Rolf Frischknecht

Last Name

Frischknecht

First Name

Rolf

ORCID

0000-0001-6376-0355

Organisational unit

01709 - Lehre Umweltsystemwissenschaften

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Publications 1 - 9 of 9

Einstein’ssons for energy accounting in LCA
Frischknecht, Rolf; Heijungs, Reinout; Hofstetter, Patrick (1998)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Mineral resources in life cycle impact assessment—part I: a critical review of existing methods
Sonderegger, Thomas; Berger, Markus; Alvarenga, Rodrigo; et al. (2020)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Comparison of 16 national methods in the life cycle assessment of carbon storage in wood products in a reference building
Ouellet-Plamondon, Claudiane M.; Balouktsi, Maria; Delem, Laetitia; et al. (2024)
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
Wood and bio-based construction products are perceived as a way to use renewable resources, to save energy and to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG)-emissions during production and to store carbon during the entire service life of the building. This article compares the carbon footprint per kilogram of wood products (softwood beams, plywood, oriented strand board panel, and fibre board) from the perspective of the life cycle assessment methodology for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of practitioners from 16 countries participating in the IEA Annex 72. These materials are used in PAL6 softwood structure multi-residential building. This article aims at comparing the carbon footprint accounting methods from 16 countries for PAL6 multi-residential building. Each national team applied the reference study period (RSP), life cycle modules covered, modelling rules, the geographical scope of inventory data as well as the LCA database according to its specific national method. The results show that there are three types of methodology to assess a building with biogenic content (0/0, -1/+1, -1/+1*). The results were more variable plywood, oriented strand board, and fibreboard than the softwood beams due to the variability in the wood transformation processes among the countries. A net negative carbon balance was obtained for the softwood beam for the countries using -1/+1* with a clear assumption of the fraction of the carbon permanently stored at the end-of-life (EoL). The carbon storage is only possible if it is secured at the EoL. Participating countries apply different definitions of permanence and EoL scenarios. Guideline on assessing, monitoring, and legally reporting carbon storage at the EoL are needed, based on concertation between standard, life cycle assessment, wood industry, and climate experts.
The MIIM LCA PH.D. club: Presentation and introduction
Andersson, Karin; Baumann, Henrikke; Cowell, Sarah; et al. (1999)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Ecological footprint accounting in the life cycle assessment of products
Huijbregts, Mark A.J.; Hellweg, Stefanie; Frischknecht, Rolf; et al. (2008)
Ecological Economics
We present and discuss ecological footprint (EF) calculations for a large number of products and services consumed in the western economy. Product-specific EFs were calculated from consistent and quality-controlled life cycle information of 2630 products and services, including energy, materials, transport, waste treatment and infrastructural processes. We formed 19 homogeneous product/process subgroups for further analysis, containing in total 1549 processes. Per group, the average contribution of two types of land occupation (direct and energy related) to the total EF was derived. It was found that the ecological footprint of the majority of products is dominated by the consumption of non-renewable energy. Notable exceptions are the EFs of biomass energy, hydro energy, paper and cardboard, and agricultural products with a relatively high contribution of direct land occupation. We also compared the ecological footprint results with the results of a commonly used life cycle impact assessment method, the Ecoindicator 99 (EI). It was found that the majority of the products have an EF/EI ratio of around 30 m2-eq. yr/ecopoint ± a factor of 5. The typical ratio reduces to 25 m2 yr/ecopoints by excluding the arbitrary EF for nuclear energy demand. The relatively small variation of this ratio implies that the use of land and use of fossil fuels are important drivers of overall environmental impact. Ecological footprints may therefore serve as a screening indicator for environmental performance. However, our results also show that the usefulness of EF as a stand-alone indicator for environmental impact is limited for product life cycles with relative high mineral consumption and process-specific metal and dust emissions. For these products the EF/EI ratio can substantially deviate from the average value. Finally, we suggest that the ecological footprint product data provided in this paper can be used to improve the footprint estimates of production, import and export of products on a national scale and footprint estimates of various lifestyles.
Embodied GHG emissions of buildings – Critical reflection of benchmark comparison and in-depth analysis of drivers
Röck, Martin; Balouktsi, Maria; Saade, Marcella Ruschi Mendes; et al. (2020)
IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
In the face of the unfolding climate crisis, the role and importance of reducing Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the building sector is increasing. This study investigates the global trends of GHG emissions occurring across the life cycle of buildings by systematically compiling life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and analysing more than 650 building cases. Based on the data extracted from these LCA studies, the influence of features related to LCA methodology and building design is analysed. Results show that embodied GHG emissions, which mainly arise from manufacturing and processing of building materials, are dominating life cycle emissions of new, advanced buildings. Analysis of GHG emissions at the time of occurrence, shows the upfront 'carbon spike' and emphasises the need to address and reduce the GHG 'investment' for new buildings. Comparing the results with existing life cycle-related benchmarks, we find only a small number of cases meeting the benchmark. Critically reflecting on the benchmark comparison, an in-depth analysis reveals different reasons for cases achieving the benchmark. While one would expect that different building design strategies and material choices lead to high or low embodied GHG emissions, the results mainly correlate with decisions related to LCA methodology, i.e. the scope of the assessments. The results emphasize the strong need for transparency in the reporting of LCA studies as well as need for consistency when applying environmental benchmarks. Furthermore, the paper opens up the discussion on the potential of utilizing big data and machine learning for analysis and prediction of environmental performance of buildings.
The seductive effect of identical physical units
Frischknecht, Rolf (1997)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Area of concern: A new paradigm in life cycle assessment for the development of footprint metrics
Ridoutt, Bradley G.; Pfister, Stephan; Manzardo, Alessandro; et al. (2016)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
Evaluation of Long-Term Impacts in LCA
Hellweg, Stefanie; Frischknecht, Rolf (2004)
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment

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Rolf Frischknecht

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