Page 259 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

10 Life Cycle Impact Assessment 245

indoor and outdoor environments, the archetypal approach capturing best the
dominating differences between urban and rural areas and a number of other
improvements (Fantke et al. 2015).
Most LCIA characterisation methods addressing particulate matter formation
follow the framework described in this section. There are some methods, however,
that characterise impacts from particles as part of the ‘human toxicity’ impact
category (e.g. CML 2002 and EDIP 2003), while most methods (including all
methods developed after 2010) characterise human toxicity impacts from chemicals
and impacts from particles as separate impact categories, mainly due to the dif-
ferences in available data that allow using more refined models and less generic
assumptions for the impact assessment of particle emissions.
The most recent characterisation models—all damage-oriented—include work
by van Zelm et al. (2008) providing characterisation factors for primary and sec-
ondary PM 10 for Europe based on a source receptor model, work by Gronlund et al.
(2015) giving archetypal characterisation factors for primary PM 2.5 and secondary
PM 2.5 precursors based on US data and work by van Zelm et al. (2016) proposing
averaged primary and secondary PM 2.5 characterisation factors for 56 world regions
based on a global atmospheric transport model. However, none of the currently
available approaches includes indoor sources, is able to distinguish emission situ-
ations at the city level or considers the non-linear nature of available
exposure-response curves, which is why further research is needed for this impact
category. For further details see Chap. 40 and Hauschild and Huijbregts (2015).

10.14 Land Use

10.14.1 Problem

Land use refers to anthropogenic activities in a given soil area. Examples of land
use are agricultural and forestry production, urban settlement and mineral extrac-
tion. The land use type in a specific area can be identified by the physical coverage
of its surface, for example tomato crop grows in open-field orchards or under
greenhouses, artificial surfaces with infrastructure are the expression of human
settlements and open-pits are a sign of ore extraction. There is thus a direct link
between land use and land cover, which is used to analyse land use dynamics and
landscape change patterns.
Soil is a finite resource, which contributes to the environmental consequences of
its use. Soil loss actually occurs quantitatively with the average soil formation rate
being extremely low compared to the soil depletion rate. It also affects qualitative
soil attributes, because degrading takes place via unsustainable management
practices for the highest quality soils, which are those able to fulfil a greater
diversity of purposes. As soil or land surface available at a given time is limited,
land-use competition between resource users for occupying the same space often