IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i11p4475-d365828.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organizational Life Cycle Assessment of a Service Providing SME for Renewable Energy Projects (PV and Wind) in the United Kingdom

Author

Listed:
  • Hendrik Marx

    (Department of Environmental Technology, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17, Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

  • Silvia Forin

    (Department of Environmental Technology, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17, Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

  • Matthias Finkbeiner

    (Department of Environmental Technology, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17, Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Companies are increasingly interested in reducing their environmental footprint. Thereby, they face the challenge of identifying and mitigating their specific impacts and hotspots and simultaneously avoid burden shifting. The organizational life cycle assessment (OLCA) method was conceived and successfully tested for the assessment if companies’ potential environmental impacts. Still, the method poses methodological challenges for the application to service providing organizations. In this paper, OLCA was applied to a service providing SME in the photovoltaic and wind energy business in the United Kingdom. The environmental impact profile of the reporting organization is dominated by transport activities, including the technicians’ trips to the solar farms, employee commuting, and business travels. According to the main goals of the study (gaining insights in internal operations and improving organizational procedures), recommendations to reduce travel-related impacts are provided. For existing methodological challenges like selecting the reporting flow and setting the system boundaries, innovative solutions like defining multiple reporting flows for different activities and to partly include service receiving objects in system boundaries are discussed with the aim to facilitate future applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Hendrik Marx & Silvia Forin & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2020. "Organizational Life Cycle Assessment of a Service Providing SME for Renewable Energy Projects (PV and Wind) in the United Kingdom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4475-:d:365828
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4475/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4475/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pasquale Marcello Falcone & Sara González García & Enrica Imbert & Lucía Lijó & María Teresa Moreira & Almona Tani & Valentina Elena Tartiu & Piergiuseppe Morone, 2019. "Transitioning towards the bio‐economy: Assessing the social dimension through a stakeholder lens," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(5), pages 1135-1153, September.
    2. Mariarosa Argentiero & Pasquale Marcello Falcone, 2020. "The Role of Earth Observation Satellites in Maximizing Renewable Energy Production: Case Studies Analysis for Renewable Power Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wafaurahman Wafa & Amir Hamzah Sharaai & Nitanan Koshy Matthew & Sabrina Abdullah J Ho & Noor Ahmad Akhundzada, 2022. "Organizational Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (OLCSA) for a Higher Education Institution as an Organization: A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-29, February.
    2. Tamíris Pacheco da Costa & James Gillespie & Katarzyna Pelc & Natalie Shenker & Gillian Weaver & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan & Fionnuala Murphy, 2023. "An Organisational-Life Cycle Assessment Approach for Internet of Things Technologies Implementation in a Human Milk Bank," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Alberto Bezama & Nora Mittelstädt & Daniela Thrän & Fritz Balkau, 2021. "Trends and Challenges in Regional Life Cycle Management: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Enas Taha Sayed & Hussain Alawadhi & Khaled Elsaid & A. G. Olabi & Maryam Adel Almakrani & Shaikha Tamim Bin Tamim & Ghada H. M. Alafranji & Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem, 2020. "A Carbon-Cloth Anode Electroplated with Iron Nanostructure for Microbial Fuel Cell Operated with Real Wastewater," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-11, August.
    5. Hinrika Droege & Andrea Raggi & Tomás B. Ramos, 2021. "Co‐development of a framework for circular economy assessment in organisations: Learnings from the public sector," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1715-1729, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Louisa Pollok & Sebastian Spierling & Hans-Josef Endres & Ulrike Grote, 2021. "Social Life Cycle Assessments: A Review on Past Development, Advances and Methodological Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-29, September.
    2. Matías Membiela-Pollán & María Alló-Pazos & Carlos Pateiro-Rodríguez & Félix Blázquez-Lozano, 2019. "The Inefficiency of the Neoclassical Paradigm in the Promotion of Subjective Well-Being and Socioeconomic, and Environmental Sustainability: An Empirical Test for the Spanish Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Nils Thonemann & Anna Schulte & Daniel Maga, 2020. "How to Conduct Prospective Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Technologies? A Systematic Review and Methodological Guidance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Sebastian Hinderer & Leif Brändle & Andreas Kuckertz, 2021. "Transition to a Sustainable Bioeconomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Sanz-Hernández, Alexia & Jiménez-Caballero, Paula & Zarauz, Irene, 2022. "Gender and women in scientific literature on bioeconomy: A systematic review," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    6. Aleksander Grzelak & Jakub Staniszewski & Michał Borychowski, 2020. "Income or Assets—What Determines the Approach to the Environment among Farmers in A Region in Poland?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Durwin H.J. Lynch & Pim Klaassen & Lan van Wassenaer & Jacqueline E.W. Broerse, 2020. "Constructing the Public in Roadmapping the Transition to a Bioeconomy: A Case Study from the Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    8. Antonio Dominguez-Delgado & Helena Domínguez-Torres & Carlos-Antonio Domínguez-Torres, 2020. "Energy and Economic Life Cycle Assessment of Cool Roofs Applied to the Refurbishment of Social Housing in Southern Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-35, July.
    9. Sören Richter & Nora Szarka & Alberto Bezama & Daniela Thrän, 2022. "What Drives a Future German Bioeconomy? A Narrative and STEEPLE Analysis for Explorative Characterisation of Scenario Drivers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-32, March.
    10. Walter Leal Filho & Abdul-Lateef Balogun & Dinesh Surroop & Amanda Lange Salvia & Kapil Narula & Chunlan Li & Julian David Hunt & Andrea Gatto & Ayyoob Sharifi & Haibo Feng & Stella Tsani & Hossein Az, 2022. "Realising the Potential of Renewable Energy as a Tool for Energy Security in Small Island Developing States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.
    11. Margarida Casau & Marta Ferreira Dias & João C. O. Matias & Leonel J. R. Nunes, 2022. "Residual Biomass: A Comprehensive Review on the Importance, Uses and Potential in a Circular Bioeconomy Approach," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Jean Niyigaba & Jessica Ya Sun & Daiyan Peng & Clemence Uwimbabazi, 2020. "Agriculture and Green Economy for Environmental Kuznets Curve Adoption in Developing Countries: Insights from Rwanda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    13. Stéphane Abanades & Sylvain Rodat & Houssame Boujjat, 2021. "Solar Thermochemical Green Fuels Production: A Review of Biomass Pyro-Gasification, Solar Reactor Concepts and Modelling Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-33, March.
    14. D'Adamo, Idiano & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Imbert, Enrica & Morone, Piergiuseppe, 2020. "A Socio-economic Indicator for EoL Strategies for Bio-based Products," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    15. Idiano D’Adamo & Pasquale Marcello Falcone & Michael Martin & Paolo Rosa, 2020. "A Sustainable Revolution: Let’s Go Sustainable to Get Our Globe Cleaner," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-5, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4475-:d:365828. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.