Dr.-Ing.

Albrecht, Stefan

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  • Publication
    LCA study of unconsumed food and the influence of consumer behavior
    ( 2016)
    Gruber, Lisa Marie
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    Brandstetter, Christian Peter
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    Bos, Ulrike
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    Lindner, Jan Paul orcid-logo
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    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
    Purpose: In the light of anthropogenic resource depletion and the resulting influences on the greenhouse effect as well as globally occurring famine, food waste has garnered increased public interest in recent years. The aim of this study is to analyze the environmental impacts of food waste and to determine to what extent consumers' behavior influences the environmental burden of food consumption in households. Methods: A life cycle assessment (LCA) study of three food products is conducted, following the ISO 14040/44 life cycle assessment guidelines. This study addresses the impact categories climate change (GWP100), eutrophication (EP), and acidification (AP). Primary energy demand (PED) is also calculated. For adequate representation of consumer behavior, scenarios based on various consumer types are generated in the customer stage. The customer stage includes the food-related activities: shopping, storage, preparation, and disposal of food products as well as the disposal of the sales packaging. Results and discussion: If the consumer acts careless towards the environment, the customer stage appears as the main hotspot in the LCA of food products. The environmental impact of food products can be reduced in the customer stage by an environmentally conscious consumer. Shopping has the highest effect on the evaluated impact categories and the PED. Additionally, consumers can reduce the resulting emissions by decreasing the electric energy demand, particularly concerning food storage or preparation. Moreover, results show that the avoidance of wasting unconsumed food can reduce the environmental impact significantly. Conclusions: Results of this study show that the influence of consumer behavior on the LCA results is important. The customer stage of food products should not be overlooked in LCA studies. To enable comparison among results of other LCA studies, the LCA community needs to develop a common methodology for modeling consumer behavior.
  • Publication
    LCA's theory and practice: Like ebony and ivory living in perfect harmony?
    ( 2013)
    Baitz, Martin
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    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
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    Brauner, Eloise
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    Broadbent, Clare
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    Castellan, Guy
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    Conrath, Pierre
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    Fava, James
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    Finkbeiner, Matthias
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    Fischer, Matthias orcid-logo
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    Fullana i Palmer, Pere
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    Krinke, Stephan
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    Leroy, Christian
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    Loebel, Oliver
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    McKeown, Phil
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    Mersiowsky, Ivo
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    Möginger, Bernhard
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    Pfaadt, Marcus
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    Rebitzer, Gerald
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    Rother, Elmar
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    Ruhland, Klaus
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    Schanssema, Aafko
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    Tikana, Ladji
    This editorial aims to improve cooperation in the use of LCA in both theory and practice. The successful development of LCA requires, on one hand, an influx of new ideas and harmonized methodologies, and on the other hand, thriving and credible application. The authors share the implications of LCA in daily businesses and practice and aim to nurture and strengthen the interfaces between scientific findings and application. Working together to encourage a broader application of "good practice" LCA in industry as well as strengthening scientific LCA work towards "applicable science" will develop and reinforce professional LCA work and technical implementation in the academic and business arena. This article is written with a primary focus on industrial applications and research in applied science and with less emphasis on specific governmental applications.
  • Publication
    An extended life cycle analysis of packaging systems for fruit and vegetable transport in Europe
    ( 2013)
    Albrecht, Stefan orcid-logo
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    Brandstetter, Peter
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    Beck, Tabea
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    Fullana-i-Palmer, Pere
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    Grönman, Kaisa
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    Baitz, Martin
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    Deimling, Sabine
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    Sandilands, Julie
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    Fischer, Matthias orcid-logo
    Purpose: The year-round supply of fresh fruit and vegetables in Europe requires a complex logistics system. In this study, the most common European fruit and vegetable transport packaging systems, namely single-use wooden and cardboard boxes and re-useable plastic crates, are analyzed and compared considering environmental, economic, and social impacts. Methods: The environmental, economic, and social potentials of the three transport packaging systems are examined and compared from a life cycle perspective using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Working Environment (LCWE) methodologies. Relevant parameters influencing the results are analyzed in different scenarios, and their impacts are quantified. The underlying environmental analysis is an ISO 14040 and 14044 comparative Life Cycle Assessment that was critically reviewed by an independent expert panel. Results and discussion: The results show that wooden boxes and plastic crates perform very similarly in the Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, and Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential categories; while plastic crates have a lower impact in the Eutrophication Potential and Abiotic Resource Depletion Potential categories. Cardboard boxes show the highest impacts in all assessed categories. The analysis of the life cycle costs show that the re-usable system is the most cost effective over its entire life cycle. For the production of a single crate, the plastic crates require the most human labor. The share of female employment for the cardboard boxes is the lowest. All three systems require a relatively large share of low-qualified employees. The plastic crate system shows a much lower lethal accident rate. The higher rate for the wooden and cardboard boxes arises mainly from wood logging. In addition, the sustainability consequences due to the influence of packaging in preventing food losses are discussed, and future research combining aspects both from food LCAs and transport packing/packaging LCAs is recommended. Conclusions: For all three systems, optimization potentials regarding their environmental life cycle performance were identified. Wooden boxes (single use) and plastic crates (re-usable) show preferable environmental performance. The calibration of the system parameters, such as end-of-life treatment, showed environmental optimization potentials in all transport packaging systems. The assessment of the economic and the social dimensions in parallel is important in order to avoid trade-offs between the three sustainability dimensions. Merging economic and social aspects into a Life Cycle Assessment is becoming more and more important, and their integration into one model ensures a consistent modeling approach for a manageable effort.