Green GDP Indicator with Application to Life Cycle of Sugar Industry in Thailand
Ekkaporn Nawapanan, Ratchayuda Kongboon, Sate Sampattagul
Sustainability · 2022
The objective of this study was to develop new indicators that reflect economic growth by taking into account the impact on the environment and natural resources as well. The indicator calculated by subtracting environmental cost from the “Gross Domestic Product (GDP)” and is used in the assessment of the GDP by taking into consideration the cost of natural resources and the environment, called “green GDP”. This study uses Life Cycle Assessment, which is a technique used to assess the environmental impact of sugar industry from raw materials, distribution, production, and waste management. The system boundary for the life cycle inventory are cultivation, planting, transportation and sugar production. The results of the green GDP and GDP is difference about 6–12% due to the depletion cost resulting from the use of natural resources between 9.0–9.52 $/ton of sugar production and the degradation cost caused by the airborne emission and waterborne emission between 37–57 $/ton of sugar production. The quantity of Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) generated from the sugar production process is the main causing the environmental cost about 55%. In order to solve environmental causes, the policy making as Circular Economy Strategies can be used to meet the sustainable development in the future.
Author Correction: Life cycle assessment of maize cultivation and biomass utilization in northern Thailand
Titaporn Supasri, Norihiro Itsubo, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Sate Sampattagul
Scientific Reports · 2021
In the original version of this Article errors were made during the conversion from rai to hectares. As a result, in the Introduction, "In 2017, the maize harvested area in Thailand was 41 million hectares, which increased from year 2016 by 1.26%. " now reads: "In 2017, the maize production in Thailand was 41 million tonnes, which increased from year 2016 by 1.26%. "
Health Risk Map related to Particulate Matter Exposure in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Kannika Jarernwong, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Sate Sampattagul
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · 2021
Ambient Particulate Matter; PM2.5, with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than or equal to 2.5 µm, has emerged as the most critical health hazard concerning air pollution. The small size enables ambient particulate matter to go through the respiratory system, easily entering the lung or blood stream. Chiang Mai is one of the cities with the highest level of PM2.5 that exceeds the standard level of PM2.5 concentration (10µg/m3, recommended by the World Health Organization). High concentration levels have severe consequences for the health of the population in Chiang Mai. The objective of this study is to estimate the risk area of health impact due to exposure to PM2.5 in Chiang Mai. This study illustrates the data of PM2.5 concentration gathered from ground-based monitoring sites named DustBoy and data of hospital admissions from the Chiang Mai Provincial Public Health to reveal the population exposure related to human health effects such as heart diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease. In addition, correlation coefficient is employed to estimate the relationship between population exposure to the high ambient PM2.5 and the health effect due to PM2.5 pollution. The results are presented in the Chiang Mai Risk Map as a spatial pattern of population exposure using the spatial distribution method. These results support the high correlation between population exposure to PM2.5 and health impact and strongly suggest priority areas to prevent and control air pollution and social equality in health.
Empowering a Sustainable City Using Self-Assessment of Environmental Performance on EcoCitOpia Platform
Ratchayuda Kongboon, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Sate Sampattagul
Sustainability · 2021
In Thailand, many municipalities lack the information to guide decision-making for improving environmental performance. They need tools to systematize the collection and analysis of data, and then to self-assess environmental performance to increase efficiency in environmental management toward a sustainable city. The aim of this study is to develop a platform for self-assessment of an environmental performance index. Nonthaburi municipality, Hat Yai municipality, and Yasothon municipality were selected to study the work context for six indicators, viz., energy, greenhouse gas, water, air, waste, and green area, which were important environmental problems. The development of an online system called “EcoCitOpia” divides municipality assessment into four parts: data collection, database creation, data analysis, and data display. The municipality can use the system for the assessment of environmental performance and the creation of a separate database based on indicators. The system can analyze the results and display them in the form of radar graphs, line graphs, and tables for use in public communication that will lead to cooperation in solving environmental problems at the policy level for urban development to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.
Life cycle assessment of maize cultivation and biomass utilization in northern Thailand
Titaporn Supasri, Norihiro Itsubo, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Sate Sampattagul
Scientific Reports · 2020
Maize, a major food source for the world, is a high-yield commodity crop, and one of five major crops in Thailand. Occupying about 33% of the Thai upland farmlands, maize farming has been growing tremendously especially in northern Thailand. However, after harvesting, open burning is widely used in order to get rid of maize cobs and husks in land preparation for the next period. The current maize farming practices have caused several problems to local communities as well as urban dwellers. The objectives of this research were: (i) to analyze the life cycle inventory of maize cultivation, maize cob pellet production and heavy fuel oil production in northern Thailand using IDEA v2.0 and ecoinvent v3.0 databases; (ii) to evaluate environmental impacts of maize cultivation, maize cob pellet production and heavy fuel oil production using A Global Scale Environmental Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LIME-3) with the results of weighting (Country-specific) based on monetary valuation of end-points. This study evaluated the life cycle environmental impacts of maize cultivation and continuing through biomass energy production from maize cob by comparing with heat production from heavy fuel oil in Mae Chaem and Chiang Dao districts in the north of Thailand by using two different databases, IDEA v2.0 and ecoinvent v3.0 with an endpoint-based life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method (LIME-3). The system boundary of this study includes land preparation, planting, weeding, farming, harvesting, maize cob pellet production and heat production from maize cob pellet and heavy fuel oil. The units of analysis in this study are 1 kg of maize grain, 3.76E-03 MJ of biomass energy production from maize cob and 3.76E-03 MJ of heat production from heavy fuel oil, respectively. The data were obtained from field survey supplemented with the Thai National Life Cycle Inventory Database and other scientific publications. The results included the environmental impacts of maize cultivation and continuing through biomass energy production from maize cob by comparing with heat production from heavy fuel oil in Mae Chaem and Chiang Dao districts by using two different databases with LCIA method on the endpoint approaches (LIME-3). The total damage cost based on IDEA v2.0 life cycle inventory (LCI) database in Mae Chaem and Chiang Dao districts was about 4.64E-01 USD and 4.89E-01 USD, respectively. As regards ecoinvent v3.0 database, the total damage cost in Mae Chaem and Chiang Dao districts was about 5.37E-01USD and 5.99E-01 USD, respectively. It can be seen that the total damage cost using different inventory databases in Chiang Dao are slightly higher than Mae Chaem due to different input materials. The result of total cost using inventory data from ecoinvent v3.0 is slightly higher than IDEA v2.0 due to different inventory processes in each database. However, the results in this study demonstrated that the databases show similar trends in the assessment results. On the other hand, certain numerical differences between the databases at some points were found to be more substantial. The results of present study are particularly relevant to policy choices for improving or using the good practices for maize cultivation, which would reduce the environmental performance of maize production systems in the area. To address the air pollution issue from biomass open burning of agricultural residues in the study area, the government agencies in Thailand should be responsible for promoting better biomass management for the future.
Assessment of Carbon Footprint of Upland Rice Production in Northern Thailand
Palika Champrasert, Sate Sampattagul, Sanwasan Yodkhum, Prasit Wangpakapattanawong
Chiang Mai University Journal of Natural Sciences · 2020
for the Lawa, it was shown the GHG absorption was 16.79 ton CO2-eq/ha. GHG emissions in the upland brown rice cultivation in the two tribes were 0.26 ton CO2-eq/ha (0.13 kg CO2-eq/kg unmilled rice) in the Karen and 0.37 ton CO2eq/ha (0.19 kg CO2-eq/kg unmilled rice) in the Lawa. The tree cutting and slashing and biomass burning in the land preparation and chemical fertilizer production in cultivation produced the highest GHG emission from the upland rice production in the tradition slash-and-burn agriculture. However, this system was a carbon sink than a carbon source of about 233.61-257.70 ton CO2eq/ha.