Methods for evalua/ng sustainability, II Alterna/ves assessment. PH290.7 March 5, 2012 Akos Kokai UC Berkeley

Transcription

1 Methods for evalua/ng sustainability, II Alterna/ves assessment PH290.7 March 5, 2012 Akos Kokai UC Berkeley

2 Evalua/ng sustainability

3 Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future genera/ons to meet their own needs. The Brundtland Commission of the United Na/ons, March 20, 1987 Dis2nc2ve characteris2cs of sustainability 1. Use of renewable resources without irreversible degrada/on ( mining ). 2. A long- term decision- making orienta/on; /me scales oriented to the indefinite future. 3. Decision making that aims at the intersec/on of biophysical and social systems. Paraphrased from Thomas Princen, The Logic of Sufficiency 2005 (MIT Press), pp

4 Ozone deple/on??? Latest data Nitrogen flow? Ocean acidity 70-80? Agricultural land use? Chemical pollu/on Johan Rockström Pre- Ind.

5 Holism & Reduc/onism Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, p. 335

6 Take me to your metric space Tabone et al. Sustainability Metrics: Life Cycle Assessment and Green Design in Polymers. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, doi: /es101640n

7 Tabone et al. Sustainability Metrics: Life Cycle Assessment and Green Design in Polymers. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, doi: /es101640n

8 Life cycle thinking Considering a product or ac/vity as cons/tuted by the totality of its linkages to resources and planetary systems. Life cycle assessment: A concept and methodology to evaluate the environmental effects of a product or ac/vity holis/cally, by analyzing the whole life cycle of a par/cular product, process, or ac/vity (U.S. EPA, 1993). What are the global impacts of doing X compared to the global impacts of doing Y? Why are we doing X and Y? Can we accomplish the same goals beher with a different approach?

9 Lowell Center for Sustainable Produc/on, 2006

10 Life cycle thinking and health impacts

11 Evalua/ng health impacts widely commensurable measures of impact e.g. disability- adjusted life years (DALY) readily used for comparison, ranking, priori/za/on comprehensive hazard assessment examine and weigh trade- offs between specific health effects, aiributes consider specific cases in greater detail cumula2ve impacts

12 Chemical alterna/ves assessment: frameworks, methods, tools

13 Major chemical hazard assessment frameworks Globally Harmonised System (GHS) of Classifica2on and Labeling of Chemicals (United Na/ons) hip:// Design for Environment Alterna2ves Assessment Criteria (US EPA) hip:// The GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals (Clean Produc/on Ac/on) hip://cleanproduc/on.org/greenscreen.v1-2.php

14 Globally Harmonised System (4 th Rev.) EPA Design for Environment Criteria (2.0) GreenScreen (1.2) Health Hazards Carcinogenicity Germ cell mutagenicity Reproduc/ve toxicity Acute toxicity Specific target organ toxicity single exp. Specific target organ toxicity repeated exp. Respiratory or skin sensi/za/on Skin corrosion/irrita/on Serious eye damage/eye irrita/on Aspira/on hazard Human Health Effects Carcinogenicity Mutagenicity & genotoxicity Reproduc/ve & developmental toxicity (incl. developmental neurotoxicity) Endocrine ac/vity Acute mammalian toxicity Repeated dose toxicity Neurotoxicity Respiratory & skin sensi/za/on Eye and skin irrita/on/corrosivity Human Health Group I Carcinogenicity Mutagenicity & genotoxicity Reproduc/ve toxicity Developmental toxicity (incl. developmental neurotoxicity) Endocrine ac/vity Human Health Group II Acute mammalian toxicity Systemic toxicity & organ effects (incl. immunotoxicity) Neurotoxicity Sensi/za/on Respiratory sensi/za/on Skin irrita/on Eye irrita/on Environmental Hazards Hazardous to the aqua/c environment Hazardous to the ozone layer Physical Hazards Many: explosive, pyrophoric, self- reac/ve, Environmental Toxicity and Fate Aqua/c toxicity (Avian toxicity) (Bee toxicity) Environmental persistence Bioaccumula/on Physical Hazards = GHS physical hazards Environmental Health Acute aqua/c toxicity Chronic aqua/c toxicity (other ecotoxicity when available) Environmental Fate Persistence Bioaccumula/on Physical Hazards Reac/vity, Flammability

15 Globally Harmonised System

16

17

18 Design for Environment AA criteria

19 Lavoie et al. ES&T 2010, 44, doi: /es

20 US EPA, hip://

21 DfE: Flame retardants for printed circuit boards

22 DfE: Flame retardants for printed circuit boards

23

24 hip://cleanproduc/on.org/greenscreen.v1-2.php

25 FIGURE OCTO2: BER 2011 GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals v 1.2 Benchmarks Start at Benchmark 1 (red) and progress to Benchmark 4 (green) ABBREVIATIONS P B T Persistence Bioaccumulation Human Toxicity and Ecotoxicity This chemical passes all of the criteria. BENC HMARK 4 Low P* + Low B + Low T (Ecotoxicity, Group I, II and II* Human) + Low Physical Hazards (Flammability and Reactivity) + Low (additional ecotoxicity endpoints when available) Prefer Safer Chemical BENCHMARK 3 a. Moderate P or Moderate B b. Moderate Ecotoxicity c. Moderate T (Group II or II* Human) d. Moderate Flammability or Moderate Reactivity Use but Still Opportunity for Improvement If this chemical and its breakdown products pass all of these criteria, then move on to Benchmark 4. BENC HMARK 2 a. Moderate P + Moderate B + Moderate T (Ecotoxicity or Group I, II, or II* Human) b. High P + High B c. High P + Moderate T (Ecotoxicity or Group I, II, or II* Human) d. High B + Moderate T (Ecotoxicity or Group I, II, or II* Human) e. Moderate T (Group I Human) f. Very High T (Ecotoxicity or Group II Human) or High T (Group II* Human) g. High Flammability or High Reactivity Use but Search for Safer Substitutes If this chemical and its breakdown products pass all of these criteria, then move on to Benchmark 3. BENC HMARK 1 a. PBT = High P + High B + [very High T (Ecotoxicity or Group II Human) or High T (Group I or II* Human)] b. vpvb = very High P + very High B c. vpt = very High P + [very High T (Ecotoxicity or Group II Human) or High T (Group I or II* Human)] d. vbt = very High B + [very High T (Ecotoxicity or Group II Human) or High T (Group I or II* Human)] e. High T (Group I Human) Avoid Chemical of High Concern If this chemical and its breakdown products pass all of these criteria, then move on to Benchmark 2.

26 Both were evaluated as benchmark 2

27 The future of alterna/ves assessment prac/ce

28 Risk Assessment & Alterna/ves Assessment What level of harm is acceptable? Consider an acpvity... Does it fall within the acceptable level of harm? How can harm be minimized? Consider the desired goal, funcpon... Consider many ways, oppons... Which are safest and most effec2ve?

29 hip://

30 Areas of development for AA Science Alterna/ves assessment is a data- dependent ac/vity. Informa/on access, sharing, and analy/c tools Predic/ve methods and models: environmental fate, toxicology Fron/ers of toxicity tes/ng (see next module!) Policy Alterna/ves assessment in the California Green Chemistry Ini/a/ve: Hazard Traits and Other Relevant InformaPon (OEHHA, 2012) Safer Chemical Product AlternaPves regulapon (DTSC, 2012) Business Adop/on of chemical/material alterna/ves assessment in product design: electronics cleaning products building materials flame retardants

31