Page 62 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

The Australian environment: impact assessment in a sunburnt country

the pretext of reducing climate change impacts. Because LCA has been developed and adapted 49
from Europe, the impact models have not included proper evaluation of land use in Australia.
Water extraction is also poorly characterised. Unless impact categories are specifically devel-
oped to account for these factors in Australia, unsustainable burden shifting will occur in
LCAs undertaken in this country. Certainly, before ‘total environment impacts’ can be charac-
terised for human activities in Australia, significant research is required to develop a logical set
of impact factors that explain the relative importance of water, land use and other unique
impacts in Australia within the full range of impacts. The challenge, as discussed further over
subsequent chapters, is therefore to develop LCA data, algorithms and methods that adequately
reflect the Australian environment.

5.7 References
ABS (1997) How Australians Use Their Time. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.
ABS (2004) Australian Bureau of Statistics Year Book Australia 2004. ABS Catalogue No. 1301.0.
Commonweath of Australia, Canberra.
Archer M and Beale B (2004) Going Native. Hachette Livre, Sydney.
Atech (2001) Woodheater Emissions Management Program for the Tamar Valley-Scoping Study.
Environment Australia, Canberra.
Beer T, Grant T, Morgan G, Lapszewicz J, Anyon P, Edwards J, Nelson P, Watson H and
Williams D (2001) ‘Comparison of transport fuels – final report to the Australian
Greenhouse Office on the Stage 2 study of life-cycle emissions analysis of alternative fuels
for heavy vehicles.’ CSIRO, Aspendale, Victoria.
Environment Australia (2001) ‘State of knowledge report: air toxics and indoor air quality.’
Environment Australia, Canberra.
Frischknecht R and Jungbluth N (2004) ‘Ecoinvent report no. 1 – overview and methodology.’
Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf.
Goedkoop M and Spriensma R (1999) ‘The Eco-Indicator 99. A damage oriented method for
Life Cycle Impact Assessment.’ PRe Consultants, Amersfoort, The Netherlands.
Grant T and Beer T (2000) ‘Life-cycle assessment of alternative fuels for heavy vehicles
in Australia.’ Fourth International Conference on EcoBalance, Epochal Tsukuba,
Tsukuba, Japan, 31 October–2 November 2000. The Society of Non Traditional Technology,
Tokyo.
Huijbregts MAJ, Lundi S, McKone TE and van de Meent D (2003) Geographical scenario
uncertainty in generic fate and exposure factors of toxic pollutants for life-cycle impact
assessment. Chemosphere 51, 501–508.
ISO (2001) International Organization for Standardization ‘ISO 14048 – Environmental man-
agement technical specification – Life cycle assessment – Data documentation.
Lenzen M and Murray SA (2001) A modified ecological footprint method and its application
to Australia. Ecological Economics 37, 229–255.
NLWRA (2002) Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment. National Land and Water
Resources Audit. Land and Water Australia, Canberra.
Olsen P, Silcocks A, Weston M and Tzaros C (2006) ‘Birds of woodlands and grasslands.’ Paper
prepared for the 2006 Australian State of the Environment Committee. Department of the
Environment and Heritage, Canberra.
Ross S and Evans D (2003) Excluding site-specific data from the LCA inventory: how this affects
life cycle impact assessment. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 7(3), 141–150.
SoE (2006) ‘Australia State of the Environment 2006.’ Department of the Environment and
Heritage, Canberra.

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