Environmental performance of digital printing - photo book case study Minna Nors VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Lean development with renewable resources (Leader) -project 2007-2010
06/09/2011 2 Literature study Environmental performance of digital printing VTT Research Notes 2538 Available on www.vtt.fi Covers EP and inkjet on publication printing 176 references varying from www pages to doctoral thesis's 22 main references summarized each to one page
06/09/2011 3 What is the size of carbon footprint of a print media? Based on the LEADER project: Carbon footprint of one PHOTO BOOK (from cradle to customer) is ca. 1 kg CO 2 eq About 1% of the climate impacts caused by the consumption of Finnish households originate from newspapers, books and other paper products. VTT Research Notes 2560
06/09/2011 4 How to concretize the carbon footprint of print media? Print media g CO 2 eq Driving a car (164 g CO 2 /km) Watching TV* LCD 32-37 Printing and paper Photo book: 500g, 64 pages + package 1 kg 6 km 27 hours EP, cover 1300 gsm board, inner coated fine paper 150 gsm Life cycle phases Cradle to customer (+use phase) Use phase Use phase CF of print media are not directly comparable because they differ related to assumptions and boundaries (life cycle phases included) of the calculations as well as in respect of processes of paper manufacturing and printing, production volumes and size (weight and pages), products life span and use purposes. On a daily basis, consumers read books for 25 minutes and watch 167 minutes TV (Statistics Finland 2008). *Figure includes only the electricity consumption of watching TV. Note: manufacturing, electronic transmission, disposal and recycling are excluded. *A modern 32 37 LCD TV set consumes 0.15 kwh e /h (Helsingin Energia 2010). The emission factor for Finnish electricity from grid is 250 kg CO 2 eq/mwh
06/09/2011 5 VTT Research Notes 2561 How to communicate about environmental performance of print media? Project consists of life cycle assessment and carbon footprint case studies for Heatset offset printed magazine Coldset offset printed newspaper Sheet-fed offset printed book Electrophotography printed photobook Rotogravure printed advertisement 8 Factsheets
06/09/2011 6 Life cycle assessment of a photo book
Life cycle of a Photo Book 06/09/2011 7
06/09/2011 8 Life cycle stages included Stage Forestry Paper and Board Manufacturing Printing Transports End of life INCLUDES EMISSIONS FROM Harvesting Pulp paper and board manufacturing, Purchased energy production, Production of chemicals, materials and fuels for pulp, paper and board Print manufacturing, Purchased energy production Production of toner All transports of product and raw materials during the life cycle of product Not included Life cycle stages not included in the study: Editorial work, cut off criteria 1%
06/09/2011 9 Case definition Approach: Cradle-to-customer Product: Digitally printed photo book, hard cover, glue binded, size A4 Printing: Electrophotography (EP), 4-color printed Material: Cover: 1300 gsm board + 150 gsm coated fine paper + laminate Inner sheets: 150gsm coated fine paper End papers: 150gsm uncoated fine paper Board for back: sulphate board, excluded from the calculations Weight: 500g (64 pages) and 800g (128 pages) / book Packaging: Corrugated board box 120g, plastic wrapping 14g Geographical aspects: Paper production, printing and delivery in Finland Distribution: Delivery to home by mail Storage at home: 5 or 50 years Biogenic carbon storage benefit calculated according to PAS2050
06/09/2011 10 System boundary Studied system of photo book Energy, fuels Chemicals 2300 kg (50% moist) Wood fibre Paper and board manufacturing Inner sheets Cover End papers Block paper Packaging material (board) Energy 1140 kg 1000 kg Printing Toners, glues Packaging materials (plastic) Customer Energy, fuels KCL-ECO 4.1 Commercial Software for CF and LCA calculation All inputs and outputs in the system have to be defined: Raw materials, electricity, heat, fuels, products, waste, emissions, by-products
06/09/2011 11 Carbon footprint of a photo book Carbon footprint, cradle-to-customer Total, one ton of photo books With packaging material 2013 kg CO 2 eq. Without packaging material 1745 kg CO 2 eq. Total, one photo book, 500g ~ 64 pages 1000 g CO 2 eq. 870 g CO 2 eq. Total, one photo book, 800g ~ 128 pages 1420 g CO 2 eq. 1280 g CO 2 eq.
06/09/2011 12 The life cycle of a photo book is followed until the book is delivered to reader s home. The end of life phases of a photo book excluded from the calculation. The following issues were not included in the examination: book content creation, business travel, manufacturing and maintenance of machines and buildings. Additionally, chemicals and raw materials used forming under 1% of the whole were excluded. One tonne of photo books equals about 2000 photo book pieces.
06/09/2011 13 Calculating carbon storage according to PAS2050 Weighting_ factor 50 1 50 100 0 50 100 0,5 Weighting_ factor 100 x i i 1 100 Weighting_ factor 5 1 0,8 0,6 0,4 100 0,2 0 0,07 50 years storage, then 100% degradation 5 years storage, then 20% degradation/year Weight of the photo book Unit 500 g 800 g Cradle-to-customer carbon footprint (without packaging) CO2 eq. 870 g 1280 g Carbon content of a photo book, CO2 530 g 760 g Carbon storage that can be credited from carbon footprint CO2 260 g 380 g Carbon footprint according to PAS2050 CO2 eq. 610 g 900 g Carbon storage that can be credited from carbon footprint CO2 eq. 37 g 53 g Carbon footprint according to PAS2050 CO2 eq. 833 g 1227 g
06/09/2011 14 Climate impacts of print media According to the ENVIMAT model about 1% of the climate impacts caused by the consumption of Finnish households originate from newspapers, books and other paper products. (ENVIMAT; Seppälä et al. 2009) Biggest contributors are housing (28%), food products (16%) and transport (13%) Important to consider environmental impacts at different levels Industry /National level Company level Product level The impact of one product might be small while the overall impact of the industry or company is significant
06/09/2011 15 18 % 9 % 16 % 4% Environmental impacts of print media include several aspects 1 % 4 % 17 % 31,9 % WASTE Combustable waste Landfill waste Hazardous waste Recycled paper RESOURCE USE Electricity consumption Heat consumption Water consumption Paper consumption ENVIRONMENTAL Ink consumption IMPACTS Maculature % Eutrophication Acidification Climate change Mineral resources depletion Fossil resources depletion VOC TSP SO2 NOx TSS Emissions to air (kg/1000 kg newspapers) 0,00 0,50 1,00 1,50 2,00 2,50 3,00 3,50 Forestry Pulp and paper Printing Use Transports End of life, high End of life, low Emissions to water (kg/1000 kg newspapers) EMISSIONS TO WATER Chemical oxygen demand (COD) Total nitrogen(ntot) Total phosphorous (Ptot) Total suspended solids (TSS) EMISSIONS TO AIR Greenhouse gases (GHG) Sulphur dioxides (SO 2 ) Nitrogen oxides (NOx) Particulate matter (TSP) Volatile organic compounds (VOC) Ptot Ntot COD 0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00 Forestry Pulp and paper manufacturing Printing Use Transports
06/09/2011 16 Life cycle environmental impacts of a Photo Book per 100 copies. 0.009 ~0.9% 100 copies Each bar represents the combined environmental impacts of the product over its life cycle within a specific category, where the annual impact of a single European resident in that category amounts to 1 ie. 100%. The red bar represents the percentage that a batch of 100 copies has of the impact of one tonne of photo books. The climate change impact of one tonne of photo books amount to approximately 0.18 ~18% and the batch of 100 copies to approximately 0.009 ~0.9%. One tonne of photo books are 2000 copies.
06/09/2011 17 Environmental impact assessment Potential environmental impacts in the photo book s life cycle Environmental impacts are mostly related to use of energy and fuels in different life cycle stages Highest potential impacts are related to impact categories: Freshwater eutrophication Terrestrial acidification Fossil resources depletion Particulate matter formation Climate change LCIA according to RECIPE methodology Carbon footprint alone is not enough
06/09/2011 18 Conclusions Use of energy and fuels dominates emissions and environmental impacts over the life cycle of products Energy production profile is in central role In general, paper manufacturing has the biggest contribution to most environmental impact categories Paper is the main component of the product Paper industry has improved environmental performance significantly during the years but improving energy efficiency is still a key issue The contribution of the printing house is also of importance Improving energy and material efficiency is important Collecting and reporting of environmental data should be improved Energy profile: 5 year Finnish average 29% renewables 42% fossil 29% nuclear
06/09/2011 19 General findings from the project Minimize the amount of paper disposed to landfill In addition to climate change, other environmental impacts have to be considered Carbon footprint as one figure isn t very informative -> background information is required to be able to interpret the results Up to date information is required to be able to reduce the GHG emissions
06/09/2011 20 Discussion and future research needs Manufacturing of toners and circulation of empty and/or recycled toner cartridges should be studied in more detail Both LCA and carbon footprint results are very sensitive to system boundaries and assumptions Large variety in the results is possible Different studies are not comparable LCA does not cover all environmental impacts e.g. the potential positive and negative impacts related to the use of renewable raw material need additional indicators
06/09/2011 21 Lean development with renewable resources ( LEADER) Target: Project was studying the environmental impacts occurred during the life cycle of print products. The aim is to provide guidance on improved environmental performance, focusing especially on energy and material efficiency. Main result(s): Project consists of life cycle assessment and carbon footprint case studies for Heatset offset printed magazine Coldset offset printed newspaper Sheet-fed offset printed book Electrophotography printed photo book and Rotogravure printed advertisement. ~ 870 g CO 2 eq Funding Co-operation partners VTT project team, coordinator Project web page is Stora Enso, UPM, Myllykoski, Metsäliitto, Graphic industry research foundation, Finnish funding agency for Technology and Innovations Finnish Environment Institute, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, FinnMedia, printing companies, suppliers, logistics company, Minna Nors, Maija Federley, Tuomas Helin, Merja Kariniemi, Marjukka Kujanpää, Anna Leinonen, Tiina Pajula, ja Hanna Pihkola http://www.vtt.fi/sites/leader/index.jsp?lang=en
06/09/2011 22 VTT creates business from technology