Huellas de carbono y de agua en un laboratorio ambiental: estrategias de gestión del agua, la energía y los envases

Abstract

Environmental laboratories can be spaces where water and energy and resources can be used more efficiently, considering your accreditation requirements. The aim of this study is to evaluate the carbon and water footprints within an environmental laboratory based on water, energy and resource (packaging) management. The methodology used life cycle analysis applied (ISO 14040:2006, ISO 14044:2007) to 17 assays water (natural water/wastewater) types from an accredited environmental laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025). System boundaries corresponded to cradle to gate, using 1 analyzed water sample as functional unit. This study evaluated several sceneries: (EB) baseline scenario, (E1) energy consumption reduction, (E2) energy matrix 100% renewable, and (E3) material consumption reduction. Results showed that the laboratory in normal conditions generates a carbon footprint of 10.10 kg CO2-eq/sample (82% energy used); and the water footprint of 11.76 m3/sample (97% indirect water). The E2 allowed to reduce the 75% of the carbon footprint, decreasing emissions up to 12 times (1,583 kg CO2-eq/year). Meanwhile, the E3 led to a 6% reduction in the water footprint, decreasing direct water consumption up to 0.3%. Although costs are not significantly affected by these scenarios, savings in energy consumption based on phantom power (E1) can reduce by 7.8% cost per each water sample analyzed (83 USD/year).