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Sangwon Suh

Bio: Sangwon Suh is an academic researcher from University of California, Santa Barbara. The author has contributed to research in topics: Life-cycle assessment & Greenhouse gas. The author has an hindex of 59, co-authored 182 publications receiving 18857 citations. Previous affiliations of Sangwon Suh include Carnegie Mellon University & National Institute for Environmental Studies.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of recent developments of LCA methods, focusing on some areas where there has been an intense methodological development during the last years, and some of the emerging issues.

2,683 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The LCA framework and procedure is introduced, how to define and model a product's life cycle is outlined, and an overview of available methods and tools for tabulating and compiling associated emissions and resource consumption data in a life cycle inventory (LCI) is provided.

2,357 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The most comprehensive and most highly resolved economic input–output framework of the world economy together with a detailed database of global material flows are used to calculate the full material requirements of all countries covering a period of two decades and demonstrate that countries’ use of nondomestic resources is about threefold larger than the physical quantity of traded goods.
Abstract: Metrics on resource productivity currently used by governments suggest that some developed countries have increased the use of natural resources at a slower rate than economic growth (relative decoupling) or have even managed to use fewer resources over time (absolute decoupling). Using the material footprint (MF), a consumption-based indicator of resource use, we find the contrary: Achievements in decoupling in advanced economies are smaller than reported or even nonexistent. We present a time series analysis of the MF of 186 countries and identify material flows associated with global production and consumption networks in unprecedented specificity. By calculating raw material equivalents of international trade, we demonstrate that countries’ use of nondomestic resources is, on average, about threefold larger than the physical quantity of traded goods. As wealth grows, countries tend to reduce their domestic portion of materials extraction through international trade, whereas the overall mass of material consumption generally increases. With every 10% increase in gross domestic product, the average national MF increases by 6%. Our findings call into question the sole use of current resource productivity indicators in policy making and suggest the necessity of an additional focus on consumption-based accounting for natural resource use.

1,182 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors combined market information and material flow modeling to produce the first global assessment of the likely ENM emissions to the environment and landfills, estimating that 63-91% of over 260,000-309,000 metric tons of global ENM production in 2010 ended up in landfill, with the balance released into soils, water bodies, and atmosphere.
Abstract: Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are now becoming a significant fraction of the material flows in the global economy. We are already reaping the benefits of improved energy efficiency, material use reduction, and better performance in many existing and new applications that have been enabled by these technological advances. As ENMs pervade the global economy, however, it becomes important to understand their environmental implications. As a first step, we combined ENM market information and material flow modeling to produce the first global assessment of the likely ENM emissions to the environment and landfills. The top ten most produced ENMs by mass were analyzed in a dozen major applications. Emissions during the manufacturing, use, and disposal stages were estimated, including intermediate steps through wastewater treatment plants and waste incineration plants. In 2010, silica, titania, alumina, and iron and zinc oxides dominate the ENM market in terms of mass flow through the global economy, used mostly in coatings/paints/pigments, electronics and optics, cosmetics, energy and environmental applications, and as catalysts. We estimate that 63–91 % of over 260,000–309,000 metric tons of global ENM production in 2010 ended up in landfills, with the balance released into soils (8–28 %), water bodies (0.4–7 %), and atmosphere (0.1–1.5 %). While there are considerable uncertainties in the estimates, the framework for estimating emissions can be easily improved as better data become available. The material flow estimates can be used to quantify emissions at the local level, as inputs for fate and transport models to estimate concentrations in different environmental compartments.

1,159 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The amount of plastics accumulating in the environment is growing rapidly, yet our understanding of its persistence is very limited as discussed by the authors, and the amount of plastic waste is currently generated at a rate approaching 400 Mt year−1.
Abstract: Plastic waste is currently generated at a rate approaching 400 Mt year–1. The amount of plastics accumulating in the environment is growing rapidly, yet our understanding of its persistence is very...

1,087 citations


Cited by
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01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: The work of the IPCC Working Group III 5th Assessment report as mentioned in this paper is a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change, which has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.
Abstract: The talk with present the key results of the IPCC Working Group III 5th assessment report. Concluding four years of intense scientific collaboration by hundreds of authors from around the world, the report responds to the request of the world's governments for a comprehensive, objective and policy neutral assessment of the current scientific knowledge on mitigating climate change. The report has been extensively reviewed by experts and governments to ensure quality and comprehensiveness.

3,224 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, un estudio en donde se proporciona una revision extensa de la literatura de las two ultimas decadas, con el proposito de captar las principales caracteristicas y perspectivas of la CE (Economia circular): origenes, principios basicos, ventajas and desventajas, Modelado e implementacion of CE in los diferentes niveles (micro, meso, and macro) in todo el world.

3,121 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: With version 3, the ecoinvent database substantially expands the goals and scopes of LCA studies it can support, and the new system models allow new, different studies to be performed.
Abstract: Purpose Good background data are an important requirement in LCA. Practitioners generally make use of LCI databases for such data, and the ecoinvent database is the largest transparent unit-process LCI database worldwide. Since its first release in 2003, it has been continuously updated, and version 3 was published in 2013. The release of version 3 introduced several significant methodological and technological improvements, besides a large number of new and updated datasets. The aim was to expand the content of the database, set the foundation for a truly global database, support regionalized LCIA, offer multiple system models, allow for easier integration of data from different regions, and reduce maintenance efforts. This article describes the methodological developments.

2,696 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of recent developments of LCA methods, focusing on some areas where there has been an intense methodological development during the last years, and some of the emerging issues.

2,683 citations