Title: Environmental analysis of beer production

Authors: Almudena Hospido, Maria Teresa Moreira, Gumersindo Feijoo

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela (A Coruna), Spain. ' Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela (A Coruna), Spain. ' Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela (A Coruna), Spain

Abstract: The concept of sustainable development is focused on the improvement of the quality of life, avoiding the unbalanced utilisation of natural resources. Several concepts have recently been developed to evaluate the use of resources and the environmental management from an individual to a global scope. One of them, Life Cycle Assessment, has been considered for the environmental analysis of a product of consumption: beer. The results of this study show that whereas beer production itself has been found to be accountable for a small portion of the environmental performance of the life cycle of beer, production and the manufacture of the packaging elements as well as the harvesting and transport of cereals are responsible for the largest percentage. Consequently, improvements have to be made regarding these aspects to achieve more respectful behaviour towards the environment.

Keywords: beer production; environment; environmental management; food industry; LCA; lifecycle assessment; lifecycle analysis; environmental impact; environmental analysis; environmental performance; packaging; cereals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2005.007197

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2005 Vol.4 No.2, pp.152 - 162

Published online: 06 Jun 2005 *

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