Title: Exergy-based model for quantifying land resource in China: a case study of sintered brick

Authors: Boxue Sun; Yu Liu; Zuoren Nie; Yufeng Zhang; Feng Gao

Addresses: Center of National Materials Life Cycle Assessment, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China ' Center of National Materials Life Cycle Assessment, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China ' Center of National Materials Life Cycle Assessment, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China ' Center of National Materials Life Cycle Assessment, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China ' Center of National Materials Life Cycle Assessment, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

Abstract: Land use and resource depletion are two main considerations in life cycle assessment (LCA). Unfortunately, the relationship between land use and resource depletion is always ignored and only a few studies tried to connect them. The objective of this paper is to establish an exergy-based model for quantifying land resource in China, which includes both the occupation phase and the renaturalisation phase of land use, and implement this model into a case study on sintered brick production. The results show that the exergy loss caused by land use accounts for an innegligible percentage in the cumulative exergy extracted from natural environment (CEENE) of sintered brick; the results also show that the duration of renaturalisation and the type of land are the cardinal factors for improving the accuracy of results.

Keywords: exergy loss; land resources; resource depletion; sintered brick production; China; modelling; case study; land use; life cycle assessment; LCA; land renaturalisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2014.066611

International Journal of Exergy, 2014 Vol.15 No.4, pp.429 - 446

Received: 05 Jun 2013
Accepted: 17 Nov 2013

Published online: 30 Apr 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article