due to the very low density of these package cushioning products, and thus all three products score well throughout this life-stage.

Use
Sole source of a major scoring difference is present in the Materials Choice category. Prolonged animal exposure to PS is known to cause cancer, whereas exposure with humans can cause problems with the central nervous system, have neurotoxic effects (fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping) and can be carcinogenic. Prolonged exposure to PS fumes among human females is known to cause menstrual disorders and metabolic disturbances during pregnancy. RP and SbP exhibit no harmful properties, and thus are awarded scores of 4 versus PS’ score of 0.

Minor solid residues are expected from PS – styrene migration is known to be as high as 0.025% under normal use. While small, this migration factor of non-biodegradable styrene is still present, and thus a score a 4 cannot be awarded. While similar migration factors can be expected for RP and SbP, the small amount can be readily consumed by micro-organisms. Thus, a score of 4 is appropriate.

Disposal
Sole source of a major scoring difference is present in the Materials Choice category. Prolonged animal exposure to PS is known to cause cancer, whereas exposure with humans can cause problems with the central nervous system, have neurotoxic effects (fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping) and can be carcinogenic. Prolonged exposure to PS fumes among human females is known to cause menstrual disorders and metabolic disturbances during pregnancy. RP and SbP exhibit no harmful properties, and thus are awarded scores of 4 versus PS’ score of 0. Minor solid residues are expected from PS – styrene migration is known to be as high as 0.025% under normal use. While small, this migration factor of non-biodegradable styrene is still present, and thus a score a 4 cannot be awarded. While similar migration factors can be expected for RP and SbP, the small amount can be readily consumed by micro-organisms. Thus, a score of 4 is appropriate.

Summary
The purpose of a SLCA analysis is to better provide a quantifiable score to qualitative discussion. The final result of a SLCA analysis is the Environmentally Responsible Product Rating (R(ERP)).

The RERP is a summation of each matrix element score, from 0 to 4, for each product. A maximum score of 100 indicates little or no environmental impact throughout the entire life of the analyzed product. A minimum score of 0 indicates significant environmental impact.

R(ERP) Results

As evident from discussion distribution above, the five SLCA categories do not appear to reflect an equal weight within the analysis of package cushioning products. Manufacturing, Delivery and Use life-stages should not bear equal weight with such a disposal-intensive industry. Additionally, the source of these packaging materials is of significant concern, and in the opinion of the authors, is not accurately represented. With that said, a custom weighted SLCA analysis is proposed, with the following weights attributed to each life-stage:

Weighted SLCA

The corresponding weighted R(ERP) results are determined to be:

Weighted R(ERP) Results

When comparing standard versus weighted results, both analyses award Starch-based Polymers as the most environmentally responsible rating, albeit more drastic in the weighted results. Recycled paper experiences a drop of 2.25 points, indicating slightly poorer performance in the life-stages that were determined to count. Polystyrene foam experiences a significant decrease of 22%, and is more accurately punished for its environmentally-damaging disposal methods.

Cost Analysis
It is becoming increasingly evident that polystyrene is not the most environmentally-friendly solution. Recycled paper has continuously displayed significant benefits throughout its life-cycle. Starch-based polymers are showing near-unanimously positive results, arguably the front runner at this point. Before making a final recommendation, the economic trade-offs must be weighed against the potential environmental benefits. The purpose of this report is to recommend a feasible solution that may one day replace the current baseline polystyrene solution. This goal is only possible if the recommendation makes not only environmental sense, but economic sense as well.

Direct Costs
Direct costs of a product include the capital, operating and disposal costs associated throughout the entire life of the product. Unfortunately, the availability of detailed costing reports remains mostly within private companies; however, approximate estimations were made using openly available data.

Expanded Polystyrene Foam
The price for expandable polystyrene is around 1000 US dollars per ton in the market. Price for expanded polystyrene (moulded, steamed beads) is around 1500 to 2000 US dollars. Considering its density, EPS normalizes to 60-200 US dollars per cubic meter (depending on the complexity of its shape). This value can decrease even more with peanut forms because of a lower density due to many more EPS cavities being filled by air. Raw materials such as petroleum and other additives are used to produce polystyrene. As of March 22, 2009, crude oil price in current market is 52 US dollars per barrel (117.3 litres), not much different from solid polystyrene itself. Large-scale plastic manufactures make small beads of polystyrene particles with higher densities and ship it to packaging manufacturers. This strategy reduces the cost of shipment, due to a lower, more compacted shipping volume. Then, the packaging manufacturers put them in a mould and use steam to grow the beads to desirable size.

Recycled Paper
The current cost for 24m3 of used paper is $4000 USD. Equipment required in a typical medium-scale recycled paper manufacturing company includes 20 industrial paper shredder machines at $11,995 USD each, or $239,900 USD total. A single industrial steam boiler at $46,850 USD is required in addition to an attached waste water treatment unit at $25,000 USD. An industrial paper milling machine valued at $280,000 USD is required to produce the final recycled paper blend. Using the known dimensions of required machinery, a medium-scale recycled paper manufacturing operation would require approximately 19,510 ft2 of floor space. Industrial floor space in Mississauga, Ontario currently rents for an annual net cost of $5.95/ft2. Thus, for 19,510 ft2 of industrial spacing, it will cost $1,160,845.50 per year. A simple summation of known machinery energy usage values yields an estimated total of 200kWh. At $0.062 per kWh for electricity usage in Ontario, a 24-hour operating facility will consume approximately $297.60 of energy per day. Additionally, labour is required to keep the plant in operation. At a rough estimate of 50 workers in the factory at any given time, and a rough estimate of $25/hour for general unskilled labour (as given in MIE341: Computer Aided Design), $30,000/day of labour can be expected. The production line of the used newspaper shred consists of paper milling, cutting and packing. The major pollutant release would be coming out of paper milling stage and shipping; carbon dioxide is going to be emitted as power generator and truck are used. Possible indirect environmental cost can take place due to the greenhouse gas emission. However, newspaper shred is 100% recycled product which bring positive impact to environment. For other recycled paper cushioning package product such as fibreboard pads usually is only 50% recycled. This is because it is necessary to add virgin fibre to the pulp to compensate for the retirement of degraded fibre; fibre is typically degraded and unusable after five to seven cycles.

Starch-based Polymer Foam
The price for biodegradable starch based foam peanuts is $1.50/ft3 quoted by Puffy Stuff. The estimated capital cost would be between $9,808,240 - $12,260,300 CDN to establish a modern starch factory. Export prices are currently around $225/tonne for cassava starch from Thailand – this will be used as our transportation costs. Main components for manufacturing starch-based foam peanuts include a Boiling water bath, valued at $1,495 USD, which is used to boil starch sources in preparation for processing. Next, a screw extruder device is required to combine boiled starch and treatment chemicals (including solvents) in raw polymer form. A single-screw food extruder is valued at $1,995 USD. Finally, a compression moulding machine is required to reach a near-net shape of our final product, where it will then be packaged and shipped. An aluminum compression moulding machine is valued at $19,000 USD. To match current industry rates at which foam is being produced, our facility needs to extrude starch-based polymers at a rate of 1000lb/hr. To meet such a demand, a medium scale manufacturing facility, similar to the size as proposed for a recycled paper plant, is most appropriate. Therefore, an annual rent cost of $1,160,845.50, $30,000/day of labour and $297.60 of energy per day can be expected. As expected, disposal costs of starch-based polymer foam are non-existent, as it is 100% biodegradable. Once shipped, our cost analysis ends – there is no need to worry about future green tax penalties or concerns over land-fill space.

Direct Costs Summary
On an annual production basis of 1,000,000 kg of material per year, the following estimated production costs for a medium scale factory are (using the above information):

Manufacturing Operation Costs

As expected, Recycled Paper is the cheapest packaging material to produce on a medium-scale basis.

Indirect Costs
Indirect costs of a product include the environmental, health, and social costs associated throughout the entire life of the product.

Expanded Polystyrene Foam
Major indirect costs arise from recently discovered health issues. The negative effects of polystyrene on human health increases health care cost which affects the total cost of producing Styrofoam for the society. It is known that long exposure to polystyrene can cause neurotoxic (fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping), hematological (low platelet and hemoglobin values), cytogenetic (chromosomal and lymphatic abnormalities), and carcinogenic effects. It is now classified as Group 2B substance (possibly carcinogenic to humans) by international Agency for research on Cancer. Many animal tests revealed that it causes cancer to number of animals even though no tests have been taken place for human yet. Accumulation of this material can cause the impairment of the nervous system and damage brain and spinal cord. The main health problem occurs to the workers who are exposed to the polystyrene vapour. Vapour can easily move to the lung and absorbed by human bodies. A Russian study of 110 women exposed to polystyrene vapour shows that polystyrene causes menstrual problem disrupting menstrual cycle and causing hypermenorrhea. Misusage of polystyrene containers can cause serious problems as well. Polystyrene can be broken down easily in contact with acidic substance (such as lemon to your tea), Vitamin A, and high temperature. Even without such chemicals, polystyrene can be dissolved in water and consumed by human. If a person drinks beverages from polystyrene cups four times a day for three years, he may have consumed one cup worth of polystyrene.

Recycled Paper
One of the indirect environmental costs is due to the greenhouse gas that is emitted from the coal burning power generation used in the paper mill. In U.S., it is reported that the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions is the paper industry which also contributes 9% of the manufacturing sector's carbon emissions. The newspaper shred is one of paper-made cushioning packaging materials that are 100% recycled product which brings positive impact to environment. Compared to un-recycled products, 100% recycled paper content product production consumes 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 50% less wastewater, 41% less particulate emissions and 49% less solid waste. However, 100% recycling paper usage is not the case for other recycled paper cushioning package product such as fibreboard pad which often is only 50% recycled. This is because it is necessary to add virgin fibre to the pulp to compensate for the retirement of degraded fibre; fibre is typically degraded and unusable after five to seven cycles. This means fresh trees needed to be cut to supply the demand of virgin fibre by the fibreboard pad sector of industry. One of major environmental costs is due to the deforestation resulted from logging. Logging destroys natural habitats causing the loss of biodiversity that ultimately leads to the local – and possibly global – extinction of species. Logging also brings damages to the soil since logging accelerates erosion, weathering and humus decomposition which lead to widespread formation of soils with low nutrient. Change in climate due to the logging also brings negative impacts to environment. When the forest cover gets removed, immediate change in precipitation occurs because of the change in transpiration. This results in a greater intensity of rainfall around the logging region causing run-off and erosion of soil.

Starch-based Polymer Foam
Using starch based biodegradable polymers (BP) for packaging foam appears to be a great idea. It is made from renewable resources, such as rice, corn, wheat, and potatoes, and it is 100% biodegradable. So the question that arises is: Are there any negative things about this type of foam? Using these foods for other purposes, such as producing foam, definitely proposes many issues. Food production will be less for everyone, therefore prices will go up. For well developed countries, it will not be too bad, due to the fact that they can afford it. But for third world countries, spending more money on food is not an option because they simply do not have the money for that. For US to meet current output of biodegradable polymers would require 1.62 m2/kg produced. This is quite a lot when we are talking about at least 68 million kg of BP’s are being produced in the year 2001. This number is even higher now in 2009. When agricultural crops are grown, they may involve the application of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides which could leave an environmental impact. If soil managements practices are not undertaken, the soil risks severe depletion of nutrients, microorganisms etc. To add to that, chemical or biochemical processes usually are done to extract and purify the polymer. These processes will require energy, water, and biological and chemical additives/solvents. They also produce wastes which definitely require appropriate treatment and disposal.


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Design for the Environment/Residential Heating and Cooling

This page is part of the Design for the Environment course

Due to home heating and cooling, humans have settled in harsher environments which were previously inhospitable. To make a house comfortable for living a certain amount of energy is required to raise or lower the home temperature to match the recommended living room temperature. The recommended living room temperature has been taken to be 21˚C (West Midlands Public Health Observatory). In this analysis it will be assumed that cooling is only required for June, July and August and heating is required the rest of the year.

The average household considered in this analysis has a floor space of about 1,200 sqft, and it will be used as a reference. The average house having a floor space of 1,200 sqft will use about 89.62GJ of energy in a year out of which 60% is used on home heating and about 5% is used on home cooling. From the information collected above we can conclude that about 53.76GJ of energy is used on home heating and about 4.481GJ of energy is used on home cooling in an average household having a floor space of 1,200 sqft in one year.

Our group for the Design for the Environment course will compare different ways of home heating and cooling and try to find the alternative that is not only the most environmentally friendly but also the most cost effective. Monarch Construction has been chosen as the client in this analysis. The company is involved in the construction of separate homes and well as high rise apartments around Toronto. This article will compare home heating and cooling by natural gas furnace and electric air conditioner, evacuated tube collectors and GHP (geothermal heat pump). Currently, natural gas furnaces and electric air conditioners is the most widely used method for home heating and cooling.

Project Information
MIE 315 Section 1, Group A10
 * Tasnim Ahmed (Tasnim)
 * Gundeep Dorka (ginnidorka)
 * Michael Lau (laumich4)
 * Varun Malik (malikvar)

Background Information
Currently home heating is done mainly by natural gas furnaces and home cooling is mainly done by electric air conditioners. These mainstream home heating and cooling systems have considerable environmental impacts, therefore there is need for developing more environmentally friendly alternatives. Investements into research for developing renewable sources of energy particularly evacuated tuble collectors and geothermal heat pumps will facilitate the developement of such alternatives.

For natural gas furnace, a gas fired condensing system is going to be analyzed. An induced draft burner is used in this system where a motor driven fan or blower is used to create a partial vacuum to draw in air. The air mixed with Natural gas is burnt in a gas burner and the heat is exchanged via a stainless steel heat exchanger. A natural gas furnace provides rapid heat delivery, have low operational costs and are capable of circulating the air inside the house. However, the ducts related to natural gas furnaces are difficult to service and maintain. Burning natural gas for heating also has substantial greenhouse gas emissions.

In a electric air conditioner a refrigerant is used. Heat is absorbed and released when the refrigerant changes between liquid and gas state. Heat is absorbed when it changes from liquid to gas, and releases heat when it is returned to liquid from gas. The moisture is removed from the air, when it contacts the indoor coil, which is collected in a pan at the bottom of the coil and sent to a house drain. Electric air conditioners eliminate the need to install additional dehumidifiers. Even though newer air conditioning systems are highly efficient, most of the systems in use are highly inefficient. One of the major issues with electric air conditioners is the harmful effects of the refrigerant CFC (Chlorofluorocarbon) on the ozone layer.

A geothermal heat pump uses earth as a heat source when operating in heating mode or a heat sink when operating in cooling mode. These systems are based on the stability of underground (shallow ground - about 10 ft deep) temperatures. Temperatures range from 10°C - 16°C. Thus this reservoir can act as a heat source in winter months and heat sink in summer months. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has called geothermal the most energy efficient, environmentally clean and cost effective space conditioning systems available. GHP systems take minimal surface ground space as piping is routed underground to the mechanical room. GHPs also improve humidity control by maintaining above 50% relative humidity, making them very effective in humid areas. It is plagued by extremenly high installation costs as a typical residential size geothermal unit would cost about $9000.

For the purposes of comparing solar energy to natural gas, we will focus on solar heating systems via evacuated tube collectors. Solar radiation is collected and used to heat either a transfer liquid or air. The heated liquid or air is then stored for later use or circulated to heat the space immediately. Solar collectors can also be used for cooling in the same manner. Heat collected by the evacuated tube can be used as the heat source needed to evaporate the refrigerant component of a refrigerant-absorbent fluid mixture. The condensation of this vapor creates the cooling effect in the air. It is essentially a renewable resource for the foreseeable future, since the Sun will still have enough energy for approximately the next 5 billion years. There is no direct cost of using solar energy. Though the initial cost of the array may be a factor, solar cells last for long periods of time and require minimal maintenance.

Recommendation
The recommended alternative for home heating and cooling depends on how each alternative fares on the different sections of the analysis.

Evacuated tube collectors use a renewable and clean source of energy being the sun which gives it a significant environmental advantage over natural gas furnace and electric air conditioners. From a functional point of view, we conclude that evacuated tube collector is the best alternative. The total cost including capital, operating and disposal for natural gas furnace and electric air conditioning system comes out to be $3867.98. The total cost including capital, operating and disposal for geothermal heat pump system comes out to be $41939. The total cost including capital, operating and disposal for evacuated heat collector comes out to be $19,343.45. Natural gas and electric air conditioning got a score of 53 while evacuated heat collectors and geothermal heat pumps scored 65 and 58 respectively. The societal issues for evacuated tube collectors are relatively minor compared to the other two alternatives, we can say that evacuated tube collectors are preferable from a societal point of view.

The total greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas furnaces and electric air conditioners, geothermal heat pumps and evacuated solar collectors are 36.426, 32.819 and 31.456 MT of CO2 equivalent respectively. The total toxic emissions from natural gas furnaces and electric air conditioners, geothermal heat pumps and evacuated solar collectors are 186.18kg, 78.391kg and 50.68kg respectively. The total energy usage for natural gas furnaces and electric air conditioners, geothermal heat pumps and evacuated solar collectors are 0.418 TJ, 0.088TJ and 0.0.785TJ respectively.

Values out of 10 (alternative having a value of 10 is better than alternative having a value of 8)

From the rating matrix above we can conclude that evacuated tube collector is indeed the better home heating and cooling alternative out of the three.

Natural gas heating & Electric Air Conditioning
A gas furnace consumes 410 kWh of electricity per year. Of the required 53.76 GJ (14933 kWh) of energy for heating a natural gas furnace is required to produce 14523 kWh/year (49 554 530.713 Btu/year). Based on the assumption that 1 ft3 natural gas is equivalent of 1027 Btu, it is calculated that 48251ft3 of natural gas will be used in one year. Since all natural gas furnaces have some loss of energy, there will be more natural gas and electricity consumption than this estimate. The additional usage is dependent on the efficiency of the model of furnace being used. For our analysis we are using a Goodman GCV90704CX gas furnace which has a 69,000/48,000 Btu Furnace Efficiency and a 93% Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE).

The capacity to cool an area of 1,200 sqft will require an air conditioner with cooling capacity of 19000-24000 Btu/h. This estimate is based on the fact that a temperature of 24°C needs to be maintained with a humidity level between 30 and 50 percent. An important criterion always for home cooling system is the efficiency which is measured by a seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER). The SEER of central air conditioners ranges from a minimum of 10.0 to a maximum of about 17.0.

Geothermal heat pumps
Considering an average house size of about 1,200 sqft and the total energy usage in a given year for heating, cooling and hot water being roughly 76.161 GJ, a two ton GHP unit (equivalent to about 7 kW of energy) should provide sufficient energy (230 GJ under optimal conditions) during the peak months of January and July for heating and cooling respectively.

Significant energy savings (energy needed for the water pump, compressor, fan and controls) can be achieved through GHPs with reduction in energy consumption of 30-70 % in heating mode and 20-50% in cooling mode.

Evacuated solar collectors
The Canadian National Climate and Information Archive states the average annual value for hours of bright sunshine in Toronto to be 2037.6 based on the years from 1971-2000 Furthermore, the NASA Surface meteorology and Solar Energy Tables state that the average amount of direct normal radiation in Toronto is 4.01 kWh/m²/day. These values are higher during the summer months and lower during the winter months. Evacuated tubes are designed such that there is always direct normal radiation on the tubes throughout the day. In order to achieve the assumed values of heating and cooling needs for a 12,000 sqft residence, more traditional sources of energy will be necessary. It is typical for an active solar system to be designed to supply 40-80% of a home’s heating needs.

Natural gas heating & Electric Air Conditioning
Provided below is the basic cost break down for natural gas heating and electric air conditioning. The cost values for the natural gas heating are based upon the use of the Goodman GCV9 model made by Goodman Air Conditioning and Heating. The values for the electric air conditioner are based upon the use of the Goodman GSC 13 high efficiency air conditioner.

Natural gas heating

Electric Air Conditioning

Geothermal heat pumps
High initial costs often provide the biggest hurdle and prevent homeowners from switching to geothermal systems. However, most governments provide prospective buyers with financial incentives and rebates if and when they choose to purchase energy efficient systems such as ground source heat pumps. Furthermore studies have indicated that on average, GHP operating costs are up to 50% lower in comparison to traditional natural gas.

Evacuated solar collectors
The cost values for the evacuated tube collectors are based upon the use of GSE IS-195 product made by Globe Solar Energy, Inc. There is no operating cost for an evacuated tube solar collector. It uses no external energy to run. But we can consider the cost of other energy sources to meet the necessary level of heating or cooling. At its highest efficiency a solar collector should only provide 40-80% of the year’s needed heat. Based on this and the average price for natural gas, the effective operating cost for 20 years would be $16,065, using 45% supplied by natural gas.

Streamlined LCA (SLCA)
The streamlined SLCA is a semi quantitative analysis of the alternatives to find the best possible alternative. In this case two alternatives are compared with the baseline. To evaluate the different alternatives on same merits through different life stages, the product life cycle guideline was used.In this analysis a higher score means less harmful for the environment. The SLCA results revealed that evacuated tube collectors had the highest score and natural gas heat and electric cooling had the least points indicating the most and least environmental friendliness respectively. Following is a brief reasoning for the rating during different life stages.

Pre-manufacturing
It is noticed from the SLCA that all the alternatives received the same score for the pre-manufacturing stage. This is due to the common material usage (i.e Aluminum, steel).Wastewater from steelmaking has high contaminant levels and requires extensive removal and treatment. Cokemaking(steel manufacturing) is a major source of Volatile organic compound (VOC), and NOx and emissions. These factors resulted in the low scores on all of the residues. The solar unit received lower scores than the other alternatives in terms of material selection due to the fact that Borosilicate glass used for the evacuated tube collector contains 13% Boron Oxide (B2O3).

Manufacturing
In case of manufacturing, all the alternatives received the same score. This is again due to the similar material usage (i.e Aluminum, steel) and the tooling similarity. Aluminum sheets for casing are manufactured from recycled scraps or virgin material.Most solid residues are recyclable except for few additives. Small amounts of VOCs,and NOx emission accompany HDPE pipe manufacturing. For solar unit, glass making produces waste particulates that can contain Lead and Arsenic .Also, glass making produces liquid residues during forming processes, and produces Sulfur Oxide and Nitrogen Oxide emissions.

Distribution and Packaging
In all cases the packaging of the product does not require any material from virgin sources or restricted supply. The installation and shipping of the products has no solid residues besides the packaging boxes, which can be recycled. Also, the use of oils, solvents and water has been minimized within the shipping and installation. No gases are used during installation, though gaseous emissions do occur from shipping, but these cannot be further minimized.

Use
During the use of the product life cycle it can be seen from the SLCA that the solar unit receives the highest score. Evacuated tube collectors(solar) are designed to minimize heat loss and are well insulated so that they can work well in colder temperatures .The natural gas furnace and air conditioner receives the lowest score because the refrigerant used for air conditioning is CFC, one of the main contributors of ozone layer depletion by breaking stratospheric ozone molecules.

Disposal,Recycling
The disposal of all the products involves no toxic material and material diversity is minimized, but not all parts are recyclable. The evacuated solar collector received the highest score due to less energy requirement. Most modern geothermal heat pump units are made compact and thus occur as singular bulky units.So, disassembly and transport to a recycling plant requires professional help.In the case of gas furnace and air conditioners, most likely part to be recycled are the Aluminum, steel and other metals parts for which disassembly and recycling is highly energy demanding.

Economic Input-Output LCA
Economic Input-Output LCA (EIOLCA) is a comprehensive analysis tool that includes the indirect supply chain inputs and covers a wide range of environmental impacts. Its main advantages arise from its ability to be performed quickly and at relatively low costs.

Natural gas heating & Electric Air Conditioning

For our analysis we have considered a life span of 20 years for the heating and cooling system. The capital cost of both the systems is a onetime cost and is thus considered. The total operational cost is multiplied by 20 to get the overall lifetime cost. Total Dollar value amounts to $44850 CAD or $36132.93USD. Inflation adjusted 1997 US dollar amount i.e. $26935 USD is inputted into the EIOLCA tool.

The figures on right outline the key features from greenhouse gas emission; toxic releases and energy usage information achieved using the Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment model.

Most of the greenhouse gas emissions come from ferroalloy and related product manufacturing with forced air heating sector and iron and steel mills section being other major greenhouse gas emission sectors. Power generation causes the most toxic releases at 29% followed by iron and steel mills and waste management serves at 12% and 7% respectively.Power generation and supply also uses the most amount of energy at 30% followed by iron mills and AC, refrigeration and forced heating contribution towards 13% and 9% of the total energy use.

Geothermal heat pumps

EIO analysis is divided for two components: HDPE Pipe, GHP and water pump unit. The input costs are inflation and currency adjusted (in US dollars) and are as follows: HDPE Pipe: $633, GHP & Water pump: $11338

Environmental Impacts with regard to Geothermal Heat Pump Manufacture come mostly from Green house gases and Toxic Releases. With regards to GHG emissions, CO2 is the biggest culprit accounting for 80% of the GWP measure. Among Toxic releases, Land releases in form of toxic solid waste account for 76% of all toxic release. A single unit of GHP manufacture requires 0.088 TJ of energy with 70% of the energy being accounted in the form of Coal & Natural Gas. Environmental Impacts regards to HDPE pipe [0.1m (diameter), 190m (length)] and fittings manufacture once again come mostly from GHG and toxic releases. CO2 accounts 85% of the total GWP measure and land toxic releases account for 80% of the total toxic releases. Total energy required for manufacture of HDPE pipe of given length and plastic fittings, is 0.009 TJ.

Evacuated solar collectors

Inflation and Currency adjusted value of $11,935.99 is inputted into the EIOLCA tool.

The top three greenhouse gas emitters and Power generation and supply, Iron and steel mills and waste management and remediation services at 33%, 19% and 17% respectively.

The top toxic releasing sectors are gold, silver, and other metal ore mining, alumina refining and primary aluminum production respectively.

The top three energy intensive sectors are power generation, alumina refining and other nonmetallic mineral mining at 23%, 21% and 14% respectively.

The total greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas furnaces and electric air conditioners, geothermal heat pumps and evacuated tube collectors are 36.426, 32.819 and 31.456 MT of CO2 equivalent respectively. The total toxic emissions from natural gas furnaces and electric air conditioners, geothermal heat pumps and evacuated solar collectors are 186.18kg, 78.391kg and 50.68kg respectively. Lastly, the total energy usage for natural gas furnaces and electric air conditioners, geothermal heat pumps and evacuated solar collectors are 0.418 TJ, 0.088TJ and 0.0.785TJ respectively.

We notice that evacuated solar collectors have advantage over other alternatives in all 3 categories examined. Therefore, we can conclude that evacuated solar collector is the best alternative for home heating and cooling according to Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Analysis.

Societal Analysis
There are some societal issues associated with all the different options of residential heating and cooling.It is noticed that the issues concerned with evacuated solar collectors are minor compared to natural gas heating and electric cooling and geothermal heat pump systems. Heat collectors offer a flexible alternative to prospective buyers looking to augment their current system (natural gas and electric air conditioner) with a more environmentally friendly alternative and not necessarily looking to make a radical shift in their energy usage habits. Also, noise is not an issue for the tube collectors as in the case of electric air conditioners due to the moving fan.

Natural gas heating & Electric Air Conditioning
Even though natural gas is the cleanest of fossil fuels during the production process, it does cause some issues that adversely affect the environment. It is likely that the construction and operation of a liquefaction plant creates noise and thus disturbs nearby humans and animals. Constant noise exposure can cause several disturbances in human life such as: sleep interference, communication difficulties, effects on the performance and behaviour of students, and a feeling of annoyance that undermines quality of life .Construction of pipelines that cross Aboriginal land is one of the most controversial aspects of the social and economic consequences. The pipeline right-of-way (15 m to 25 m wide), has an impact on the biotic components of the environment, and on agricultural and forestry activities. The primary method of Electricity generation in Ontario is Nuclear power plants. Nuclear plants relying upon water for cooling requires two-and-a-half times as much water as fossil fuel plants, thus having huge impact on aquatic habitat and water resources

Geothermal heat pumps
Retrofitting just for the sake of being environmentally responsible presents a headache for the consumers as the Ductwork would also require reinstallation. Homeowners would soon realize retrofitting to be a money sinking operation and over the long run, it would be impossible to recover the total cost of the new system through lower energy bills. As such, it is advised to have geothermal units installed only in houses undergoing construction or major renovation.Provincial and Federal Governments provide several grants and incentives to homeowners who conduct energy saving retrofits or chose energy saving systems in houses under construction .However, still the potential market is limited to those who can afford to buy and install such a system on their existing homes. Homeowners, however, will tolerate this if other factors such as comfort and environmental benefits can be clearly demonstrated.

Evacuated solar collectors
The evacuated tube collectors have to be mounted outside the building, whether on the roof or on the side of the building and the aesthetic appeal may be a point of dispute. Having a large array fixed to a home may not be appealing to some people and may discourage them from purchasing an evacuated tube collector. When compared with natural gas and electricity, evacuated tube solar collectors produce little noise and no physical affects from its operation.The tubes are insulated to decrease the amount of heat lost due to lower ambient temperatures, but this also allows for snow to build up on top of the evacuated tubes since there is no escaping heat to melt it. Clearing the snow is also an issue since the glass tubes are fragile. .


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User:Heidisbender

I am in my 3rd year of graduate school for Fine Arts at Ohio University in Athens, OH.

title: User:Heidisbender


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User:Heidisbender/Bitacora

While technological advances make some areas of our lives easier they also tend to disconnect us from our immediate surroundings. This map and study is one artist's attempt at provoking stimulating dialogue at how our communities are formed within and with respect to geopolitical boundaries. Bitacora is the name of my country--or network of sustained relationships during February of 2008.

I am working on expanding this writing as well as uploading a series of images that will invite learners to examine their own social networks and communities and perhaps inspire them to create works of art as well.

title: User:Heidisbender/Bitacora