Life Cycle Assessment to support the quantification of the environmental impacts of an event

Abstract In recent years, several tools have been used to define and quantify the environmental impacts associated with an event; however, a lack of uniform approaches for conducting environmental evaluations has been revealed. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, which is rarely applied to an event, can be an appropriate tool for calculating the environmental impacts associated with the assembly, disassembly, and use phase of an event analysing in particular the components and the displays used to establish the exhibits. The aim is also to include the issues reported by ISO 20121:2012 involving the interested parties that can be monitored but also affected by the event owner, namely the event organiser, the workforce and the supply chain. A small event held in Northern Italy was selected as the subject of the research. The results obtained show that the main contributors are energy consumption for lighting and heating and the use of aluminium materials, such as bars for supporting the spotlights, carpet and the electronic equipment. A sensitivity analysis for estimating the effects of the impact assessment method chosen has also been conducted and an uncertainty analysis has been performed using the Monte Carlo technique. This study highlighted the importance of the energy consumed by heating and lighting on the environmental implications, and indicated that the preparation and assembly should always be considered when quantifying the environmental profile of an event.

[1]  P. Manomaivibool.  Wasteful tourism in developing economy? A present situation and sustainable scenarios , 2015 .

[2]  Mingxing Chen,et al.  The impacts of Chinese Nian culture on air pollution , 2016 .

[3]  Abir Al-Tabbaa,et al.  Using a hybrid LCA method to evaluate the sustainability of sediment remediation at the London Olympic Park , 2014 .

[4]  J. oliver-solà,et al.  Service Sector Metabolism: Accounting for Energy Impacts of the Montjuic Urban Park in Barcelona , 2007 .

[5]  Paul Teehan,et al.  Reducing the carbon footprint of spectator and team travel at the University of British Columbia's varsity sports events , 2015 .

[6]  Lorenz M. Hilty,et al.  Environmental impacts of an international conference , 2002 .

[7]  R. Buckley,et al.  Carbon labels in tourism: Persuasive communication? , 2016 .

[8]  Amip J. Shah,et al.  The life cycle assessment of a UK data centre , 2015, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[9]  Melissa M Bilec,et al.  Toward zero waste: composting and recycling for sustainable venue based events. , 2015, Waste management.

[10]  Cecilia Chirieleison,et al.  Evaluating local government costs and revenues: The case of an Italian privately owned for-profit event , 2013 .

[11]  E. Lundberg,et al.  Commensurability and sustainability: Triple impact assessments of a tourism event , 2013 .

[12]  Carina Bregnholm Ren,et al.  Cool or hot Greenland? Exhibiting and enacting sustainable Arctic futures , 2016 .

[13]  Chia-Kuen Cheng,et al.  Modeling daily visits to the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition , 2014 .

[14]  S. Page,et al.  Progress and prospects for event tourism research , 2016 .

[15]  Xianguo Wu,et al.  Eco-footprint-based life-cycle eco-efficiency assessment of building projects , 2014 .

[16]  Yan Ma,et al.  Greenhouse gases emissions from solid waste: an analysis of Expo 2010 Shanghai, China , 2014 .

[17]  Laura Parte-Esteban,et al.  Measuring the efficiency of trade shows: A Spanish case study , 2015 .

[18]  Charles Arcodia,et al.  Promoting sustainable event practice: The role of professional associations , 2010 .

[19]  Joan Rieradevall,et al.  Life cycle assessment of wood wastes: A case study of ephemeral architecture. , 2006, The Science of the total environment.

[20]  Dieuwertje Schrijvers,et al.  Developing a systematic framework for consistent allocation in LCA , 2016, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[21]  Robert M. Handler,et al.  The methodology and results of using life cycle assessment to measure and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions footprint of “Major Events” at the University of Arizona , 2016, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[22]  Yim King Penny Wan,et al.  Green events, value perceptions, and the role of consumer involvement in festival design and performance , 2015 .

[23]  Cigdem Demir,et al.  Graphic Design for a Permanent Exhibition: Exhibition Design of the Museum Mimar Kemaleddin , 2012 .

[24]  S. Vinodh,et al.  Sustainability through disassembly modeling, planning, and leveling: a case study , 2011, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy.

[25]  A. Manzardo,et al.  Is ecosystem restoration worth the effort? The rehabilitation of a Finnish river affects recreational ecosystem services , 2015 .

[26]  G. Prayag,et al.  London residents' support for the 2012 Olympic Games: The mediating effect of overall attitude , 2013 .

[27]  T. Nemecek,et al.  Overview and methodology: Data quality guideline for the ecoinvent database version 3 , 2013 .

[28]  Emmanuel Rey,et al.  Toward the Reduction of Environmental Impacts of Temporary Event Structures , 2014 .

[29]  Bing Li,et al.  Greenhouse gas emission and its potential mitigation process from the waste sector in a large-scale exhibition. , 2015, Journal of environmental sciences.

[30]  W. Frost,et al.  How green was my festival: Exploring challenges and opportunities associated with staging green events , 2010 .

[31]  Gerald Rebitzer,et al.  IMPACT 2002+: A new life cycle impact assessment methodology , 2003 .

[32]  J. C. Brezet,et al.  Two life cycle assessment (LCA) based methods to analyse and design complex (regional) circular economy systems. Case: making water tourism more sustainable , 2016 .

[33]  Henrikke Baumann,et al.  The hitch hiker's guide to LCA : an orientation in life cycle assessment methodology and application , 2004 .

[34]  Flavio Scrucca,et al.  A new method to assess the sustainability performance of events: Application to the 2014 World Orienteering Championship , 2016 .

[35]  Patrick Hofstetter,et al.  Midpoints versus endpoints: The sacrifices and benefits , 2000 .

[36]  M Núñez,et al.  Temporary structures as a generator of waste in covered trade fairs. , 2009, Waste management.

[37]  A Scipioni,et al.  LCA to choose among alternative design solutions: the case study of a new Italian incineration line. , 2009, Waste management.

[38]  Andrea Jayne Collins,et al.  Assessing the environmental impacts of mega sporting events: Two options? , 2009 .

[39]  D. Pennington,et al.  Life Cycle Impact Assessment Workshop Summary Midpoints versus Endpoints: The Sacrifices and Benefits , 2000 .

[40]  Lawrence C. Bank,et al.  Portals to an Architecture: Design of a temporary structure with paper tube arches , 2012 .

[41]  I. Kowarik,et al.  Operational performance indicators for litter management at festivals in semi-natural landscapes , 2012 .

[42]  Caroline Sablayrolles,et al.  Life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to the process industry: a review , 2012, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[43]  Utilizing the past: Valorizing post-mining potential in Central Europe , 2015 .

[44]  Yu Fen Chen,et al.  Attendees' perspectives on the service quality of an exhibition organizer: A case study of a tourism exhibition , 2012 .

[45]  S. Thomas Ng,et al.  Comparing the midpoint and endpoint approaches based on ReCiPe—a study of commercial buildings in Hong Kong , 2014, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[46]  Cheryl Mallen,et al.  “What could be” in Canadian sport facility environmental sustainability , 2012 .

[47]  KiKwan Yoon,et al.  Impact of Pavilion Quality on Exhibitor Performance at an International Trade Exhibition , 2012 .

[48]  Rita Gamberini,et al.  Life cycle assessment of a large, thin ceramic tile with advantageous technological properties , 2014, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.