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Harro von Blotnitz

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Professor von Blottnitz is an expert in life cycle assessment and renewable energy. He has extensive experience researching and supervising students on topics related to life cycle management, renewable energy sources, and waste management. He discussed how conducting a life cycle assessment requires significant data collection and highlighted challenges with a lack of regionalized data sources for South Africa. He is leading a project to develop life cycle inventory data sets for key South African industries to improve the availability and reliability of data for conducting life cycle assessments locally.

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www.ncpc.o.za Name: Prof Harro von Blotnitz Topic: but are these South Africa Life Cycle Data Sets Professor von Blottnitz holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering (UCT), a BSc Honours in Operations Research (UNISA), an MSc in Engineering (UCT) and a Doctorate in Engineering (RWTH Aachen in Germany). He was promoted to full professor in 2013 and is registered as a professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa. He has published widely in the fields of Life Cycle Assessment, Renewable Energy (biogas, biodiesel and bio-ethanol) and Waste Management, thanks to extensive supervision of postgraduate students researching these topics. Many of his graduates have gone on to practise as knowledge providers in the emerging green economy Case Study Life-cycle Management in Industry
Environmental & Process Systems Engineering Department of Chemical Engineering But are there South African Life Cycle Data Sets? SRI LCI project activities in South Africa Prof. Harro von Blottnitz (Pr.Eng.) Industrial Energy Efficiency Conference 15 September 2017
LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT Product stewardship Own operation environmental management Green procurement ++
LCM VS. LCA • Can one manage product life cycles without doing LCAs? • Sometimes • Life cycle thinking – mapping cradle-to-grave is qualitative • Inform by LCA findings from elsewhere? • With expert local interpretation – doable. • Might still get it wrong • LCA – not for everyone: • Typically an expensive undertaking • Goal and scope statement will determine whether local data needed
LCA REQUIRES DATA  To do an LCA requires lots of data  Foreground data (focal point of system) must be collected  Background data is best read in from a database  To do a sound LCA requires regionalised background data • The problem is illustrated by the following two slides from ecoinvent, a Swiss company providing an LCA database
Trust in Transparency! 9 while LCI data are concentrated ecoinvent v.2 ecoinvent v.3
Trust in Transparency! 10 Slide 10 Challenge of Sustainable Supply Chains DEMAND SUPPLY Growing concerns on sustainability of globally traded goods Preference for local products Limit access to «green» markets Criticism on misuse of trade policies Favourable production conditions → Strong demand for LC-based studies and LCI data
SRI PROJECT • “Sustainable Recycling Industries” • Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) • Comprised of three components  Life Cycle Inventories (ecoinvent)  Capacity Building (Empa)  Global Roundtable (WRF).
SRI PROJECT • “Sustainable Recycling Industries” • Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) • Comprised of three components  Life Cycle Inventories (ecoinvent) Develop basic life cycle inventory data for industrial, agricultural and other activities in Latin America, Egypt, India and South Africa. Expertise building and training events in these countries and the surrounding regions.  Capacity Building (Empa)  Global Roundtable (WRF).
SRI COMPONENT A: LIFE CYCLE INVENTORIES Build LCA/LCI expertise and critical core of LCI data for newly industrialised countries • Centre for regional networks • Involvement of stakeholders • LCA/LCI expertise • Data collection • Jan 2015 – Dec 2017
SA REGIONAL CO-ORDINATION CENTRE • Facilitator and coordinator for the SRI-LCI project in South Africa • Consult and interact with regional stakeholders • Organise training workshops and coordinate meetings on LCI generation • Organise and coordinate data collection projects and actively approach potential data providers • Synchronise with the international LCI/LCA community  Co-hosted by UCT & NCPC  Open to collaboration
LCI/LCA EXPERTISE (CAPACITY BUILDING) • Raise awareness about the importance of LC thinking • Develop local LCA skills • Develop LCI creation skills • Create the momentum and expertise for data collection • Workshops held in Pretoria/JHB and Cape Town in May 2016  Science-based value-chain insights for sustainability Audience: Industry representatives and policy makers  Towards a South African LCA database with ecoinvent Audience: LCA practitioners and data providers • 1st LCA Colloquium 7-8 November 2016, Cape Town • 2nd LCA Colloquium 31-32 October 2017, Johannesburg
DATA SETS BEING CONSTRUCTED • Call for tenders: Life cycle inventory data collection, LCI dataset creation and submission to ecoinvent. • Tenders awarded that involve ZA partner(s):  Coal mine operations, electricity generation using coal and solar technologies, and electricity market: TGH and PSI  Cement and Concrete: UJ  Agriculture and animal husbandry (maize, pome & citrus fruit, animal feed, beef): UCT, Blue North, TGH, ZHAW  Metals (gold, PGM, HMS, Fe-Cr): UCT, Wits
SO, WILL LCA (AND LCM) BECOME EASIER, IN MZANSI ? • Some key background data for doing LCA in SA context will be available in a widely-used database, ecoinvent. • Full LCA will remain a costly exercise • But if done, for strategic insights & value, more reliable • Some guidance should emerge for LC managers  Follow-up training & capacity-building events in March 2018
THANK YOU NCPC-SA: Lee-Hendor Ruiters UCT: Adjunct A-Prof Pippa Notten, Dr Valentina Russo SA REGIONAL CO-ORDINATION CENTRE TEAM

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Harro von Blotnitz

  • 1. www.ncpc.o.za Name: Prof Harro von Blotnitz Topic: but are these South Africa Life Cycle Data Sets Professor von Blottnitz holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering (UCT), a BSc Honours in Operations Research (UNISA), an MSc in Engineering (UCT) and a Doctorate in Engineering (RWTH Aachen in Germany). He was promoted to full professor in 2013 and is registered as a professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa. He has published widely in the fields of Life Cycle Assessment, Renewable Energy (biogas, biodiesel and bio-ethanol) and Waste Management, thanks to extensive supervision of postgraduate students researching these topics. Many of his graduates have gone on to practise as knowledge providers in the emerging green economy Case Study Life-cycle Management in Industry
  • 2. Environmental & Process Systems Engineering Department of Chemical Engineering But are there South African Life Cycle Data Sets? SRI LCI project activities in South Africa Prof. Harro von Blottnitz (Pr.Eng.) Industrial Energy Efficiency Conference 15 September 2017
  • 4. LCM VS. LCA • Can one manage product life cycles without doing LCAs? • Sometimes • Life cycle thinking – mapping cradle-to-grave is qualitative • Inform by LCA findings from elsewhere? • With expert local interpretation – doable. • Might still get it wrong • LCA – not for everyone: • Typically an expensive undertaking • Goal and scope statement will determine whether local data needed
  • 5. LCA REQUIRES DATA  To do an LCA requires lots of data  Foreground data (focal point of system) must be collected  Background data is best read in from a database  To do a sound LCA requires regionalised background data • The problem is illustrated by the following two slides from ecoinvent, a Swiss company providing an LCA database
  • 6. Trust in Transparency! 9 while LCI data are concentrated ecoinvent v.2 ecoinvent v.3
  • 7. Trust in Transparency! 10 Slide 10 Challenge of Sustainable Supply Chains DEMAND SUPPLY Growing concerns on sustainability of globally traded goods Preference for local products Limit access to «green» markets Criticism on misuse of trade policies Favourable production conditions → Strong demand for LC-based studies and LCI data
  • 8. SRI PROJECT • “Sustainable Recycling Industries” • Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) • Comprised of three components  Life Cycle Inventories (ecoinvent)  Capacity Building (Empa)  Global Roundtable (WRF).
  • 9. SRI PROJECT • “Sustainable Recycling Industries” • Funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) • Comprised of three components  Life Cycle Inventories (ecoinvent) Develop basic life cycle inventory data for industrial, agricultural and other activities in Latin America, Egypt, India and South Africa. Expertise building and training events in these countries and the surrounding regions.  Capacity Building (Empa)  Global Roundtable (WRF).
  • 10. SRI COMPONENT A: LIFE CYCLE INVENTORIES Build LCA/LCI expertise and critical core of LCI data for newly industrialised countries • Centre for regional networks • Involvement of stakeholders • LCA/LCI expertise • Data collection • Jan 2015 – Dec 2017
  • 11. SA REGIONAL CO-ORDINATION CENTRE • Facilitator and coordinator for the SRI-LCI project in South Africa • Consult and interact with regional stakeholders • Organise training workshops and coordinate meetings on LCI generation • Organise and coordinate data collection projects and actively approach potential data providers • Synchronise with the international LCI/LCA community  Co-hosted by UCT & NCPC  Open to collaboration
  • 12. LCI/LCA EXPERTISE (CAPACITY BUILDING) • Raise awareness about the importance of LC thinking • Develop local LCA skills • Develop LCI creation skills • Create the momentum and expertise for data collection • Workshops held in Pretoria/JHB and Cape Town in May 2016  Science-based value-chain insights for sustainability Audience: Industry representatives and policy makers  Towards a South African LCA database with ecoinvent Audience: LCA practitioners and data providers • 1st LCA Colloquium 7-8 November 2016, Cape Town • 2nd LCA Colloquium 31-32 October 2017, Johannesburg
  • 13. DATA SETS BEING CONSTRUCTED • Call for tenders: Life cycle inventory data collection, LCI dataset creation and submission to ecoinvent. • Tenders awarded that involve ZA partner(s):  Coal mine operations, electricity generation using coal and solar technologies, and electricity market: TGH and PSI  Cement and Concrete: UJ  Agriculture and animal husbandry (maize, pome & citrus fruit, animal feed, beef): UCT, Blue North, TGH, ZHAW  Metals (gold, PGM, HMS, Fe-Cr): UCT, Wits
  • 14. SO, WILL LCA (AND LCM) BECOME EASIER, IN MZANSI ? • Some key background data for doing LCA in SA context will be available in a widely-used database, ecoinvent. • Full LCA will remain a costly exercise • But if done, for strategic insights & value, more reliable • Some guidance should emerge for LC managers  Follow-up training & capacity-building events in March 2018
  • 15. THANK YOU NCPC-SA: Lee-Hendor Ruiters UCT: Adjunct A-Prof Pippa Notten, Dr Valentina Russo SA REGIONAL CO-ORDINATION CENTRE TEAM

Editor's Notes

  1. A sketch to show how LCM = sum of [onsite environmental management], [green procurement] & [product stewardship]
  2. EMPA: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Capacity Building: SRI improves local capacity for sustainable recycling, especially of secondary metals, together with private and public institutions, as well as the informal sector in several developing and transition countries. Global Roundtable: SRI facilitates a stakeholder consultation for the development of sustainability criteria and standards for secondary raw materials.
  3. EMPA: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Capacity Building: SRI improves local capacity for sustainable recycling, especially of secondary metals, together with private and public institutions, as well as the informal sector in several developing and transition countries. Global Roundtable: SRI facilitates a stakeholder consultation for the development of sustainability criteria and standards for secondary raw materials.