PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Environmental sustainability actions in industry can create new opportunities for growth. The construction sector is responsible for 30% of industrial employment in the European Union, and contributes over 10% of the gross domestic product of the EU. Construction also accounts for some 40% of the EU’s total energy consumption and contributes almost 36% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To alleviate these significant environmental impacts, there has been a growing orientation towards more sustainable construction processes, with a special focus on resource use efficiency and materials with lower environmental impacts over their entire life-cycle. Such a focus demands a unified vision that integrates social, environmental and economic aspects of corporate strategy within one single framework.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE: Force of the Future project aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of introducing dynamic monitoring of environmental, economic and social impacts of a ceramic company, by integrating sustainability issues into the existing production data for the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP). This would be done by creating an integrated management tool able to identify and design both technological and sustainable properties of materials and processes. The concept of "new production systems" would be applied by means of a model assessing the environmental, economic, and social impact of a process that would be integrated into existing ERP systems. The model would include life-cycle assessment (LCA), life-cycle costing (LCC) and social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA). It would help support the choice of raw materials and the design and manufacturing phases of products.
The LIFE project aimed to develop, at both prototype and small-scale production level, a new product line of ceramic tiles characterised by a higher index of sustainability compared to current production. The project would contribute to the implementation of the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy and to the enhancement of resource efficiency opportunities in the building sector (in line with the Communication, COM/2014/0445). Project objectives were in harmony with the goals of the Industrial Emissions Directive.
RESULTS
LIFE: Force of the Future demonstrated the feasibility of introducing dynamic monitoring of the environmental, economic and social impacts of a ceramic company, by integrating sustainability issues into the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP).
The project team produced:
- A new model/method for the dynamic sustainability assessment of product/process (DYCTA).
- A new brand of sustainable ceramic tiles (G3NIUS) expected to be commercialised and sold in big retailer stores (e.g. agreements with Leroy Merlin).
- A business plan for the developed ceramic tile, expecting a large increase in sales.
- A plan for replication of the developed method in other ceramic companies, and in similar sectors within European/National funded projects
During the demonstration of the new approach, environmental benefits were evaluated:
- 9% reduction of atmospheric emissions, with a much higher quantitative impact (about 70 000 tons of CO2 eq.) thanks to the unexpected commercialisation soon after project end of the ceramic tile developed.
- Reduction of transport-related emissions, thanks to the introduction of local raw materials in the ceramic formulation, reducing the distance travelled and favouring more sustainable transport choices (train instead of ships).
- 4% reduction of energy consumption, though below expectations (about 220 000 kWh in quantitative terms by project end) mainly due to the reduction in energy for transport and to the fact that the final ceramic mixture has only a mild impact in lowering the tile firing temperature. However, in the long-term, considering an expected production ranging from 1 to 10 million square meters of tiles in the next 5 years, the energy saved will be between 2 and 25 GWh.
- Some ceramic formulations with recycled ceramic fired scraps were also analysed but eventually found not to be economically feasible, also considering the limited benefits on the overall environmental impacts of these solutions (reduction in ceramic waste, but increase in energy requirements for milling the ceramic scraps).
Considering the environmental benefits achieved, the project contributes to achieving the objectives of a range of EU policy areas, including the Circular Economy Package, Resource Efficiency in the building sector, Industrial Emissions Directive, Water Framework Directive, Criteria for sustainable procurement, and Eco-labelling for the European ceramic product, as well as the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).
