Page 114 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

110 5. Development and applicability of life cycle impact assessment methodologies

impact of different products. The pros and cons of two products in the social impact aspect
have been investigated, and the best product has been chosen.
In 2009, Blom and Solmar evaluated the behavior of ethyl alcohol, biodiesel, and marsh gas
in their own life cycle on the basis of the S-LCA technical framework put forward in Guide-
lines, from the human rights, the working conditions, health, safety, the culture heritage, the
government management, and the sociometric reverberation. The method combined with the
qualitative and quantitative methods has been used to score three kinds of fuels. The result
shows that the social impact of marsh gas is the best and that ethyl alcohol is the worst, which
proves that the biofuels have superiority in social impact.
In 2014, Hosseinijou et al. evaluated the social life cycle impact of rolled steel and cement
used in northern Iran, on the basis of the classification of stakeholders raised in Guidelines. The
paper simplified the inventory by analyzing material flow and expert interviews, and the an-
alytic hierarchy process has been used to conduct quantitative evaluation. The result shows
that rolled steel is better than cement, viewed from the angle of the S-LCA. According to the
study result, the author also put forward some proposals for the two industries.
Hunkeler (2006) took labor time as the intermediate variable and quantificationally turned
the environmental cost of products into the social endpoint impact, according to the labor
time used to pay for the social life (residence, medical treatment, education, and so on). This
characterization method has been used to evaluate the social life assessment of two different
detergents.
Some scholars have built the social impact assessment models of products on the basis of
the S-LCA methods. By using and studying these cases, the key factors of the social impact of
product have been found out. In 2013, Maink et al. carried out the work of the S-LCA about the
palm biofuel produced in Jambi province, Indonesia. According to the research result,exploit-
ative labor relations are the most important factor for the sustainable development of palm
biofuel. Local communities and laborers bear the major social cost of the industry develop-
ment. Aparcana and Salhofer (2013), in 2014, suggested the use of the S-LCA method to eval-
uate the social impact assessment of the garbage collection and recycling system in low
income countries. The three-level evaluation index system of the garbage collection and
recycling system in low income countries has been built on the basis of the S-LCA method,
and the social impact has been evaluated by 26 semiquantitative indexes.
Feschet et al. (2013) set up the quantization conversion approach of the changes in health
status and the economic benefit in the social impact, in accordance with the Preston curve in
economics (the relation between the life span and the GDP, raised by Preston). They also used
this approach to study Cameroon’s banana industry. In 2015, Dong and Thomas put forward
the stakeholders and the production phase from cradle to grave based on Guidelines. They
chose three stakeholders and the phase from cradle to construction completed; the weight
was determined by expert decision. Finally, the building social impact evaluation model
was built, which was used to evaluate the social life cycle assessment of an engineering project
in Hong Kong.
In 2013, Ekener and Finnveden used the S-LCA theory to identify the potential social
spots of a notebook computer. The potential social impact in this case has also been studied.
Baumann et al. (2013) used the empirical S-LCA method to compare the damage, which
was caused by the supplemental restraint system in its life cycle, and salvation. The
main evaluation index was the disability adjusted life year. The result showed that the