Purpose

Besides politics and companies, changes in a human being’s consumption pattern can significantly contribute to sustainable development. The recently published Life-LCA method adapts life cycle assessment to analyse human beings and quantifies their impacts. For the first time, this method is applied in this case study to provide insights and remaining challenges.

Methods

The environmental impacts of the life cycle of a middle-aged German man (“Dirk”) were determined by the Life-LCA method from his birth until his current age (0–49 years). To determine and quantify reduction options, a current 1-year period was analysed in detail by a baseline scenario of his current consumption and an optimized scenario after changing his consumption patterns. The environmental impact assessment included global warming (GWP), acidification (AP), eutrophication (EP), and photochemical ozone creation potentials (POCP).

Results and discussion

Dirk emitted 1,140 t CO₂-eq., 4.48 t SO2-eq., 1.69 t PO4-eq., and 0.537 t C2H4-eq. emissions over his current life. Transportation dominated all considered impact categories (40 up to 55%). Energy and water consumption is the second dominant product category for GWP (39%). Food products are with 10% the third biggest contributor to GWP, but rather contribute significantly to the impact categories AP (34%), EP (42%), and POCP (20%). The optimized scenario analysis revealed significant reductions for all studied impacts in the range of 60–65%. CO₂-eq. emissions were reduced from 28 to 10 t/a. The remaining challenges include data collection from childhood, gaps and inconsistencies of existing data for consumer goods, the allocation between product users, and depreciation of long-living products.

Conclusion

The first Life-LCA case study confirmed the applicability of the Life-LCA method. It showed that the Life-LCA approach allows for tracking individual consumption patterns of a human being. The impacts of behavioural changes were quantified, and significant reduction potentials of the environmental impacts were revealed. Additional case studies on persons of different age, region, culture, and lifestyles are needed for further insights and methodological refinements.

中文翻译：

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Life-LCA：人类生命周期影响的第一个案例研究

目的

除了政治和公司之外，人类消费模式的变化可以对可持续发展做出重大贡献。最近发布的 Life-LCA 方法采用生命周期评估来分析人类并量化其影响。在本案例研究中首次应用了这种方法，以提供洞察力和剩余的挑战。

方法

德国中年男子（“德克”）生命周期对环境的影响是通过 Life-LCA 方法确定的，从他出生到他现在的年龄（0-49 岁）。为了确定和量化减少选项，通过他当前消费的基线情景和改变其消费模式后的优化情景详细分析了当前 1 年期间。环境影响评估包括全球变暖 (GWP)、酸化 (AP)、富营养化 (EP) 和光化学臭氧产生潜力 (POCP)。

结果和讨论

Dirk 排放了 1,140 t CO ₂ -eq.、4.48 t SO2-eq.、1.69 t PO4-eq. 和 0.537 t C2H4-eq.。他目前生活中的排放量。交通在所有考虑的影响类别中占主导地位（40% 至 55%）。能源和水消耗是全球升温潜能值的第二大主要产品类别（39%）。食品占全球升温潜能值的第三大贡献者为 10%，但对影响类别 AP (34%)、EP (42%) 和 POCP (20%) 的贡献显着。优化的情景分析显示，所有研究的影响都显着减少了 60-65%。CO ₂-eq. 排放量从 28 吨/年减少到 10 吨/年。剩下的挑战包括童年时期的数据收集、消费品现有数据的差距和不一致、产品用户之间的分配以及长寿命产品的折旧。

结论

第一个 Life-LCA 案例研究证实了 Life-LCA 方法的适用性。它表明 Life-LCA 方法允许跟踪人类的个人消费模式。行为变化的影响被量化，并揭示了环境影响的显着减少潜力。需要对不同年龄、地区、文化和生活方式的人进行额外的案例研究，以进一步了解和改进方法。