Social Life Cycle Assessment PDF

This book highlights the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) of the energy and textile sectors. It also presents a range of models, indices, impact categories, etc. for SLCA that are currently being developed for industrial applications. Though SLCA was introduced in 2010, it is still relatively new compared to environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA).

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Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes

Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu Editor

Social Life Cycle Assessment Case Studies from the Textile and Energy Sectors

Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes Series editor Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu, SgT Group and API, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

This series aims to broadly cover all the aspects related to environmental assessment of products, development of environmental and ecological indicators and eco-design of various products and processes. Below are the areas fall under the aims and scope of this series, but not limited to: Environmental Life Cycle Assessment; Social Life Cycle Assessment; Organizational and Product Carbon Footprints; Ecological, Energy and Water Footprints; Life cycle costing; Environmental and sustainable indicators; Environmental impact assessment methods and tools; Eco-design (sustainable design) aspects and tools; Biodegradation studies; Recycling; Solid waste management; Environmental and social audits; Green Purchasing and tools; Product environmental footprints; Environmental management standards and regulations; Eco-labels; Green Claims and green washing; Assessment of sustainability aspects.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13340

Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu Editor

Social Life Cycle Assessment Case Studies from the Textile and Energy Sectors

123

Editor Subramanian Senthilkannan Muthu SgT Group and API Hong Kong, Hong Kong

ISSN 2345-7651 ISSN 2345-766X (electronic) Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes ISBN 978-981-13-3232-6 ISBN 978-981-13-3233-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3233-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018961219 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, speciﬁcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microﬁlms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speciﬁc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional afﬁliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

This book is dedicated to: The lotus feet of my beloved Lord Pazhaniandavar My beloved late Father My beloved Mother My beloved Wife Karpagam and Daughters—Anu and Karthika My beloved Brother

Contents

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar Power Plant in Spain—A Life Cycle Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blanca Corona and Guillermo San Miguel Socio-Economic Effects in the Knitwear Sector—A Life Cycle-Based Approach Towards the Deﬁnition of Social Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maria Ferrante, Ioannis Arzoumanidis and Luigia Petti Social Life Cycle Assessment of Renewable Bio-Energy Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Saravanan and P. Senthil Kumar

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Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar Power Plant in Spain—A Life Cycle Perspective Blanca Corona and Guillermo San Miguel

Abstract This publication demonstrates the practical application of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodology in the analysis of a 50 MWe Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant located in Spain. The assessment makes use of two complementary analytical approaches: (1) a generic social hotspot analysis based on the social risks related to ﬁnancial flows generated by the provision of goods and services taking place during the life cycle of the power generation system, and then (2) a site-speciﬁc analysis focussing on the social performance of the construction/energy company involved in the construction and operation of the power plant. The site-speciﬁc analysis followed the procedures proposed by UNEP/ SETAC but included a new classiﬁcation/characterization model suited to the particularities of the project and the energy sector. The analysis considered four stakeholder categories (workers; local community; society; and value chain actors) and used the number of worker hours as activity variable for the quantiﬁcation of social risks. Worker hours attributable to each of the stages of the life cycle of the CSP system were calculated using input-output (IO) analysis. The impact assessment phase of the S-LCA was carried out using a Social Performance Indicator (SPI), which required the estimation of performance reference points for a series of indicators/subcategories proposed by the UNEP/SETAC Guidelines. The SPI calculated for the CSP plant (+0.388 for a ±2 range) suggested that the use of solar power results in an increase of social welfare in Spain, primarily with regards to socioeconomic sustainability and fairness of relationships. The inventory data used in the social hotspot analysis were monetary flows attributable to each of the processes considered in the life cycle of the power system. These flows were assigned to the corresponding sector of the producer country. The Social Hotspot B. Corona (&) Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] G. San Miguel Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, ETSII, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, ES28006 Madrid, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Social Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3233-3_1

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Database (SHDB) was used to link these demand values to social risks and opportunities. The results showed that the life cycle phase contributing the most to the social risk of the solar power system was operation and management. This is due primarily (over 75% of the weighed risk) to the social risks associated with the supply chain of the natural gas used as auxiliary fuel. For Spain, the main social risks associated with the solar power plant were related to gender inequality and corruption, and to a lesser extent to injuries and immigrants. Some of these risks were conﬁrmed in the site-speciﬁc assessment. The paper ends with a discussion about the application of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) for evaluating the results obtained in this Social-LCA in combination with environmental and economic oriented LCA. Keywords S-LCA Stakeholders

Electricity Social performance Spain Social risks

1 Introduction The UN World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), also known as the Brundtland Commission, developed between 1983 and 1987 the grounds for the modern interpretation of sustainability. In its ﬁnal report “Our Common Future”, the Brundtland Commission produced a deﬁnition of Sustainable Development that is still widely accepted today: “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987). That report also stated that the concept of sustainability rests on three elements: economic growth, environmental protection and social equality. At present, the Sustainable Development Goals (issued by the United Nations in 2015, and a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals) (Biermann et al. 2017) are in the front line of international, national and local agendas. Public administrations and customers are exerting pressure on companies to ensure that the principles of sustainable development are incorporated into the goods and services that they supply to the market. The practical application of this ambition necessarily entails the use of a systematic methodology capable of quantifying the sustainability of speciﬁc goods and services in an objective manner. A holistic methodology referred to as life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is currently under development with the purpose of integrating the three pillars of sustainability under a coherent life cycle approach. UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative states in its report “Towards a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment” that LCSA may be seen as the summation of three analysis tools: Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (E-LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Social Life Cycle Analysis (S-LCA) (UNEP/SETAC 2011). This concept is illustrated in equation SLCA = E-LCA + LCC + S-LCA.

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A more advanced and flexible approach to LCSA was developed under the Coordination Action for innovation in Life Cycle Analysis for Sustainability (CALCAS) (2006–2009) project (Heijungs et al. 2009). This new conceptual framework relies on expansion of the scope of conventional E-LCA to incorporate the economic and the societal dimensions of the system under consideration. The CALCAS project approach provides the practitioners with more flexibility in the selection of the analytical tools employed to evaluate different aspects of the system and provides an integrated framework where the results may be evaluated as a whole (Guinée et al. 2011). The ultimate purpose of S-LCA is to assess the effect of a given product on human wellbeing. As the name suggests, the analysis applies a life cycle approach that takes into consideration social and socio-economic effects associated with the extraction and processing of raw materials required for the fabrication of the product, manufacturing activities, transportation and distribution, utilization and any end-of-life actions that may be associated with the product (reuse, recycling and ﬁnal disposal). These effects considered in S-LCA are primarily those generated by the companies participating in the different stages of the life cycle of the product under consideration.1 This performance has an effect (positive or negative) on the wellbeing of a series of stakeholders, which typically include Consumers, Workers, Local Community, Value Chain Actors and Society. S-LCA may be used on its own or, as described above, it may be part of a broader Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) (Guinée et al. 2011; UNEP/ SETAC 2011). The scientiﬁc community recognizes E-LCA and LCC as mature methodologies, while S-LCA is usually regarded as being at an early stage of development in terms of methodological harmonization and acceptance (Cinelli et al. 2013).

1.1

Key Methodological Issues in S-LCA

Since its inception in 2002, the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative has distinguished itself as a key promoter and developer of S-LCA methodology. The Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products (from now on the S-LCA Guidelines) have become a landmark and a key reference in the ﬁeld (UNEP/ SETAC 2009). This methodology operates on the principles of ISO 14040 and 14044, with the typical four interrelated phases: (i) identiﬁcation of goal and scope, (ii) inventory analysis, (iii) impact assessment and (iv) interpretation. The practical application of these guidelines is facilitated with the Methodological Sheets for Sub-Categories in Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) (UNEP/SETAC 2013). In the identiﬁcation of goal and scope phase, the S-LCA practitioner needs to set up the basis of the investigation including identifying the objectives of the

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In addition, the ultimate utility of the product may also be considered in the analysis

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assessment, describing the system under investigation and identifying the social issues of concern that would be evaluated. These social issues can be referred to as Impact Categories, and the S-LCA Guidelines suggest some of them, including human rights, working conditions, health and safety, cultural heritage, governance, and socio-economic repercussions. The S-LCA Guidelines also deﬁne ﬁve groups of stakeholders including: (i) worker, (ii) consumer, (iii) local community, (iv) society, and (v) value chain actor. Each of these categories is linked to a series of sub-categories describing social aspects that may have an effect on these stakeholder. For instance, the stakeholder category “workers” includes the following sub-categories: (i) Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining, (ii) Child Labour, (iii) Fair Salary, (iv) Hours of Work, (v) Forced Labour, (vi) Equal Opportunities/Discrimination, (vii) Health and Safety, (viii) Social Beneﬁt/Social Security. These subcategories may be characterized by a series of indicators. The Methodological Sheets produced by UNEP/SETAC provides indications about the most suitable indicators that may be used to evaluate these sub-categories (UNEP/SETAC 2013). Depending on the goal of the S-LCA, but also on the availability of data, time and economic resources, the assessment may be carried out following two different approaches. The generic S-LCA approach relies on generic data describing the social risks or opportunities associated with the country speciﬁc sectors where activities or unit processes of the life cycle take place. This generic approach can be carried out using databases, such as the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) (Benoit-Norris et al. 2013) (http://www.socialhotspot.org) and the Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment (PSILCA) (https://psilca.net/). The site-speciﬁc S-LCA approach is carried out at a company level and involves an investigation of the social performance of the organizations involved in the life cycle of the system under investigation (Dreyer et al. 2006; Macombe et al. 2013; Martínez-Blanco et al. 2014). Company site-speciﬁc inventory data refers to the life cycle of the system under investigation (company, product and location), making this step very time consuming and very demanding of time and human resources. The aim of the impact assessment phase in the S-LCA is to transform the inventory data into a set of social performance indicators. This may be achieved using one of two methodological approaches (Parent et al. 2010): the ﬁrst is usually called the Taskforce approach (referred to as Type 1) and is aimed at assessing social performance; and second is called the Impact Pathway approach (referred to as Type 2) and it is aimed at assessing social impacts. In the characterization step, the Taskforce approach relies on the use of Performance Reference Points (PRP) to quantify the importance of the data collected throughout the inventory phase. In this case, an activity variable can be used to reflects the relative importance of speciﬁc processes in the life cycle of the product. Different authors state their preferences regarding these two methodological approaches. The main argument in favour of the Taskforce approach is that “cause-effect relationships are not simple enough or not known with enough precision to allow quantitative cause-effect modelling’’ (Chhipi-Shrestha et al. 2014, UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative 2009). Regarding the impact pathway

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approach, Dreyer et al. (2006) discusses the inability of social damage indicators (QALY—Quality Adjusted Life Years) to measure the social performance of companies and organization. Despite its early stage of development, most authors agree that S-LCA methodology is already at a point where it may used to address the social area of LCSA, primarily in simple systems. Further testing and reﬁning will be required in order to increase precision and permit the analysis of systems that are more complex and sophisticated (Ekener-Petersen 2013; Ekener-Petersen and Finnveden 2013; Macombe et al. 2013).

1.2

Social and Sustainability Assessment of Solar Power Plants

According to a review by (Petti et al. 2014), the amount of publications describing the social life cycle assessment of goods and services is very limited. This author identiﬁes 7 publications dedicated to the S-LCA of energy products and technologies, 7 papers on information and communication technologies, 7 more on products from the agri-food sector, 5 on waste management and a few others on other varied subjects. Mattioda et al. (2015) has also published a review on S-LCA identifying 99 publications related to S-LCA, 13 of which describing the application of the S-LCA methodology to speciﬁc products or services, while the others were related to theoretical and methodological issues. The case studies described by this author focus on the energy sector (3 on biofuels and 1 on diesel and petrol) while the rest of papers where related to the manufacturing sector (4 papers), agriculture sector (2 papers), packaging (2 papers) and waste management (2 papers). At the present, there have been ﬁve S-LCA publications assessing energy systems, in particular, three on biofuels, 1 on diesel and petrol and 1 on photovoltaic systems. Five S-LCA speciﬁcally dedicated to energy systems include those published by Ekener-Petersen et al. (2014), Macombe et al. (2013), Manik et al. (2013a, b), Traverso et al. (2012). The term Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is employed to describe a range of technologies designed to produce electricity using direct solar radiation. The operating principles of these plants are well documented in various publications including (Fuqiang et al. 2017; Heller 2017; Lovegrove and Stein 2017; San Miguel et al. 2015). CSP plants have two components: the solar ﬁeld and the power block. The solar ﬁeld consists of an array of mirrors designed to concentrate the radiation from the sun into a receiver. A thermal fluid captures this radiative energy in the form of thermal energy, thus increasing its temperature as it makes its way through the solar ﬁeld. A heat engine (usually in the form of a Rankine cycle) transforms this thermal energy into electricity using a generator. The form of radiation most effectively utilized by CSP plants is direct normal irradiance (DNI) (Meyer et al. 2012).

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Depending on the geometric nature of the receiver, CSP plants are usually classiﬁed into two broad categories. CSP plants based on linear receivers (parabolic troughs and Fresnel collectors) are the most commercially proven (primarily the former). CSP plants based on point receivers (including central tower solar plants and dish/engine systems) are less widespread, despite the higher concentration ratios and temperatures that may achieve (NREL 2018). The world leaders in CSP technology are Spain and the USA, accumulating more than 90% of the installed capacity worldwide. Only Spain has 50 commercial CSP power plants totalling 2300 MW of installed capacity (PROTERMOSOLAR 2018). Other countries with high solar resources in the form of DNI (such as India, Chile and South Africa) already have or have announced the construction of new CSP plants. A key problem with solar energy is that it is intermittent by nature. One way of solving this issue is by incorporating thermal energy storage (TES) systems. These systems are charged during the day using an extended solar ﬁeld, allowing the plant to extend its operating hours. TES systems are usually based on the use of molten nitrate salt. Additionally, CSP plants may be hybridized with auxiliary fuels that supplement the solar radiation when it is not available. This may be done by incorporating a combustion system to the HTF circuit. The nature of the auxiliary fuel has a notorious effect on the economic, environmental and social performance of the CSP plant. The fact that CSP uses solar radiation as energy resource does not mean that it does not produce any negative impacts on the environment. The environmental performance of CSP plants has been investigated in various publications using life cycle methodology (Burkhardt et al. 2011, 2012; Corona et al. 2014, 2016c; Desideri et al. 2013; Klein and Rubin 2013; Lamnatou and Chemisana 2017; Lechón et al. 2008; Piemonte et al. 2011, 2012; San Miguel and Corona 2014). The results are subjected to some variability due to differences in plant conﬁguration, availability of solar resources and LCA methodology. In general, the analyses have shown very low global warming potential (between 25 and 50 kg CO2 eq/MWh for plants operating with solar energy only, and higher values for hybrid plants depending on its solar factor). The economics of these installations has also been the subject of various publications. Information about the viability and economic costs of the technology may be found in (IRENA 2018, 2012; San Miguel and Corona 2018). The application of life cycle costing methodology to CSP plants may be found in Corona et al. (2016a). The social performance of this type of technology is also evaluated in Corona et al. (2017). This chapter is describes the application of S-LCA methodology to evaluate the social performance of a solar power plant, representing those deployed in Spain in the past decade. The methodological approach of this assessment has been carried out in coherence with earlier life cycle based investigations covering the environmental and economic dimensions of the same solar power plant, and has been previously described in Corona et al. (2017). This chapter has been structured into ﬁve sections as follows. Section 1 describes the state of the art of S-LCA

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methodology and of the solar power system investigated. Section 2 explains the objectives, methodological approach and operational decisions taken to carry out the generic and the site speciﬁc S-LCA. Section 3 describes the results of the two S-LCA and provides a discussion describing in combination the outcome of this assessment. Finally, Sect. 4 provides a set of conclusions focusing on the methodological objectives of the exercise and also on the description of the social performance of the solar power plant.

2 Methodology This section describes the practical implementation of S-LCA to assess the social consequences of the solar power plant. The investigation has been carried out in two steps following two different, but complementary, methodological approaches. The ﬁrst one is a generic approach using the SHDB aimed at evaluating the existence of social hotspots in the life cycle (value chain) of the plant, while also helping to prioritize data collection for the second approach. Social hotspots are deﬁned in the S-LCA Guidelines as “speciﬁc situations within a region that can be regarded as a problem, a risk or an opportunity in terms of social concern” (UNEP/SETAC 2009). The second is a site-speciﬁc approach following the recommendations stated in the S-LCA Guidelines aimed at evaluating the social performance of the organizations involved in the life cycle of the solar plant. Both methodological frameworks were based on the principles of ISO 14040, which was adapted to the particularities of the social assessment approach, the speciﬁc characteristics of the system under investigation (primarily in terms of inventory data accessibility) and the limitations of the analysis team in terms of time/budget availability. This section has been structured following the four classical steps described in ISO 14040 for life cycle assessment: Deﬁnition of objectives and scope; social life cycle inventory analysis; social life cycle impact assessment; and interpretation.

2.1 2.1.1

Deﬁnition of Objectives and Scope Deﬁnition of Objectives

The main objectives of this investigation are as follows: • To explore the practical application of the Social Hotspots Database (SHDB) to produce a generic assessment of social risks associated with the life cycle of the solar power plant. • To explore the practical application of the S-LCA Guidelines to produce a site-speciﬁc S-LCA of the solar power plant.

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• Based on the generic and the site-speciﬁc S-LCA analyses, to evaluate the social and socio-economic performance of the solar power technology in Spain. • To evaluate the integration of S-LCA results into a broader sustainability analysis covering the environmental, social and economic dimensions. The solar power plant investigated in this chapter has also been analysed for its environmental and economic performance using life cycle based methodology. Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA) was used to evaluate the environmental dimension (Corona et al. 2014; Corona and San Miguel 2015) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Multiregional Input/Output (MRIO) were used to evaluate the economic dimension (Corona et al. 2016a, 2017). Since the ultimate goal of this series of investigations is to analyse the overall sustainability of the system, the approach employed in this S-LCA was consistent with the decisions taken in previous investigations in aspects such as system characteristics, system boundaries and functional unit.

2.1.2

Characteristics of the System

Figure 1 shows an aerial view of the system investigated in this publication, and a map showing its geographical location. The system is a commercial hybrid Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant based on parabolic trough (PT) technology based in Ciudad Real (Spain). The plant represents the CSP conﬁguration most widely deployed in Spain over the past decade. As a reference, 96% of the CSP capacity installed in Spain (45 of the 49 plants) are based on PT technology (San Miguel and Corona 2018). Other CSP technologies less mature and widely represented include Linear Fresnel Reflector Systems, Power Tower Systems and Dish/ Engine Systems (NREL 2018). The CSP plant investigated in this publication entered into operation in 2011, it has a nominal capacity of 50-MWe, it extends over 200 ha of unproductive rural land and has a lifetime expectancy of 25-year. Table 1 describes the technical characteristics of the solar plant and Fig. 2 illustrates its main components: solar Fig. 1 Aerial view and location of the CSP plant investigated in this S-LCA Source aerial image: BSMPS 2009

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Table 1 Technical characteristics of the CSP plant under investigation Installed capacity Thermal efﬁciency of the cycle (η) Net efﬁciency Auxiliary boiler efﬁciency Lifetime Number of solar collectors Aperture Area occupied Normal direct irradiance Thermal storage capacity NG input (for power generation) NG input (for maintenance) Total NG consumption Full load equivalent operation Gross electricity generation Electricity self-consumption Net electricity generation Direct water use

50 35 16 95 25 624 510,120 200 2030 7.5 3.01E+08 6.28E+06 7.87E+06 3290 194,926 31,188 163,738 988,660

MWe % % % year m2 ha kWh/m2 year hour MJ/year MJ/year Nm3/year h/year MWh/year MWh/year MWh/year m3/year

Fig. 2 Flow diagram describing the different components and operation of the hybrid CSP plant

ﬁeld, heat transfer fluid (HTF) circuit, thermal energy storage (TES) system, auxiliary natural gas boiler and power block. The solar ﬁeld is made of 624 SENERTROUGH parabolic trough collectors assembled into 156 loops providing a total aperture of 510,120 m2. The collectors

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are mounted on stainless steel structures with sun tracking systems that maximize the concentration of direct solar irradiation into a tube receiver. The Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) circulating inside the receiver absorbs the radiating energy from the sun raising its temperature from 285 °C at the entrance of the solar ﬁeld to 395 °C at the exit. In the power block, the hot HTF circulates through various heat exchangers to generate superheated steam at 100 bar/375 °C. This steam drives a turbine associated with a generator for electricity generation, as in conventional power plants. The Rankine cycle is cooled using forced-draft evaporative technology, resulting in a thermal efﬁciency (η) of 36.8% (San Miguel et al. 2015). The plant also incorporates a thermal energy storage (TES) system based on two-tank molten salt (nitrate) technology. This technology stores thermal energy generated in the solar ﬁeld during the day for use during periods of reduced irradiation (at night or during cloudy episodes) in order to increase stability and augment the operating time of the plant. Additionally, the CSP plant incorporates an auxiliary boiler operating on natural gas that provides heat for maintenance activities such as daily start-up operations, to avoid the freezing of the HTF and molten salts during cold periods and to reduce system instability caused by transient clouds. Natural gas consumption for these maintenance applications typically represent around 1% of the thermal requirements of the plant. This auxiliary fuel is also used as a complement to solar energy to extend with operation of the plant and generate additional electricity when the solar radiation is not available. The Spanish legislation regulating the generation of electricity from sustainable resources allowed CSP plants to produce up to 15% of their electricity from auxiliary fuels. This additional electricity was entitled to the same subsidy assigned to solar power (feed-in tariff of 26.9 c€/kWh—Royal Decree 661/2007) (San Miguel and Corona 2018). As explained, the plant operates in hybrid mode with natural gas for a full-load capacity of 3290 equivalent hours per year and a gross electricity output of 194,926 MWh/year. Natural gas consumption amounts to 7.87 106 Nm3/year (equivalent to 3.01 108 MJ/year of auxiliary energy). Only 2.0% of this fuel is used for maintenance activities while the remaining 98.0% is used for extended power generation. Net electricity sales (after subtracting power losses due to grid inefﬁciencies and onsite consumption) amount to 163,738 MWh/year. Onsite water use is rather high due to the evaporative cooling technology employed in the Rankine cycle at 988,660 m3/year.

2.1.3

Description of the Life Cycle of the Solar Power Plant

Figure 3 shows the four stages in the life cycle of the CSP plant investigated in this S-LCA including: (i) Extraction of raw materials and Manufacturing of components (E&M), (ii) Construction of the facility (C), (iii) Operation and Maintenance of the power plant (O&M), and (iv) Dismantling and Disposal (D&D). A complete list of all the unit processes considered in the analysis may be found in the economic inventories of Annex 1, with Table 6 corresponding to the raw materials and

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Fig. 3 Life cycle diagram of the CSP power plant including economic, material and energy flows

manufacturing of components phase, Table 7 to construction processes, Table 8 to the operation and maintenance phase and Table 9 to end-of-life activities.

2.1.4

Scope of the Analysis

The scope of the generic S-LCA followed a cradle to grave approach, covering all four stages in the life cycle of the solar power plant. The transmission, distribution and utilization of the electricity were out of the scope of the analysis due to the fact that impacts associated with these elements are not affected by the characteristics of the power generation technology. For all the unit processes included within the boundaries of the system, inventory data was available regarding economic flows and country speciﬁc sectors where the transactions take place. The aim of the site-speciﬁc S-LCA is to explore the social and socio-economic performance of the organizations responsible for the activities that make up the life cycle of the system. The promoter company is, without a doubt, the most important organization in the life cycle of the system, known to be responsible for the project development, construction of the power plant, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life activities. Key unit processes in the life cycle of the solar plant not associated with the promoter include those associated with the extraction of raw materials (primarily natural gas employed as auxiliary fuel but also steel and concrete for the solar collectors, glass and silver for the mirrors and nitrate salts for the thermal energy storage system) and the manufacturing of certain plant components (e.g. absorber tubes, steam turbine, solar tracker and electronics). Gathering primary social data from every activity and supplier involved in the CSP life cycle would have required more time and economic resources than the

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available by the analysts at the time of the study. Therefore, the scope of the site-speciﬁc analysis was narrowed considering the ﬁndings in the social hotspot analysis and the accessibility of data. With the exception of natural gas, the generic S-LCA had shown that most of the social risks associated with the life cycle of the plant were associated with unit processes carried out by the promoter company. As explained above, the solar plant investigated in this analysis operates in hybrid mode with natural gas, which is responsible for 15% of the power generated. This natural gas originates from countries (primarily Algeria but also Nigeria and Qatar) whose gas and energy sectors are associated with high social risks (see Sect. 2.2.2). Based on this information, and being aware of the weaknesses associated with this pronouncement, the analysis team decided to leave the life cycle phase “extraction of raw materials and manufacturing of components” out of the scope of site-speciﬁc S-LCA. Furthermore, the system boundaries for other life cycle phases in the solar power plant were limited to those unit processes carried out directly by the promoter company, which was the only organization investigated at a company level.

2.1.5

Function and Functional Unit

For the purpose of this investigation, the function of the solar power plant is to produce electricity and the functional unit considered was 1 MWh of electricity poured into the Spanish electricity grid. This is consistent with the functional units employed to evaluate from a life cycle perspective the environmental and economic performance of the system. However, it should be discussed at this point that this functional unit does not take into consideration some aspects of power generation that are essential to deﬁne the adequacy of a power generation technology. In other words, different power generation technologies are not necessary interchangeable solely on the basis of their capacity to generate electricity. For example, aspects like dispatchability (ability to adapt power output to the required demand at any hour of the day without wasting primary energy) and ﬁrmness (ability to supply electricity during peak hours) (Servert et al. 2016) may be essential to determine the ability of a plant to adapt effectively to a certain demand curve. These attributes, which are not readily quantiﬁable, may also affect the price at which electricity is sold to the market and the revenues earned by the plant operator. The thermal energy storage in the solar power plant under investigation provides this technology with a certain degree of dispatchability, which may not be attributed to other renewable power generation technologies like photovoltaic or wind power. However, its capacity to generate on demand is not as good as that achieved by natural gas in combined cycles, for instance. The integration of these aspects into the function and functional unit of the plant should be taken into consideration in future LCA investigations.

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2.1.6

13

Selection of Impact Categories, Sub-Categories and Indicators

Regarding the generic S-LCA, the social risk assessment has been carried out considering 17 impact categories (Child Labor, Forced Labor, Excessive Working Time, Injuries & Fatalities, Toxics & Hazards, Poverty Wage2, Poverty Wage1, Migrant Labor, Collective Bargaining, Indigenous Rights, Gender Equity, High Conflict, Legal System, Corruption, Drinking Water, Improved Sanitation, Hospital Beds) grouped into ﬁve damage categories (labour rights, human rights, health and safety, governance and community infrastructure), as considered by New Earth in their Social LCIA Method 1 v.1.0 (Benoit-Norris et al. 2013) (Fig. 4). As illustrated in Fig. 5, the site-speciﬁc S-LCA analysis was based on a series of 27 social impact sub-categories classiﬁed into the following ﬁve impact categories: Labour rights and decent work, Health and safety, Cultural and natural heritage, Fair relations and Socio-economic sustainability. The sub-categories described above represent social attributes susceptible to be affected by the system. The state of these attributes were evaluated using 24 social indicators, including 11 quantitative, 10 semi-quantitative and 3 qualitative. This selection of impact categories, sub-categories and indicators was based on the recommendations stated in the S-LCA Guidelines (UNEP/SETAC 2009) and the Methodological Sheets (UNEP/SETAC 2013) but also took into consideration the availability of inventory data, the results from the generic S-LCA, the particular characteristics of the system (importance of the unit processes making up the solar plant) and the potential vulnerability of the stakeholders involved. Twenty six of the sub-categories selected are explicitly mentioned in the S-LCA Guidelines. One additional sub-category (product utility, ascribed to the stakeholder category

Fig. 4 Social impact categories and sub-categories selected for the site-speciﬁc S-LCA

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Fig. 5 Diagram showing the sub-categories and indicators considered to evaluate the impact category “Labour rights and decent work” (Adapted from Corona et al. 2017)

Society) was included due to the signiﬁcance that the availability of electricity may have on the social wellbeing of a given community. Table 2 shows these 27 sub-categories and their associated indicators, classiﬁed into the four stakeholder categories proposed in the S-LCA Guidelines.

2.1.7

Critical Review

A critical review of the S-LCA was carried out by members of the Spanish NGO Ingeniería Sin Fronteras (Engineers Without Borders). The reviewers involved in the review had experience in the international implementation of sustainability and development projects related to the energy and electricity sectors.

2.2 2.2.1

Social Life Cycle Inventory Analysis Inventory Analysis for the Generic S-LCA

Background inventory data employed in these analyses were obtained from the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB), which was integrated into Sima Pro v8.4 together with the Social LCIA Method 1 v.1.0. The Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) is an extended input/output life cycle inventory database which contains data about the

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15

Table 2 Stakeholder categories, sub-categories and indicators employed to carry out the site-speciﬁc S-LCA Workers

Subcategories

Indicators

Freedom of association and collective bargaining

Existence of trade unions in the organization is adequately supported and workers are free to join them % of afﬁliates of total employees Presence of child labour Wage inequality (average salary compared to highest rank executive salary) Average annual salary Lowest paid worker Hours of work Existence of forced labour Employment rates of people with special needs with respect to the total employed people Men/women occupation ratio in the company Men/women executive managers ratio in the company Education, training, counselling, prevention and risk control programs in place to assist workforce members Presence of a formal policy concerning health and safety Accident ratio per employee 2008 versus 2013 Social security provided to the employees

Child labour Fair salary

Hours of work Forced labour Equal opportunities/ discrimination

Health and safety

Local community

Social beneﬁt/social security Local employment Access to material resources Access to immaterial resources Delocalization and migration Cultural heritage Safe and healthy living conditions Respect of indigenous rights Community engagement Secure living conditions

Promotion of local employment within the project Based on information provided by local sources, it has been considered that the social attributes associated with the stakeholder category “local community” are not affected by the solar plant. This is so because the plant is far away from population centres (6 km from the closest village) and that the potential interactions with local people (except for workers, which are assessed in the workers stakeholder category) are very limited

(continued)

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Table 2 (continued) Society

Subcategories

Indicators

Public commitments to sustainability issues Corruption Technology development

Existence of public sustainability reporting

Prevention and mitigation of armed conflicts Contribution to economic development Product utility Value Chain Actors

Fair competition Supplier relationships Promoting social responsibility Respect of intellectual property rights

Legal actions during the assessment period CSP Technology development, participation in national and international projects. Investment in R+D There is no armed conflicts to prevent or mitigate

Multiplier effect Relevance of the product to the satisfaction of basic needs Legal actions during the assessment period Social criteria implementation in the homologation of suppliers Documents stating the promotion of this issue within the company No relevant data

social risk associated with 113 geographical regions (mainly countries) and 57 economic sectors (Benoit-Norris et al. 2013). Input data is in the form of monetary units (2002 US$) spent on country-speciﬁc sectors (CSS) throughout the life cycle of the system under investigation. These monetary flows are transformed into labour intensity data (worker hours), which is actually the activity variable employed to weigh the importance of the unit processes considered in the analysis. The economic inventory data regarding the construction, operation and dismantling of the solar power plant was provided by an energy engineering consultancy ﬁrm specialized in CSP technology (IDIE S.L.). This included information about the magnitude of the economic transactions associated with each of the elements comprising the value chain of the solar power plant and information about the economic sectors and regions (countries) where this activity takes place. These economic flows were ﬁrst converted from €2013 (data supplied by consultancy ﬁrm) to US$2002 (units employed in SHDB) using Market exchange rates and the OECD CPI index (OECD 2014). No discount and inflation rates were considered in ﬁnancial transitions occurring at different times, since the magnitude of social issues is not necessarily related to the variation of the value of money over time. Annex 1 provides full details about the economic inventory with information about the speciﬁc SHDB dataset employed for each unit process. The information has been grouped into four tables (Tables 6, 7, 8 and 9) each one corresponding to a different stage in the life cycle of the system.

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17

One problem when gathering this inventory data was to trace with precision the origin of each of the numerous elements and components that make the life cycle of the system. Most of the components in the solar power plant are known to originate from Spain. An exception to this is the heat transfer fluid (produced in Belgium), the absorber tubes and the power block components including gas turbine (in Germany), and the nitrate salts for the TES (from Chile). Country-speciﬁc sector SHDB datasets were used in the generic analysis of these items. However, some other raw materials (e.g. natural gas, steel, aluminium) and elementary plant components (e.g. solar tracking systems, electronics) may also originate from other countries. Tracing this information is not a simple task due to the diversity of providers and the conﬁdential nature of this information. Due to the importance of natural gas in the social performance of the solar plant, the origin of this energy resource was evaluated in detail for the generic S-LCA. Total expenses associated with NG consumption in the solar plant were calculated at 3,595,400 US$2002/year, assuming a fuel input of 7.87E+06 Nm3/year (see Table 1) and a market price of 3.3875 c€/kWh, as reported by the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Energy (Ministry of Industry 2013). This source also informs that 86.18% of industrial NG costs are attributable to the raw material (2.9194 c€/kWh) and 13.82% to its transport and distribution to the ﬁnal user (0.4681 c€/kWh). Hence, in order to model the natural gas supply, the distribution price was assigned to the sector Gas manufacture, distribution/ES (496,829 US $2002/year), and the raw material component (3,098,571 US$2002/year) was assigned to the country speciﬁc gas sector of each exporter country, considering the following mix (MINETAD 2018): Algeria (37.1%), Nigeria (13.6%), Norway (9.39%), Qatar (9.65%), Trinidad & Tobago (6.03%), Peru (5.60%), Egypt (1.47%) and the Netherlands (23.19%) (MINETAD 2018). Monetary expenses associated with the consumption of industrial water (primarily for evaporative cooling in the Rankine cycle) was based on a unit price of 0.50 €/m3, as reported by the Spanish Association for Water Supply and Sanitation (Ciudad Real, Spain) (AEAS 2014). For the purpose of the generic S-LCA, Spain was assumed to be the producer of all other raw materials and components whose origin was unknown.

2.2.2

Inventory Analysis Site-Speciﬁc Assessment

The site-speciﬁc assessment was conducted in order to analyse at a company level the potential risks detected in the generic assessment. Regarding the scope of this investigation, it has been discussed above that it will only cover the activities undertaken by the promoter of the solar plant, who is also responsible for the development and construction of the installation, its operation and dismantling at the end of its useful time. The promoter company belongs to a holding of companies operating primarily in the Construction and Industrial Services sectors. The promoter company also has a number of subsidiary enterprises that operate in speciﬁc areas of this sector.

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Site-speciﬁc inventory data relating to the promoter company was obtained by searching the internet, from direct communications with company members and by revising certain corporate reports that were made available to the S-LCA analysts as follows: • The annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report of the holding of companies to which the promoter belongs, drafted following the premises of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (year 2014). • The annual Corporate Report of the promoter company (year 2013). • The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) drafted by a company that is subsidiary of the company responsible for the construction and operation of the solar plant (year 2010). Regarding the data quality of the site-speciﬁc inventory, it was decided that the data employed would need to have been produced 5 years prior to the commencement of the solar power project (between 2008 and 2013).

2.3

Social Life Cycle Impact Assessment Modelling

The impact assessment stage of the S-LCA is used to transform inventory data into social impact values. This section describes the characteristics of the impact assessment methods employed to carry out the generic and the site-speciﬁc social assessments.

2.3.1

Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method for the Generic Social Analysis

The impact assessment method Social LCIA Method 1 v1.0 (Benoit-Norris et al. 2013), based on New Earth’s Social Hotspots Index and adapted to SimaPro 8.4 software, was used to carry out the hotspot analysis. The input data for this modelling phase was in the form of monetary units (US$2002) spent on country speciﬁc sectors. This method was also used to calculate worker hours associated with each of the elements in the supply chain of the solar power plant. Worker hours was employed as activity variable to aggregate the social performance of unit processes (and life cycle stages) that make the life cycle of the solar power plant.

2.3.2

Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method for the Site-Speciﬁc Social Assessment

Although the S-LCA Guidelines provide information about impact categories, sub-categories and indicators, it also recognizes that “there are no characterization

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19

models between subcategories and impact categories that are generally accepted by S-LCA practitioners”. The impact assessment method employed in the site-speciﬁc analysis was developed ad hoc for this investigation following the recommendations of the S-LCA Guidelines. It follows a Type 1 approach and was designed in order to be consistent with the approach employed in the generic S-LCA and also with Environmental-LCA and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) carried out previously as part of a broader sustainability analysis of solar power plants. The aim was to offer a simple and transparent procedure, easy to understand by stakeholders, capable of transforming the site-speciﬁc inventory data into numerical values describing the social performance of the system on a selection of social impact categories. The impact assessment method includes a meaning assessment step, which combined the classiﬁcation, characterisation, normalisation and weighting of the indicators to produce an aggregated value of social wellbeing. This meaning assessment step was developed using as a reference the one proposed by Ciroth and Franze (2011a, b). However, our model includes the following improvements: – It represents both positive and negative impacts in the results, – all the subcategories proposed in the S-LCA Guidelines have been included in the analysis (even if they are not signiﬁcantly affected by the system), – an aggregation step to combine characterized values throughout the life cycle stages of the system has been included using worker hours as activity variable, – the impact category “socio-economic sustainability” includes the new subcategory “product social utility”. In the classiﬁcation phase of the meaning step, the 27 sub-categories selected for this investigation (as described in Sect. 2.1.6) were grouped into ﬁve impact categories. As an example, Fig. 5 illustrates the structure of subcategories and indicators used to characterize the impact category “Labour rights and decent work”. Table 3 describes the classiﬁcation of social impact sub-categories (corresponding indicators can be found in Table 2) into impact categories, with reference to the stakeholder category affected in each case. The characterisation phase in the meaning step was aimed at transforming inventory data for each of the impact sub-categories considered into Performance Reference Points (PRP). This was done using as a reference the average social performance of the sector where the activity under consideration takes place. Since the only organization investigated at a company level was the promoter company, all the social performance values used to calculate PRP referred to different economic sectors in Spain. This reference data was obtained from authoritative sources including the national statistics bureau, governmental reports, reports from reputable organizations and the national media. The meaning assessment step was operated following the set of rules described below and illustrated in Fig. 6:

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Table 3 Classiﬁcation of social impact sub-categories in impact categories, with reference to the stakeholder category affected in each case (Adapted from Corona et al. 2017) Categories

Subcategories

Corresponding Stakeholder category

Labour rights and decent work

Freedom of association and collective bargaining Child labour Fair salary Working hours Forced labour Equal opportunities/Discrimination Delocalization and migration Health and safety Social Beneﬁt/Social security Safe and healthy living conditions Secure living conditions Access to material resources Cultural heritage Respect of indigenous rights Prevention and mitigation of armed conflicts Access to immaterial resources Corruption Fair Competition Supplier Relationships Respect to intellectual property rights Promoting social responsibility Public commitments to sustainability issues Community engagement Local employment Contribution to economic development Technology development Product social utility

Workers

Health and safety

Cultural and natural heritage

Fairness of relationships

Socio-economic sustainability

Workers Workers Workers Workers Workers Local community Workers Workers Local community Local community Local community Local community Local community Society Local community Society Value chain actors Value chain actors Value chain actors Value chain actors Society Local community Local community Society Society Society

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21

Fig. 6 Algorithm describing the characterization step in the life cycle impact assessment phase of the S-LCA

1. If the indicator value produced by the company was twice as good (or more) as the Spanish average, the company was rated as “much better” and assigned a score of (+2) social-performance points (s-pp) in that matter. 2. If the indicator value produced by the company under investigation was better than the Spanish average, the company was rated as “better” and assigned a score of (+1) s-pp. 3. When the indicator value was similar to the national average, the company was rated as “similar” and assigned a score of (0) s-pp in that matter. 4. If the indicator value was worse than the Spanish average, the company was rated as “worse” and assigned a score of (−1) s-pp in that matter. 5. If the indicator value was twice worse (or more) than the Spanish average, the company was rated as “much worse” and assigned a score of (−2) social-performance points (s-pp) in that matter. 6. When there was not information available about a given indicator, but the social risk determined from the Social Hotspot Analysis was low for that subcategory, the company was rated as “similar” and assigned a score of (0) s-pp in that matter. 7. When a subcategory was represented by more than one indicator, the score of the subcategory was calculated as the average of the s-pp assigned to each indicator.

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8. The score of each impact category was determined as the average of the scores calculated for each of the sub-categories included, and considering equal weights.2 As described above, the operator company is the only organization investigated in the site-speciﬁc S-LCA. This company operates different unit processes that belong to different stages in the life cycle of the system (Construction, Operation and Maintenance, and Demolition stages) and to different sectors. Hence, the same organization may obtain different characterized values for each unit process, as they are affected by the performance of the organization in that speciﬁc element and also by the average national performance used as a reference. The importance of each of the unit processes considered in the life cycle of the solar plant was pondered using “worker hours” as activity variable. The amount of worker hours associated with these processes had been calculated previously to this investigation using Multiregional I/O methodology (Corona et al. 2016b) and using the economic inventory data described in Tables 6, 7, 8 and 9. Finally, the scores attained in each impact category were aggregated in a weighting step, resulting in a ﬁnal social score. Since the S-LCA Guidelines provide no indication about how to carry out the weighting step, the same importance was allocated to all the impact categories considered, although it is acknowledged that different stakeholders may regard certain social categories as being more important than others. This simpliﬁed impact assessment method estimates whether the system under consideration (solar power plant) has a positive or a negative influence in the social wellbeing of the country where the activity takes place (in this case, Spain). A positive weighted ﬁnal score means that the system is beneﬁcial to the social wellbeing of the country, due to the fact that the overall social conditions contributed by the system are better than the national average. A negative weighted score signiﬁes that the social performance of the country would be damaged by the introduction of the system into the national economy. These results must be analysed with care, and always presented together with the results obtained by each sub-categories indicator. It should also be noted that a characterized score close to zero for any given impact category or sub-category does not necessarily mean that the social performance of the organization is not detrimental (or beneﬁcial) to the wellbeing the stakeholders affected, but that its performance is similar to the average weighted performance of the country in that speciﬁc social issue.

2

Although the analysts considered equal weights for this assessment, an evaluation of the weights for each subcategory within each category would be necessary to properly represent the stakeholders’ preferences.

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2.4

23

Interpretation and Aggregation of Sustainability Results for Decision Making

As explained above, this S-LCA has been carried out as part of a more extensive investigation aimed at describing the overall sustainability of different solar power technologies and conﬁgurations. The investigation covered all three dimensions of sustainability and it was carried out using a coherent life cycle approach that would allow integrating the result into a complete life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA). Information about the environmental and economic analysis of the solar power plant has been published elsewhere (Corona et al. 2014, 2016a, b; San Miguel and Corona 2018). The sustainability of the system is quantiﬁed through a series of indicators that describe the economic, environmental and social consequences of different solar power plant technologies and conﬁgurations. The environmental dimension was described using the following indicators: Climate change (kg CO2 eq/MWh), Water stress (m3/MWh), Energy Payback Time (EPBT) (months) and Single score environmental impact (pt/MWh). All these indicators were calculated using consequentional environmental LCA. The economic dimension was described using the following indicators: life Cycle cost (€/MWh), Cost balance (€/MWh), Value added (%) and Multiplier effect. The ﬁrst two indicators were calculated using Life Cycle Costing methodology and the latter two using I/O methodology. Finally, the social performance was evaluated using the following indicators: social risk (pt/MWh) as determined using SHDB generic S-LCA, company social performance (Pt/MWh) as determined using site-speciﬁc S-LCA and employment generation (h/ MWh) as determined using I/O analysis. The same analyses were carried out for three solar power technologies: CSP PTC (50 MWe based on parabolic trough collectors, like the one investigated in this case study), HYSOL BIO and HYSOL NG, both representing an innovative CSP conﬁguration that delivers improved efﬁciency and power dispatchability (Corona et al. 2016d; Nielsen et al. 2016; Servert et al. 2015, 2016). The sufﬁx NG indicates that the power plant uses natural gas as auxiliary fuel while the sufﬁx bio indicates that this auxiliary gas is actually biomethane. The objective was to provide information in order to facilitate decision making on the most sustainable solar power conﬁguration. Aggregating the indicators obtained for the three sustainability dimensions into a single sustainability score was a controversial issue due to the uncertainty accumulated by this ﬁnal score, and the subjectivity in weighting the different indicators. Instead, the procedure proposed by the analysis team involved applying Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) in the form of Analytic hierarchy process (AHP). This would be carried out by representatives of key stakeholders that should be informed of the results obtained in the sustainability analyses. This information is facilitated by the distribution of clear, simple and unambiguous diagrams describing the technical results obtained for the social, economic and environmental dimensions for each of the technology scenarios considered in the investigation.

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Figure 12 shows the sustainability diagrams (sustainability crowns) proposed, which would be made available to stakeholder representatives to facilitate decision making during the AHP exercise. One diagram would need to be produced for each of the technology scenarios considered in the analysis. The diagrams are circular in shape and are they divided into three equal size sectors, each one corresponding to a sustainability dimension. The sectors contain the absolute numeric value calculated for each indicator, a colour indicator (from red to green) and a relative indicator (%) representing the relative performance of the technology scenario represented by the diagram compared to the average of all the alternatives. The colour code and the relative value (%) assigned to each indicator represents its percentage difference relative to the average of this indicator in all the alternatives/scenarios evaluated, as determined in Eq. (1): % change ¼

Alternative value Average value Average value

ð1Þ

The colour scale follows the trafﬁc light code where green represents superior and red inferior than average, in terms of sustainability performance. Yellow colour (0% change) is assigned to values that are similar to average in the corresponding indicator. If the sustainability performance of an alternative/scenario is better than average, the colour of this indicator turns from yellow to green and its relative value is positive. If the performance is worse than average, the colour of the indicator turns from yellow to red and its relative value is negative. For instance, a technology performing 100% better than average for a given indicator is assigned an intense green colour and if its performance is 100% worse, it receives intense red. The colour grade assigned depends on the relative value % assigned. A more detailed description about the construction of these sustainability crowns may be found in (Corona and San Miguel 2018).

3 Results and Discussion 3.1

Generic Social Risk Assessment: Hotspot Analysis

Figure 7 shows the characterised risks of the analysed system as calculated in the social hotspot analysis. The results describe the contribution of each life cycle phase to the social risks in 17 social impact categories. The results evidence that most of the social risks are attributable to the O&M phase, especially due to risks related to Forced Labour, Indigenous Rights, Poverty wage, and Gender equity. The second highest life cycle phase contributor to social risks is E&M, mainly due to risks related with Toxics & Hazards (25%) and Improved Sanitation (20%). The consumption of natural gas contributes to most (between 70 and 97%, depending on the social issue) of the weighted social risks observed in the O&M phase.

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25

Forced Labor Indigenous Rights Gender Equity Poverty Wage2 Drinking Water Corruption Poverty Wage1 Collective Bargaining etc Hospital Beds High Conflict Injuries & Fatalities Legal System Child Labor Improved Sanitation Excessive Working Time Migrant Labor Toxics & Hazards

Operation & Maintenance Extraction of raw materials and Manufacturing Construction

Dismantle & Disposal

0%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Social risks per MWh

Fig. 7 Characterised social risks per life cycle phase of producing electricity with a CSP plant

Dismantle & Disposal Construction Extraction of raw materials and Manufacturing Operation & Maintenance

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0

Labor Rights & Decent Work

Health & Safety

Human Rights Governance

Community Infrastructure

Fig. 8 Weighted social risks per life cycle phase of producing electricity with a CSP plant

Figure 8 represents the social risks determined for each of the ﬁve social impact categories evaluated in the SHDB. These values are determined by weighing and aggregating the results corresponding to each of the social issues considered. The results suggest that the category with highest social risks is Health & Safety, followed by Labor Rights & Decent Work. These highest risks are originated by the supply chain of the NG and also by the banking services associated with the ﬁnancing of the power plant. When an economic sector is assigned a high social risk, this may be caused by one of two reasons: (i) a large amount of money spent on that sector throughout the life cycle of the system and, (ii) a high level of social risk associated with that country speciﬁc sector. In the ﬁrst case, a high amount of money spent is associated with a high number of worker hours in that sector. When a sector presents social risks, an increased amount of worker hours means increased exposure to social risks, which is translated into high characterised social risks. In the second case, a high level of risks for social issues would be characterised as very high, and present

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a high relative share of social risks even when the amount spent is not so high. These two cases are explained in more detail in the following paragraphs. A closer look into the economic sectors providing goods and services to the life cycle of the CSP plant evidenced that most of the social risks of the system originate from four countries: Algeria, Spain, Peru and Egypt. Except for Spain, the social risks attributable to these countries are associated, directly and indirectly, with the life cycle of the natural gas consumed in the solar plant. In particular, the Algerian commerce (Commerce/DZ) is by far the country speciﬁc sector contributing the most to the overall social risks of the system (29% of the total weighted risk). Even though there is not a high amount of money spent in this sector, the share of weighted risks is very high due to the very high risks in multiple social issues in the sector. Although the CSP plant is located in Spain, and most of its components manufactured in the same country, there are only three Spanish economic sectors contributing to more than 1% to the weighted social risks of the system: Financial services nec/ES (8.2% of the total risks), Construction/ES (3.6% of the total) and Business services nec/ES (1.9%). The high risk attributable to the Financial services nec/ES and the Construction/ES are primarily due to the very large amount of money spent on those sectors (128 M$2002 and 58 M$2002 respectively), which is translated into a higher relative exposure of social risks to worker hours in this sectors. According to the SHDB, these sectors in Spain present “very high risks” of corruption, injuries, unfair conditions for migrant workers, HIV and unemployment (only in construction) and high risks of forced labour and gender inequality. Figures 9 and 10 show the characterised and weighted social risks associated with the life cycle phase Extraction of raw materials and Manufacturing (E&M). The power plant component presenting the highest weighted risk is the solar ﬁeld (34% of the social risks in E&M phase), followed by Thermal storage (31%), Power block (17%), HTF system (14%) and Facilities (3.4%). The solar plant component contributing the highest to the social risks of the system is the solar ﬁeld (34% of the social risks in E&M phase) due primarily to the use of metallic elements in the structure of the solar collectors (mainly steel but also aluminium). This is followed by the components in the Thermal storage system (31%) due to economic activities in Chile related to the purchase of nitrate salts. Comparative lower social risks are associated with the Power block (17%), the HTF system (14%) and the auxiliary Facilities (3.4%) of the CSP plant. The country economic sectors contributing the most to the weighted social risks of the power plant belong to Spain, Chile, Angola and Mozambique. The occurrence of social risks in the ﬁrst two countries is due to the sectors directly involved in the manufacturing of several components in the CSP plant. For instance, the system uses molten salts extracted in Chile for the thermal storage system. The presence of Angola and Mozambique in this list was somehow unexpected and it has been traced back to indirect economic activities in the value chain of the plant components. Even though the amount of goods and services demanded from Angola is relatively low (only 7090 $2002 spent in the Commerce sector), the social risks in that country speciﬁc sector are very high in multiple social issues. Angola’s

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27

Toxics & Hazards Migrant Labor Excessive Working Time Improved Sanitation Child Labor Legal System Injuries & Fatalities High Conflict Hospital Beds Collective Bargaining etc Poverty Wage1 Corruption Drinking Water Poverty Wage2 Gender Equity Indigenous Rights Forced Labor

HTF System Solar field Thermal storage Power Block

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Fig. 9 Characterised social risks for the extraction and manufacturing phase of producing electricity with a CSP plant

Social risks per MWh

2.5E+08 2.0E+08 1.5E+08

Facilities Thermal storage HTF System

Power Block Solar field

1.0E+08 5.0E+07 0.0E+00

Labor Rights & Health & Safety Human Rights Decent Work

Governance

Community Infrastructure

Fig. 10 Weighted social risks for the extraction and manufacturing phase of producing electricity with a CSP plant

commerce sector is not directly linked to the manufacturing of components of the CSP plant, but according to the SHDB database, the Chilean Minerals nec sector (which is directly providing molten salts to the CSP plant) is importing minerals from Angola. However, it is known that all the molten salts employed in the CSP plant are extracted directly in Chilean territory (not imported from any other country with which the Chilean mineral sector may have other connections). Therefore, in this speciﬁc case, the social risks observed are an result of the aggregation of activities within the sectors of the SHDB, and the Commerce sector

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in Angola is surely not affected by the consumption of molten salts in the CSP plant. Mozambique shows high risks via its Metals nec, Commerce, and Electricity sectors. These risks are mainly due to the 43,000 $2002 demand from the Mozambican sector Metals nec/MZ. This sector is connected with the CSP plant through the Spanish sectors Metals nec, Electronic equipment and Machinery and equipment, that are importing metals from the aforementioned African country. According to reports from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main metal that Mozambique exports to Spain is aluminium (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2015), that is consumed in very limited amounts in the CSP plant. Therefore, the risks calculated by the hotspots analysis for Mozambique are probably overrated due to the low contribution of this country to the actual components of the power plant. The country speciﬁc sector Metal products in Spain also shows a high share of social risks attributable to the use of metals within the CSP plant. According to the SHDB, the social proﬁle of this sector is comparable to that of the Financial services nec sector, except for unemployment (rated as very high risk) and gender inequality for workers (rated as high risk). The results of the generic assessment are useful to identify social hotspots that should be further investigated in a site-speciﬁc assessment. According to the results obtained in this analysis, the suppliers providing metal products, machinery and equipment in Spain to the CSP plant are the ones that should be investigated in a site-speciﬁc assessment. The speciﬁc issues to be further investigated include corruption, gender inequality, injuries and immigrants.

3.2

Site-Speciﬁc Assessment

This section shows the results of the site-speciﬁc assessment of the solar power plant based on the social performance of the promoter company. Full information about the site-speciﬁc inventory data, the national data employed as a reference, and the characterization terms (as much worse, worse, similar, better, much better) selected for each indicator may be viewed in Annex 3 (Table 11 Inventory data and characterisation of the Construction and Dismantling phases and Table 12 Inventory data and characterisation of the O&M phase).

3.2.1

Meaning Assessment

The results for the characterization and weighing of the inventory data are described in Fig. 11 and Table 5 respectively, following the eight rules of the meaning assessment step (see Sect. 2.3.2). As observed in Fig. 11, each impact category analysed is depicted in a spider diagram containing the characterized values for every sub-category classiﬁed in that category. The characterized values for each sub-category are represented in a scale

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29

C&D phases O&M phase

Fig. 11 Site-speciﬁc characterisation of social issues for the life cycle phases considered in the site-speciﬁc assessment (C&D = Construction and demolition phases, O&M + Operation and Maintenance phase)

Table 4 Meaning assessment step: weighted results for each social category and life cycle phase analysed in the site speciﬁc assessment (every sub-category was weighted equally) Impact categories

Construction and dismantling phases

Operation and maintenance phase

Labour rights and decent work Health and safety Cultural and natural heritage Fairness of relationships Socio-economic sustainability

0.14 0.25 0 0.29 1.38

−0.02 0.25 0 0.29 1.38

from −2 to +2 s-pp (from worst performance to best performance with respect to the national average performance). The impact category Cultural and Natural Heritage was not depicted due to its low relevance in the case under study. Two different lines can be observed in the diagrams, one representing the characterized

30

B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Table 5 Weighting step and social performance results according to impact categories for the production of electricity with a CSP plant

Worker hours Weighting factors Labour rights and decent work Health and safety Cultural and natural heritage Fairness of relationships Socio-economic sustainability Total (mean average)

Weighting C

O&M

D

TOTAL

394,357 0.21 0.0294 0.0525 0 0.0609 0.2898 0.087

1,440,256 0.75 −0.015 0.1875 0 0.2175 1.035 0.285

82,261 0.04 0.0056 0.01 0 0.0116 0.0552 0.016

1,916,874 1 0.02 0.25 0 0.29 1.38 0.388

values for the Construction and Demolition phases, and the other one the values for Operation and Maintenance of the power plant. The weighted aggregated values (Table 4) represent the social performance of the system in each of the impact categories considered, and they are calculated as the average of the scores corresponding to each of the sub-categories in that impact category. The results evidence that the characterised values for most social impact subcategories were very close to zero or above zero, which suggests that the company under investigation rated similar or better than the Spanish average in terms of social performance. The only subcategories performing below the national average were Fair salary, Discrimination, Fair competition, and Corruption. Fair salary is performing worse due to wage inequality, which is evidenced by the large difference of salaries reported between the executive managers and average workers in the promoter company (771% higher compared to 134% higher in the construction sector, INE 2014). Regarding Discrimination, the promoter company has a ratio of 7.92 men to women in the workforce (Annual Corporative Report), which is higher than the average ratio of 6.34 in the corresponding sector (INE 2015a, b). In addition, the ratio of men to women for executive managers positions was rated as much worse, with a 22 men to women executive managers ratio (Annual Corporative Report) compared to the 2.75 Spanish average ratio considering every sector (INE 2015a, b). Since gender inequality was found to be a social risks according to the hotspot analysis, and it also performed badly in the site-speciﬁc assessment, it was further investigated by revising the company reports. However, the CSR Report of the business group to which the promoter company belongs did not provide any indicator on this issue, even though the cited report included a GRI certiﬁcation providing information in many other indicators. The Fair competition category was measured by accounting for Legal actions taking place during the reporting period related to anti-competitive behaviours. The internet research carried out by the S-LCA analysis indicated two legal actions rejected by the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC)

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar …

31

(National Commission for Markets and Competition) involving the promoter company and one legal action executed against the business group of the promoter company. Since two out of three legal actions were rejected by the CNMC, this indicator was rated as worse (and not as much worse). Corruption is evaluated using a semi-quantitative indicator: “Have there been any legal actions related to corruption during the reporting period?” The internet search showed several legal actions between 2010 and 2014, which have not been resolved yet. The company was accused of embezzlement of public funds and fraud. Although this situation may be regarded as similar to the national average (very high social risk of corruption for Spain according to the SHDB), this sub-category has been rated as worse, since corruption represents a breach of law. The best ranked sub-categories were Public commitments to sustainability issues, Contribution to economic development, and Product social utility. The Contribution to economic development was measured by the increase in the national income as a result of the demand of goods or services generated by the project, and was represented by the multiplier effect. This effect was calculated previously by an Input Output analysis (Corona et al. 2016a, b, c, d). Since the multiplier effect of the power plant was 2.60, this indicator was ranked as much better. The assessment of most of the subcategories affecting the local community did not present signiﬁcant results. This is so because the CSP plant is located far from population centres and its interaction with the local communities is limited (except for employment, which is evaluated under the impact category Labour rights and decent work). A visit to the power plant, which included informal conversations with members of the local community about these matters, and revision of local newspapers appear to conﬁrm this limited interaction. Based on these results, it may be concluded that the social performance of the company could be improved by increasing salary and gender equality. The promoter company should also improve their performance regarding fair competition and legality, e.g. by increasing transparency.

3.2.2

Weighting and Aggregation of Site-Speciﬁc Results

Characterized site-speciﬁc results were weighted and aggregated to produce a single social performance indicator of the system. Worker-hours was used as activity variable to evaluate the importance of each of the three life cycle phases considered. This was calculated using I/O methodology, as described elsewhere (Corona et al. 2016b). As shown in Table 5, the total amount of worker hours associated with the life cycle of the power plant amounts to 1,916,874 h, of which 75% correspond to the Operation and management life cycle phase, 21% to construction and 0.04% to demolition. Worker hours were not calculated for the life cycle phase Extraction of raw materials and Manufacturing (E&M) because this life cycle phase was not considered in the site-speciﬁc S-LCA. The weighting factors were assigned in

32

B. Corona and G. San Miguel

accordance with the labour intensity through the estimation of the worker hours corresponding to each life cycle phase. The total aggregated result of the system is 0.388 s-pp, which means that the solar power plant is beneﬁcial to the social wellbeing in Spain (note the range between 2 and −2 s-pp). The category presenting better social performance is Socio-economic sustainability (1.38 s-pp), followed by Fairness of relationships (0.29 s-pp) and Health and Safety (0.25 s-pp). The categories performing worst are Cultural and natural heritage and Labour Rights and Decent work. The cultural and natural heritage is presenting a neutral performance (around 0 points) due to the similar ranking attributed to the company’s performance in this category (very similar to the national average in every sub-category).

3.3

Interpretation of Results and Decision Making

As explained above, this S-LCA has been carried out as part of a broader investigation aimed at evaluating the sustainability of a range of solar power generation technologies. Figure 12 illustrates the sustainability diagrams (crowns) produced for each of the solar power alternatives considered in the LCSA. As observed in the diagrams, the solar power plant codenamed HYSOL BIO exhibited the best results in terms of environmental and social performance, with all the indicators marked in green and representing better than average performance (except for company social performance, which produced the same value in all the alternatives). The solar fraction of this plant (55%) is signiﬁcantly lower than in the conventional CSP plant (85%) and uses biomethane as auxiliary fuel. However, this technology produced the worst results in terms of economic performance, particularly in the indicator Cost balance. The substitution of biomethane with natural gas in HYSOL NG penalized the environmental and social performance of the technology, as demonstrated by the predominance of red colours in the environmental and social sectors of the sustainability crowns. HYSOL NG is similar to HYSOL BIO but using natural gas as auxiliary fuel. The only exception is water stress, due to the higher water demands generated by the biomethane life cycle. In contrast, the HYSOL NG technology exhibited improved economic performance primarily due to superior cost balances and life cycle costs. The conventional CSP PTC investigated in this paper performed slightly better than average in all the environmental indicators (except for water stress due to use of wet cooling instead of dry cooling in the Rankine cycle) and very similar to average in the social dimension. Conventional CSP PTC performed worse than HYSOL BIO but better than HYSOL GN in the environmental and social indicators, while the opposite was observed in the economic dimension. The results described in this section show that none of the solar power alternatives performed best in all the sustainability dimensions and indicators evaluated. Hence, selection of the most sustainable alternative is not straightforward, requiring

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar …

33

Fig. 12 Sustainability diagrams employed to facilitate decision making describing the environmental, economic and social performance of producing electricity with three different types of solar power plants

the application of a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analysis, such as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The MCDM analysis may be facilitated by the use of the sustainability crowns described above, which could be used by stakeholders to interpret the results obtained in the LCSA.

4 Conclusions This case study describes the practical application of Social—Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodology for the analysis of a commercial solar power plant located in southern Spain. The analysis has been carried out following the standard procedures described in ISO 14040, which have been applied in such a

34

B. Corona and G. San Miguel

way so as to maintain coherence with the decisions taken in an earlier Environmental-LCA (published elsewhere) in the context of a wider Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis (LCSA). The solar plant under investigation had a capacity of 50 MWe, it incorporated a 7.5 h thermal energy storage system, it was based on parabolic trough (PT) technology and it was designed to operate in hybrid mode with a 15% of its power attributable to the combustion of natural gas in an auxiliary boiler. The S-LCA has been structured in two steps: the ﬁrst one was a generic analysis carried out using the Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) and based on an economic inventory, which described the ﬁnancial disbursements and country speciﬁc sectors associated with the unit processes in the value chain of the solar power plant. The second was a site-speciﬁc social assessment of the company that was responsible for the development, construction and operation of the solar power plant. The site-speciﬁc inventory data describes the social performance of the company under investigation on 27 social impact subcategories corresponding to three phases in the life cycle of the solar power plant: construction, operation and dismantling. The life cycle impact assessment phase was developed ad hoc for this investigation and it was based on a meaning assessment protocol that described the transformation of inventory data into a set of social impact scores covering the social categories and sub-categories selected for this investigation. These scores could be positive or negative depending on how the social performance of the company under consideration compared against the national average in each of the indicators considered. These scores obtained for each of the ﬁve social impact categories considered were then equally weighed and aggregated into a single social performance score using the number of worker hours as activity variable. It should be noted that equal weights were assigned to every subcategory and impact category for simplicity reasons. However, the analysts acknowledge that this is an arbitrary decision that affects the outcome of the study. The weighting step could clearly beneﬁt from a stakeholder consultation to estimate the weights of each social category in relation to the context and goal of the study. The generic S-LCA assessment showed that O&M phase is the life cycle phase contributing the most to the overall social risk of the solar power plant. This is mainly due to the consumption of natural gas, since more than 75% of the weighted risk O&M phase is associated with this unit process. The modelling of the natural gas consumed in the solar power plant is a key element in the generic S-LCA. However, the Input/Output activity model employed by the SHDB is based on economic information from the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) dating back to 2002. The precision of the social risk assessment may be conditioned by this situation, as existing economic interactions between the Spanish gas sector and other national/international economic sectors may have changed signiﬁcantly during this period of time. The availability of an updated SHDB (due in 2018) is much awaited in order to improve this generic analysis. The main social risks generated by the CSP plant in Spain are related to gender inequality, corruption, injuries and immigrants. Potential risks related to gender

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar …

35

inequality and corruption was conﬁrmed in the site-speciﬁc assessment. Risks associated with injuries and immigration could not be detected. The generic social risks assessment produced some results that could be misleading. These had to be identiﬁed and analysed case by case in order to determine its signiﬁcance. For instance, high weighted risks attributed to the solar plant due to economic interactions between the metal sector in Spain and the metal/mineral sectors in Mozambique and Angola where not well-founded. A more precise analysis of material inputs employed in the construction of the power plant under consideration revealed that the contribution of these countries to the steel consumed in the solar plant is negligible. Regarding the site-speciﬁc assessment, the results suggest that generation of electricity in Spain by the CSP plant produces a relatively small beneﬁcial effect on the social welfare of the country. This improvement is particularly marked in the impact category Socio-economic Sustainability. The impact categories Cultural and Natural heritage and Labour rights and decent work remain essentially unaltered by the power plant. Regarding the subcategories evaluated, the results show a negative consequences on Fair salary, Discrimination, Fair competence and Corruption. This negative situation may be reduced by decreasing the wage gap between workers and increasing gender equality in the promoter company. Besides, the company should also try to comply with legislation regarding fair competition, accounting and management of public funds. Based on the results obtained in the generic analysis, a site-speciﬁc social assessment of the natural gas would need to be carried out before the S-LCA may be deemed as complete. This would require an investigation of the social performance of the companies involved in the extraction, transformation and transportation of this auxiliary fuel, focusing on those countries with a signiﬁcant contribution to the national mix. Since this site-speciﬁc investigation uses Spanish social standards as a reference, the results are only applicable to Spain and should not be extrapolated elsewhere. This case study also describes the construction of clear, simple and unambiguous coloured diagrams aimed at representing the sustainability of alternative power generation technology in the context of Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analysis. The diagrams incorporate numerical and coloured information about key indicators describing the social, economic and environmental performance of the systems considered. Acknowledgements This research was partially supported by the European Commission under the project Innovative Conﬁguration for a Fully Renewable Hybrid CSP Plant FP7-ENERGY-2012-1 CP 308912.

36

B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Annex 1—Economic Inventory Data See Tables 6, 7, 8 and 9. Table 6 Economic inventory of raw materials and components phase of the hybrid (15% NG) CSP power plant (Adapted for Social Hotspots Analysis with SHDB)

Solar ﬁeld

Component

SHDB dataset

Amount ($ 2002)

Amount ($ 2002)/ GWh

Mirrors

Mineral products nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/DE Metal products/ES

9,911,200

2421

10,980,700

2683

18,253,700

4459

Electronic equipment/ES Electronic equipment/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Transport nec/ES Chemical, rubber, plastic products/ BE Metal products/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Transport nec/ES Minerals nec/CL Machinery and equipment nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Mineral products nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Electronic equipment/ES Transport nec/ES

691,600

169

3,871,800

946

1,105,200

270

1,386,000 7,122,500

339 1740

4,451,400 1,297,500

1087 317

3,112,400

760

494,300 14,582,600 1,042,300

121 3562 255

359,200

87.8

323,800

79.1

451,900

110

572,500

140

2,723,000

665

620,300

152 (continued)

Absorber tubes Pillars and solar collector structure Solar tracking system Electric and electronic system Rotary gaskets

HTF system

Transport of components Heat transfer fluid

Piping Circulation pumps

Thermal energy storage

Expansion tanks, natural gas and overflow Transport of components (3%) Molten salts Storage tanks Valves and piping Pumps Insulating materials Heat exchangers: salts - HTF Balance of System (electrical equipment and others) Transport of components

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar …

37

Table 6 (continued)

Power block

Component

SHDB dataset

Amount ($ 2002)

Amount ($ 2002)/ GWh

Electricity system

Electronic equipment/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES

6,916,400

1690

3,458,200

845

3,458,200

845

Machinery and equipment nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/DE Machinery and equipment nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Transport nec/ES Machinery and equipment nec/ES Construction/ES Construction/ES Transport nec/ES

691,600

169

12,103,800

2957

691,600

169

1,383,300

338

887,700 691,600

217 169

691,600 1,732,700 96,400

169 423 23.6

Steam generation train Refregeration pumps, water feeding, condensates and equipments Valves Turbine, generator and condenser Desgasiﬁer Refrigeration towers

Facilities

Transport of components Water collection pumps Ofﬁce buildings and other Wastewater treatment plant Transport of components

Table 7 Economic inventory of the construction phase of the hybrid (15% NG) CSP power plant (Adapted for Social Hotspots Analysis with SHDB) Component

SHDB dataset

Amount ($ 2002)

Amount ($ 2002)/GWh

Foundations

Mineral products nec/ES Metal products/ES Construction/ES

5,394,800

1318

1,729,100 34,225,700

422 8361

Business services Business services Business services Business services Transport nec/ES

445,600 7,130,300 6,174,900 14,260,700 220,300

109 1742 1508 3484 53.8

Construction structures and roads Construction plant (personnel) Construction plant (machinery) Land renting Contingencies Project engineering Project management (EPC) Transport of construction materials

nec/ES nec/ES nec/ES nec/ES

38

B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Table 8 Economic inventory of the operation and maintenance phase of the hybrid (15% NG) CSP power plant (Adapted for Social Hotspots Analysis with SHDB) Component

SHDB dataset

Amount ($ 2002)/Year

Amount ($ 2002)/GWh

Water Natural gas (total) Natural gas distribution

Water/ES See below Gas manufacture, distribution/ES Gas/DZ Gas/NG Gas/NO Gas/QA Gas/PE Gas/EG Gas/ES Business services nec/ES Business services nec/ES Business services nec/ES Insurance/ES Financial services nec/ES Business services nec/ES

493,420 3,595,400 496,829

3013 21,958 3035

1,149,570 421,406 290,956 299,012 173,520 45,549 718,559 222,500

7023 2574 1777 1827 1060 278 4390 1359

356,500

2177

285,200

1742

1,069,600 3,619,900

6532 22,108

1,212,200

7403

Natural gas

Algeria (37.1%) Nigeria (13.6%) Norway (9.39%) Qatar (9.65%) Peru (5.60%) Egypt (1.47%) Other (23.19%)

Land renting Administration and management Contracts for operation of electricity grid Insurance Bank interests Consumables and spare parts

Table 9 Economic inventory of end-of-life phase of the hybrid (15% NG) CSP power plant (Adapted for Social Hotspots Analysis with SHDB) Component

SHDB dataset

Amount ($ 2002)

Amount ($ 2002)/GWh

Dismantling of solar ﬁeld and power block Transplant and reforestation Land ﬁlling and waste material processing fees

Construction/ES

3.155.200

771

Forestry/ES Public administration, defense, education, Health/ES

6.132 308.803

1.49 75.4

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar …

39

Annex 2—Site-Speciﬁc Company Inventory Indicators See Table 10.

Table 10 Site-speciﬁc company inventory indicators Workers

Subcategories

Indicators

Freedom of association and collective bargaining

Presence of unions within the organization is adequately supported and workers are free to join unions of their choosing % of afﬁliates of total employees Presence of child labour Wage inequality (average salary compared to executive’ salary Average annual wage Lowest paid worker Hours of work Presence of forced labour Employment rates of people with special needs with respect to the total employed people Men to women occupation ratio in the company Men to women executive managers ratio in the company Education, training, counselling, prevention and risk control programs in place to assist workforce members Presence of a formal policy concerning health and safety Accident ratio per employee 2008 versus 2013 Social security provided to the employees.

Child labour Fair salary

Hours of work Forced labour Equal opportunities/ discrimination

Health and safety

Local community

Social beneﬁt/social security Local employment Access to material resources Access to immaterial resources Delocalization and migration Cultural heritage Safe and healthy living conditions Respect of indigenous rights Community engagement Secure living conditions

Promotion of local employment within the project The power plant does not affect these issues, since it is located far from population centers (6 km from the closest village) and it does not interact with local people (except for workers, which are assessed in the workers stakeholder category)

(continued)

40

B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Table 10 (continued) Society

Subcategories

Indicators

Public commitments to sustainability issues Corruption Technology development

Existence of public sustainability reporting.

Prevention and mitigation of armed conflicts Contribution to economic development Product utility Value chain actors

Fair competition Supplier relationships Promoting social sesponsibility Respect of intellectual property rights

Legal actions during the reporting period. CSP Technology development, participation in national and international projects. Investment in R+D There is no armed conflicts to prevent or mitigate.

Multiplier effect Relevance of the product to the satisfaction of basic needs Legal actions during the reporting period Social criteria implementation in the homologation of suppliers Documents stating the promotion of this issue within the company No relevant data

Annex 3—Characterization of Inventory Data for the Site Speciﬁc S-LCA See Tables 11 and 12

Forced labour

Hours of work

Fair salary

Child labour

Workers Freedom of association and collective bargaining

Impact sub-categories

Spain Value Year and source

Company Value Year and source

Presence of unions within the organization is adequately supported and workers are free to join unions of their choosing Nº of afﬁliates (% Construction sector: 10.5% 2009, 27.70% 2014, RSC report with respect to total (Beneyto employees) 2010) There is no precise information about this indicator. However, according to the SHDB, the risk is low in Spain and there is no evidence that it may occur in the construction and electricity sectors Wage inequality Managers’ salary is 133.9% 2012, Managers’ salary is 771% 2013, Annual (average salary higher than the average (INE higher than the average corporative report compared to 2014) salary managers’ salary) Average annual wage 23,454 € (Construction 2012, 23,283 € 2013, Annual in the sector sector) (INE corporative report 2014) Lowest paid worker 9080 € 2015, 10,254 € 2010, Collective (BOE. Agreement 2014) Hours of work per 2064.4 (construction sector, 2010, 1800 h 2010, Colective year 39.7 per week) (ILO. Agreement 2010) Measures against In Spain, large numbers of 2009, Companies presenting 83% 2014, RSC report forced labour migrant information centres (ILO. of the employees have are now run by the 2009) developed protocols or Workers’ commissions and policies to minimise this the General Labour Union, risk similarly advising migrants

Indicators

Table 11 Inventory data and characterisation of the Construction and Dismantling phases

(continued)

Similar

Better

Better

Similar

Much worse

Similar

Similar Much better

Characterization

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar … 41

Employment rates of people with special needs with respect to the total employed people Men to women occupation ratio in the company Men to women executive managers ratio Education, training, counselling, prevention and risk control programs in place to assist

Equal opportunities/ discrimination

Health and safety

Indicators

Impact sub-categories

Table 11 (continued)

2013, (INE 2015a)

Year and source

2013, (INE 2015b) 2.75 ratio (men to women 2013, executive managers in (INE every sector) 2015b) According to the SHDB, there is high risk of loss of life years and death by exposure to carcinogens and airborne particulates and very high risk of non-fatal injuries by country and also in the Construction and Electricity sectors

6.34 ratio in construction and energy supply sectors

on employment regulations and work permit procedures, and also providing language and other practical training for migrants 1.69% of employees with special needs in sectors industry and construction

Spain Value

2013, Annual corporative report

22 ratio (men to women executive managers in the company) The company has introduced education, training, counselling, prevention and risk control programs in place to assist workforce members on the

2014, Annual corporative report

2013, Annual corporative report

2013, Annual corporative report

Year and source

7.92 ratio

2.3% of employees with special needs

Company Value

(continued)

Better

Much worse

Worse

Better

Characterization

42 B. Corona and G. San Miguel

6.011 accidents per 1,000,000 h worked

Accident ratio per employee

Access to material resources

(continued)

Similar

Better

Much better

Similar

Characterization

It is foreseen the creation of local employment in the Environmental impact report of the project, and also in local newspapers (ABC. 2011) Water is the only material resource that can signiﬁcantly be affected due to the necessities of the power plant. However, this issue was contemplated in the Environmental Impact Statement of the project and no risk was estimated

2013, CSR report

2014, RSC report

Year and source

Similar

96.6% of the ACS integrant companies They have Health and Safety Committees in charge of this issue. It is formed by the delegates and company representatives. They have regular meetings (one per trimestrer) 4.22 accidents per 1,000,000 worked hours

Company Value

Social security provided to workers due to national law

2013, (ILO. 2013) Social security provided to workers due to national law

(and very high risk of fatal injuries in the Construction sector) Risk of health problems, according to SHDB. Spanish regulations requires to have Health and Safety Committees within this type of companies

workforce members (GRI LA8) Presence of a formal policy concerning health and safety

Year and source

Spain Value

Indicators

Social beneﬁt/ social security Local community Local employment

Impact sub-categories

Table 11 (continued)

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar … 43

Indicators

Public commitments to sustainability issues

access to immaterial resources Delocalization and migration Cultural heritage Safe and healthy living conditions Respect of indigenous rights Community engagement Secure living conditions Society Product utility

Impact sub-categories

Table 11 (continued) Characterization

(continued)

Much better

Much better

Year and source

The highest social utilities are usually allocated to products fulﬁlling basic needs, such as: nutrition, basic education, health, sanitation, water supply and housing, and related infrastructure (Streeten and Burki 1978). The indicator chosen for this subcategory describes whether the product (electricity) is necessary to meet basic needs (semi-quantitative indicator). Although electricity itself is not a basic need, it is currently a necessary tool to provide resources and basic standards aimed to satisfy basic human needs (Goldemberg et al. 1985) (African National Context 1994). According to these arguments, the social utility of the product has been ranked as much better since electricity plays an essential role in current human development The construction and operation of electricity power plants coming from solar energy is well accepted within the society, especially when comparing to other technologies. Besides, the company has achieved a GRI certiﬁcation and has a CSR report, whereas it is not compulsory in Spain to inform about the sustainability of the company

Company Value Similar Similar Similar Similar Similar Similar Similar

Year and source

The power plant does not affect these issues, since it is located far from the population and it does not interact with any local people

Spain Value

44 B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Technology development within the technology of the power plant Percentage of R + D expenses per revenues

Indicators

Prevention and mitigation of armed conflicts Contribution Multiplier effect to economic development

Technology development

Corruption

Impact sub-categories

Table 11 (continued) Year and source

Company Value Year and source

C phase: 2,14; D&D: 2.29

Multiplier effect derived from Input Output analysis of the power plant

(continued)

Much better

1

Much better

Worse

Similar

2014, RSC report

Much better

Worse

Characterization

Average value in industry worse 0.157% (expenditure in I + D less labour compensation per revenues): 0.282% There are no armed conflicts to prevent or mitigate

The web search has revealed some ofﬁcial complaints against the company and its ﬁlials, between year 2010 and 2014. The company has been accused of the following crimes of corruption (el Triangle 2014; Montaño 2014): accounting fraud and embezzlement of public funds. However, the complaints have not been resolved yet. This situation is similar than the national average, where new cases of corruption are in the news every day. However, it is accounted as a negative impact since it is against the Spanish law The company is involved in a R + D project within the UE 7th Framework Programme regarding Concentrated Solar Power technology development

Spain Value

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar … 45

Indicators

Social responsibility is not compulsory

No data

Respect of intellectual property rights

Social criteria implementation in the homologation of suppliers

Year and source

Spain has put in place 2013, strong rules that ensure (OECD. state ﬁrms are not insulated 2015) from market forces and that minimise political interference in their management. Together with Slovenia, it has the highest scores for governance of state-owned enterprises Social criteria is not compulsory

Spain Value

Promoting social responsibility

Supplier relationships

Value Chain Actors Fair Legal actions during competition the reporting period (as company being membership in alliances behaving in an anti-competitive way)

Impact sub-categories

Table 11 (continued) Year and source

Two legal actions 2013 and 2009 completed and rejected by Newspapers and the National Committee of National Committee the Markets and of Markets and Competition involving Competition COBRA activities. One (teinteresa. 2015, legal action executed CNMC. 2009) against the company where the promoter company is membership Social criteria is used in the 2014, CSR report homologation of suppliers corresponding with 80% of the total sales of the company The company has achieved a GRI certiﬁcation and has a CSR report where the social responsibility is promoted throughout all the companies’ consortium

Company Value

Similar

Better

Better

Worse

Characterization

46 B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Forced labour

Hours of work

Fair salary

Child labour

Workers Freedom of association and collective bargaining

Impact sub-categories

Spain Value Year and source

Company Value Year and source

Presence of unions within the organization is adequately supported and workers are free to join unions of their choosing Nº of afﬁliates (% Industrial sector: 21.2% 2009, 27.7% 2014, RSC report with respect to total (Beneyto. employees) 2010) There is no precise information about this indicator. However, according to the SHDB, the risk is low in the country and there is no evidence in the Construction and Electricity sectors Wage inequality Managers’ salary is 133.9% 2012, Managers’ salary is 771% 2013, Annual (average salary higher than the average (INE higher than the average corporative report compared to 2014) salary managers’ salary) Average annual wage 52,325 € (energy supply 2012, 23,283 € 2013, Annual in the sector sector) (INE corporative report 2014) Lowest paid worker 9080 € 2015, 10,254 € 2010, Colective (BOE Agreement 2014) Hours of work per 2074.8 (39.9 h per week, 2010, 1800 h 2010, Colective year electricity, gas and water (ILO Agreement supply sector) 2010) Measures against In Spain, large numbers of 2009, Companies presenting 83% 2014, RSC report forced labour migrant information centres (ILO of the employees have are now run by the 2009) developed protocols or Workers’ Commissions and policies to minimise this the General Labour Union, risk

Indicators

Table 12 Inventory data and characterisation of the O&M phase

(continued)

Similar

Better

Better

Much worse

Much worse

Similar

Similar Better

Characterization

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar … 47

Employment rates of people with special needs with respect to the total employed people Men to women occupation ratio in the company Men to women executive managers ratio Education, training, counselling, prevention and risk control programs in place to assist

Equal opportunities/ discrimination

Health and safety

Indicators

Impact sub-categories

Table 12 (continued)

2013, (INE 2015a)

Year and source

2013, (INE 2015b) 2.75 ratio (men to women 2013, executive managers in (INE every sector) 2015b) According to the SHDB, there is high risk of loss of life years and death by exposure to carcinogens and airborne particulates and very high risk of non-fatal injuries by country and also in

6.34 ratio in construction and energy supply sectors.

similarly advising migrants on employment regulations and work permit procedures, and also providing language and other practical training for migrants 1.69% of employees with special needs in sectors industry and construction

Spain Value

2013, Annual corporative report

22.0 ratio (men to women executive managers in the company) The company has introduced education, training, counselling, prevention and risk control programs in place to assist

2014, Annual corporative report

2013, Annual corporative report

2013, Annual corporative report

Year and source

7.92 ratio

2.3% of employees with special needs

Company Value

(continued)

Better

Much worse

Worse

Better

Characterization

48 B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Accident ratio per employee

Presence of a formal policy concerning health and safety

Access to material resources

(continued)

Similar

Better

Much better

Similar

Characterization

It is foreseen the creation of local employment in the Environmental impact report of the project, and also in local newspapers. (ABC 2011) Water is he only material resource that can signiﬁcantly be affected due to the necessities of the power plant. However, this issue was contemplated in the Environmental Impact report of the project and no risk was estimated

2013, CSR report

2014, RSC report

Year and source

Similar

workforce members on the 96.6% of the ACS integrant companies They have Health and Safety Comitees in charge of this issue. It is formed by the delegates and company representatives. They have regular meetings (one per trimester) 4.22 accidents per 1,000,000 worked hours

Company Value

Social security provided to workers due to national law

2013, (ILO 2013) Social security provided to workers due to national law

6.01 accidents per 1,000,000 h worked

the Construction and Electricity sectors (and very high risk of fatal injuries in the Construction sector) Risk of health problems, according to SHDB. Spanish regulations requires to have Health and Safety Comitees within this type of companies

workforce members (GRI LA8)

Year and source

Spain Value

Indicators

Social beneﬁt/ social security Local community Local employment

Impact sub-categories

Table 12 (continued)

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar … 49

Indicators

Public commitments to sustainability issues

access to immaterial resources Delocalization and migration Cultural heritage Safe and healthy living conditions Respect of indigenous rights Community engagement Secure living conditions Society Product utility

Impact sub-categories

Table 12 (continued) Characterization

(continued)

Much better

Much better

Year and source

The highest social utilities are usually allocated to products fulﬁlling basic needs, such as: nutrition, basic education, health, sanitation, water supply and housing, and related infrastructure (Streeten and Burki 1978). The indicator chosen for this subcategory describes whether the product (electricity) is necessary to meet basic needs (semi-quantitative indicator). Although electricity itself is not a basic need, it is currently a necessary tool to provide resources and basic standards aimed to satisfy basic human needs (Goldemberg et al. 1985) (African National Context 1994). According to these arguments, the social utility of the product has been ranked as much better since electricity plays an essential role in current human development The construction and operation of electricity power plants coming from solar energy is well accepted within the society, especially when comparing to other technologies. Besides, the company has achieved a GRI certiﬁcation and has a CSR report, whereas it is not compulsory in Spain to inform about the sustainability of the company

Company Value Similar Similar Similar Similar Similar Similar Similar

Year and source

The power plant does not affect these issues, since it is located far from the population and it does not interact with any local people

Spain Value

50 B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Technology development within the technology of the power plant Percentage of R + D expenses per revenues

Indicators

Prevention and mitigation of armed conflicts Contribution Multiplier effect to economic development

Technology development

Corruption

Impact sub-categories

Table 12 (continued) Year and source

Company Value Year and source

(higher than 1: better; higher than 2: much better)

C phase: 2.14; D&D: 2.29

2014, RSC report

Multiplier effect derived from Input Output analysis of the power plant

Average value in industry Worse 0.157% (expenditure in I + D less labour compensation per revenues): 0,282% There are no armed conflicts to prevent or mitigate

The web search has revealed some ofﬁcial complaints against the company and its ﬁlials, between year 2010 and 2014. The company has been accused of the following crimes of corruption (el Triangle 2014; Montaño 2014): accounting fraud and embezzlement of public funds. However, the complaints have not been resolved yet. This situation is similar than the national average, where new cases of corruption are in the news every day. However, it is accounted as a negative impact since it is against the spanish law The company is involved in a R + D project within the UE 7th Framework Programme regarding Concentrated Solar Power technology development

Spain Value

(continued)

Much better

Similar

Worse

Much better

Worse

Characterization

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar … 51

Indicators

No data

Respect of intellectual property rights

Social criteria is not compulsory

2013, (OECD 2015)

Year and source

Social responsibility is not compulsory

Social criteria implementation in the homologation of suppliers

Spain has put in place strong rules ensuring that state ﬁrms are not insulated from market forces and minimising political interference in their management Together with Slovenia, it has the highest scores for governance of state-owned enterprises

Spain Value

Promoting social responsibility

Supplier relationships

Value chain actors Fair Legal actions during competition the reporting period (as company being membership in alliances behaving in an anti-competitive way)

Impact sub-categories

Table 12 (continued) Year and source

Two legal actions 2013 and 2009 completed and rejected by Newspapers and the National Committee of National Committee the Markets and of Markets and Competition involving the Competition promoter company (teinteresa. 2015, activities. One legal action CNMC 2009) executed against the company where the promoter company is membership Social criteria is used in the 2014, CSR report homologation of suppliers corresponding with 80% of the total sales of the company The company has achieved a GRI certiﬁcation and has a CSR report where the social responsibility is promoted throughout all the companies’ consortium

Company Value

Similar

Better

Better

Worse

Characterization

52 B. Corona and G. San Miguel

Social Performance of Electricity Generation in a Solar …

53

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Socio-Economic Effects in the Knitwear Sector—A Life Cycle-Based Approach Towards the Deﬁnition of Social Indicators Maria Ferrante, Ioannis Arzoumanidis and Luigia Petti

Abstract In the recent years the theme of sustainability has become so important that it has involved all economic sectors, including that of clothing, in which the phase concerning the dyeing of the garments deserves particular attention due to the substances used that are often harmful both in environmental and in social terms. This study analyses, by using the Social Life Cycle Assessment methodology, the life cycle of a made-in-Italy cashmere sweater, which is subject to natural dyeing. The aim of the study is to highlight the positive impacts (handprints) that arise along all the production phases (product design, yarn making, weaving, dyeing and ﬁnishing, sewing, labelling and packaging). For all the four stakeholder categories under analysis (Workers, Consumers, Value chain Actors, Society), several questionnaires were submitted that investigated the issues related to the category (e.g., for Workers: working hours, fair salary, etc.). Furthermore, the Subcategory Assessment Method was used to provide a quantitative character to the obtained results by illustrating the social behaviour of all the organisations that are involved in the life cycle. The emerged positive impacts include: a greater protection of consumers health and safety thanks to the reduction of chemical substances and to a particular labelling system that guarantees that sweaters are naturally dyed; greater responsibility of the local community towards sustainability issues; the setting up of new green production technologies.

Keywords Textile sector Clothing Cashmere sweater Natural dyeing Dyeing plants Subcategory assessment method Positive impacts Handprint

M. Ferrante I. Arzoumanidis L. Petti (&) Department of Economic Studies, University “G. d’Annunzio”, Viale Pindaro 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Social Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3233-3_2

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1 Introduction The textile/clothing industry is one of the largest industries and one of the most polluting, as well. The major environmental problem caused by this sector is connected to energy and chemicals consumption in ﬁnishing and dyeing processes, from solid waste deriving from textile and clothing manufacturing and, generally, from the disposal of products at the end of their life (Resta et al. 2016). Moreover, the industrial revolution, the invention of synthetic ﬁbres and ultimately fast-fashion trends have ampliﬁed the impact of the textile industry, bringing several negative effects on the environment (Piontek and Muller 2018). When a consumer buys a pair of jeans or a sweater, they rarely reflect on how these were created and on their environmental and social impact. Consumers desire low prices and companies compete for market shares, pushing textile and clothing production towards developing countries. In these countries, somewhat loose social regulatory systems, poor corporate human resource management and low labour standards prevail (Zamani et al. 2018). Some social issues, which are predominant in this sector, are related to worker wages, gender discrimination, working hours, job security, safety standards, child labour and responsible health and safety risks for local residents (Zamani et al. 2018). Moreover, Italy has managed to maintain its superiority in the global market, particularly when it comes to fashion and luxury goods (Lenzo et al. 2017). This industry is signiﬁcant for the “made in Italy” label, thus being a productive sector of great importance for the economy of the country. The competitiveness of the sector depends on the investments in innovation, research and product development and on the tradition of speciﬁc phases of the production, expertise, and synergistic teamwork amongst the various stages of the supply chain (Lenzo et al. 2017). Nowadays, ever more textile ﬁrms are assuming sustainability strategies for achieving long-term competitive advantages (Resta et al. 2016). Sustainability has reached a growing importance on the managers’ agenda, given that it can contribute positively to the value creation process of the ﬁrm. The beneﬁts can be many: from cost reduction (via risk management and business innovation) to revenue and brand value evolution (Resta et al. 2016). Given that the textile dyeing process can be regarded as one of the industrial processes that is highly environmentally unfriendly, it is of urgent importance to comprehend the critical points of the process in order to identify alternative eco-friendly methods (Drumond Chequer et al. 2013). Nowadays, fortunately, there is an increasing awareness amongst people towards the use of eco-friendly natural dyes for their biodegradability and greater friendliness with regard to the environment, as they can be non-toxic, non-allergic to skin, non-carcinogenic, abundant and renewable (Samanta and Konar 2011). In this chapter, the case study of an Italian knitwear company will be analysed, which aimed at promoting sustainable development throughout the product life cycle. The study object is a naturally dyed cashmere sweater.

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The Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodology has been poorly introduced in the textile sector so far (e.g., Lenzo et al. 2017; Zamani et al. 2018). Furthermore, the latest literature reviews reveal a strong deﬁcit regarding social issues in the research in sustainable supply chain management and therefore, there is room for more research in the ﬁeld (Köksal et al. 2016). Moreover, it is well known that dyeing and ﬁnishing of garments can have the most signiﬁcant impacts both in environmental and in social terms, in this case regarding the health of ﬁnal consumers. For this reason, the company under analysis, which is located in Pescara (in the Italian region of Abruzzo), has chosen to implement a fall/winter collection that would be composed of garments that are naturally dyed with dyeing plants extracts. The objective of this study is to identify the positive social impacts (handprints) created throughout the product life cycle, especially within the dyeing process, via the implementation of the S-LCA methodology. Furthermore, it aims at increasing awareness on sustainable development models amongst the companies that are involved in the production process and of the ﬁnal consumers and creating shared value that does not concern the sharing of the already created value by the companies, but it focuses on improving growth support techniques and on strengthening local clusters of suppliers and institutions in order to increase products sustainability (Porter and Kramer 2011). This chapter is structured as follows: ﬁrst, the sustainability is addressed as a human commitment (Sect. 2) and then it is discussed within the framework of the textile sector (Sect. 3). The concept of sustainability is then examined in terms of human needs in Sect. 4. What follows is the analysis of the clothing industry, along with its history and data (Sect. 5) and of the concept of quality in the sector (Sect. 6). In Sect. 7, a detailed analysis of the case study is presented and in Sect. 8, some conclusions are drawn.

2 Sustainability as a Human Commitment Sustainability has involved all economic sectors, including that of clothing, thus encouraging companies to be more responsible. However, the implementation of techniques and the promotion of initiatives for increasing social awareness in business activities is not yet widely shared by all companies, because it is believed that business and ethics are not compatible, and, especially, because an ethical conduct does not always lead to economic results (or at least, not in the short run). Initial investments can be often substantial, but the ﬁrst obstacle to be overcome seems to be an entrepreneurial mindset focused exclusively on achieving short-term economic results rather than on the creation of shared value. In order for the consumers’ needs that arise on the market to be satisﬁed, it is necessary to guarantee the quality of a product (Porter and Kramer 2007). If, at the beginning, the quality of the product acknowledged only the suitability for use, today the quality concept reflects the degree to which, a set of intrinsic

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characteristics satisﬁes the implicit, compelling and expressed needs (ISO 2015). Everyone should desire to improve the environment in which they live. Nevertheless, “every effort to” heal “and improve our world entails profound changes in lifestyles, models of production and consumption and the established structures of power, which today govern societies” (Pope Francis 2015, p. 5). There is a crucial need for an essential change in human behaviour due to the fact that “the most extraordinary scientiﬁc advances, the most amazing technical abilities, the most astonishing economic growth, will deﬁnitively turn against mankind, unless they are accompanied by authentic social and moral progress” (Pope Francis 2015, p. 5). “We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations” (Pope Francis 2015, p. 5), whilst limiting the use of non-renewable resources as much as possible, by moderating their consumption and maximising their efﬁcient use, reuse and recycle. In order for this issue to be addressed, a counteracting to a culture that is fond of disposing and that affects the entire planet is required; however, only limited progress has been made with regard to that (Pope Francis 2015, p. 18). For these reasons, a review of the needs of humanity towards a greater compatibility with sustainable consumption and production models is required (Porter and Kramer 2007). In short, it can be sustained that sustainable consumption and production represent not only an environmental and social beneﬁt but also a valuable instrument for the competitiveness of companies. The challenge today is to integrate sustainability (in all its three aspects: economic, environmental and social) with the increase in human well-being. This is a so-called “win-win” solution, which provides only winners and creates no damages to the involved parties in a particular situation. This strategy is also called “shared value creation” (Porter and Kramer 2011). Business and the society have always been considered as two antithetical forces. Economists have always stated that in order to provide beneﬁts to society, companies must limit their economic success. In fact, one should go beyond the trade-off concept between social beneﬁts and economic success and, instead, promote the idea of shared value, because it is the needs of society (not just conventional economic needs) that are responsible for deﬁning markets (ibid.). Therefore, the shared value concept does not regard personal values or the sharing of the value that is already created by companies, but it focuses on the improvement of support techniques towards growth and on strengthening the local cluster of suppliers, in order to increase both sustainability and quality (Porter and Kramer 2011). One of the main ways to create shared value is guaranteed by the planning of products that are more eco-friendly and respectful of the human well-being. Before analysing the case study in detail, in the following paragraphs some issues will be briefly discussed in order to provide a context to the topic under analysis: the sustainable development approach as a new way towards the growth of the textile industry; the human needs as the driving force of the economy; the quality concept and its evolution over time.

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3 The Sustainable Development Approach in the Textile Sector The theme of sustainability has become increasingly important in every economic sector. The fashion industry is thus not excluded. For many years, the protection of the planet and of human health has been discussed; it is therefore important to apply these principles also to the textile sector, which is one of the most polluting industries in the world. This sector is characterised by important levels of environmental and social impacts. Innovation plays an important role because it can help create a new reality. It involves knowledge, learning, capabilities and business models (Gardetti and Muthu 2015). The improvement of sustainability in the textile industry can be performed through the promotion of various initiatives. Important names of the fashion industry have started to promote eco-friendly products in order to increase the consumers’ awareness towards the sustainability theme. Armani has been the ﬁrst known sustainable brand to leave out all real fur (including rabbit fur), from its collection already during the fall/winter season of 2016 (Il Sole 24 Ore 2017). The brand followed this policy after having collaborated with an international coalition on the termination of the fur trade, the Fur Free Alliance (ibid.). The famous fashion designer reports that technological progress can help having valid alternatives to the use of cruel practices when it comes to animals (Il Sole 24 Ore 2017). Sustainability does not include only respectful choices in the animalistic ﬁeld, but the whole product life cycle: product planning and design, purchase of raw materials, choice of suppliers, product use and end of life. One of the most highly impacting phases in the textile industry is that of ﬁnishing and dyeing (Il Sole 24 Ore 2017). The textile industry is responsible for the consumption of an important amount of water in its manufacturing processes that is used mainly in the dyeing and ﬁnishing operations of the plants (Drumond Chequer et al. 2013). The wastewater deriving from such industries is considered to be one of the most contaminating of the industrial sectors, regarding both the generated volume and the effluent composition (ibid.). The dyeing phase has a great environmental and social impact due to the chemical substances used, which are often harmful to the human health. Some famous companies, including Levi’s and Patagonia, have managed to stand out when it comes to the creation of a sustainable product. Levi’s realised that in order for the use of water in overall production to be minimised, the designers were challenged to create the same styles the consumers like, but with less water (Levi Strauss 2018). Thus, a series of innovative ﬁnishing techniques were adopted, called “WaterLess”. They have also saved 30 million litres of fresh water. Furthermore, these techniques are shared with other vendors in order for them to obtain similar water savings (ibid.). Finally, Patagonia is trying to eliminate some materials like those that come from oil. The trend towards an eco-friendlier fashion is also demonstrated by the numerous public events that have taken place over the years:

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• The Eco Fashion Week (non-proﬁt organisation established in Vancouver in 2009): as a not-for-proﬁt organisation, EFW aims at bringing up the solutions and innovations that are required for the development of a fashion industry that is more responsible (Tam 2016). The consideration of the environment, the working conditions, the supply chain as well as responsible consumption practices renders the sustainable fashion spectrum to be varied and complex (Eco Fashion Week 2018). • The Green Fashion Week: fashion shows and events focused on sustainability. • The Ethical Fashion Week: dedicated only to casual- and sportswear, where only companies really involved in the development of ethical fashion can participate. These initiatives must necessarily involve the everyday fashion world. One of the most polluting trends today is related to fast fashion, which is responsible not only for harming the environment but also for human health. Fast fashion puts its emphasis on a quick and low-cost market; in this way, it can often bring new tendencies and styles. Nonetheless, this type of fashion withstands criticisms for its environmental impacts, water pollution, the use of toxic chemicals and growing textile waste (Perry 2018). Fast fashion can go on through innovations amongst fashion retailers in supply chain management (SCM). Its objective includes the production of an item quick enough to be efﬁcient whilst at the same time responding to rapidly changing consumer demands (Investopedia 2018). As far as the perspective of retailers is concerned, this type of fashion can be gainful due to new product portfolio being offered constantly, a fact that inspires customers to visit more and more the shops and stores. Collections are regularly based on designs that are brought at the spring and autumn Fashion Week events (ibid.). Even though customers can have beneﬁts out of it, it has also received criticism due to its boost of a “throw-away” attitude which shortens the life cycle of clothes. It goes without saying that such a kind of fashion backs pollution, poor working power and conditions in developing countries. This has also raised controversy in terms of intellectual property, as some designers claim that their designs were mass-produced not in a legal way (ibid.).

4 Sustainability: An Important Driver for the Deﬁnition of Human Needs As an ancient Greek philosopher used to say, “man is the measure of all things” (anthropos metron panton chrematon),1 but he/she is also a “homo economicus” because he/she must also go to the market to satisfy their needs (Market = place where consumers satisfy their needs throughout the law of supply and demand).

1

Protagoras, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, numbered as one of the sophists by Plato.

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The need is the manifestation of a human demand for life and when the question is asked of what is it that a human being asks from life, it is its own essence that is tackled (Maslow 1954). Every need is the origin of any action of daily living: eat, drink, study, go out with friends, etc. Aristotle believed that the human life is a race towards happiness. He thought that everyone desires “eudaimonia” (“happiness”). People do not just try to live well as a function to meet some other goal; indeed, achieving the state of eudaimon is the ultimate goal, and all secondary objectives, such as health, wealth etc. are pursued for their promotion of well-being and not for their being what well-being is composed of (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2018). Aristotle’s deduction on the nature of happiness can be regarded uniquely as his own. Indeed, similar statements on what it is to live well have never been made by other writers or thinkers. Aristotle does not imply that happiness is a virtue; he believes it is a virtuous activity (ibid.). What motivates humans to address their needs are the ideals that are the tension to live in a balanced, right and peaceful way (Scola 2013). In the mid-1950s, Maslow, an American psychologist, created a motivational theory in psychology covering a ﬁve-level model of human needs, which is depicted as a pyramid with hierarchical levels (McLeod 2018), called “hierarchy of needs” (please refer to Fig. 1). The typical drive, need or desire cannot normally be linked to a speciﬁc, isolated, localised somatic base (Maslow 1954). As Maslow (1954, pp. 20–21) states “[t]he typical desire is more obviously a need of the whole person. It would be far better to take as a model for research such a drive […] as the desire for money rather than the sheer hunger drive, or even better, rather than any partial goal, a more fundamental one, like the desire for love”. This theory provides a categorisation of human needs placing them within a hierarchy, from primitive needs to more matural ones. The hierarchy of needs can be summarised as follows (McLeod 2018): Physiological needs: these include biological necessities for the human survival; e.g., air, food, shelter, clothing, warmth, etc. In the case where these needs cannot be met, the human body cannot work properly. According to Maslow (1954), such needs can be of great importance. Therefore, it is these needs that have to be satisﬁed before anything else. Safety needs: As soon as the ﬁrst needs are relatively met, new needs arise, which may include aspects such as security, stability, dependency and protection. Love and belongingness needs: in the third level of needs, feelings of belongingness can be found. Furthermore, the need for interpersonal relationships inspires behaviour, in cases such as friendship, intimacy, trust and acceptance, affection and love, afﬁliating, participate in groups (in and outside one’s home). Esteem needs: these may be separated in two categories: (i) self-esteem, including aspects such as dignity, achievement, independence, etc.; (ii) craving for receiving respect from others, e.g., prestige, etc. According to Maslow (1954), the need for respect or reputation can be greater for children and teenagers and comes before self-esteem or dignity.

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Self-actualisation needs: in this level, personal potential, personal development and ultimate experiences can be included. This is a need “to become everything one is capable of becoming” (Maslow 1954, p. 64). Even if all these needs are satisﬁed, a new dissatisfaction and impatience will possibly grow soon, unless the individuals do what they are suitable for. As Maslow (1954, p. 46) clearly states: “[a] musician must create music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if they are to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. He must be true to his own nature. This need may be called self-actualisation”. Maslow argued that people are interested in meeting certain needs and that some needs are prioritised (McLeod 2018). Surviving is the most essential need for humans and thus this is the ﬁrst thing that their behaviour depends on. Only when this tier is satisﬁed, the next one is what motivates humans etc. (ibid.). Then, other (and “higher”) needs appear and these dominate the organism, rather than the physiological ones; when these are met, once again new (and “higher”) needs arise etc. This is why the basic human needs are considered to be organised in a “hierarchy of relative prepotency” (ibid.). The satisfaction of the highest needs is much closer to self-actualisation, whilst, the satisfaction of the lower needs is much more localised and tangible. In the modern way of dressing, the need of adorning themselves is more important for humans than the need of covering their body. This is the reason why modern clothing is not a primary need anymore, but a superior one. Maslow, in his

Fig. 1 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Elaborated by the authors

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Theory of needs (with regard to the most economically developed realities), relates clothing not to basic or physiological needs, but to the belonging and esteem needs. This difference entails that all needs are not the same. It is necessary to understand this distinction also for the purposes of a valid market analysis so that the products really meet the explicit or implicit needs of the customer. For this reason, it can be stated that sustainable development redeﬁnes human needs, as well, if perceived in its triple meaning (environmental, economic and social). In response to the economic and ﬁnancial crisis of the recent years, the concept of Green Economy has spread. The major purpose of such a concept is to motivate green investments in and amongst various economic and social sectors (UNECE 2018). The use of natural capital and ecosystems could thus be aided more efﬁciently or their substitution by other assets, particularly in cases where there is a risk of depletion or degradation (ibid.). Such investments should also be able to back the creation of social equity and of decent jobs. For instance, they may include cases such as, in innovation, research and development (where resource efﬁciency and clean technologies may grow); in the distribution of technologies that are resource-efﬁcient and clean; in training for enhanced use of new technologies; in green infrastructure amongst different sectors (ibid.).

5 Clothing and Fashion: Comparing Concepts The term “clothing” usually refers to the way people get dressed, but the fact that a kind of population has also its own political and economic history that has influenced their way of dressing was considered, as well. This shows that the concept of “clothing” had to be compared to the one of “fashion”: the latter is full of meanings and it deals with a social phenomenon with many implications, starting from ancient times and up to the present day. Indeed, in accordance with the influences of fashion, clothing is able to take on cultural, social or aesthetic meanings or tied to speciﬁc communities or even symbolic and thus dressing often deﬁnes the belonging to a community or even a social status (Monneyron 2008).

5.1

Clothing: History

The need for covering humans is attested for the ﬁrst time in the Holy Bible, in the famous passage in the Book of Genesis, where Adam and Eva feel the need for covering themselves, after having discovered that they are naked. In the beginning, the only function of clothing was to cover the body, but now fashion has become a sector of major importance in some societies. Clothing started as the need for covering humans, but later on the need of adorning them emerged. It can be assumed that this was a gradual discovery: ﬁrst of all, it was the only way to protect one’s body from bad weather and thus people started to put gradually on themselves

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some vegetables or leather. Egyptians followed fashion as an art, a religion and they had an idealistic approach about it. On the other hand, Assyrians and Babylonians were characterised by a strong pragmatism. The Greek classical civilisation used to put on soft clothes, whilst ancient Roman clothes were characterised by a strong sense of duty and by the strict discipline that regulated both civil and military life. Furthermore, the Middle Ages were characterised by austerity, but in the Renaissance and in the Baroque ages an extravagant way of dressing was preferred, with very ornated and monumental forms (Marangoni 1985a). After this period, ﬁnancial and economic decline brought clothing back to a very modest form. On the contrary, in the Romanticism period, clothing returned to forms that are more emphatic. Nonetheless, when the First World War began, fashion showed its darkest and most serious themes. Indeed, during the war, fashion became more virtuous and convenient and ladies, because of this tragical moment, did not use to care about their dresses. In the 1950s, the Italian fashion was stimulated by comparing itself with foreign countries, thus growing in flair, capability and originality, and growing even in the USA and in European countries. In the 1960s, there was a fundamental moment in the history of the Italian fashion because of the adolescents’ revolution and the fall of many values of the previous generations. Therefore, a new way of life appeared: search for freedom, outside the pre-established schemes and also through strong experiences of life and the rejection of any superstructure. Therefore, dressing showed this new concept: oversized sweaters, side skirts and eccentric and creative clothing (Marangoni 1985b).

5.2

Industrialisation

In England, there was a textile artisan activity that was used already by the peasant families to produce clothing for the members of the family. With the arrival of industrialisation, the phenomenon became wide and the textile sector quickly became more important and it expanded to other countries, including Italy. As aforementioned, the industrial innovations of the nineteenth century created a series of textile companies, which production was characterised by large volumes. This production had exclusively a functional objective: satisfy the primary need for covering the body. There were still no typical haute couture tailors. In the following years, the industrial clothing production began to develop creatively their models that, even if produced in series, allowed the birth of a new industrial fashion system, also called pret a portèr. This was the period between the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, fashion was oriented towards the style research because of the rapid change in trends. There was no longer a traditional fashion but many different styles. The result was that the seasonal trends were more and more clearly reinterpreted according to the style linked to a brand. What consumers buy today is not merely the material object, but the immaterial one, that is the frame of symbols and meanings that the garment carries with it. This is used by the individuals to

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construct their social image and status. At present and at an exclusively industrial level, it can be stated that a clothing company must offer intangible and symbolic contents in addition to the product itself. Therefore, the stylists from simple creative tailors are forced to become interpreters of trends in the fashion cycle.

5.3

Clothing Industry: The Sector Data

The Italian textile-fashion industry is a productive sector of enormous importance for the economy of the country. The system has increased its international competitiveness thanks to investments in innovation, research and development of the product, made-in-Italy tradition, know-how and synergistic collaboration between the different stages of the supply chain. The main destination markets include Europe, Russia, the United States and Japan. Italy represents a worldwide excellence in both production and export growth mostly for the emphasis placed on the values of the Made-in-Italy trademark. In 2017, Italy achieved revenues of over 54 billion euros, 2.4% more than the previous year. Forecasts for 2018 are also positive thanks to the increase in the competitiveness of Italian companies, including innovation, sustainability and internationalisation. In the past years, however, especially in the years from 2007 to 2011, there were negative scores—or close to 0%—in the textile and clothing sector (Il Sole 24 ore 2017). On the other hand, in terms of performance and therefore proﬁts, it is to be noted that the worst year was 2009, which was followed by an improvement in the years 2010 and 2011 (especially for the Italian spinning industry) (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica 2013). Italy today conﬁrms its worldwide leadership in the production of fashion and luxury also in exports, which grew by 1.2% since 2016. Germany and the United States are the ones that follow. Italian fashion companies grow more than those in the manufacturing sector, are more proﬁtable and open to foreign trade. Companies are also solid ﬁnancially. The companies analysed in 2016 by Mediobanca recorded a total turnover of 66.1 billion euros. This is 4% of the Italian GDP. In the ﬁve-year period 2012–2016, companies registered growth. Recruitment and foreign trade increased, as well. Moreover, the new trend of e-commerce showed a constantly growing turnover as more and more consumers preferred to buy items online and not directly from physical stores. From a study conducted by the Sistema Moda Italia, a company that represents other companies in the fashion industry, it is clear that 13% of them believe that by 2025 e-commerce could reach a market share of between 16 and 20%. Consumers who buy online apparel products are about 60% of the total users of the network, a very important number that should make entrepreneurs reflect on this new concept of shopping.

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6 Quality and Sustainability: Comparing Concepts “Quality is a timeless concept” (Juran 1997, p. 563). Indeed, it has very distant origins and has always coexisted with people. One could almost say that it is born from the continuous desire to improve the environment that surrounds it in order to facilitate the lives of people with tools that have always been more suited to their needs since prehistoric times. Today, the concept of quality has changed a lot. It is a dynamic concept both from a temporal and a spatial point of view. But what has not changed is that people continue to pursue their ideal of excellence. Therefore, quality is never actually achieved, but it is expressed in a continuous struggle towards something better or positive (Peri 2001). There are two types of quality concepts. The ﬁrst regards quality as a value based on the product (immanent or product quality): quality is the set of properties and characteristics of a product or an entity (product, materials, services, processes) that provide it with the ability to satisfy expressed or implied needs (UNI EN ISO 9000 1994). The second type is referred to as the Concept of transcendent quality: unlike the immanent or product-based one, it is linked to something superior, good, better, positive. Quality is the degree to which a set of intrinsic characteristics satisﬁes the expressed, implicit, binding needs (ISO 2015). According to a ﬁrst deﬁnition, which is perhaps the most traditional one, the quality represents the suitability for use, i.e., the characteristics that the product must have in order to meet the needs of the consumer. The second description deﬁnes quality as the capacity to respond fully to the explicit and implicit demands of markets, thanks to the ability of companies to produce at competitive costs. The quality also depends on the professional skills of the staff supported by an adequate organisation. In this deﬁnition, the concept of quality is much more than a simple requirement of conformity to some product charateristics. It also invests the human factor; thus, a motivated team will always achieve high quality objectives thanks to the organisation of the company that is primarily responsible for the way the work is carried out (system quality). Every company process must be guided following the principles of a quality control system. Indeed, the concept of total quality presumes the involvement of all those who participate in the life of a company and in all company functions, but this principle can only be achieved with a great cultural maturity, a strong awareness of everyone for their role and the diffusion of a climate of collaboration (Carmignani and Mirandola 2006). The two concepts of product quality and system quality are presented graphically in Fig. 2. Today, one of the most important and difﬁcult challenges to face is that of sustainability. Indeed, consumers are much more informed than in the past and often direct their purchases towards products that are more social- and eco-friendly. Producers must be particularly careful to respect particular needs that must be incorporated into the concept of quality, which is a concept that can expand itself by taking on new meanings (Benoît Norris et al. 2010).

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Fig. 2 Product quality and quality system. Elaborated by the authors

Furthermore, in the last years, innovative principles of social accounting have been established that led companies to respect the concept of “social accountability”2 with the precise objective of adopting more ethical and socially and environmentally responsible behaviour towards all stakeholders. Amongst these principles, the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative)3 and the one of the GBS (Gruppo di studio per il Bilancio Sociale)4 are of importance. The importance of the consideration of social aspects in a life cycle context has to be understood ﬁrst of all at a theoretical level by individuals, and companies that make, for example, social reporting or apply a management system such as SA8000, have to do it because they really have recognised its importance and not exclusively to obtain a competitive advantage over competitors (Petti and Campanella 2009, p. 52). Although this type of reporting already represents an established reality in some countries, in Italy is only voluntary, even if there are many companies that have been adopting it recently. Even though in some cases this will only represent a “green washing” tool, there are many companies that actually apply these principles in everyday business life (Benoît Norris and Norris 2014).

2

Social Accountability: is an approach to governance that involves citizens and civil society organisations (CSOs) in public decision making (Tarquinio 2009) 3 GRI (Global Reporting Initiative): Reporting model, which is today the main international reference for the preparation of the sustainability report. It aims at assisting both businesses and governments at a global level to comprehend and communicate their impact on sustainability-related aspects such as climate change, human rights, and social well-being (Tarquinio 2009; GRI-ISO 2014). 4 GBS (Gruppo di studio per il bilancio sociale): The budget model, proposed by the GBS, aims to provide stakeholders with information on the social and economic results achieved by companies. Only recently, the environmental theme has been included. It can be used as an autonomous report or as integration of social report (Tarquinio 2009).

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7 The Case Study—Introduction The knitwear company involved in the study is located in Pescara, a city in the Abruzzo region, Italy. As with most of the companies in the area, it is a small company (of only 10 employees) and it is family-managed and recently founded (2012). The characteristic activity is knitwear, which is accomplished by combining the tradition of ﬁne yarns with modern processing techniques. In order to promote social responsibility and also to increase the awareness of ﬁnal customers, the company made an entire fall/winter collection composed of sweaters that are naturally dyed. The study object is a cashmere sweater that is naturally dyed with extracts of dyeing plants. This allows to reduce or remove the impact of toxic substances that are usually present in the dyeing phases. The purpose of the study is to ﬁnd positive impacts (handprints), which are generated along the value chain, especially for the stakeholders that are involved in the production process.

7.1

The Company

The company under study was founded in 2012, but it derives from an old family tradition dating back to the 1950s. In the past years, the industrial model was very different from that of today. Until the 1990s, the prevailing model of industry favoured large dimensions, economies of scale and a type of standard and inflexible production processes, since the market required a large quantity of products. Unlike today, the production was mainly destined to remain at the warehouse; it would be reabsorbed by the market at a later date. Furthermore, the industry had from a structural perspective a high incidence of ﬁxed costs due to the costs of employees and of industrial machinery. In order for the incidence of ﬁxed costs on unit product costs to be reduced, a high-volume production was needed, but with the advent of the economic crisis, this has not proved to be an effective solution. Today, the knitwear company located in Pescara, is mainly responsible for the product planning and design phase, for the quality control and for marketing and distribution of sweaters. For all other stages of the production process, the company makes use of external collaborators. As aforementioned, the company is small and the production volumes are not high, because a Just-in-Time5 management model has been implemented, which is focused on flexibility. The decision to be more flexible derives from the desire to be independent of production volumes and to adapt better and more easily to market needs. Strategically, the company does not

Just in Time: it is a management system that allows to adapt production to fluctuations of market requests. It came to be in the 1980s within the model of “lean production”, which was opposed to the Fordist management model. The “Just in Time” principles include: produce goods when they have to be sold, produce only what satisﬁes the customer when goods are required, with the quality expected by the customer and without wasting resources (Morgante 2012).

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implement a cost-related strategy, in which a company offers a relatively low price to simulate demand and gain market share, but a “differentiation and focus strategy”6 that is characterised by a high-end product targeted to a speciﬁc market segment. The production is carried out thanks to the collaboration of other partners (deverticalisation). This strategy is useful for reducing the ﬁxed costs of employees and industrial machinery. In the deverticalisation strategy, small companies are often specialised in particular processes or sequences of the production cycle and, for this, they can become part of the value chain of major companies or groups of companies through various types of economic decentralisation. The following analysis will be outlined in depth: • Production phases • Input-output analysis for each production phase • Application of the S-LCA methodology: – Goal and Scope Deﬁnition: when initiating an S-LCA the purpose, the goal and then the system boundaries (which include what unit processes the system under assessment consists of) need to be deﬁned. – Life cycle inventory analysis: application of the SAM method for a quantitative evaluation of the questionnaires that were submitted to the all the stakeholders involved throughout the value chain (workers, consumers, value chain actors, society). – Life cycle interpretation and identiﬁcation of positive impacts (handprints) along the product life cycle, especially in the dyeing process.

7.2

The Production Phases

(1) Product planning and design: The sweater collection is designed following the strategic needs of the company. It is important to deﬁne the modelling (dimensional choice of the sweater) and the various styles (roundneck, highcollar, etc.). All these choices are made based on speciﬁc drivers following the strategy of the company. (2) Purchase of raw materials: At this stage, after a careful selection of suppliers, the purchase of the raw materials that are useful for the production of the sweaters follows. In this speciﬁc case, the raw material is the yarn.

6

Differentiation and focus strategy: the company aspires to gain a competitive advantage by focusing on a product based on the preferences and speciﬁc needs of a selected and well-deﬁned group of buyers (unlike the strategy of differentiation on a broad target, which aims at numerous groups of buyers and market segments). The success of this strategy depends on the existence of a segment of consumers who are interested in speciﬁc characteristics of the product or in the ability of the company to distinguish itself from competitors within a considered market niche (Thompson 1955).

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(3) Yarn making (spinning): sequence of operations that are necessary for the transformation of textile ﬁbers into yarn. All the companies involved in these steps operate in Italy. Made in Italy is an inexhaustible heritage of creativity and an ongoing monitoring of all stages of production that guarantee the achievement of high-quality results. Some of the most important partners in this stage include: Filati Biagioli (Filati Biagioli Modesto Spa 2018) Tollegno 1900 (Tollegno 1900 Spa 2018), Manifattura Sesia (Manifattura Sesia srl 2018) and Cariaggi (Cariaggi Laniﬁcio Spa 2018). (4) Weaving: is a method, where two different sets of yarns or threads are interwoven in order to create a fabric or cloth (e.g., the front of the shirt, the back, the sleeves). Then the individual parts are sewn together in order to form the ﬁnished product. This stage of the production process is carried out by small local laboratories. The knitting machines of this phase are produced by Shima Seiki, one of the most important companies in this sector. (5) Sewing: phase in which the sweater is sewed. This stage is carried out by small local laboratories. (6) Finishing: This stage is essential for the perceived quality of the product. It includes treatments that are performed to improve the characteristics of the product. There are several examples of ﬁnishing: treatments with silicone and antibacterial products. (7) Dyeing: in this process, colour is added to textile products like ﬁbres, yarns and fabrics (Journal of Fashion Technology & Textile Engineering 2018). A special solution containing dyes and speciﬁc chemical materials is required for this process (ibid.). In this case, a natural dyeing will be analysed. The company that is responsible for this step is Ferrini in Perugia. (8) Ironing: This stage is also essential for the perceived quality of the product because the steam of the ironing brings softness to the garment after the stress of ﬁnishing. The ironing stage allows a ﬁnal shape to the garment. This step is carried out by small local laboratories. (9) Labelling and packaging: Usually these two phases are included in the previous one. Labelling consists of putting different types of labels: brand label, composition label and washing care label. On the other hand, packaging is the stage where the sweaters are packed and are ready for the ﬁnal user. In this case, this stage is carried out by small local laboratories, as well. (10) Distribution: the product is distributed to the consumer. The product distribution can be direct to the ﬁnal consumers (e-commerce), to stores through sales agents or to shops directly by the company. At the moment, the company collaborates with Italian and international clients and it is working to create an online sales channel. The production phases are summarised in Figs. 3 and 4. Input-Output Analysis for Each Production Phase The analysed processes are: • Product planning • Purchase of raw materials

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Fig. 3 Main steps of the production in the knitwear sector. Elaborated by the authors

Fig. 4 Diagram of the steps for the production of a sweater. Elaborated by the authors

• • • •

Weaving Sewing Finishing and dyeing Ironing, labelling and packaging.

For a summary of the inputs and the outputs of each process, please refer to Table 1.

Sewing

Weaving

Purchase of raw materials

Product planning

– Computerised flat knitting machine SHIMA SEIKI – Work – Electric energy (about 50 min of weaving per sweater) – Yarn (0.3 kg of yarn per garment) – Knitwear fabrics – Cashmere yarn 2/2800 – Linker machine – Working hours

– Hourly rate basic salary: €1200.00/40 h per week

– Feedback from the sales ofﬁce and from sales agents – Working hours of one employee – Energy for computer use: 1.5 h in average – Computer SDS SDS ONE SHIMA – Pure white cashmere flakes of thread

– Cost of the knitting machine: about 60,000 euros – Cost per minute of electronic weaving: about €0.12 per min – Cost of the yarn: about €130.00 per kg (for the weaving company, it costs about 30% less) – Cost of sock knitting machine: about €6000.00 – Cost of work for 1 employee: about 0.3 h, hourly cost: €15.00 per h for the company (the worker costs about 25% less for the sewing company)

–

Amount in euros

Inputs

Table 1 Inputs and outputs of each production phase, elaborated by the authors

– Linker machine: made in Italy

– SHIMA SEIKI knitting machine is made in Japan

– The production process is carried out entirely in Italy – Computer is made in Japan – Cashmere comes from China

Country of origin

(continued)

– Stitched sweater ready to be dyed

– Pure cashmere white, titled Nm 2/2800 – A rock of yarn of nm 2/2800 weighs about 1 kg Knitwear fabrics (pieces that make up the garment are joined without resorting to normal cuts or stitching)

– Draft 2-D/3-D of the sweater made by computer – Size label for deﬁnition of wearability

Outputs

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Labeling and packaging

Finishing and dyeing Ironing

Stitched sweater Natural dyes Dyeing machines Press for ironing Electricity Water Neck label, made of polyester satin fabric – Label tag made of polyester satin fabric – Strap to tie the label tag to the sweater: waxed cotton cord with a safety pin with the “S. Moritz” logo

– – – – – – –

Inputs

Table 1 (continued)

– Neck label cost: €0.2/pc – Tag label cost: €0.3/pc – Strap to tie the tag label to the sweater: €0.5/pc

Amount in euros

– Ironed sweater

Press for ironing: made in Italy – Neck label: made in Italy – Tag label: made in Italy – Strap to tie the tag label to the sweater: made in Italy

– Packaged sweater with a label containing fabric and washing details

– Dyed sweater

Outputs

– Made in Italy

Country of origin

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• Product Planning Inputs: – Feedback from the sales ofﬁce, which collects the information provided by the sales agents. The latters report the needs of the market and of the active and non-active customers, both in terms of style and economy (product pricing). – Viewing of the yarn samples for the choice of yarns to be used for the collection. – Working hours of one employee: 4 h including all phases (hourly rate for a basic salary: €1,200.00 net for 40 h per week. – Energy for computer use to produce outputs: about 1.5 h on average – SDS ONE SHIMA computer (made in Japan) for the 3-D sweater simulation. Outputs: – Elaboration of a 2-D/3-D draft of the sweater using the SDS ONE SHIMA computer. – Prototype (colour details, form and construction of the neck and bottom measures, knit stitch for the sweater). – Information label for the deﬁnition of wearability (man or woman, slim or regular).

Purchase of Raw Materials Inputs: – Pure white cashmere flakes of thread (“white” means “ﬁrst quality”, because the colour is naturally white and allows the absorption of colour better than any other natural ﬁbre). Indeed, the quality of the yarn is determined by the colour. The white ﬁbre has a great value and as a consequence it is quite expensive. – Cashmere is purchased from China (country that has the monopoly for white cashmere). Outputs: – Pure white cashmere titled Nm 2/28,000. This number represents the yarn dimension of the cashmere sweater under study. The yarn is white and ready to be dyed on rocks of yarn that are unrolled by spinning machines. – Cashmere sweater: stitches per inch = 12; weight: about 0.3 kg. – Rocks of yarns (nm 2/28,000): circa 1 kg.

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• Weaving Inputs: – Computerised flat knitting machine SHIMA SEIKI (made in Japan). Cost of the machine: €60,000 for the basic model, which is necessary for making the basic sweater – Electricity: about 50 min of weaving (the cost of electronic weaving is approximately €0.12/min, whilst for the employee it is necessary to calculate 30% less) – 0.3 kg of yarn per sweater (130 €/Kg is the cost for the product planning company). The yarn is made in Italy. Outputs: – Knitwear fabrics (they should not be cut as it is done in the case of traditional fabrics. The pieces that make up the garment are joined without resorting to normal cuts or stitching). Moreover, the fabrics represent the different parts of a sweater (for the crew-neck under study: 1 fabric for the front part, 1 fabric for the back part, 2 sleeves). • Sewing Inputs: – Knitwear fabrics. – Cashmere yarn 2/28,000: Unlike all other fabrics, in knitwear the same thread that makes up the garment is used for sewing in order to make the seams as less visible as possible. This characteristic gives great value to the sweater. Furthermore, the thread for sewing a garment is so small that it is considered in the consumption of weaving. – Linker machine: it is used to sew knitwear fabrics to attach the pieces by joining the ends of the fabrics without making cuts as it is usually used to sew the dropped mesh. It is used to attach the pieces by joining the t-shirts of the ends of the sheets without making cuts and stitches as it is normally done with other tissues. The machine is made in Italy. – The Cost of the linker machine is about €6,000.00. – Working hours for 1 sweater: 1 employee about 0.3 h, hourly cost €15.00/h (the cost for the worker is about 25% less for the sewing company). Outputs: – Stitched sweater ready to be dyed.

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• Finishing: In this case, the ﬁnishing process consists in the dyeing of the garment. • Dyeing: Inputs: – Stitched sweater (made in Italy) – Natural dyes – Dyeing plants. Outputs: – dyed sweater. • Ironing: Inputs: – Press for ironing, which is made in Italy. The sweater is not ironed with a common iron (such as for jackets, trousers, shirts etc.), but with presses in which the sweater with the steel rods is put inside in order to receive a shape. As it is elastic by nature, it needs to be “guided” by a shape, contrary to all the other fabrics that are not elastic and therefore they can be ironed with the common iron. Outputs: – Ironed sweater. • Labelling and Packaging: Inputs: – Neck label, made in Italy. Material: polyester satin fabric, cost: about €0.2/pc for the product planning company. – Label tag, made in Italy. Material: polyester satin fabric, cost: about €0.3/pc for the product planning company. – Strap to tie the label tag to the sweater, made in Italy. It is a waxed cotton cord with a safety pin, containing an “S. Moritz” logo. It costs €0.5/pc for the product planning company. – PET bag, made in Italy. The cost is €0.09/pc. Outputs: – Packaged sweater with a label containing fabric and washing details.

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Fig. 5 The product life cycle. Elaborated by the authors

7.3

Case Study Analysis and S-LCA Methodology

The main methodology that will be applied to the case study is the S-LCA, which evaluates social and socio-economic impacts throughout the life cycle of a product (Fig. 5), from the purchase of raw materials to the disposal of the product. This methodology is one of the three methodologies inspired by the “Life Cycle Thinking” concept. Although the concept of quality and that of product life cycle assessment seem to be two totally different aspects at a ﬁrst sight, in fact they are not so antithetical because the product life cycle assessment has signiﬁcant influences on the accomplished and perceived quality of a product. The study of the individual phases of the life cycle of a product avoids the environmental and social burden shifting from one phase to another, which often happens in a traditional management perspective that is not oriented to a life cycle-oriented study. In the S-LCA methodology, the impacts are related to an area of protection, which is linked to human well-being, as explained by the guidelines (UNEP/ SETAC 2009). In the area of protection, the impacts are linked to stakeholders or to the impact categories. The Guidelines indicate ﬁve different stakeholders’ categories: workers, local community, society, consumers, and value chain actors (Benoît Norris et al. 2010). Each stakeholder is linked to a number of sub-categories. For example, in the “workers” category, the subcategories are: child labour, fair salary, health and safety, local occupation, cultural heritage and corruption. On the other hand, the impact categories regard human rights, labour conditions, health and safety, laws, socio-economic conditions (ibid.) (Fig. 6).

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Fig. 6 Assessment system for S-LCA. Elaborated by the authors

7.4

The S-LCA Steps

The four principal phases in the S-LCA methodology, which follow the ISO 14040 standard (2006), include (UNEP/SETAC 2009): (1) (2) (3) (4)

Goal and scope deﬁnition Life cycle inventory analysis Life cycle impact assessment Life cycle interpretation. These 4 steps are summarised in Fig. 7.

7.4.1

Goal and Scope Deﬁnition

The goal of the study is to analyse the individual production phases of the life cycle of a naturally-dyed cashmere sweater, in order to determine the socio-economic impacts of the value chain and the related social indicators. Regarding the scope, the so-called “product system”, which is often represented by a flowchart, in which all main production phases are detected. Furthermore, the functional unit is deﬁned as a natural dyed cashmere sweater. In this step, it is also necessary to deﬁne the system boundary, which includes the process units of the analysis. In this case study, it is considered appropriate to follow the approach from the wholesaler to the seller, since the phases are analysed from the purchase of raw materials to the

Fig. 7 The four phases of an LCA. Elaborated by the authors

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ﬁnished product, which is ready to be distributed to consumers. In order for the amount of material flows or rather the level of relevance associated with process units or product systems to be included or excluded from the study to be speciﬁed, the cut-off criteria have to be deﬁned. In order to analyse and compare all processes, the cut-off criterion is represented by the working hours. With this criterion, it is possible to deﬁne the most relevant processes to be included in the study and the less important ones to be excluded. In order for the working hours to be calculated, it is necessary to use estimations by simply multiplying the number of workers by the working hours per week, by the operated weeks in a year and by dividing this by the total production; the result obtained is compared to the reference functional unit (Sanchez Ramirez et al. 2013): Wh ¼ W h n=p Wh W H N P

Working hours number of workers working hours per week number of operating weeks per year total production.

The working hours are then multiplied by the required amount of the functional unit, following this formula: WFU ¼ Wh c: c¼1 P ¼ 1500: The calculation of the working hours for each process will follow by using this method. For this, the sub-processes of each production phase will be analysed below: product planning (Table 2), yarn making (Table 3), weaving (Table 4), sewing (Table 5), ﬁnishing and dyeing (Table 6), ironing, labelling and packaging (Table 7). Product Planning The total working minutes required for this process can be calculated by multiplying the minutes for the total production referred to the “planning” process for the required quantity of product. 90 * 1,500 = 135,000 min = 2,250 annual working hours. Yarn Making (Spinning) 50 * 1,500 = 75,000 min = 1,250 annual working hours. Weaving 30 * 1,500 = 45,000 min = 750 annual working hours.

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Table 2 Calculation of the working time used with reference to the functional unit (1 sweater), elaborated by the authors Sub-processes

Minutes of work used for a sweater

Analysis of the data deriving from the feedback obtained by the commercial ofﬁce (information from sales agents) Creation of a measurement card of the sweater Design of the sweater (draft) Size development Computer work for the sweater design (measurement, tissue analysis test) Total

10 30 10 10 30 90

Table 3 Calculation of the working time used with reference to the functional unit (1 sweater), elaborated by the authors Sub-processes

Minutes of work used for a sweater

Calculation of the required amount of yarn Sending the order to the yarn company Spinning of raw materials Total

15 15 20 50

Table 4 Calculation of the working time used with reference to the functional unit (1 sweater), elaborated by the authors Sub-processes

Minutes of work used for a sweater

Yarn positioning on the machine Weaving of yarns to obtain fabric swatches Fabric swatches quality control Total

5 15 10 30

Table 5 calculation of the working time used with reference to functional unit (1 sweater), elaborated by the authors Sub-processes Selection of the fabric swatches to be submitted to sewing First sewing by machine Hand stitching for slight imperfections Total

Minutes of work used for a sweater 5 10 20 35

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Table 6 Calculation of the working time used with reference to the functional unit (1 sweater), elaborated by the authors Sub-processes

Minutes of work used for a sweater

Hot or cold treatment to eliminate impurities Preparation of the dyeing plant Dyeing Washing and oxidation 100-degrees bath to obtain the required colour Spin dryer Drying Quality control Total

10 5 5 10 10 5 5 10 55

Table 7 Calculation of the working time used with reference to the functional unit (1 sweater), elaborated by the authors Sub-processes

Minutes of work used for a sweater

Sweater positioning on the ironing press Ironing Labelling Packaging Total

2 1 4 3 10

Sewing 35 * 1,500 = 52,500 min = 875 annual working hours. Finishing and Dyeing 55 * 1,500 = 82,500 min = 1,375 annual working hours. Ironing, Labelling and Packaging 10 * 1,500 = 15,000 min = 250 annual working hours. After calculating the working hours that are necessary for each process, the total working hours can be calculated and then related to the functional unit, i.e., 1 sweater. The sum of the working hours for the annual production of 1500 knitwear pieces is equal to about 7000 working hours (Table 8). The goal is to relate the percentage of impact of each process on the functional unit. This information can be obtained by calculating a simple proportion: annual knitwear production divided by the total annual hours = 1:x, or 1500:7000 = 1:x therefore, x ¼ 7; 000 1=1; 500 ¼ 4:7 working hours:

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Table 8 Total working hours for accomplishing the functional unit (1 sweater), elaborated by the authors

Processes

Total hours

Product planning Yarn making Weaving Sewing Finishing and dyeing Ironing, labelling and packaging Total

2,250 1,250 750 875 1,375 250 7,000

Table 9 Impacts of the production phases on the functional unit, elaborated by the authors

Processes

Hours percentages (%)

Product planning Yarn making Weaving Sewing Finishing and dyeing Ironing, labelling and packaging

32.14 17.85 10.71 12.5 19.64 3.57

The percentages calculation is once again obtained by using the following proportion: total annual hours: 100 = Y:x, where Y represents the hours related to each individual process. Product planning: 2,250 h 7,000:100 = 2,250:x, therefore x = 100 * 2,250/7,000 = 32.14% Yarn making (spinning): 1250 h 7,000:100 = 1,250:x, therefore x = 100 * 1,250/7,000 = 17.85% Weaving: 1,000 h 7,000:100 = 1,000:x, therefore x = 100 * 750/7,000 = 10.71% Sewing: 875 h 7,000:100 = 875:x, therefore x = 100 * 875/7,000 = 12.5% Finishing and dyeing: 1375 h 7,000:100 = 1,375:x, therefore x = 100 * 1,375/7,000 = 19.64% Ironing, labelling and packaging: 250 h 7,000:100 = 250:x, therefore x = 100 * 250/7,000 = 3.57%.

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Fig. 8 Pie chart of impacts of the production phases on the functional unit. Elaborated by the authors

From this analysis, it turns out that all processes naturally have a signiﬁcant impact on the functional unit. The process that has the greatest impact is represented by the product planning and the dyeing processes, whilst the less important one is represented by the “ironing, labelling and packaging” phase, as indicated in Table 9 and Fig. 8.

7.4.2

Life Cycle Inventory Analysis: The Sub-category Assessment (SAM) Method

In order to evaluate the data, several questionnaires were submitted to all the stakeholder categories under analysis: Workers, Consumers, Value chain Actor, Society. The “local community” stakeholder was not included in the study because of the difﬁculty in data processing, considering also the relatively small dimension of the company under study (Table 10). The submitted questionnaires investigated the issues related to the sub-categories and the impact categories related to each stakeholder category. For example, in the “workers” category, the “Social beneﬁt and social security” sub-category is examined by investigating the workers’ training, possible subsidies, occupational safety programmes, etc. The same reasoning is valid for all the other stakeholders’ categories. The method that will be used in order to evaluate the questionnaires and therefore to conduct the life cycle inventory analysis is the Sub-category Assessment Method (SAM). This method was developed with the aim of considering the sub-categories and the related stakeholders presented in the Guidelines for

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Table 10 Deﬁnition of stakeholder categories, elaborated by the authors Stakeholder categories

Deﬁnition

Workers

This category includes all the workers involved in the production process steps: product planning, yarn making, weaving, sewing, ﬁnishing and dyeing, ironing and labelling. The number of interviewees is 80 No workers under the age of 18 or disabled workers were detected As for contracts, the prevailing types include: ﬁxed-term, undetermined and internship In this category, all the intermediate consumers of the production process are considered: the shops to sell the product to, which are located in the regions of Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont, Campania and Apulia The number of interviewed shopkeepers is 40 In this category, all the companies that collaborate in the production process as well as the sales agents are considered The companies included are those of yarn making, weaving, sewing, ﬁnishing and dyeing, ironing, labelling and packaging. Furthermore, the sales agents were taken into account The number of the interviewed actors is 30 In this category, all the companies that are responsible for the production processes are considered. Regarding the public commitment to sustainability issues, no company was found to draw up a social report Some companies, including the company that is responsible for the product planning and dyeing, contribute to the economic development through the creation of new job positions and through investments. The latters are also useful for the technological development

Consumers

Value chain actors

Society

S-LCA (UNEP/SETAC 2009). The SAM method is used primarily to perform an assessment of the social proﬁle of the company that is involved in the life cycle of the product. The main elements that characterise this method is the “Basic Requirements” (BR) deﬁnition and the assignment of a quantitative character to the method. Through this method the social proﬁle of the product can be illustrated through the analysis of the stakeholders’ sub-categories and therefore through the study of the behaviour of all the organisations involved in the life cycle. In order for a more consistent use of the method to be followed, it was decided to establish a baseline that could illustrate the proﬁle of the company through the so-called BRs, which are established for each stakeholder category, based on the Methodological Sheets (UNEP/SETAC 2013). They provide with some information on what every stakeholder sub-category should indicate and on what actions the company should take. For example, for the “workers fair salary” sub-category, the Methodological Sheets deﬁne what is the meaning of fair salaries and provide examples on how to measure a fair wage: e.g., the minimum salary deﬁned by the law, subsistence salary, etc. Some BRs are represented by international agreements or laws. It is then necessary to deﬁne some evaluation levels to evaluate each sub-category and see how much it complies with the BRs. The ﬁrst level is reserved

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Table 11 Evaluation levels in the SAM method, elaborated by the authors Level A

Level B

Level C

Level D

4

3

2

1

to organisations that have a proactive behaviour with reference to the BRs and that are committed to promoting good practices along their value chain (level A). The second level, (level B), refers to those companies that satisfy the BRs, but which do not demonstrate a proactive attitude along the value chain. Level “C” refers to those companies that, operating in a negative context, do not respect the BRs because of the greater difﬁculties they meet in the implementation of positive social actions. Level “D” refers to companies that, whilst being included in a positive context, do not comply with the BRs (Sanchez Ramirez et al. 2014). A number is then assigned to each level in order to give a quantitative dimension to the study. For level A, the number 4 will be assigned, 3 for level B, 2 for level C, and 1 for level D (Table 11). For the results deriving from the application of the SAM method please refer to Table 12 and Fig. 9.

7.5

Looking for Positive Impacts—The “Handprint” Concept

The theme of sustainability is strongly linked to the concept of “impact”. Indeed, as with “green” methods, social responsibility focuses mainly on reducing impacts. The negative impacts are usually related to the concept of a “footprint”. The footprint of a product refers to the total amount of all the negative impacts of emissions and of consumed resources throughout its life cycle (Norris 2013). Every product, and in reality, every single day of every citizen in the industrialised cities has a “footprint”. Apart from producing and consuming goods and services, companies and individuals could be involved in taking positive action towards the reduction of the pollution. The “Handprint” concept refers to the positive environmental and social impacts that there might be there. This is not a very dissimilar concept from the footprint, but it has two main differences. The ﬁrst focuses on the fact that the handprint evaluates the impacts of efforts to change something in the world, either by individuals or by a community, rather than assessing the impacts of purchases or purchasing scenarios (Norris 2013). A second difference is that the actors that influence the life cycle of a product (both individuals and companies) can have a signiﬁcant influence on the ecological footprint of other actors, people or companies (ibid.). In this case study, a fundamental process for creating positive social impacts is that of natural dyeing.

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Table 12 Results of the stakeholder sub-categories evaluation using the SAM method, elaborated by the authors Stakeholder Workers

Sub-categories

PP

Freedom of association and collective B-3 bargaining Child labour B-3 Fair salary B-3 Working hours B-3 Equal opportunities/discrimination B-3 Health and safety B-3 Social beneﬁts/social security B-3 Consumers Health & safety B-3 Feedback mechanism B-3 Consumer privacy B-3 Transparency B-3 End of life responsibility B-3 Value chain Fair competition B-3 actors Promoting social responsibility B-3 Supplier relationships B-3 Respect of intellectual property rights B-3 Society Public commitments to sustainability C-2 issues Stakeholders Contribution to economic B-3 development Prevention & mitigation of armed conflicts Corruption Technology development B-3 Local Access to material resources community Access to immaterial resources Delocalisation and migration Cultural heritage Safe & healthy living conditions Respect of indigenous rights Community engagement Local employment Secure living conditions Key PP Product planning; YM Yarn making; WV Weaving; dyeing; ILP Ironing, labelling and packaging

YM

WV

SW

F&D

ILP

B-3

B-3

B-3

B-3

B-3

B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 C-2

B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 C-2

B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 C-2

B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 A-4 B-3 B-3 A-4 B-3 B-3 A-4 B-3 B-3 B-3

B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 C-2 B-3 B-3 B-3 B-3 C-2 B-3 B-3 C-2

C-2

C-2

C-2

B-3

C-2

B-3

B-3

B-3

B-3

C-2

SW Sewing; F&D Finishing and

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Fig. 9 Diagram of the stakeholder sub-categories evaluation using the SAM method. Elaborated by the authors

7.6

Natural Dyeing

The dyeing phase deserves special attention. Indeed, in the fashion industry, dyeing and ﬁnishing of garments turn out to have the most signiﬁcant impacts both in environmental and in social terms (regarding the health of ﬁnal consumers) (Drumond Chequer et al. 2013). The sustainability of a product and its subsequent purchase do not depend on the fact that a garment is natural or synthetic, since even the common natural ﬁbres can sometimes present some drawbacks. The wool, which is a natural ﬁbre deriving from different types of animals (sheep, rabbits, etc.), can be subject to chemical treatments (through the shearing) in order to whiten or soften its ﬁbres. This could have consequences in terms of environmental impacts. Nonetheless, it is also true that a ﬁbre that undergoes a chemical treatment is not necessarily not ecological. There are many natural ﬁbres, such as organic cotton deriving from organic farming, linen and hemp. Dyeing is the one of the stages of processing that have the highest environmental impact. Today new chemical dyes can also be used, which are completely biodegradable, in order to reduce their impact on the environment. It is also important to understand which chemical components are present in the garments, since some substances (e.g., phthalates) with a prolonged contact with the skin can cause diseases, such as contact dermatitis, allergies, and erythema. Furthermore, the human body can come into contact with chemical components by inhalation of vapours that are caused by the reaction of their sweat with the treated

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Fig. 10 Fabrics naturally dyed. Source Ferrini srl (2018)

fabric. The use of vegetable colours in the dyeing of textile ﬁbres has accompanied human evolution since ancient times, when the garments were dyed with herbs, flowers and plants. The ﬁrst dyes with the woad for blue and the madder for red emerged already in the Neolithic age, simultaneously with the invention of weaving and the ﬁrst yarns. The dyeing company that is responsible for the dyeing process of this case study, implements the above, thus making it a real philosophy of life. A technology for the production and application of these colouring substances was built to promote their use in the dyeing phase in order to enhance the value of the precious natural ﬁbres of Italian knitwear. In order for these dyes to be obtained, it was necessary to invest in research, by focusing on the native plants (both spontaneous and cultivable in the area). In Fig. 10 some naturally dyed garments are represented. Indeed, the seeds for the crops were selected and direct collection of wild species was rationalised in order to supply both quantity and quality of certiﬁed organic raw materials. This is in full agreement with what is established by two points of the sustainability programme for the Italian fashion: choose raw materials, materials and fabrics with high environmental and social value, support the territory and the made in Italy trademark (Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana 2012). All colours are made with dyeing plants that are selected by the company: the guado for blue, reseda for yellow, robbia for red, walnut husk and almond husk for brown, oak galls for gray and black. In addition to the beneﬁcial effects on human health and environmental sustainability, it is also possible to develop customised colours depending on the customer and to ﬁnd new possible shades. The decision to propose a naturally dyed product was mainly taken in order to guarantee a greater safety in the use of the product and also to make the consumers

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aware of the sustainability-related issues. In order for this to be accomplished, it was essential to use specialised partners in the ﬁeld (such as the dyeing company) and a co-makership based on the same production principles and philosophies. The positive impacts that were generated by this process will be analysed hereafter by referring to the already examined stakeholder sub-categories (UNEP/ SETAC 2009). For the “Consumers” category, the main handprint is linked to the sub-category “health and safety”, since a natural dye protects the individuals’ health by not using chemicals and harmful substances, but also guarantees safety because the consumer is aware and informed thanks to a labelling system that explains that sweaters are naturally dyed. There is another important positive impact for the “Cultural heritage” sub-category that refers to the stakeholder category “local community” because the knowledge of these procedures generates a wealth of information for the whole community, which is useful not only for the company for its work, but also and especially for the other partner companies and for the community in which it is inserted, which is thus informed of the great themes of sustainability. Remaining in the same category, another impact is generated in the sub-category “health and safety conditions”. This is because since 1979, the company has set up a complex biological wastewater treatment plant in order to improve the quality of discharges and the partial recovery of wastewater. This impact can also be linked to the sub-category “technological development”, in the “society” stakeholder category. Here, the presence of an international patent “Method for colouring natural textile ﬁbres” and the continuous participation and collaboration with the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Perugia need to be included, which allowed the company to earn the patent “Method for the polymeric” encapsulation of intercalation compounds composed of lamellar solids and dyes (Ferrini srl 2018). All in all, a strong commitment to sustainability issues has been demonstrated by the dyeing company and by the product planning company that promoted the aim of combining an elegant ﬁbre (cashmere) with a commitment to sustainability in order to protect both the health and the well-being of the consumers.

8 Conclusions The analysis focused mainly on the study of all production phases of the product in order to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the entire supply chain by evaluating the social and the socio-economic aspects, as a ﬁrst step towards the deﬁnition of sector-speciﬁc social indicators. Therefore, four main stakeholders were analysed through the dissemination of questionnaires: workers, value chain actors, consumers (i.e., retailers, who then sell the product to the ﬁnal users), and society. The questions were different depending on the stakeholder considered, but they always focused on the social aspects.

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For the “workers” stakeholder category, the questions were about working hours, working conditions, health and safety in the work places and equal opportunities. For the “value chain actors”, the questions were related to the promotion of social responsibility, suppliers’ relationships, fair competition and respect of intellectual rights. For the “consumers”, the questions were about health and safety of the product, feedback mechanism, privacy, transparency and product end of life responsibility. For the “society”, the questions were related to technology development, contribution to economic growth and commitment to sustainability-related issues. The considerations deriving from the elaboration (by using the SAM method) of the data obtained from the questionnaires, allowed to comprehend quite clearly the policies of the various companies involved in the value chain, which are all of medium and small dimensions and they are all located in Italy. The companies comply with the work and consumer protection laws, but the simple adherence to the law cannot be translated into corporate social responsibility or, better, in the creation of shared value. In some cases, especially when family ﬁrms of very small dimensions are involved, there is less tendency to invest in technological systems, also due to the lack of facilities by local authorities. Nevertheless, a company of small dimensions can have many advantages as well, in terms of production flexibility, harmony amongst employees, division of roles and high communication amongst workers. Therefore, even if there are no signiﬁcant investments in plants with a high impact reduction, there are still many small actions towards a more responsible way of working. Some examples are the separate waste collection, the recycling of paper and plastic and secondary products such as the recovery of wastewater (dyeing phase). Even though some companies of the value chain do not draw up a social report, they still have an ethical code, posted in a public place, which both managers and employees must comply with. Another goal of the study was to search the positive impacts (handprint) created in the value chain. The most important one was the decision of the company that is responsible for the product planning, to create a fall winter collection composed by naturally dyed cashmere garments. The natural dye, unlike the chemical one, has many beneﬁts for the consumer who wears the garment, because it protects the human health thanks to the absence of chemical and harmful substances. Furthermore, it increases the consumer safety thanks to a labelling system that guarantees and certiﬁes the natural dyeing process of the garment. In order for the company to obtain these dyes, it invested in research, focusing on native plant types, cultivable in their area. This decision has an important value for the local community, not only because the natural substances for dye come directly from Italy and are controlled by the company, but also because the community, in which the company operates, is involved. Nonetheless, all the involved companies are taking small steps towards a more sustainable production, because they believe that this creates value not only in terms of company revenues, but also in terms of social values for all those who

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collaborate in the production of the product. Moreover, they are aware that positive impacts start from the commitment of each individual and above all from their desire to live in a better, healthier environment, both in an ecological and ethical sense (Niinimaki 2015). Acknowledgements We would like to thank the companies Ferrante Brands srl and Ferrini srl for their collaboration in the drafting of this chapter and the provision of data.

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Social Life Cycle Assessment of Renewable Bio-Energy Products A. Saravanan and P. Senthil Kumar

Abstract The incorporation of social perspectives into standard manageability administration, instruments, and approaches had picked up noticeable quality as of late. An expanding number of activities advancing supply chain due perseverance have been situating social issues as a focal concern. Social life cycle assessment gives an all-encompassing, fundamental, and thorough apparatus to comprehend social issues that may emerge in the esteem chains of items and administrations managing human life today. For the most part the “Life cycle assessment” for bioenergy included three classiﬁcations: (i) Bioenergy creation, (ii) Environmental issues, (iii) Environmental target. This implies LCA techniques have been broadly utilized as a part of evaluating the natural effect from different sorts of bioenergy generation process. Uniquely, the greenhouse gases pulled in more consideration in this exploration territory. Because of the natural impacts, conﬁnements, and additionally changes of the non-renewable energy sources, usage of substitution energies, for example, sustainable power sources is one of the principle arrangements keeping in mind the end goal to defeat to the vitality concerns. Among sustainable power sources, bioenergy and its related advancements is imperative for specialists and approach producers. Albeit diverse bioenergy advances have been produced, understanding the market and business possibilities of every innovation is imperative. Keywords Life cycle assessment Bioenergy

Environmental impact Green house gases

A. Saravanan Department of Biotechnology, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai 602105, India P. S. Kumar (&) Department of Chemical Engineering, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai 603110, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 S. S. Muthu (ed.), Social Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3233-3_3

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1 Introduction Vitality is not just required to support our lives yet in addition rouses ﬁnancial change. There exists a reasonable connection between’s vitality utilization and expectations for everyday comforts of individuals. Three classes of vitality assets are accessible which are petroleum products, sustainable sources, and atomic sources. From the earliest starting point time of the mechanical unrest, the oil, coal, and petroleum gas called petroleum derivatives have been utilized to meet the real vitality necessity of the entire globe. The ﬁrst and the most vital vitality wellspring of people was biomass. Today, because of improvements in the innovative biomass idea, the points and ﬁelds of utilization of biomass have been incredibly extended and progressed (Taylan et al. 2018). Each sustainable power source is performing in an unexpected way; one could be best alternative for one area/reason/season and could not perform with that productivity at another area/reason/season (Jayakumar 2009). Among the sustainable power sources, biofuels are the most well-known sustainable power source due to the accessibility of crude material (biomass), all over and round the year and furthermore because of its appropriateness in transport vehicles and ventures (Nigam and Singh 2011). Biomass can be utilized to deliver sustainable power, thermal vitality, or transportation energizes (biofuels). Biomass is characterized as living or as of late dead organism and any results of those creatures such as plant or animals. The term is largely comprehended to reject coal, oil, and other fossilized leftovers of life forms, and additionally soils. In this ﬁrm wisdom, biomass incorporates every single living thing. About biomass vitality, notwithstanding, the term alludes to those harvests, deposits, and other organic materials that can be utilized as a substitute for petroleum derivatives in the generation of vitality and different items. Living biomass takes in carbon as it develops and discharges this carbon when utilized for vitality, bringing about a carbon-impartial cycle that does not expand the climatic centralization of ozone harming substances. There are conventional and present days, henceforth two sorts of bioenergy sources. Customary biomass sources incorporate fuelwood; dried creature squanders, and customarily delivered charcoal. Current biomass sources involve fluid biofuels created from farming deposits and woods squanders. The bioenergy advances can be considered mechanical cogeneration and bioreﬁneries, pellet warming frameworks, biofuels (bioethanol, biodiesel, and bio-hydrogen), bioplastics, biogas created by anaerobic absorption of buildups, and some other related advances (Eskandary 2017; Demirbas et al. 2016).

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2 Bioenergy In spite of the fact that the energy request has expanded quickly, yet the impediments, natural, and value changes of petroleum derivatives has caused the strategy producers do not look them as a protected wellspring of vitality supply for the social orders. Along these lines, examinations on substitution arrangements, for example, usage of elective vitality sources with low emanation and ecological impacts have been unavoidable. In ongoing decades, use of sustainable power sources keeping in mind the end goal to make a functioning job on vitality supply arrangement of the nations have been stressed (Aslani et al. 2012; Karkoodi et al. 2018). Bioenergy is one of the numerous various assets accessible to help take care of our demand for vitality. It is named a type of sustainable power source got from biomass—natural material—that can be utilized to deliver warm, power, transportation energizes, and items (Aslani et al. 2018). The vitality put away in biomass can be discharged to create inexhaustible power or warmth. Biopower can be produced through burning or gasiﬁcation of dry biomass or biogas caught through controlled anaerobic absorption. Coﬁring of biomass and petroleum products is a minimal effort method for decreasing ozone depleting substance emanations, enhancing cost-adequacy, and diminishing air toxins in existing force plants. Thermal vitality is frequently created at the size of the individual working, through direct ignition of wood pellets, wood chips, and different wellsprings of dry biomass. Bioenergy offers agriculturists and option in contrast to oil based vitality sources, and new market openings for homestead items. At the point when biomass feedstocks are scorched, aged or responded through a vitality transformation process, they restore some carbon dioxide and water and discharge the sun’s vitality. Since plants have the capacity to store and afterward discharge vitality along these lines, they go about as a characteristic battery. This prologue to bioenergy offers a brief and non-specialized diagram of bioenergy feedstock generation.

3 The Signiﬁcance of Biomass, Biofuels, and Bioenergy Natural materials are the fundamental wellspring of biomass, which are put away under the daylight in request to shape concoction vitality. Then again, sugar stick, wood and wood squander, straw, creature excrement, and numerous other horticultural squanders are additionally biomass hotspots for bioenergy generation. For example, the green plants convert daylight into plant material through photosynthesis. There are three reasons that make biomass an appealing feedstock; ﬁrst, biomass and its innovation are inexhaustible assets and might be reasonably enhanced later on. Second, as a positive ecological property of biomass, it results in less arrival of CO2 and lower sulfur substance (Demirbas et al. 2016).

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The biomass forms are the wellspring of direct burning for the squanders evaluation and power age in the industrialized nations, for example, bioethanol and biodiesel can be gotten as fluid energizes. Thus, warmth and power can be created from products and rural squanders used later on. Figure 1 shows that renewable bioenergy products. The lignocellulosic bioenergy harvests, for example, bush willow, which are required to have a noteworthy job in atmosphere alleviation systems. They examined two yield preliminary datasets containing genotypes from progressive rounds of reproducing utilizing a progression of blended models. Their examination showed an incremental change in yield with progressive rounds of reproducing through the advancement of interspeciﬁc triploid half-and-halves. Then again, the age of power from biomass later on relies upon biomass-coordinated gasiﬁcation and gas turbine advances (Alidrisi and Demirbas 2016). It is expected that biomass will be able to compete propitiously with fossil fuels in the chemical feedstock industry. The flexibility and availability of biomass make it an important renewable energy resource. A productive plantation option and operation is important for a sustainable biofuel production potential. The plantation of suitable crops may be used as biomass source for bioenergy production, which can decrease the environmental contaminations in red sea region due to sewage pollution. It is normal that biomass will have the capacity to contend auspiciously with non-renewable energy sources in the concoction feedstock industry. The adaptability and accessibility of biomass make it an essential sustainable power source asset. A proﬁtable estate alternative and activity is vital for an economical biofuel creation potential. The manor of reasonable harvests might be utilized as

Fig. 1 Renewable bioenergy products

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biomass hotspot for bioenergy creation, which can diminish the natural deﬁlements in red ocean district because of sewage contamination. The principle innovation utilized for biomass transformation is the bio-reﬁneries that coordinate the hardware to deliver ﬁlls from biomass; produce power, warmth, and a few synthetic compounds; and can increase the value of the monetary changes. Bio-reﬁneries can deliver in excess of one item by utilizing a few biomass components also, their intermediates; in this way amplify the monetary estimation of biomasses got from crude materials (Nizami et al. 2017). • Biogas from biomass with organic change In parallel to the quick industrialization and populace development, an extensive increment in the vitality and modern crude material necessities have been seen in creating nations. Contingent upon this development: the transfers of natural deposits and results delivered in the administration and assembling enterprises are the real issues for the city specialists, which additionally have genuine natural effects. The regular composts from the plant yields balance the pH, N, P, K of the dirt with normal ways and move up to the perfect level. The dirt harvest yields expanded in an economical way over the time can diminish the requirement for compound composts necessity. Thus, the impacts and harms of synthetic manures on nature will be limited by diminishing the utilization of them (Nasir et al. 2014; Werle and Dudziak 2014).

4 Life Cycle Examination of Biogas Plant The existence cycle investigation of a full-scale biogas plant was led in the examination. In the existence cycle examination, the natural impacts of the biogas procedure, result generation from the biogas, what’s more, the cogeneration unit where the power is created are additionally assessed in light of the ISO 14040 (ISO, Environmental administration Life cycle appraisal standards and structure (ISO 14040), 2006 Brussels: European Committee for Standardization) principles. The existence cycle examination comprises of four stages in this investigation: the objective and degree deﬁnition, the examination of stock, the effect appraisal, and translation of results. The objective also, scope deﬁnition plans to distinguish the principle objective of starting this investigation. It is to make and assess the existence cycle investigation of a mechanical scale biogas plant that produces biogas from steers compost, poultry excrement, and fermentation of cheddar whey. At that point, the outcomes gotten will be assessed and conceivable damages or advantages of biogas creation on the earth by fermentation have been evaluated (Dey and Bhattacharya 2016). Figure 2 shows that Life cycle stages of bioenergy products.

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Fig. 2 Life cycle stages

• The motivation behind a proof of idea LCA is: – Have certainty that advances deliver sustainable power source with a positive natural effect proﬁle, essentially in connection to typiﬁed fossil vitality and GHG balance. – Acquire understanding into ecological favourable circumstances and dangers related with advances. – Provide bits of knowledge into ecological difﬁculties of distinctive feedstocks and advances. – Create a level playing ﬁeld correlation against current petroleum product vitality sources. – Provide ‘problem area’ investigation of ecological effect also, advantages to direct advancements. • Necessities and guidance for undertaking a LCA of bioenergy Determining the objective of the investigation is a central prerequisite of a LCA. The objective of the investigation plots the motivation behind the examination and, in doing as such, recognizes the crowd for the investigation and a structure of key inquiries to be replied by the investigation. The ‘useful unit’ gives a typical premise for examination of results in any LCA think about while the framework limit portrays the procedures to be incorporated and rejected in the LCA. These two components are ﬁrmly connected in light of the fact that the deﬁnition of the useful unit will, to some extent, choose where the limit is drawn. With bioenergy, frameworks there are two potential approaches to characterize the unit of examination: Another thought for the framework limit is the utilization of an edge for including distinctive procedures, which is alluded to in LCA measures as the cutoff

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criteria. This is utilized to disentangle information gathering and demonstrating in the LCA, enabling immaterial streams to be rejected. There might be particular task composes where capital gear and foundation is huge and ought to be incorporated. Nevertheless, to keep the LCA viable and streamlined capital hardware and framework might be rejected from generally LCAs. The framework limit contemplations to do with co-items and waste are portrayed. The creation of proportionate amounts of fuel with certain vitality content or the creation of proportionate amounts of administration is given by the fuel or vitality. Figure 3 shows that Facilitating biomass flow along the bio-energy chain. Bioenergy utilizes sustainable biomass feedstocks from numerous sources. Inexhaustible biomass feedstocks utilize the procedure of photosynthesis in plants to catch the sun’s vitality by changing over carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water (H2O) into sugars and complex oil and ﬁber mixes made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. These vitality rich sugars, oils furthermore, ﬁlaments can be gathered and utilized for some kinds of bioenergy. There are many ways to transform natural materials into vitality, despite the fact that right now just a couple of them speak to authentic here and now open doors for the normal ranch or rustic landowner. Bioenergy can be created from feedstocks for example, trees, rural products, plant buildups, creature parts and numerous other natural materials. The advantages of one feedstock versus another are territorially particular. This makes feedstock determination a key thought in bioenergy creation. Feedstocks might be committed to vitality generation or then again non-devoted. Feedstocks that are committed are regularly called vitality crops. Every feedstock has focal points and detriments that may incorporate how much usable biomass they deliver; soil composes required, water and vitality inputs, vitality thickness, air quality advantages, creation cost and different contemplations. Figure 4 shows the renewable bioenergy products.

Fig. 3 Facilitating biomass flow along the bio-energy chain

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Fig. 4 Renewable bioenergy products

Feedstocks require a transformation process keeping in mind the end goal to take crude materials and turn them into valuable bioenergy, for example, power, biodiesel, ethanol, biobutanol, methane, warm what’s more, other bioenergy items. Remember that collecting, drying to the right dampness content, transporting to the essential area and providing an adequate amount of biomass are essential contemplations that are just quickly said in this prologue to bioenergy. Each kind of feedstock may require a marginally extraordinary change process, yet numerous feedstocks can be changed over utilizing comparative procedures and advancements. • Thermochemical Conversion Warming biomass helps a concoction response (a thermochemical process) and makes valuable bioenergy items, for example, gases, fluids and warmth. Power created from biomass is alluded to as biopower, and the mix of both warmth and control is regularly alluded to as cogeneration or consolidated warmth and power (CHP). The general productivity of these coordinated frameworks is altogether higher than both of the frameworks alone.

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• Warm Process Heat and Space Heat Consuming biomass speciﬁcally can be utilized to deliver both process warmth and space warm. Process warm is crucial to many assembling forms and is utilized in an assortment of farming applications counting grain and yield drying. Space warming is the most widely recognized utilize. Both substantial boilers in assembling ofﬁces and little stoves in shops are every now and again utilized for space warm. Wood, wood chips and feed can be utilized for both process warmth and space warm, and are promptly accessible on the ranch. • Ignition in a Direct-terminated or Customary Steam Boiler The consuming of feedstocks for vitality has been drilled for a long time. One of the most seasoned business strategies for creating power is through the consuming of wood or charcoal to create steam. The steam is channelled into a turbine that twists a generator used to make power, or then again biopower. An issue with consuming feedstocks in a steam heater is that an awesome arrangement of vitality is lost in the transformation procedure. Pre-handling biomass by pelletizing, torrefaction (superheating in a low-oxygen condition) or on the other hand making dense biomass briquettes has enhanced the productivity of consuming woody biomass. These procedures are costly what’s more, not constantly sparing given current fossil fuel costs. • Pyrolysis Pyrolysis is gotten from the Greek words pyro, which means ﬁre, and lysys, which means disintegration. Pyrolysis is a technique for delivering syngas furthermore, biocrude, otherwise called bio-oil or pyrolysis oil. Pyrolysis utilizes warm disintegration by warming biomass at temperatures generally more noteworthy than 400 °F (204 °C). Biocrude is shaped when syngas delivered amid pyrolysis is re-consolidated into fluid biocrude. There are couple of chances to utilize grungy biocrude speciﬁcally on the ranch and a constrained market. Biocrude can be reﬁned into excellent hydrocarbon ﬁlls, for example, diesel, and gas and fly fuel. These fluid ﬁlls can be utilized in inside burning motors as a synthetically indistinguishable substitute to oil energizes. • Biochemical Conversion Microorganisms, yeasts and other living chemicals age material, for example, sugars and proteins and convert them into valuable alcohols or other fluid ﬁlls. These procedures are known as biochemical change forms. Corn ethanol and other grain alcohols are the absolute most normal powers delivered along these lines. Different strategies incorporate catching methane created when microscopic organisms separate compost from domesticated animals and poultry generation, human sewage and landﬁll waste to consume it for warmth and biopower.

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(i) Anaerobic Digestion Anaerobic digesters separate (or process) natural issue without oxygen (anaerobic) to create methane and different gases and coproducts that are helpful on the homestead. This gas blend is regularly alluded to as biogas or digester gas. Biogas is a burnable and regularly comprises of 50 to 60% methane. Biogas can be scorched in a motor to produce biopower and warm vitality or prepared further into other fuel composes for example, methanol. Reﬁned biogas can be utilized as compacted gaseous petrol (CNG) and melted petroleum gas (LNG) in vehicles, among other employments. Figure 5 shows the diverse bioenergy technologies i.e., the diverse innovations to deliver vitality from biomass. The characterization under the general name of Chemical/Biochemical innovations handling advancements which are principally started by the contact of the crude material with concoction items (i.e. hydrolize, transesteriﬁcation) as well as biomolecules or microorganisms (anaerobic assimilation, aging). In thermochemical handling advances, warm is the most vital parameter to be viewed as (notwithstanding when concoction responses are likewise present). Ignition advancements include handling innovations in which the crude material is oxidized with a vital warmth improvement. • Innovation Evaluation Because of the absence of assets and high costs of innovative work process, contributing on advancements is viewed as a test. Assessing advances is recommended as an apparatus for helping speculators and arrangement creators in basic leadership process. Innovation assessment is a kind of social examination, which explores on impacts of another innovation on society. At the end of the day, it is a precise examination device, which assesses signiﬁcance and circumstance of an innovation. In addition, if the innovation investigation is led periodical, intentional

Fig. 5 Diverse bioenergy technologies

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and on time, it could uncover unpredicted auxiliary natural, social and social impacts (Tran 2007). There are diverse innovation assessment techniques, for example, economic analysis, system, designing, impact analysis, scenario analysis, road mapping, risk analysis, and so on.

5 Ecological Effect Classiﬁcations The ecological effect classiﬁcations speak to the contrasted classes or kinds of ecological effects that are incorporated into the examination. They incorporate quantitative characterisation models that connection the stock streams, for instance ‘carbon dioxide emanation to air’ or ‘nitrate emanations to freshwater’, to equivalent ecological impacts with pointers, for this situation an Earth-wide temperature boost potential (GWP) and eutrophication separately. While a wide range of aspects of ecological science utilize ecological pointers, in LCA they are especially testing since they evaluate rudimentary streams and coming about ecological effects from over the entire, frequently all-inclusive circulated supply chain, and for an expanded time—commonly 100 a long time or more. It is critical to survey and assess the LCA results being aware of these difﬁculties. Note: the ecological effects of bioenergy/biofuel can be more extensive than can be essentially incorporated into a LCA. • Prerequisites – – – – – – – –

Impact classiﬁcations for use in the LCA are: Environmental change Petroleum derivatives asset exhaustion Petroleum derivative vitality utilize (net caloriﬁc esteem) Particulate issue development Eutrophication Destructive water utilize Arrive utilize.

6 Multi-usefulness and Allotment Multi-usefulness or co-generation alludes to a process that makes more than once helpful item yield. For instance, sugar stick processing produces sugar juice (which is reﬁned to sugar) and bagasse (which is for the most part utilized for cogeneration of steam and power). The sugar reﬁning produces crude sugar and molasses. It is an intrinsic piece of the bio-economy where numerous items depend on co-items or potentially deliver other valuable co-items. Feedstocks, which have regularly been

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thought of as waste, are in LCA terms considered as co-items where the feedstock has set up utilizes or potentially advertises. Prerequisites and suggestion The assignment of effects between individual items in multifunction forms will pursue the accompanying pecking order: – Subdivision of procedures; – Designation in light of causal connections of data sources and outflow to yield items; – Framework development for joint generation, and – Assignment in light of vitality content or ﬁnancial esteem. The impacts of elective ways to deal with multifunctionality ought to be shown in the commercialisation LCA. For waste utilized as a feedstock, the effects related with its dealing with and handling will be incorporated into the LCA. Moreover, the elective destiny of that material (landﬁll, left on ﬁeld) ought to be incorporated into the computation. For instance, for rice bodies that are right now discarded to landﬁll, a bioenergy procedure that gathers them for use in vitality generation would incorporate the evaded landﬁll impacts (e.g. maintained a strategic distance from methane emanations and dodged carbon stockpiling) in the framework limit.

References Alidrisi, H., & Demirbas, A. (2016). Enhanced electricity generation by using biomass materials. Energy Sources Part A Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects, 38(10), 1419–1427. Aslani, A., Antila, E., & Wong, K. F. V. (2012). Comparative analysis of energy security in the Nordic countries: The role of renewable energy resources in diversiﬁcation. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 4(6), 062701. Aslani, A., Mazzuca-Sobczuk, T., Eivazi, S., & Bekhrad, K. (2018). Analysis of bioenergy technologies development based on life cycle and adaptation trends. Renewable Energy, 127, 1076–1086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.05.035. Demirbas, A., Taylan, O., & Kaya, D. (2016). Biogas production from municipal sewage sludge (MSS). Energy Sources Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects, 34(23), 3027–3033. Dey, S., & Bhattacharya, P. (2016). Performance analysis of biogas plant for cooking applications and cost analysis. Energy Education Science and Technology Part B: Social and Educational Studies, 8(1), 1–12. Eskandary, H. (2017). Improving energy efﬁciency in agronomical systems. Energy Education Science and Technology Part A: Energy Science and Research, 35(1), 45–54. Jayakumar, P. (2009). Solar energy resources assessment handbook. In Prepared for Asian and Paciﬁc Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) of the United Nations—Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Paciﬁc (ESCAP) (p. 117). Karkoodi, S., Aslani, A., Talebi, M., Roumi, S., Abbassi, A. (2018). Transient 3D: Simulation of a flat plate solar collector in a mild climate condition. International Journal of Energy Optimization and Engineering. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijeoe.2018070105. Nasir, I. M., Ghazi, T. I. M., Omar, R., & Idris, A. (2014). Bioreactor performance in the anaerobic digestion of cattle manure: A review. Energy Sources Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 36(13), 1476–1483.

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Nigam, P. S., & Singh, A. (2011). Production of liquid biofuels from renewable resources. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 37, 52–68. Nizami, A. S., Shahzad, K., Rehan, M., Ouda, O. K. M., Khan, M. Z., Ismail, I. M. I., et al. (2017). Developing waste bioreﬁnery in Makkah: A way forward to convert urban waste into renewable energy. Applied Energy, 186(1), 186–196. Taylan, O., Kaya, D., Bakhsh, A. A., & Demirbas, A. (2018). Bioenergy life cycle assessment and management in energy generation. Energy Exploration & Exploitation, 36, 166–181. Tran, Th. (2007). Review of methods and tools applied in technology assessment literature. In PICMET ’07 - 2007 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering & Technology, IEEE Publisher. https://doi.org/10.1109/PICMET.2007.4349490 Werle, S., & Dudziak, M. (2014). Analysis of organic and inorganic contaminants in dried sewage sludge and by-products of dried sewage sludge gasiﬁcation. Energies, 7(1), 462–476.

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