LIFE and Resource Efficiency

LIFE and resource efficiency
Decoupling growth from resource use

LIFE Focus
I
LIFE and resource efficiency: Decoupling growth from resource use
More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu).
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2011
ISBN 978-92-79-19764-2
ISSN 1725-5619
doi:10.2779/74370
European Union, 2011
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Printed in Belgium
Printed on recycled paper awarded the EU Ecolabel
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
LIFE (The Financial Instrument for the Environment) is a programme launched by the European Commission and co-ordinated by
the Environment Directorate-General (LIFE Units - E.3. and E.4.).
The contents of the publication LIFE and Resource Efficiency: Decoupling growth from resource use do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the institutions of the European Union.
Authors: Gabriella Camarsa (Environment expert), Justin Toland, Eamon OHara, Tim Hudson, Wendy Jones, Ed Thorpe, Christophe
Thvignot (AEIDL, Communications Team Coordinator). Managing Editor: Herv Martin, European Commission, Environment DG,
LIFE E.4 BU-9, 02/1, 200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels. LIFE Focus series coordination: Simon Goss (LIFE Communications
Coordinator), Evelyne Jussiant (DG Environment Communications Coordinator). Technical assistance: Audrey Thnard, Nicolas
Tavitian, Agnese Roccato (Astrale GEIE). The following people also worked on this issue: Alban De Villepin, Federico Nogara,
Simona Bacchereti, Santiago Urquijo-Zamora, Sylvie Ludain (Environment DG, LIFE Environment and Eco-innovation Unit), Carina
Vopel, Jonathan Murphy (Environment DG, Communication Unit), Robin Miege (Environment DG, Green Week Task Force).
Production: Monique Braem (AEIDL). Graphic design: Daniel Renders, Anita Corts (AEIDL). Photos database: Sophie Brynart.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to all LIFE project beneficiaries who contributed comments, photos and other useful material for this
report. Photos: Unless otherwise specified; photos are from the respective projects.
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LIFE Focus
I
k
esource efficiency is a cross-cutting issue that affects our daily lives and economy. We rely
on natural resources to provide us with shelter, food, employment, quality of life and a host of
other services. In order to protect the long-term availability of these resources, we need to take care
to use them wisely in sustainable ways. For this to happen, new approaches are required, approaches
that need to involve long-term considerations aimed at achieving a better balance between economic,
environmental and social interests.
The LIFE Programme has been at the forefront of such moves to promote more resource efficient
solutions for todays environmental challenges, and a large portfolio of good practices in this area has
been gathered by LIFE since its launch in 1992. A sample of some of these approaches is highlighted
in the following LIFE Focus brochure, which presents some of the practical actions being implemented
throughout the EU.
Topics featured in the brochure span the full sustainable development spectrum and aim to illustrate
how LIFEs broad remit is able to assist a multitude of different environmental activities in a variety of
different contexts. Public, private and voluntary sector organisations throughout Europe have all used
LIFE co-finance for good effect and the results of their efforts are explained in the following articles.
Over 120 LIFE projects are featured, which demonstrates the critical mass of knowledge that is held
by the Programme in key fields such as waste management techniques, water conservation methods,
energy efficiency options, and lower impact transport. Between them, the LIFE projects that are spot-
lighted in this brochure offer many opportunities for readers to build their own capacity for helping to
shape and safeguard a more resource efficient future for Europe.
k
esource efficiency has a central part to play in Europes 2020 strategy for growth and jobs, and
accordingly the European Commission is launching a number of far-reaching new initiatives
in this area. But for many of Europes front-runners, greening our society is already a reality: not only
governments and large companies, but local actors and small innovative companies too are commit-
ted to the idea, whose strength often comes from the grassroots level. Businesses and organisations
have understood that improving efficiency and innovative products, processes and business models
affords valuable opportunities for increased productivity and growth.
While individual companies and organisations can often achieve simple gains in efficiency without
massive investment, making sure that good innovative ideas actually reach the market can require
substantial funds. The LIFE+ programme can play a key role here, helping ensure that a shift to a
resource efficient Europe becomes a reality, and acting to relieve or prevent future scarcities of essential
resources such as energy and water. I am pleased to be able to say that by providing real-life solutions
to real-world problems, the best LIFE practices featured in this brochure are an important inspiration
for policymakers, and that moreover, these examples reflect areas where we are considering future
policy action.
A solution to a problem is merely anecdotal, unless the message can be shared. But when best prac-
tices become better known, major changes can result. Thats why communication has always had a key
role to play in LIFE and why publications such as this are so important for policymakers and actors
on the ground. This LIFE Focus publication is only one part of LIFE outreach check out the 2011
Green Week conference and exhibition, and the LIFE and Green Week websites for more examples of
good practices being shared.
Herv Martin
Head of Unit LIFE Environment
and Eco-innovation
Directorate-General for
the Environment,
European Commission
Robin Mige
Green Week Task Force
Directorate-General for
the Environment
European Commission
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LIFE Focus
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Introduction ........................ 3
Building a resource
efficient Europe ....................3
Production processes .......... 5
LIFE producing resource
efficient industrial growth .....5
MEIGLASS brings
new LIFE to waste glass ....10
Eco-products and
eco-design ........................ 13
LIFE conserving resources in
product design, production,
use and disposal ................13
LIFE helps drive greener
tyre making .........................18
Lifecycle thinking .............. 21
Lifecycle thinking - a key
thought of LIFE ...................21
ACADEMY: managing
the lifecycle of complex
products .............................26
Water efficiency ................ 29
Water - an essential
component of LIFE ............ 29
Sustainable transport ........ 33
A cleaner and more
efficient transport system ...33
Energy efficient buildings .. 37
LIFE helps boosts the
energy efficiency of EU
building stock .....................37
Taking the risk out of
resource efficiency
investments ........................41
Fish and marine
resources ........................... 43
Protecting Europes fisheries
and marine resources ........43
No discards, zero waste .....46
Land use and planning ...... 49
Planning for a more resource
efficient European
landscape ...........................49
Food and beverage
resource efficiency ............ 51
LIFE turns food for
thought into action .............51
Agriculture and ecosystem
services ............................. 55
LIFE aids agriculture to pre-
serve resources .................55
Conservation agriculture
reduces soil erosion in
Andalusian wetlands ..........59
Green Public Procurement
and Green Skills ................ 62
LIFE shows the
environmental benefits
of GPP ................................62
Project list ......................... 64
Available LIFE Environment
publications ...................... 69
LIFE Focus
I
T
he EUs Europe 2020 Strategy
1
for
growth sets the priority of moving
to a more resource efficient, green and
competitive economy. Under the Europe
2020 strategy, the Flagship Initiative for a
resource efficient Europe
2
has been intro-
duced to help the EU achieve sustainable
growth by decoupling economic growth
from increasing resource use.
The Flagship Initiative sets out a vision
for a more resource-efficient economy by
2050. It proposes new policy initiatives
3

that will stimulate greater innovation for
short-term and long-term economic and
environmental benefits
4
. It also allows
for the development of a set of tools
for policymakers to drive and monitor
progress.
The Flagship recognises that resource
efficiency is a cross-cutting issue that
1 COM (2010) 2020 Communication from the
Commissions Europe 2020 A strategy for
smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
2 COM (2011) 21 final A resource-efficient
Europe Flagship Initiative under the Europe
2020 strategy
3 The proposals that have been adopted
are: Energy 2020: A strategy for competitive,
sustainable and secure energy, Energy infra-
structure priorities for 2020 and beyond A
Blueprint for an integrated European energy
network and Tackling the challenges in com-
modity markets and on raw materials
4 The Flagship Initiative for a resource effi-
cient Europe provides a long-term framework
for actions in many policy areas, supporting
policy agendas for climate change, energy,
transport, industry, raw materials, agriculture,
fisheries, biodiversity and regional develop-
ment. Links to the key proposals can be
found at http://ec.europa.eu/resource-effi-
cient-europe/
affects all aspects of our daily lives.
Hence, coordination is needed at EU
level as well as in Member States at
national, regional and local levels. Prac-
tical action at Member State level will be
particularly important and the subsidiarity
principle remains essential to ensure that
appropriate solutions are put in place at
appropriate times, in appropriate ways,
in appropriate places.
Empowering the participation of private
sector stakeholders, citizens, consumers
and NGOs is also fundamental for turn-
ing around Europes increasingly unsus-
tainable resource use habits. Resource
efficiency is as relevant for Europes
urban areas as it is to rural communities
and the wider countryside. Everyone is
affected by the environmental challenges
that we face and everyone can make
their own positive contributions to help
achieve the Flagships goals.
Uptake of these resource efficient
approaches can be assisted by raising
awareness of the long-term benefits that
are possible from adopting sustainable
approaches. There are many examples
of how the wise use of environmental
Building a resource
efficient Europe
The concept of resource efficiency emphasises a need to use the Earths limited
resources in a sustainable manner. For Europe to have a vibrant economy and a high
quality of life, we need a sustainable base of raw materials and resources. However,
our economic growth patterns continue to exert increasing pressures on EU resource
bases. As such it is becoming more and more important that we improve our ability to
live, produce and consume within the limits of our ecosystem.
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The LIFE programme has a long track record of innovative approaches for building
a resource efficient Europe
LIFE Focus
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assets can strengthen the resilience of
our economies and secure growth and
jobs by boosting competitiveness. At
the same time, resource efficiency has
been shown to help drive down costs,
improve productivity, stimulate innova-
tion, and support employment, espe-
cially in growth areas such as the green
technology sector.
Timing for wider adoption of resource
efficient principles is important as pres-
sures on our resources rise in line with
increases in wealth and population
growth in an ever industrialising world.
This is one of the core global challenges
that must be faced now. If we do not act
assertively in the present the problems
will be exacerbated and tackling them
will become even more difficult in the
future.
ACTION ON ALL LEVELS
Recognising the multi-level complex-
ity of resource efficiency, the Flagships
mandate stretches across a far reaching
remit of material resources, including
metals, minerals, food and feed, air, soil,
water, biomass and ecosystems.
Some of the main objectives refer to
enhanced energy efficiency. Here the
Flagship aims to achieve a transition to
a resource and carbon efficient society.
This will require a mix of instruments that
act together in complementary ways to
help increase the stability and security
of energy supplies whilst halting energy
production systems that impact most
negatively on the environment. Waste
minimisation is also seen as central to
the EUs resource efficiency agenda. By
increasing recycling rates the pressure
on primary raw materials will reduce.
Furthermore, improved waste manage-
ment systems can ensure that valuable
materials are reused, thereby reduc-
ing energy consumption and green-
house gas emissions from extraction
and processing.
Other pieces of the resource efficiency
jigsaw relate to industry and consumers.
These primary stakeholders need to be
mobilised to make them less dependant
on the availability of certain resources
and so less vulnerable to supply con-
straints and volatile market prices. Attrac-
tive alternatives are required to convert
this rhetoric into reality and stakeholders
need to possess the capacity to make
the necessary changes.
Lifecycle analysis (LCA) can help make
products and services more material
efficient by reducing energy demands
and lowering raw material inputs. Tech-
nological improvements, via eco-inno-
vations, in high impact sectors such as
energy, transport, industry and agricul-
ture are all also needed to facilitate the
resource efficiency Flagship objectives.
Eco-innovations not only come from
technological advances, but by apply-
ing new business models and novel
ways of thinking.
Incentives can further assist a speedy
uptake of these multi-level structural
changes in consumer behaviour and pro-
duction patterns. Incentives can come in
different forms and more policy empha-
sis on measures that ensure commodity
prices reflect the full cost of resource
use to society will help market forces
promote resource efficiency.
RESOURCE EFFICIENT LIFE
PROJECTS
The LIFE programme has a long track
record of pioneering effective approaches
for building a resource efficient Europe.
LIFE has generated a vast portfolio of
know-how in resource efficiency meth-
ods for a diverse range of beneficiaries.
LCA approaches, skills transfers and
eco-innovations feature prominently in
LIFEs wide-ranging portfolio, which con-
tinues to find new ways of lightening and
lessening our environmental footprints
in order to achieve a more resource effi-
cient Europe.
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LIFE projects have developed techniques that increase recycling rates, thereby reducing pressure on primary raw materials
LIFE Focus
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Policy on resources needs to take account of the value chain and the full lifecycle of
resource use. How products are produced is a key part of this. The LIFE programme
has been at the forefront of efforts to implement resource efficient and innovative pro-
duction processes at all stages of the lifecycle, from extraction to end-of-life.
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LIFE producing resource

efficient industrial
growth
0
ver the past 10 years resource
productivity has improved 2.2%
per year. This is largely due to efficiency
improvements in production, as well as
the increasing role of services in the
economy. However, market rewards for
production changes and further impetus
to resource efficient and eco-innova-
tive production processes are needed
to reduce dependency on raw materials
and to encourage optimal resource use
and recycling
1
.
The European Commission proposes a
fresh approach to industrial policy that
puts competitiveness and sustainabil-
ity centre stage. The whole value and
supply chain must be considered, from
access to energy and raw materials to
after-sale services and the recycling
of materials. The upcoming review
of the Sustainable Consumption and
Production and Sustainable Industry
Policy Action Plan foreseen in 2012 will
1 COM(2008) 397 final on the Sustainable
Consumption and Production and Sustainable
Industrial Policy Action Plan
include actions to address resource
efficiency.
Effective planning of production proc-
esses can ensure that a range of
resources are used more effectively.
Resource efficient production is not
merely desirable, however: it is becom-
ing increasingly essential.
WATER EFFICIENT
MANUFACTURING
For instance, tightening water supply,
caused by competition for water, could
mean disruption of production processes
or higher input costs, with severe eco-
nomic damage. This highlights the vital
importance of water efficiency in produc-
tion processes, something that the LIFE
programme has helped implement across
a wide range of industrial sectors.
The wet process stages of textiles pro-
duction are extremely water intensive
(typically requiring 4 litres/kg of fabric
produced
2
) and generating large volumes
of discharged wastewater. Treatment and
reuse of this water would not only reduce
stress on water resources for industry,
it could also increase the availability of
drinking water in some areas. Since most
textiles producers are small and medium-
sized enterprises, they often lack the
2 Water Conservation in Textile Industry,
Muhammad Ayaz Shaikh, Assistant Profes-
sor, College of Textile Engineering, SFDAC
LIFE funding has helped resource efficiency
in production processes across a wide
range of industrial sectors
LIFE Focus
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A subsequent Italian textiles sec-
tor project, BATTLE (LIFE05 ENV/
IT/000846), attempted to design and
demonstrate a new best available tech-
nique (BAT) for efficient wastewater
reuse in the textile industry. An analysis
of production processes at Stamperia
di Martinengo, a medium-sized textile
finishing factory in Lombardy, was car-
resources to implement state-of-the-art
environmental procedures. However,
several LIFE projects have shown how
this can be achieved.
In Italy, the PROWATER project (LIFE04
ENV/IT/000583) developed prototypes
for effluent treatment and reuse in pilot
sites at four textiles plants. Wastewa-
ter was treated using physical-chemi-
cal processes (coagulation and lamel-
lar sedimentation or flotation) and
innovative membrane technologies.
These techniques exceeded targets for
removal of surfactants (62%, against a
target of 50%) and colour (98%, against
a target of 85%), whilst also meeting
targets for the removal of other pollut-
ants, such as chemical oxygen demand
(COD) and total suspended solids
(TSS). The treated wastewater was then
reused in production processes includ-
ing fabrics softening, reducing overall
water consumption by 40%. If imple-
mented across Europe on an industrial
scale, the PROWATER team calculates
potential water savings of 44 million
m
3
/yr. The technology can also reduce
costs and has a payback time of five
years. Enhanced cost effectiveness will
help generate new employment oppor-
tunities for European industries and
also improve competitiveness against
low-wage textile producing countries
and enhance green credentials.
ried out to ascertain which effluents were
potentially reusable and which were not.
Based on this analysis, the most cost-
efficient technology for water reclamation
was selected and different water reuse
schemes were designed for cost/benefit
comparisons. A pilot plant was then con-
structed to demonstrate the applicability
of the technologies in practice. This plant
treated some 500 m
3
/day of process efflu-
ents, producing 374 m
3
/day of recovered
water on average. Most significantly, the
projects findings also fed into the proc-
ess for developing new BREF reference
guidelines for the textiles sector, helping
improve water efficiency across the EU.
Efficient water use was just one aspect of
LIFE RESITEX (LIFE05 ENV/E/000285),
a Spanish textiles industry project that
developed and tested best available
techniques (BAT) for waste management
that could be applied to all textiles sub-
sectors. The key output of the project
was a guidebook: Procedure for Waste
Management in the Textile Sector, which
provided advice on good management
practices (e.g. how water savings can be
made by moving from light to dark colours
during a production cycle); selection and
substitution of chemicals; equipment and
new technologies; and ways of minimis-
The LIFE RESITEX project demonstrated how water savings can be achieved in the
textile sector
The HAGAR project reduced consumption of high-quality water for the marble extraction
industry in Hebron
LIFE Focus
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ing resources and making use of recycling
opportunities (including guidance on how
to recover and reuse printing pastes or
rinsing water and how to use biological
sludge on agricultural land).
The guidebook developed by the RESI-
TEX project will help Europes textiles
SMEs reduce their waste, and keep
costs down while complying with envi-
ronmental legislation, something that will
be increasingly important as the sector
faces greater competition from low-wage
producers in China and India.
HELPING LEATHER LOOK
BETTER
The same could also be said of the
leather/tanneries industry which, with
LIFEs assistance, has begun taking
steps to decouple its resource use from
its economic growth. Improving water
efficiency was again the goal of a LIFE
project in Lorca, Murcia (LIFE02 ENV/
E/000216), where some 40% of Spanish
leather production takes place. LIFE sup-
port enabled the construction of a bio-
logical water treatment plant that used
ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis tech-
niques to bring tannery effluent within
legal limits and enable its safe disposal.
The plant now discharges 8 000 m
3
/day
of wastewater that can be recycled and
used in agriculture and industry.
The N.E.S.S. project (LIFE04 ENV/
IT/000414) i mpl emented process
improvements at a factory in Italy spe-
cialising in the skin finishing stage of the
tanning production cycle, drawing on the
BAT developed by the earlier LIFE GIADA
project (LIFE00 ENV/IT/000184). The
redesigned finishing line achieved signifi-
cant reductions in the use of chemicals
(95% - and consequently a 28% reduc-
tion in emissions of volatile organic com-
pounds), water (up to 75%) and electric-
ity (up to 95%), as well as in the amount
of waste sludge generated (up to 98%).
Working conditions were also improved
thanks to noise abatement measures
(cutting acoustic pollution by 85%) and
the introduction of water-based, rather
than solvent-based colours. Finally, the
process improvements also reduced
operating costs and the time required
for skin finishing.
A current LIFE Environment project in
Spain (LIFE08 ENV/E/000140) is simi-
larly implementing process improve-
ments that should make more efficient
use of resources. The OXATAN project
aims to demonstrate the effectiveness
of replacing polluting and potentially
carcinogenic chrome tannage with an
environmentally friendly oxazolidine
tanning agent combined with other veg-
etable or synthetic agents. The project
will promote its chrome-free leathers to
tanning, footwear and upholstery com-
panies in Spain, Italy and Slovenia.
RESOURCE EFFICIENCY FROM
BEGINNING TO END-OF-LIFE
There is a window of opportunity for the
EU to influence production and resource
standards in developing countries through
EU market compliance standards. This
obliges countries aiming to enter the EU
market to comply with these standards.
LIFE, through its Third Countries strand,
has provided an impetus towards this
goal. For instance, the HAGAR project in
Gaza (LIFE05 TCY/GA/000115) worked
closely with the Italian marble industry to
establish new environmental procedures
in Hebron municipality and address
problems associated with the treatment
of debris, sludge and water from marble
extraction. Measures such as the con-
struction of a prototype plant for recy-
cling industrial wastewater and separat-
ing calcium carbonate have contributed
Significant reductions in the use of chemicals, water and energy were achieved in the tanning sector thanks to the N.E.S.S project
LIFE Focus
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to a reduction in the consumption of
high-quality water, as well as limiting
pollution in soil and underground reser-
voirs from the stone sludge.
Another LIFE project that tackled the
envi ronmental i mpacts of extrac-
tion industries was INWATCO in the
UK (LIFE02 ENV/UK/000140), which
demonstrated and evaluated innovative
techniques and procedures for inte-
grated management of groundwater
resources in former coal mining areas.
A river basin catchment-scale demon-
stration project took place in Wake-
field (UK), with supporting activities in
Romania, to assess the applicability of
the project methodology to all major
European coal mining regions. Data
from INWATCOs comprehensive water
sampling and analysis programme were
used to evaluate potential minewater
management options and the relation-
ship between minewater systems and
the wider surface water and ground-
water content. This information fed into
a Good Practice Guide on integrated
water resource management in former
coal mining regions. The guide is an
important tool for implementing the
EU Water Framework Directive in the
many regions of Europe where coalfield
drainage is a major consideration and
has attracted widespread interest.
Poor materials management leads to
significant wastage in the economy, with
great economic cost. Improving material
efficiency requires lifecycle and value
chain perspectives. We have already
seen how the LIFE programme is helping
to realise resource efficiency gains at the
initial phase of production (extraction).
Yet, equally LIFE is playing its part in the
development of a resource efficient econ-
omy based around recycling and reuse of
end-of-life products. The OXATAN project
is one good example of this; another is
ELVES (LIFE05 ENV/E/000317), a Span-
ish project that developed a system for
separating metal alloys from end-of-life
vehicle (ELV) engines and reusing them
The INWATCO project developed innovative techniques and a Good Practice Guide for integrated management of groundwater, which
are important tools for implementing the EU Water Framework Directive
INWATCO demonstrated that groundwater systems that interact with mine workings can
be managed to ensure good water quality
LIFE Focus
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in new auto parts and engines. A facil-

ity capable of treating 33 000 tonnes/yr
of ELV engines with 99% efficiency was
built, kickstarting a new market in the
process. The LIFE co-funded factory is
able to recover more than 5 100 tonnes
of aluminium per year, decreasing EU
dependence on foreign raw material
imports as a result.
THE BENEFITS OF ENERGY
EFFICIENCY
Improving the energy efficiency of pro-
duction processes has been one of the
success stories of the LIFE programme,
particularly for the most energy-inten-
sive sectors such as the metals indus-
try. For instance INCOCAST (LIFE05
ENV/D/000185), a Best LIFE Envi-
ronment project for 2007-2008, sought
to demonstrate the effectiveness of
an alternative process to the cold-box
technique used by most foundries for
casting aluminium. The project signifi-
cantly reduced energy consumption,
emissions, deposits and wastewater
through its inorganic warm box cast-
ing technique and laid the foundations
for the future use of this method in the
mass production of more resource effi-
cient aluminium engine blocks and cyl-
inder heads.
The Italian New ESD project (LIFE04
ENV/IT/000598) developed and tested
an innovative cold-drawing system for
the production of steel wire rod that has
drastically cut energy consumption and
the production of dangerous chemical
wastes. If the techniques developed by
this LIFE Environment Best of the Best
project 2008-2009 were implemented
throughout Italy, a country that proc-
esses 1.7 million tonnes/yr of steel wire
rod, it would lead to environmental sav-
ings of 72 000 tonnes/yr of water con-
sumption; 6 400 tonnes/yr of sulphuric
acid and 1 900 tonnes/yr of hydrochlo-
ric acid production, and a reduction in
energy consumption of some 430 000
kcal/tonne of product, a massive con-
tribution to resource efficiency.
LIFE continues to work to improve the
energy efficiency of other areas of the
metals industry and elsewhere, for
instance, by helping companies develop
new, energy and resource efficient prod-
ucts that could lead to widespread proc-
ess improvements. The LIFE Green Bear-
ings project (LIFE06 ENV/NL/000176)
is just one example. An estimated 50
billion bearings
3
are installed in machin-
ery worldwide. This means that even
small frictional power savings per bear-
ing amount to enormous global - and
European - power savings. LIFE Green
Bearings introduced thin film lubrication,
lightweight polymers and improved seal
technologies (e.g. hard seal coating) to
deliver energy reductions of 30-70%,
depending on the bearing and load.
Project beneficiary SKF calculates that
a 50% implementation of its Energy
Efficient Bearings among existing cus-
tomers would reduce energy consump-
tion by 4 000 GWh/yr and disposal of
waste lubricants by 4 million tonnes/yr in
Europe. The substantial energy savings,
reduction of lubricant use and increase
of product longevity are also calculated
to bring economic benefits to customers
in less than five years.
3 A part of a machine designed to reduce
friction between moving parts or to support
moving loads.
Chrome-free leathers for tanning, footwear and upholstery companies in Spain, Italy and
Slovenia will be produced by the OXATAN project
Energy Efficient Bearings could reduce energy consumption by 4 000 GWh/yr and disposal
of waste lubricants by 4 million tonnes/yr in Europe
LIFE Focus
I
This groundbreaking Italian LIFE project has established the first factory in Europe tur-
ning the unwanted waste fraction of recycled glass bottles into raw materials for the
glass container, ceramics and bricks industries.
MEIGLASS brings new LIFE
to waste glass
k
ecycling of glass bottles is now
a long-established practice in
Europe. Yet the average citizen is prob-
ably unaware that recycled glass produc-
ers also generate significant waste. Some
23-25% of glass from public collection
points is rejected by the glass container
industry and sent to landfill because of
impurities in the cullet (the technical name
for crushed waste glass that is ready to be
remelted into new bottles etc). This per-
centage is likely to increase as the hollow
glass industry demands oven-ready cullet
that will enable it to produce containers
with even greater resistance to thermal
shock and mechanical stresses. If the
glass industry wants better quality cullet it
has to reject more, says Dr. Piero Ercole,
scientific and technical director of the
MEIGLASS project and president of ATIV,
the Italian technical association of glass
producers. Drawing on its long experi-
ence processing mined minerals, in 2003
the Italian company SASIL SpA began
trials of a new process that promised to
revolutionise the raw material use of the
glass container industry, with significant
resource efficiencies all round.
As project manager Paolo Bertuzzi
explains, SASILs aim was to clean the
reject cullet and then grind and sieve it
into pieces of 70-800 microns (0.07-0.8
mm) so called glassy sand which
could be melted without problems during
glass container manufacturing.
With the support of LIFE, SASIL was
able to invest in upgrades to its facility in
Brusnengo, Piedmont, that would allow
it to implement its new process on an
industrial scale. LIFE co-funding was to
be invested in three areas: a wastewater
treatment plant; a pyrolysis plant gener-
ating heat and power from waste plastic
separated from the dirty cullet during
glassy sand manufacturing; and in prod-
uct development and testing.
SASILs new water purification plant
offers significant resource efficiencies,
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Project manager Paolo Bertuzzi explains more about LIFE MEIGLASS
LIFE Focus
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11
as it allows the company to recycle 90%
of its process water, greatly reducing
the need for fresh water during glassy
sand manufacturing (just 10% of the
process water - lost through evapora-
tion - must be replaced).
Following teething problems with the
initial design, SASIL plans to start up its
pyrolysis plant in 2011. The oil and the gas
generated by the low temperature plant
(450-500

C ) will feed a turbine that will
generate 2 MW of heat for SASILs drying
processes and 1 MW of electric power.
Most significantly though, LIFE support
has been used to optimise the technical
quality not only of glassy sand, but also
of two other products generated by the
process of cleaning and grinding of dirty
cullet - ceramic sand and brick sand.
Ceramic sand, which accounts for some
25% of the output of SASILs plant, is
another example of the resource effi-
ciency of the MEIGLASS process, since
it is made up of pieces of less than 70
microns which would float on the surface
and reflect heat if melted in a furnace for
glassmaking. Instead, these fine gran-
ules are separated by an air stream and
mixed with feldspar for sale to the ceram-
ics industry, where they are used as an
alkali carrier. A further 5% of production, a
water suspension of very fine sand mixed
with clay, is sold to the brick industry.
The process is very flexible, allowing
SASIL to change the ratios of glassy and
ceramic sand in line with market needs.
The company is also building on the LIFE
MEIGLASS project by investigating the
possibility of mixing the fine particles
(under 70 microns) with larger granules
to allow even more cullet to be returned
to the glass industry. The first test results
are very promising says Dr. Ercole.
LESS RESOURCES, MORE
QUALITY
LIFE MEIGLASS has generated sig-
nificant environmental benefits. These
include a reduction in the amount of
cullet going to landfill of some 20 truck
loads per day (from 25% to 2%). The
180 000 tonnes/yr of waste cullet now
reused by SASIL means that 300 000
tonnes/yr less material needs to be
mined for the glass container industry, a
significant raw material saving. Further-
more, every tonne of glassy sand used
in the furnace saves 300 kg of CO
2
. This
means in 2008, SASIL helped the con-
tainer industry avoid generating 43 500
tonnes of CO
2
, equivalent to taking 26
000 cars with a Euro 4 engine off the
road for a year.
Other benefits of using glassy sand
include the fact that it has a chemical
oxygen demand (COD) 10 times lower
than standard furnace-ready cullet (a
COD of 100 mg/l as opposed to 1 000
mg/l) and 25 times lower than that of the
cullet rejects.
Increasing the quantity of glassy sand
has also been found to reduce the energy
consumption in the furnace per kilo of
glass produced by some 5%. The melt-
ing furnaces specific energy consump-
tion is reduced by about 0.67% for each
percentage of glassy sand used instead
of natural raw materials, notes Dr. Ercole.
Furthermore, as Mr. Bertuzzi indicates,
decreasing the amount of ceramic
stones is a big challenge for glass fac-
tories - with glassy sand they obtain this
effect. Trials show that with 3% glassy
sand and 47% furnace-ready cullet,
there were an average of 0.24 ceramic
stones/tonne of glass pulled; when the
mix was changed to 18% glassy sand
and 32% furnace-ready cullet, the ratio
of stones dropped to 0.09/tonne of glass
pulled.
Significantly, tests have shown that
glassy sand can also improve the quality
of glass containers. Results from the field
indicate that when 25% glassy sand is
used in the batch, the internal pressure
resistance of bottles is 9% higher under
the same thermal and forming condi-
tions. Glassy sand also enables better
Washing is one part of the process of turning reject cullet into glassy sand
Project beneficiary SASIL SpA is capable of producing up to 200 000 tonnes/yr of glassy
sand for the glass bottle industry
LIFE Focus
I
control of oxy-reduction reactions and
consequent higher consistency both in
colour and in infrared light absorption,
explains Dr. Ercole. The result, he says, is
that there is more consistent behaviour
of the glass in forming processes thanks
to the improved chemical and thermal
homogeneity.
SPREADING THE MESSAGE
Results of the MEIGLASS project have
been widely disseminated, with sev-
eral articles in technical journals and
local newspapers, and presentations
at events in Croatia, Finland and even
Vietnam (by project partner Joanneum
Research), as well as in Italy. Other
firms can learn from how SASIL per-
suaded the glass industry of the benefits
of glassy sand, believes Dr. Ercole.
As a sign of its success, sales of glassy
sand have increased from 6 235 tonnes
in 2003 to 144 337 tonnes in 2008, and
SASILs factory is today capable of pro-
ducing 200 000 tonnes/yr. The company
is also looking to extend its resource
efficient process into new areas, includ-
ing the washing of furnace-ready cul-
let to improve its properties and allow
colour separation of glass (which does
not happen at source in Italy). In addi-
tion, one of SASILs existing customers
is now aiming to recover civil demolition
waste glass and car windscreens and
use glassy sand to produce flat glass.
This is a very important development,
says Dr Ercole. Very little flat glass is
recycled today.
SASIL is looking to develop other, new,
resource efficient products and proc-
esses from waste glass. Now, with
further support from LIFE, the NOVEDI
project (LIFE07 ENV/IT/000361) sees
the company in the process of devel-
oping a lightweight insulation material
made from art and mosaic glass, light
bulbs, cathode ray tubes and compu-
ter screens, all forms of glass that can-
not be used to make glass containers
because of their high lead and fluorine
content.
With the VALIRE project to recycle
incinerator residues into high-value
bui l di ng materi al s ( LIFE08 ENV/
IT/000421) also in the pipeline, SASIL
is showing just how far it is possible to
take resource efficiency in manufactur-
ing. As CEO Lodovico Ramon is keen
to stress: Waste is the raw material of
the future.
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With LIFE support, SASIL SpA has established the first plant in Europe capable of
generating new raw materials from waste cullet
After MEIGLASS, NOVEDI: Paolo Bertuzzi shows off a display about SASILs latest LIFE
project
Project number: LIFE06 ENV/IT/000332
Title: Minimising the Environmental Impact
of GLASS recycling and glass container
production
Beneficiary: SASIL SpA
Contact: Paolo Bertuzzi
Email: cbertuzzi@sasil-life.com
Website: http://www.sasil-life.com/
Period: Dec-2005 to Dec-2009
Total budget: E6 065 000
LIFE contribution: E1 144 000
l TAL
LIFE Focus
I
Current patterns of consumption and production have significant environmental
impacts, including the emission of greenhouse gases, pollution and the depletion of
natural resources. Much can be done to make consumption and production in Europe
more resource efficient. LIFE has an important role to play in supporting EU actions
and proposals to improve the environmental performance of products and to stimulate
demand for more sustainable goods and production technologies.
1j
LIFE conserving resources
in product design,
production, use and
disposal
l
t is estimated that over 80% of
all product-related environmen-
tal impacts are determined during the
design phase of a product. Against this
background, eco-design aims to reduce
the environmental impacts of products,
including energy consumption, through-
out their entire lifecycle.
Apart from changing the users behaviour,
there are two ways of reducing the energy
consumed in products: labelling to raise
consumer awareness of the real energy
use in order to influence buying decisions,
such as labelling schemes for domestic
appliances; and energy-efficiency require-
ments imposed on products from the
early stage of the design phase.
EU ACTION
The EUs Sustainable Consumption and
Production / Sustainable Industries Action
Plan (July 2008) provides a framework to
improve the energy and environmental
performance of products and to help
consumers make better choices. Build-
ing on earlier EU policies and initiatives,
it includes extensions to the scope of the
Eco-design and Labelling directives and
Ecolabel Regulation, as well as significant
revisions to the voluntary eco-manage-
ment and audit scheme (EMAS II).
A European Commission review of the
Action Plan is expected in 2012, includ-
ing assessment of the new Eco-design
Directive (2009/125/EC), which has been
extended so that it covers not only energy-
using products (EuPs) on the EU market,
such as computers, televisions, boilers,
and industrial fans; but also energy-related
products (adding products that dont con-
sume energy during use, but have an indi-
rect impact on energy consumption, such
as taps and window frames).
As many of the following LIFE project
examples show, the efficient use of
resources (whether for production, use
or disposal) can be good for business
as well as for the environment, particu-
larly as the global market for environ-
mental industries is expected to grow
to `200 billion by 2020
1
.
SAVING ENERGY AND
VALUABLE RESOURCES
LIFE has provided financial support to
enterprises across Europe seeking to
explore more energy and resource efficient
production methods and processes.
1 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleases
Action.do?reference=MEMO/08/
507&format=HTML&aged=0&language=
EN&guiLanguage=en
LIFE Focus
I
The ceramics sector, where the finish-
ing process in particular is associated
with significant environmental damage,
has been the focus of several successful
LIFE projects. The Italian EWG project,
(LIFE04 ENV/IT/000589) demonstrated
a new clean technology for the decora-
tion of ceramics on flat and textured sur-
faces using a soft roll that is able to adapt
itself to the surfaces shape. A pilot plant
reduced wasted glazes by 98% and
waste caused by printing faults by 8%.
Its implementation generated a reduction
in energy consumption of up to 76%.
Another cleantech project in this sector,
Microfinishing (LIFE02 ENV/IT/000052)
2

developed a new, dry finishing process for
2 A Best LIFE Environment Project winner
2006-07
ceramic tiles that cut energy consumption
in half, eliminated the need for water and
reduced to zero any resultant pollution.
Energy efficiencies were also shown by
Eco-Ceramics, (LIFE05 ENV/E/000301),
as part of its innovative waste manage-
ment concept targeting the re-use of
sludge as a raw material for the structural
ceramics industry. The project demon-
strated that small quantities (1-10%) of
sludge from wastewater treatment plants
could be mixed with the clay material
traditionally used to produce bricks.
According to the project beneficiary, the
concept, which replaces conventional
gas-fired boilers with biomass heaters,
could result in 6% potential net energy
savings for the ceramics sector.
Two other ongoing projects targeting,
respectively, the greening of window-
making and the cleaning sector, are
also looking to substantially reduce
their use of natural resources. The Slov-
enian UNISASH project (LIFE07 ENV/
SLO/000710) is aiming to develop a new
type of environmentally friendly manu-
facturing process suitable for PVC, wood
and aluminium windows. It is aiming to
reduce consumption of raw materials by
20-35% per unit. This should equate to
energy savings of 20-40% per unit. Cost
savings from these environmental ben-
efits are also expected through reduced
production costs.
The French CISDP project (LIFE08 ENV/
F/000481) is promoting the implementa-
tion of a sustainable development pro-
gramme for the countrys cleaning com-
panies. The programme contains more
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An Italian LIFE project, EWG, developed a technology to decorate ceramic tiles that
reduces wasted glaze and energy consumption
A manufacturing process for PVC, wood and aluminium windows that reduces raw materials
consumption is currently being demonstrated by the Slovenian UNISASH project
LIFE Focus
I
than 50 concrete actions targeting the
conservation of natural resources and
preservation of the environment through
reduced water consumption and pollu-
tion, less waste and improved recycling.
Furthermore, 50% of all employees will
receive training thus creating green skills
in this sector.
ENERGY-EFFICIENCIES
IN REFRIGERATION
Domestic fridges and freezers have
increased in energy efficiency by more
than 40% in the past decade or so,
thanks in part to the introduction of the
Energy Label Directive (92/75/EEC).
However, the commercial world has been
slow to make the same advances.
The Austrian PROCOOL project, (LIFE03
ENV/A/000002)
3
organised a Europe-
wide competition among manufacturers
to promote innovation and show that
hydrofluorocarbons (HFC)-free, energy-
efficient and cost-effective commercial
appliances can be successfully pro-
duced. Entrants were set strict criteria,
3 A Best LIFE Environment project winner
2007-08
which included recycling potential and
repair-orientated designs.
Eight leading manufacturers, repre-
senting 30% of the European market,
entered the competition. Seven prod-
ucts finally met the competitions tough
stipulations. The winning entries incor-
porated enterprising solutions that
found immediate markets for their
new designs. All showed an energy
saving of up to 50% compared with
standard products, and also avoided
harmful refrigerants and insulation
materials, while comfortably meeting
standards on noise levels.
Meanwhile, the Danish CO
2
REF
project, (LIFE05 ENV/DK/000156)
investigated the use of CO
2
as a
greener refrigerant alternative to
HFCs and then successfully intro-
duced it in a pilot supermarket sys-
tem. Initial results showed reduced
energy consumption of around 4%,
as well as service cost savings of
15%. Significantly, the system has
proved to be a commercial, as well
as a technical success, with 26 units
in operation and a further seven on
order (2008).
REDUCING WASTE
AND EMISSIONS
As well as demonstrating resource and
energy efficiencies, many innovative LIFE
projects have also shown important reduc-
tions in emissions and waste. A number
have also reported significant economic
benefits from the more efficient manage-
ment of resources previously wasted.
A particular focus has been the metal
industries, traditionally associated with
very high environmental impacts. For
example, the Italian Clean-Deco project
(LIFE00 ENV/IT/000213)
4
developed a
cleantech solution for the replacement of
the highly polluting process of galvanising
metals using physical vapour deposition
(PVD) technology. This has resulted in the
elimination of chromium wastes and a sub-
stantial reduction in the use of dangerous
chemicals: chromium trioxide (CrO
3
) by
100%; hydrogen chloride (HCl) by 30%;
and sulphuric acid (H
2
SO
4
) by 90%.
Europes aeronautics sector was the
focus of a high-profile French project,
2005-06
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With CO
2
REF, energy consumption of refrigeration units is 4% lower than with an HFC
system
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LIFE Focus
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(LIFE05 ENV/F/000062)
5
, targeting the
development of a less polluting tech-
nology for aircraft panel manufactur-
ing. Implemented by Dufieux Indus-
tries, a new Green Advanced Panels
(GAP) mechanical milling process was
designed to replace the chemical milling
processes conventionally used for the
machining of complex-shaped panels,
a process that produces large volumes
of toxic sludge. Independent analysis
suggests this project could generate
significant water and chemicals sav-
ings, a 57% decrease in electricity
consumption, and cuts in emissions of
greenhouse gases (6 200 tonnes/yr of
CO
2
) and volatile organic compounds
(850 tonnes/yr). Together with a 16
000-tonne/yr reduction in the amount
of waste produced, the project makes
an important contribution towards the
implementation of the integrated pol-
lution prevention and control (IPPC)
Directive (91/61/EC).
PACKAGING, WOOD AND
PAPER SOLUTIONS
Two LI FE proj ects have focused
their activities on helping packaging
producers make better use of their
resources and raw materi al s. The
RECIPLAS project in Spain (LIFE03
2007-08
ENV/E/000106)
6
successfully recycled
plastic from vehicle factory waste to
produce pallets. The recovered mate-
rial is a highly transferable process,
which has enabled the beneficiary, a
manufacturer of linings for car interiors,
to turn its waste (previously all sent to
landfill) into a 100% recoverable, re-
usable and recyclable high-quality
plastic. The success of the scheme
also has particular relevance within the
motor industry, where EU directives
concerning end-of-life vehicles require
2007-08
that all vehicles must contain the high-
est-possible proportion of recyclable
materials.
An earlier LIFE project in Italy, Use
and re-use (LIFE99 ENV/IT/000034)
developed an innovative system to
avoid the substantial amounts of waste
generated in the packaging of fruit
and vegetables. The project designed
recyclable plastic boxes, which can be
folded and re-used up to 30 times. The
scheme included a processing centre
to handle the cleaning, re-use and
recycling of the boxes, and computer
software to track their journeys. At the
beginning of the LIFE project in 1999,
the beneficiary (CPR system) was a
small cooperative with 900 000 boxes,
47 members and a handful of staff.
By the end of the project, the coop-
erative had 355 members, between
them using over 5 million boxes, sav-
ing not only 50 000 tonnes/yr of pack-
aging waste but also 6.5 million/yr in
waste disposal costs. Importantly, the
scheme has continued to grow. Today
it has over 950 members and 12 mil-
lion boxes that are used a total of 110
million times/yr. This saves more than
100 000 tonnes/yr of waste, 100 Mwh/
yr of energy and 13 million/yr in waste
disposal costs. The company is now
present in all Italian regions and tens of
jobs have been created. Yet the project
cost only 1.5 million (with 600 000 of
EU co-financing).
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Packaging producers have made better use of raw materials by recycling plastic from
vehicle factory waste
The results of the RECIPLAS project will help the motor industry comply with
EU directives on end-of-life vehicles
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LIFE Focus
I
Another innovative project aiming to
show significant resource savings is
the ongoing WOODRUB project in
Spain (LIFE09 ENV/ES/000454), which
is looking to develop construction
materials from household waste wood
products (furniture, doors, windows,
floors, etc) and used tyres. This re-use
initiative will provide wood/tyre pro-
ducers with a new end-of-life route,
and offer public and private construc-
tion firms with a more environmentally
friendly product option. Moreover, the
planned new products will operate as
carbon sinks increasing the carbon
storage in buildings using the products
and replacing other, less green, building
materials.
The manufacture of paper has a sig-
nificant environmental footprint both
upstream (where raw materials are
acquired and processed) and down-
stream (waste-disposal impacts). Recy-
cling obviously reduces this impact.
One of the earliest LIFE projects to tar-
get this sector (LIFE95 ENV/IT/000393)
was implemented by Italian specialist
paper manufacturer, Favini. The com-
pany tested the use of various bio-
waste materials (e.g. pomace, algae,
apple peel) to develop 100% recycla-
ble paper of the same high quality as
its other products. Results included a
10% saving in trees and a 12% saving
in energy consumption.
VOLUNTARY ACTIONS
A Greek LIFE project, ECO-TEXTILE
( LIFE03 ENV/GR/000204) hel ped
spread awareness of the EUs Ecola-
bel scheme in its early days. When the
project was launched in 2003, only a
handful of Hellenic textile firms had
been awarded an Ecolabel in recog-
nition of the good environmental per-
formance of their product or service.
The project was particularly successful
in promoting the benefits of the Eco-
label to an audience that was largely
sceptical (mainly due to a lack of infor-
mation and knowledge on how to par-
ticipate). It produced a best practice
guide, established an eco-consultancy
and successfully guided four textiles
companies through the process. Its
main achievement, however, was to
show how the Ecolabel with its guar-
antee of greener credentials, can pro-
vide a competitive edge to Greek, and
other European textile manufacturers,
who are increasingly under pressure
from lower-cost garments imported
from China, and cheaper raw materials
from countries such as Turkey.
Another voluntary initiative is currently
being investigated by a Spanish-led
project to encourage more environ-
mentally friendly practices among
Europes footwear manufacturers.
SHOELAW (LIFE08 ENV/E/000147) is
seeking to develop an e-platform for
environmental self-diagnosis among
50 companies in five European
countries: Spain, Italy, Portu-
gal, Greece and Slovenia.
These countries jointly
represent 90% of Euro-
pean footwear companies.
Focusing on improvements
in environmental standards
and the promotion of compli-
ance with environmental legislation, the
overall goal is to help manufacturers in
this sector reduce their environmen-
tal footprint through awareness of the
legal requirements they need to meet.
An alert system will be set up to inform
companies of relevant environmental
legislation.
A LIFECYCLE APPROACH
Finally, the Integrated Product Policy
(IPP) approach has contributed signifi-
cantly to the development of environ-
mental policies in Europe in the areas of
product design, use of natural resources
and management of waste.
Reflecting this lifecycle approach is
the Luxembourg LIFE+ ECO
2
Tyre Tech
project (LIFE09 ENV/LU/000390) just
underway, led by European and world-
wide tyre producer, Goodyear (see
pages 18-20). Another important IPP
project targeting the automobile indus-
try was the French EDIT project (LIFE00
ENV/F/000593). The project success-
fully developed lifecycle assessment
(LCA) methodol ogi es and support
software tools for the management of
vehicle components. The approach
involved key stakeholders: carmakers,
parts manufacturers, and raw material
suppliers; and covered all stages of the
product lifecycle, including end-of-life
issues.

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Construction materials will be produced from household waste wood products, such as
furniture, doors and floors with the WOODRUB project
90% of European footwear companies
will be involved in the SHOELAW project
to improve their environmental perform-
ance and compliance with environmental
legislation
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LIFE Focus
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There is growing awareness among Europes man-
ufacturers that opportunities for greater resource
efficiencies can bring both economic as well as
environmental gains. Two LIFE projects demon-
strate opportunities for sustainable growth through
the development of greener materials for tyres.
These materials will help to reduce the environ-
mental impact of tyres, could avoid or mitigate
problems of ever-scarcer resources and costly
raw materials and also contribute to improved con-
sumer safety.
LIFE helps drive
greener tyre making
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k
oad transport generates over
20% of all CO
2
emissions in the
EU, with passenger cars responsible for
more than half these emissions. Further-
more, because of a significant increase
in traffic, CO
2
emissions from road trans-
port have risen by more than 20% since
1990. This represents a major concern to
the EU, which aims to achieve an aver-
age CO
2
emission for new cars of 120
g/km by 2012 and 95 g/km by 2020. The
contact of rolling vehicle tyres with road
surfaces creates a drag force known as
the rolling resistance. Any reduction
achieved in rolling resistance means
lower fuel consumption and related CO
2

emissions.
Thus the overall aim of the 2005-09 LIFE
BioTyre project (LIFE06 ENV/L/000118)
was to demonstrate the technical and
economic viability of an environmentally
friendly tyre design that achieves a sub-
stantial reduction in rolling resistance of
up to 30%.
Coordinated by Goodyear Luxembourg
SA, the partnership project also involved
Italian company, Novamont, and German
car manufacturer BMW. Its first compo-
nent was to develop an alternative to
traditional non-renewable fillers, such
as petroleum-based carbon black or
mineral-based silica, used in tyres for
their reinforcement properties. The new
biofiller would be made from renewable
resources (a new starch-based mate-
rial), thereby reducing its environmental
impact and allowing reductions in CO
2

emissions during its production. The
projects second component consisted
of an in-depth analysis and modification
of the tyre structure, aimed at minimis-
ing energy loss through rolling resistance
while the vehicle is in motion.
A final phase was to incorporate the
developed new material and use the
results of the optimisation of the tyre
structure to develop prototype tyres to
be tested at the beneficiarys technical
facilities in Luxembourg. After this, the
best prototypes were sent to BMW for
further testing under real life conditions.
The project successfully achieved all its
goals over the 42 month project period.
A new Bio Tyre with a BioTRED com-
pound was developed (see box), and
the tyre structure optimised. Thanks
to these actions, the project was able
to gain a higher than targeted - 34%
- reduction in rolling resistance, with-
out any loss in safety, vehicle handling
performance or longevity.

A major difficulty for the project team,
according to principal engineer, Chris-
tian Kaes, was to achieve this ultralow
rolling resistance in the two-year time
period for prototype optimisation and
Fuel consumption was reduced by 5-6%
thanks to the environmentally friendly
tyre design
LIFE Focus
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technological validation. From a tech-
nical point of view, this was a big
challenge It was very, very difficult
to reduce the rolling resistance, while
keeping all the other performance
parameters expected by our custom-
ers, he explains.
REDUCING CO
2
EMISSIONS
The main environmental benefit of Bio-
Tyres will come once they are fitted to
cars and in use. The beneficiary estimates
that a 30% decrease in rolling resistance
corresponds to a 5%-6% decrease in
fuel consumption. Considering a typi-
cal average run distance in Europe of 40
000 km/yr run by 1 million BioTyres, this
would mean a saving of the equivalent of
80 000 tonnes/yr of CO
2
. Moreover, the
production process of the second gen-
eration of biofiller developed in the LIFE
project has an even more positive CO
2
balance, compared with the first gen-
eration: the absorption capacity through
photosynthesis of the corn starch being
greater than the CO
2
rejected during its
transformation process into a biofiller. In
contrast, the production of carbon black
is a significant source of greenhouse gas
emissions.
An additional benefit is that BioTyres
incorporate the beneficiarys run on flat
(ROF) technology, which means vehi-
cles only require four tyres (no spare)
another resource saving and weight
reduction that should help to keep costs
down for motorists, as well as improving
safety (by maintaining car control after
sudden air loss).
Importantly, since the project finished,
Goodyear has moved from pilot phase
into production. Partner BMW currently
foresees using BioTyres in new car mod-
els (e.g. for the 2012 BMW 3-Series) and
there has been considerable interest
from other vehicle manufacturers.
Project manager Georges Thielen says
the close cooperation of the partners
played an important part in its suc-
cessful outcome. In addition, European
Commission support via the LIFE pro-
gramme was very important, he says,
Partner BMW expects to use BioTyres in new car models, and there is considerable interest from other vehicle manufacturers
Italian partner Novamont used nano-particles of corn starch to produce the new biofiller
to reinforce tyres
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uFvFL0Pl hC TFF ' 8l 0TkFu' Fl LLFk
ltallan partner, hcvamcnt, a speclallst ln the prcductlcn cf blcplastlcs
frcm renewable raw materlals cf agrlcultural crlgln, was respcnslble fcr the
develcpment cf the new lndustrlal blcflller. Made frcm nanc-partlcles cf ccrn
starch, lt ls deslgned tc partlally replace the ncn-renewable flllers such as
carbcn black and slllca.
As well as prcduclng and testlng experlmental grades cf blcflller (mcre than
8o new materlals ln tctal), hcvamcnt was alsc respcnslble fcr valldatlng the
seccnd generatlcn cf 8lcTkFu flller, ln crder tc prcvlde the prc|ect beneflclary
wlth sufflclent materlals tc prcduce the flrst tyres fcr testlng. The alm wlth
these new grades was tc slgnlflcantly lmprcve the tyres' rclllng reslstance whlle
maxlmlslng the renewable raw materlal ccntent ln the blcflller, thereby lmprcv-
lng lnterface prcpertles, reduclng welght and mlnlmlslng ccsts.
LIFE Focus
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ze
as it provided a European platform for
the product. For BMW, it demonstrated
the carmakers commitment to sustaina-
ble technologies via its EfficientDynam-
ics Programme. And for all partners,
it will help meet the policy objectives
highlighted in the EUs 6th Environment
Action Programme and the Flagship Ini-
tiative under the Europe 2020 Strategy.
Building on the experience of the first
project, a new LIFE+ ECO
2
Tyre Tech
project (LIFE09 ENV/L/000390) is
underway, coordinated once again by
Goodyear Luxembourg. The 2010-14
project brings together three partners
of the tyre supply chain from material
supply (Rubber Resources - The Neth-
erlands), tyre production (Goodyear) to
car manufacturing (BMW).
Its aim is to develop environmentally
sustainable tyres incorporating innova-
tive green materials from recycling or
renewable origin and weight-reducing
tyre designs. All lifecycle stages of the
activities involved during the manufac-
turing, as well as the use and recycling
of tyres will be improved and further
developed. A lifecycle assessment (LCA)
study will be carried out with a targeted
reduction of 35% over all life stages
Importantly, all the targets concern-
ing improvements to the tyres (rolling
resistance, noise, etc) are well above
the upcoming EU regulations concern-
ing safety and environmental efficiency
of tyres and as such are also likely to
enable suppliers to benefit from the
new rules governing tyre labelling
1
i.e.
a system of A-G grading information
for customers (along the lines of the EU
Energy Label).
As with the LIFE BioTyre project, the new
consortium will work jointly towards the
validation and first industrialisation of
the tyres. Furthermore, the project will
also contribute to the main objectives
of the EU REACH legislation by reduc-
ing emissions and exposure risks during
fabrication into soil, water and air, while
maintaining principle climate change
objectives.
The goals in relation to tyre manufactur-
ing are to introduce:
Recyclable materials (derived from
used rubber articles);
New renewable source materials from
wood (e.g. lignin, cellulose); and
New chemicals for tyre vulcanisation
and ageing protection with low envi-
ronmental impacts and improved tyre
mileage.
1 Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 of the Euro-
pean Parliament and of the Council of 25
November 2009 on the labelling of tyres with
respect to fuel efficiency and other essential
parameters
The project also seeks to improve tyre
performance during use, and is targeting
a 40% rolling resistance reduction; 25%
weight reduction; 25% mileage improve-
ment; and a 3dBA noise reduction.
The expected improved environmental
tyre performance will be tested on both
conventional and electric cars under
various driving conditions. Finally, the
project is also expected to contribute
to the end-of-life phase by providing
new processes for the recycling of large
quantities of used rubber goods.
Project number: LIFE06 ENV/L/000118
Title: Development and validation of ultra
low rolling resistance tyres with environ-
mentally friendly resources
Beneficiary: Goodyear Luxembourg SA
Contact: Georges Thielen
Email: georges.thielen@goodyear.com
Period: Dec-2005 to May-2009
LuXFM8ukC
LIFE Focus
I
The resource efficiency of a product or process can only truly be understood by con-
sidering its whole lifecycle. LIFE projects have raised awareness of this, produced
improved tools for implementing lifecycle assessments and demonstrated the impor-
tance of eco-design and end-of-life management to resource efficiency over the life-
cycle.
z1
w
hether a process or product
uses resources efficiently can-
not be assessed by looking at the natu-
ral resources consumed during operation
alone. Natural resources are used as raw
materials in the production of the origi-
nal parts and are consumed during their
collection, treatment and transportation.
Further down the chain, marketing and
distribution, and the treatment and dis-
posal of products at the end of their life,
all consume natural resources.
To improve resource efficiency, policies
and practices therefore need to take
account of the value chain and the full life-
cycle of resource use for any process and
product, considering upstream and down-
stream activities. Evaluating the impact
and costs of products and processes from
cradle to grave in this way is the concept
of lifecycle thinking. Yet, the complexity
of this and the number of actors involved
can be a major obstacle.
Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) is a meth-
odological tool that applies lifecycle
thinking to create a quantitative environ-
mental analysis. Importantly, LCAs seek
not only to highlight where resource
efficiency gains can be made, but also
ensure that apparent environmental
gains at one stage of a products life-
cycle do not create greater costs at
another stage. Similarly, LCAs seek to
ensure that impact burden is not simply
shifted from one form of environmental
impact to another. It is the overall envi-
ronmental balance of the whole lifecycle
that is important.
Lifecycle thinking
- a key thought of LIFE
Lifecycle assessments, eco-design and end-of-life management have also been the focus
of LIFE funding
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*VTWYLOLUZPISL
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LIFE Focus
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authoritative guidance for policymakers
and businesses on how to conduct an
LCA to quantify the emissions, resource
consumption and environmental impact
of a product. These documents provide
detailed technical guidance on all steps of
LCA. The EU, through the Joint Research
Centre (JRC), is currently developing
lifecycle-based indicators to measure
progress towards sustainable consump-
tion and production, with particular focus
on the de-coupling of environmental
impacts from economic growth.
Indi cators of resource effi ci ency,
resource productivity and consumption
baskets-of-products - can be used
to monitor the environmental impacts of
relevant goods and services consumed
by EU citizens as well as the transition
There are clear theoretical resource effi-
ciency benefits to be had from apply-
ing a lifecycle approach to material and
product management. It can help identify
synergies and trade-offs within intercon-
nected elements of a products lifecycle.
It can also highlight which element of a
products lifecycle is the most inefficient,
or draw attention to previously over-
looked resource use associated with a
product. A lifecycle approach can thus
inform changes in policy or practice that
make a real difference to overall environ-
mental impact and be a key to the trans-
formation towards a resource efficient
economy.
LIFECYCLE THINKING
IN POLICY
LCA is increasingly used in sustainable
business decision-making and environ-
mental policymaking, already playing a
key role in EU policies in areas such as
Integrated Product Policy (IPP), sustain-
able consumption and production and
waste legislation.
ISO 14040 provides a standardisation
framework for LCA that covers the defini-
tion of the goals and assessment param-
eters of an LCA, lifecycle inventories
(LCI), assessment of the inventory data
in LCIA and interpretation of results.
The Commission communication on
European IPP (COM(2003)302) recog-
nises that the lifecycle of a product is
often long and complicated and that
there cannot be one simple policy meas-
ure for everything. A range of measures
are needed to encourage and stimulate
actors as diverse as designers, manu-
facturers, retailers and consumers to
improve their environmental perform-
ance. These include obligatory measures,
such as substance bans and voluntary
ones, such as environmental labelling.
The EU has created and developed an
important information source for LCA
practitioners, providing lifecycle inventory
data from a range of European business
sectors. The first edition of the Interna-
tional Reference Life Cycle Data System
(ILCD) handbook was published in March
2010. The handbook consists of a series
of technical documents that provide
The RESOLVED project demonstrated new recycling methodologies for thin film photo-
voltaic panels to produce valuable raw materials with a purity of 99.99%
One of the 23 different strategies that the DANTES project produced using existing tools
and methods for environmental assessment, such as LCA
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towards more sustainable consumption
behaviour. They can also help assess the
impact of policy measures with regard to
more environmentally sound goods and
services.
Waste management indicators, covering
the entire waste management chain, are
designed to help the EU monitor how
technological progress and changes in
the amount of waste result in reduced
environmental impacts. They will also
highlight material and energy resources
saved via better waste management.
However, there are still some gaps in
understanding and lack of expertise in
the implementation of LCAs and IPP,
which limit the impact of the lifecycle con-
cept on resource efficiency. A number of
LIFE projects have been at the forefront
of challenging these obstacles, raising
awareness, developing tools to facilitate
implementation and carrying out ground-
breaking lifecycle assessments.
LIFE AND LIFECYCLE THINKING
TOOLS
LIFE projects have worked to raise
awareness of lifecycle thinking and pro-
vide practical tools and guidance on how
LCA can be used to make real resource
efficiency gains in often complex sectors
of the economy.
The Swedish DANTES project (LIFE02
ENV/S/000351) demonstrated and
assessed new tools for environmental
sustainability, including lifecycle assess-
ment and lifecycle cost. As well as aware-
ness, the project provided analysis of
how to use the methods and tools within
companies to assess resource efficiency
and other environmental information. The
project website also provides businesses
with a guide to the lifecycle information
they need to make improved environ-
mental decisions.
The LIFE EQuation project (LIFE00
ENV/NL/000808) optimised innovative
LCA tools for the construction industry
in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.
Through practical application, the project
team optimised an advanced computer
model for calculating environmental
impact and an environmental assessment
method for homes, making them easy to
use and developing understanding of the
tools amongst municipalities and other
decision-makers. Over 100 sustainable
building projects were then assessed and
improvements identified with designers,
architects and developers. Environmen-
tal performance improvements of 15%
were achieved, particularly by facilitating
improvements in the preliminary design
stage.
The Spanish project FENIX (LIFE08
ENV/E/000135) has been working since
2008 to develop an easy-to-use tool for
obtaining LCA results for the specific
context of packaging waste. The project
expects to provide public authorities with
tools for tackling waste management and
to create an Iberian network of experts
in LCA and waste management. The
project highlights the need to ensure that
measures to improve the management
of waste do not consume more natural
resources than they save, a key principle
of the lifecycle approach. LCA is impor-
tant to make sure that there is an over-
all resource efficiency benefit from any
waste management system, as well as
ensuring positive overall economic and
social outcomes. Data from the project
will also be fed into the ELCD to help
complete this European database.
An interesting tool for encouraging life-
cycle thinking is the use of eco-labels
awarded for environmental performance
of the whole value chain. The Italian
LIFE project Aqualabel (LIFE03 ENV/
IT/000333) sought to develop such a
zj
LIFE EQuation used LCA tools in the
construction industry with over 100 sus-
tainable building projects being assessed
and improvements identified
The FENIX project aims to provide public authorities with tools for tackling waste management and to create a network of experts in LCA
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LIFE Focus
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quality and environmental management
label for water distributed in waterworks
systems, according to ISO14024 stand-
ards. The project identified wastewater
treatment, water sanitisation and pump-
ing operations as the processes in the
water supply cycle with the greatest
environmental impact. It produced a
manual outlining the measures nec-
essary for overall certification with an
eco-label from the relevant environ-
mental bodies. The project thus pro-
vided awareness and practical under-
standing of how water supply systems
can improve their resource efficiency
throughout the lifecycle of the water.
LIFE AND LCA IN SPECIFIC
CONTEXTS
LIFE projects have been particularly
instrumental in showing how LCA tools
can be used in specific business con-
texts and sectors.
Linking with European Integrated Prod-
uct Policy (IPP), the Italian project LAIPP
(LIFE04 ENV/IT/000588) worked to
show how LCA could be implemented
in the furniture industry. It ran pilot
actions including LCAs and Product-
Oriented Environmental Management
Systems (POEMS), aiming towards ISO
certification, in six companies. It suc-
cessfully optimised three LCA software
programmes for different types of user,
providing tools for future LCAs. It also
established Product Category Rules
(PCR) and Environmental Product Dec-
larations (EPD) for both office desks and
cooker hoods, showing how lifecycle
thinking can promote improved resource
efficiency for these specific products in
the furniture industry.
A Greek LIFE project, ECOIL (LIFE04
ENV/GR/000110), developed a ground-
breaking LCA for the olive oil industry in
Spain, Cyprus and Greece. It provided
analysis of the whole olive oil lifecycle,
from tree cultivation to waste manage-
ment, enabling comparisons of resource
use at different stages of the lifecycle.
This showed where optimisation could
be possible and highlighted environ-
mental success stories within the pro-
duction chain. The project thus helped
stakeholders identify where they could
provide improved environmental perfor-
mance and where they could demand it
from others, particularly from their sup-
pliers.
At the opposite end of Europe, LIFE
OSELCA in Estonia explored LCA for
oil-shale electricity production and
energy intensive products (LIFE03
ENV/EE/000194). It was the first large-
scale application of LCA in Estonia and
has been a benchmark for other indus-
tries in the country to follow. Led by a
major energy company, it compared the
resource use of electricity generated
from oil-shale with that produced from
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The ECOIL project developed a groundbreaking LCA for the olive oil industry providing an analysis of the whole olive oil lifecycle, from tree
cultivation to waste management
The LCA for oil-shale electricity production and energy intensive products used by the
OSELCA project has set a benchmark for other industries in Estonia
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LIFE Focus
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hard coal and biomass. It also looked
at the significant impact of the energy
source used on the total resource effi-
ciency of a random product - in this case
a wooden weatherboard. It successfully
demonstrated that energy production
will often be one of the most significant
factors of a products overall resource
efficiency.
LIFE projects such as ECOIL and
OSELCA have used lifecycle thinking
to show how stakeholders can improve
the resource efficiency of their industry,
not just by improving their own perform-
ance, but through their choice of sup-
pliers. Energy-intensive products can
transform their resource efficiency by
using green energy. Such modification
of purchasing decisions based on sup-
pliers environmental performance could
be crucial in implementing Europes IPP
by creating market pressure for more
resource efficiency throughout the sup-
ply chain without the need for prohibi-
tive legislation.
LIFE, ECO-DESIGN AND END-
OF-LIFE
One of the key messages of the lifecycle
approach is that particular consideration
needs to be given to resource efficiency
at the beginning and end of a products
lifecycle. Some of the greatest efficiency
gains can be achieved by extracting
resources from a product at the end of
its life for re-use rather than sending
them to landfill or incineration. Equally,
environmentally aware design can avoid
all manner of inefficiencies downstream,
such as high resource use from transpor-
tation and waste management. A number
of LIFE projects have looked at how to
implement eco-design and effective end-
of-life strategies to improve a products
resource efficiency over its lifecycle.
The Rural LIFE Design project (LIFE00
ENV/FIN/000656) implemented IPP in
rural SMEs by promoting tools for eco-
design. The project conducted LCAs
of possible products and developed
pilot eco-brands and eco-marketing
with four rural enterprises. The project
showed how successful grassroots
rural entrepreneurship can be encour-
aged using LCA to identify opportuni-
ties for resource-efficient products that
can be marketed as such. Thinking from
the design stage through the lifecycle
of a product can raise the awareness of
designers, investors and consumers to
promote resource-efficient products.
IPP TEL i n Greece (LIFE04 ENV/
GR/000138) conducted LCAs and car-
ried out tests on telecommunications
products to identify the major costs
and challenges of efficient end-of-
life management. It used its analysis
to demonstrate how eco-design of a
modem could significantly improve its
overall resource efficiency. It proposed
eco-label criteria for modems based on
these findings.
Improved end-of-life management for
high-technology products could have a
big impact on overall resource efficiency.
The German project, Resolved (LIFE04
ENV/DE/000047), demonstrated an
environmentally friendly process for
extracting the valuable raw materi-
als from thin film photovoltaic panels.
In Portugal, LIFE Electrovalue (LIFE07
ENV/P/000639) is looking at effectively
extracting and exploiting raw materi-
als from waste electrical and electronic
equipment. Both projects are demon-
strating how high-tech practical meas-
ures taken at the end-of-life of certain
products can make a major contribution
to improving resource efficiency overall.
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Electrovalue is looking at effectively extracting and exploiting raw materials from waste
electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
IPP TEL used LCAs to demonstrate how eco-design of a modem could avoid some of the
challenges of its end-of-life management
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LIFE Focus
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Environmental management systems (EMS) have improved the environmental perform-
ance of many companies. However, their benefits can be limited by the complexity of
products production and lifecycles. The LIFE ACADEMY project has demonstrated how
EMS can be successfully applied over the lifecycle of an extremely complex product
- aircraft.
ACADEMY: managing the life-
cycle of complex products
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nvironmental Management Sys-
tems are typically applied at site
level. This means that an installation is
assessed for the environmental impact
of all the activities taking place there.
However, in complex industries such as
the aeronautical sector, many sites are
involved in the lifecycle of the product.
It is possible to achieve high environ-
mental standards at each site and still
fail to optimise overall product resource
efficiency.
Applying environmental assessments
at site level fails to take into account
the impact of practices at one site on
environmental performance elsewhere
in the production chain. For example,
an aircraft could be built with a material
that is resource efficient in its extraction
and treatment, but which implies high
resource use in its maintenance or end-
of-life treatment downstream.
DEVELOPING A NEW
APPROACH - SPOEMS
The maj or European aeronauti cal
company Airbus - with around 52 500
employees worldwide - recognised the
limitations of its existing environmental
efforts at achieving EMAS certification
at its sites. Improved management was
essential to put environmental perform-
ance at the core of Airbuss strategy. Yet,
traditional approaches were not enough;
we needed to look at the full lifecycle
of the product, explains ACADEMY
project manager Bruno Costes.
Isabelle Delay, one of the project leaders
within Airbus, highlights the importance
of the lifecycle approach for a complex
product: Environmental assessment at
one site revealed that volatile organic
LIFE Focus
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compound (VOC) emissions were a key
environmental concern. However, there
was only so much that could be done
to tackle this at that site. The best way
to reduce VOC emissions is to choose
materials in the design phase that do
not create the problem.
Airbus applied for LIFE funding to run
the ACADEMY project (LIFE04 ENV/
FR/000353) and set about creating a
new tool, which it named SPOEMS -
Site and Product Oriented Environmen-
tal Management System. This aimed to
tackle the complexity of carrying out
the Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) of an
aircraft by involving as many sites as
possible in an integrated environmental
assessment of the products lifecycle.
Airbus expanded the internal application
of EMS to cover an impressive 93% of
its network of 16 production sites, pro-
gressing in stages so that learning could
be acquired and shared between sites.
Importantly, this meant that the sites
were now speaking a common environ-
mental language and developing consist-
ent ways of reporting, notes Ms. Delay.
This was an essential precondition for
enabling the company to calculate the
overall environmental impacts and costs
of a product across its various sites.
ACADEMY then carried out two pilot
Lifecycle Assessments on aircraft within
the Airbus fleet. To make the process
manageable, these used a customised
and streamlined approach to LCA, cov-
ering the more important aspects of
the aircrafts production and lifecycle
- design, procurement, manufacturing,
transport, in service operations (includ-
ing maintenance), end-of-life and recy-
cling and collating the data from the site-
specific monitoring processes. What it
provided was a new understanding of
the environmental impact of the aircraft
throughout the company and through-
out its life, beyond traditional addressed
challenges such as noise and in-flight
emissions.
THE IMPACT OF THE SPOEMS
APPROACH
Implementing SPOEMS did not sud-
denly solve all Airbuss environmental
Eco-design is crucial for resource efficiency
Assessments were carried out throughout 16 Airbus production sites, covering 93% of its network
LIFE Focus
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challenges. However, it has provided
the means to implement an ongoing
process of environmental review and
improvement. According to Ms Delay,
SPOEMS has been a real catalyst for
the identification of possible improve-
ments in the production chain. It allows
the company to have a vision of the
overall production process and better
identify where and how the most sig-
nificant efficiencies could be accom-
plished.
One of the key achievements of the
LIFE ACADEMY project was to suc-
cessfully engage all levels of Airbus in
the SPOEMS approach and create new
internal momentum for environmental
improvement. Right up to the highest
levels of management, this has improved
the ability of the company to communi-
cate on environmental issues, helping
to identify synergies and spread good
practice. Additionally, SPOEMS has had
an impact beyond the company by help-
ing the procurement team identify where
changes to contracts with suppliers can
substantially improve overall resource
efficiency for a product.
The achievements and ongoing com-
mitment of Airbus to improved environ-
mental management was recognised by
environmental certification ISO 14001
following a company-wide audit by
DNV in December 2006. This was both
an aerospace industry first and one of
the broadest environmental manage-
ment certifications ever made, covering
the whole company, including design,
procurement, manufacturing, transport,
and in-service operations (maintenance,
aircraft end-of-life and recycling). What
we have achieved is unique, believes
Mr Costes. It is the first demonstration
of how Integrated Product Policy (IPP)
can be implemented at this scale.
Another major achievement of ACAD-
EMY has been to create momentum for
improved environmental management in
the wider aeronautical industry. Impor-
tantly, the SPOEMS approach to lifecy-
cle thinking was widely disseminated by
the national aerospace trade associa-
tions of France, Spain and the UK, and
the chamber of commerce in the French
region of Midi-Pyrenees.
There is increasing recognition in inter-
national aeronautical companies of the
importance of environmental issues as
a driver towards sustainable develop-
ment and how SPOEMS can anticipate
environmental trends and regulations.
The European Aeronautic Defence and
Space Company (EADS), of which Airbus
is a part, has made a firm public commit-
ment to a continuous assessment of its
environmental performance throughout
the lifecycle of its products, so as to find
out the best way to improve it.
The LIFE ACADEMY project lives on in
Airbus through its strategic commitment
to use SPOEMS to become a leader in
the aeronautical sector on eco-effi-
ciency, combining environmental and
economic objectives. The company has
gone on to use SPOEMS to enhance
resource efficiency in its production
processes by developing environmental
innovations. These include the use of a
greener, chemical-free milling process
for fuselage panels; more environmen-
tally friendly painting processes; and
steps to minimise energy and water con-
sumption during the production cycle.
For its aircraft product line, Airbus con-
tinues to work on quieter and more fuel
efficient jetliners, and on clearly defined
and targeted short and long-term envi-
ronmental targets and has renewed its
EMS certification with Bureau Veritas.
Airbus also complemented ACADEMY
with another LIFE project - PAMELA -
looking at a Process for Advanced Man-
agement of End-of-Life Aircraft (LIFE05
ENV/F/000059).
The LIFE ACADEMY project has helped AIRBUS improve the overall resource efficiency of
its product
Project number: LIFE04 ENV/FR/000353
Title: ACADEMY - Airbus Corporate
Answer to Disseminate Integrated
Environmental Management System
Beneficiary: Airbus S.A.S.
Contact: Bruno Costes
Email: bruno.costes@airbus.com
Website: http://www.airbus.com/
innovation/eco-efficiency/
Period: Sept-2004 to Aug-2007
FkAhCF
Water is one of the most crucial natural resources - for both human activities and eco-
systems. Yet pressures on clean water supplies in Europe are only increasing. More
efficient use of available water is a major policy challenge. LIFE has shown ways for-
ward with pioneering projects on reducing demand for water and making better use of
existing supplies.
LIFE Focus
I
z
Water - an essential
component of LIFE
w
ater is life, sustaining eco-
systems and regulating our
climate. But its a finite resource, and
less than 1% of the worlds freshwa-
ter is accessible for direct human use.
Competition for water poses a growing
risk to the economy, communities and
the ecosystems they rely on. If climate
change keeps raising average tempera-
tures across Europe, water is expected
to become even scarcer in many areas,
so it is vital to find solutions to protect
this resource.
An adequate supply of good-quality
water is a pre-requisite for economic
and social progress, so we need to save
water, and also to manage our available
resources more efficiently.
Water scarcity in the EU is most acute
in the south, but by no means limited to
these areas: most Member States have
suffered episodes of drought since 1976,
and many now report frequent water
scarcity problems and over-exploited
aquifers. But demand for water con-
tinues to rise across Europe, putting a
strain on our resources. In a business
as usual scenario, water consumption
by the public, industry and agriculture
would increase by 16% by 2030. Cli-
mate change will add to the problems
of water scarcity and droughts. On the
other hand, it is estimated that some
20-40% of Europes available water is
being wasted (through leaks in the sup-
ply system, dripping taps, unnecessary
irrigation etc.).
A variety of approaches are being used
at EU level to preserve Europes waters.
Legislation, market instruments, moni-
toring, research and awareness raising
can all make a contribution.
In 2000, the EU introduced the Water
Framework Directive (WFD), the most
ambitious and comprehensive piece of
EU legislation ever approved in water
policy. Taking a genuinely European
LIFE has contributed to preserve Europes waters with innovative approaches
and technologies
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approach, it establishes a management
system based on natural river basin dis-
tricts rather than regional and national
boundaries. The aim is to bring together
all water managers from governments
to local communities the public and
all affected sectors to safeguard ground
and surface waters, and achieve good
ecological status by 2015.
In 2007, the EU put forward a Com-
munication addressing the challenge
of water scarcity and droughts. The
Communication identified seven policy
initiatives that had to be addressed if
Europe was to move towards a water-
efficient and water-saving economy.
EU policy related to water scarcity and
droughts is based on the principle of a
water hierarchy. This means that addi-
tional water supply infrastructure, such
as water transfers or desalination plants,
should be considered only when all
demand-side measures, e.g. water-sav-
ing, water efficiency improvements and
water-pricing, have been exhausted.
A 2009 EU policy paper on adapting to
climate change highlights the need for
further measures to enhance water effi-
ciency and to increase resilience to cli-
mate change. This approach reinforces
the consistency of measures taken at
both EU and national level, and sets the
scene for further European action.
The pol i cy on water scarci ty and
droughts will be reviewed by 2012,
together with the assessment of the
Member States plans for managing
Europes river basins, as required by
the Water Framework Directive, and
the review of the vulnerability of water
resources to climate impacts and other
man-made pressures. These evalua-
tions will contribute to the Blueprint to
Safeguard Europes Waters planned for
2012. The Blueprint will foster a move
towards prevention and preparedness
with a view to ensuring a sustainable
balance between water demand and
the supply of clean water, taking into
account the needs of both human activ-
ities and of natural ecosystems.
As the importance of water efficiency
becomes increasingly apparent, les-
sons and knowledge can be drawn
from the innovative approaches taken
by numerous LIFE projects. These
have already been at the forefront of
investigating and developing new and
effective means of reducing water loss,
improving natural recharge of ground-
water supplies, reducing demand and
reducing waste.
LIFE IMPROVING THE SUPPLY
OF CLEAN WATER
As much as 50% of water wastage in
some areas of Europe is the result of
leaky infrastructure. In addition to the
waste of resources and economic cost,
leaks can have additional impacts on
groundwater quality. LIFE projects have
specifically tackled water loss from the
supply infrastructure in different con-
texts through the introduction of tech-
nologies to detect leaks more rapidly
and better regulate water flow, cost-
effectively increasing the effective sup-
ply of clean water to households and
businesses without having to explore
new sources of water.
The RAKWANET project (LIFE00 ENV/
EE/000922) in Rakvere, Estonia showed
that significant water savings could be
achieved in ageing Soviet-era infra-
structure with a moderate investment.
The new system reduced the time taken
to detect leaks from around six days to
three and introduced a computerised
calibrated hydraulic model of the water
network. By enabling quicker interven-
tion, water losses were decreased from
37% to 21% of total extraction.
The Pump And Leakage Management
project PALM (LIFE09 ENV/IT/000136)
is a new Italian project taking a similar
approach. It is introducing the latest
acoustic technologies to detect leaks
and a calibrated hydraulic model to
Water losses were decreased by introducing an innovative detection system in Estonia
Measuring the river flow using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)
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optimise water flow and close valves to
control leaks.
Another Italian project, TRUST (LIFE07
ENV/IT/000475) has directly tackled the
challenge of over-exploited groundwa-
ter, which threatens the long-term sup-
ply of clean water. It is working at river
basin level to coordinate macro-actions
for artificial aquifer recharge using
excess surface waters, notably caused
by floods. The project is demonstrating
a cost-effective means of maintaining
natural water sources over time to meet
usage needs. It is also introducing cli-
mate change predictions into river basin
management to meet future, as well as
existing, challenges.
A different approach to making bet-
ter use of available water resources is
to find cost-effective and environmen-
tally friendly means of cleaning water
sources to a sufficient standard for their
use or re-use. The Dutch project VER-
BAL (LIFE03 ENV/NL/000467) success-
fully tested innovative vertical-flow reed
beds for filtering surface water. It demon-
strated that, in a closed system of mildly
polluted urban surface water, it could
reduce phosphate levels to below 0.05
mg/l, making the water not only suitable
for swimming and water sports, but also
providing a cleaner source for drinking
water production.
An earlier German LIFE project (LIFE98
ENV/D/000509) looked at re-use of fil-
ter backwash water from the process
of cleaning frequently used filters in
groundwater treatment. The project was
able to recover 99.85% of the water in
drinkable form through the use of sub-
merged membrane modules, effectively
increasing the remaining supply of clean
fresh water and reducing waste.
LIFE REDUCING DEMAND
FOR CLEAN WATER
Dealing with limited water resources
does not necessarily require dramatic
solutions. As a number of LIFE projects
have shown, significant progress can
be made by encouraging and enabling
households, businesses, farms and
public bodies to use only the water
that they need, saving this valuable
resource and saving money and, in
agriculture, often leading to better end
results.
The least technical means of reducing
demand is increasing public aware-
ness of the need to save water and of
how small gestures, such as turning
taps off when not in use and taking a
shower rather than a bath, can reduce
water consumption considerably. The
Eco-Animation project (LIFE07 INF/
UK/000950) has produced a series
of cartoons aimed at teaching young
children about key environmental mes-
sages including the importance of pre-
venting water wastage.
A German project demonstrated a process to recover 99% of backwash water and use it
as drinking water
The TRUST project is introducing climate change predictions in river basin management
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The city of Zaragoza in Spain has used
LIFE funding to turn itself into a demon-
stration Water Saving City, particularly
for other countries in southern Europe.
The ci ty appl i ed for LIFE fundi ng
(LIFE96 ENV/E/000509) to run a mas-
sive awareness campaign. This used
the full range of media and promotional
tools to encourage households, busi-
nesses and public authorities to reduce
their water consumption.
The project gave practical guidance
on how to save water and persuaded
more than 140 companies to market
and/or give discounts on water-saving
products. It increased the sale of exist-
ing domestic appliances with built-in
water savers by 15% and saw use of
water meters and water-saving taps
increase 400% and 600% respectively.
The number of households practising
water-saving measures doubled and
over 1 billion litres of water were saved
in 1998 alone.
A number of partners in Zaragoza
sought to build on the progress made
by the LIFE project and further initiatives
followed. A second LIFE project, OPTI-
MIZAGUA (LIFE03 ENV/E/000164),
used sensors to detect moisture in soil
and weather conditions, and combined
it with knowledge of the water needs
of different crops and grass. This ena-
bled an automated watering system to
provide only the amount of water nec-
essary on any given day, replacing the
previous safety-first approach of erring
on the side of too much water (for fur-
ther details see pp 43-45).
Such approaches demonstrate how
water efficiency policies can be imple-
mented without negative side-effects.
An innovative Dutch project, Maas-
tricht Water (LIFE00 ENV/NL/000790),
worked to introduce a system of inte-
grated water management for a cluster
of eight industries. It sought to meet
existing demand using less total water.
Although unable to achieve all its objec-
tives, it found synergies between indus-
tries - for example one industry using the
wastewater of another - which reduced
overall water consumption. It favoured
use of water from the River Maas rather
than already stressed groundwater sup-
plies and prevented the discharge of
nitrates into the water system.
The Dropawater project (LIFE02 ENV/
E/000183) sought to tackle all sides
of the water efficiency question in the
water-stressed Spanish exclave of Ceuta
(North Africa). Demand in 3 800 houses
was reduced by 10% through the intro-
duction of state-of-the-art water meters.
Water supply efficiencies were achieved
by checking pipes metre-by-metre for
leaks, a process which saved more than
double the money it cost, through saved
water. The project also introduced sys-
tems for using non-drinking water in
appropriate applications, such as street
cleaning and watering gardens.
WATER EFFICIENCY
IN AGRICULTURE
We have already seen how LIFE fund-
ing has helped reduce water abstraction
for agriculture. Another Spanish project
HAGAR (LIFE02 ENV/E/000210) also
introduced modern technologies into
irrigation systems to calculate the real-
time water requirements of plants and
thus avoid over-watering. The project
extrapolated the results from 12 pilot
fields and concluded that this optimisa-
tion of water use throughout the river
basin could restore natural aquifers and
wetland areas in its catchment, thereby
contributing to European biodiversity
objectives and international commit-
ments such as the Ramsar Convention
on Wetlands.
The experiences of these and other LIFE
projects point the way to achieving water
efficiency improvements and implement-
ing the EUs water hierarchy, as well as
achieving complementary European
objectives around water quality and
water-based ecosystems.
The EcoAnimation project worked with
children across several European countries
to evaluate the content of cartoons con-
cerning water
An innovative watering system developed by the OPTIMIZAGUA project has brought great
efficiencies in the irrigation of crops and parks
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LIFE Focus
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LIFE projects are at the forefront of demonstrating successful approaches to imple-
menting EU legislation on sustainable transport. LIFE innovations contribute directly to
efforts to promote cleaner and more resource efficient transport systems, as well as
to reducing transport demand.
jj
LIFE projects have contributed towards a low-carbon, resource efficient and competitive
transport system
A cleaner and more
efficient transport
system
T
he transport sector is a major con-
tributor to resource use in the EU,
not only in term of the significant use of
non-renewable fossil fuels, but also in
terms of the environmental impact of
emissions from the combustion of these
fuels and the impact on habitats and the
landscape of transport infrastructure.
In contrast to other sectors of the econ-
omy, progress in reducing these envi-
ronmental impacts has been slow. The
transport sector still depends on fossil
fuel for around 97% of its total energy
requirement and improvements in the
sectors energy and emissions intensity
have not been sufficient to offset growth
in transport volumes. The development
of new transport infrastructure, particu-
larly in the newer Member States, also
continues to put pressure on habitats
and biodiversity.
Technological improvements need to be
made to transport systems to achieve a
more resource efficient Europe. Transport
is important to Europes economy, but
its environmental performance has to be
improved by reducing transport demand,
improving the efficiency of transport
systems, vehicles, mobility and logis-
tics, and by promoting a modal shift to
more sustainable transport options and
the transition to clean technologies and
renewable energy sources. This is under-
lined in the Flagship initiative under the
Europe 2020 strategy, which foresees a
reform of the trans-European networks
for transport and states that the future
Transport White Paper will present a
vision for a low-carbon, resource-effi-
cient, secure and competitive transport
system by 2050 that removes all obsta-
cles to the internal market for transport,
promotes clean technologies and mod-
ernises transport networks.
1
EU transport policy currently addresses
some of these issues. A binding target of
1 See COM (2011) 21 Communication on
A resource-efficient Europe Flagship initia-
tive under the Europe 2020 Strategy
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a 10% share of renewable energy sources
in transport by 2020 has been agreed
as part of the EUs Climate and Energy
package, which also sets targets for a
20% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions (below 1990 levels) and a 20%
reduction in primary energy use by 2020
2
.
In addition, a binding target was set to
reduce transport fuel GHG intensity (car-
bon per unit energy) by 6% by 2020
3
Legislation setting energy and emission
performance standards for new pas-
senger cars
4
, heavy vehicles
5
and rail-
way transport
6
has also been adopted.
On the demand side, this is supported
by initiatives to promote the market for
clean and energy-efficient vehicles. EU
air quality directives (in particular Direc-
tive 2008/50/EC), which set limits for
2 Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of
the use of energy from renewable sources
3 Directive 2009/30/EC on fuel quality
4 Regulation (EC) No 443/2009 setting
emission performance standards for new
passenger cars as part of the Communitys
integrated approach to reduce CO
2
emissions
from light-duty vehicles
5 Directive 88/77/EEC On the approximation
of the laws of the Member States relating to
the measures to be taken against the emis-
sion of gaseous pollutants from diesel engines
for use in vehicles On the approximation of
the laws of the Member States relating to the
measures to be taken against the emission
of gaseous pollutants from diesel engines for
use in vehicles
6 Directive 97/68/EC on the approximation
of the laws of the Member States relating to
measures against the emission of gaseous
and particulate pollutants from internal com-
bustion engines to be installed in non-road
mobile machinery
sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and
oxides of nitrogen, particulate mat-
ter and lead concentrations in ambient
air, provide further impetus to efforts
to improve the environmental perform-
ance of the transport sector. Promoting a
modal shift from roads and air transport
towards more sustainable travel modes
is also an important component of EU
transport policy
7
.
MAPPING THE ROUTE AHEAD
A good example of how LIFE Environ-
ment has demonstrated successful
approaches to improving transport effi-
ciency is LIFE IMMACULATE (LIFE02
7 Regulation (EC) No 1382/2003 on the pro-
motion of clean and energy-efficient road
transport vehicles
ENV/GR/000359), a project that tested
the potential benefits, and barriers to
market uptake, of cleaner and more effi-
cient engine technologies.
Monitoring the energy performance of
hybrid vehicles in the city of Thessa-
loniki (Greece), the project showed that
fuel consumption was 52% lower in a
hybrid car than in a comparable con-
ventional car during use in urban areas
and 27% lower on the motorway. Similar
reductions in CO
2
emissions were also
observed. A survey of users of the test
vehicles found that while most would be
willing to use a hybrid car, the vast major-
ity would only buy one if it was the same
price or cheaper than a conventional car
in the same category. The project sub-
sequently carried out a detailed cost-
benefit analysis of different measures to
provide financial and non-financial incen-
tives to help boost the market.
LIFE PARFUM (LIFE06 ENV/D/000477)
looked at the potential of different clean
vehicle technologies (electric, hybrid,
natural gas, methane) for city logistics
and public transport, focusing in partic-
ular on the cities of Bremen (Germany),
Padova (Italy) and Rotterdam (Nether-
lands). Modelling and monitoring car-
ried out during the project showed the
disproportionate environmental impact
of heavy duty vehicles (HDV), which only
represent some 10% of city traffic, but
can contribute up to 50% of harmful
emissions.
The project demonstrated the potential
of the different technologies to reduce air
The PARFUM project combined innovative technologies for clean vehicles for city logistics
and public transport
The MHyBus LIFE project aims to develop and test a first prototype hydro-methane bus
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pollution, especially in urban hot spots,
but it also highlighted the importance
of support measures and incentives to
encourage the wider uptake of these
technologies.
Hydrogen also offers considerable poten-
tial as a clean and renewable transport fuel
when produced from renewable sources.
Recognising this potential, the MHyBus
project (LIFE07 ENV/IT/000434), which
is being implemented by the Region of
Emilia-Romagna (Italy) aims to develop
and test a first prototype hydro-methane
bus, powered by a fuel blend of up to
20% hydrogen and 80% natural gas.
FROM THE FRYING PAN
TO THE FLEET
Focusing on the production of transport
fuel from recycled material, the LIFE
ECOBUS project (LIFE02 ENV/E/000253)
demonstrated the potential for producing
biofuels from used cooking oil. The project
established a collection system involving
800 commercial establishments, as well
as three collection points for domestic
waste oil. The waste oil collected was
then processed to produce bio-diesel,
which was mixed with conventional die-
sel to power the citys bus fleet. During the
project, around 800 000 litres of cooking
oil was collected to produce 322 654 litres
of bio-diesel that was used to fuel 264
buses, displacing an equivalent amount
of conventional diesel. As an additional
result of the project, the beneficiary sent
Valencia City Council a proposal to estab-
lish, at local level, regulations for manag-
ing the used cooking oil.
In Portugal, the OIL PRODIESEL project
(LIFE05 ENV/P/000369) also successfully
developed an integrated system for the
collection and recycling of used cooking
oil. Located in Oeiras, a small town on the
outskirts of Lisbon, the LIFE project estab-
lished 20 collection points and developed
a prototype 1 000-litre biodiesel process-
ing plant. The fuel produced was tested in
the municipal transport fleet, demonstrat-
ing both energy and cost savings.
Recycling of waste oil is an important
component of the ETRUSCAN project
(LIFE08 ENV/IT/00042), which also incor-
porates the use of solar power in order
to demonstrate, not only the potential for
increased use of renewable energy in the
public transport system, but also the pos-
sibility to source all of this energy locally.
The project will develop two hybrid bus
prototypes. It will also establish two pho-
tovoltaic electric recharging sub-stations
and two biodiesel processing plants,
which together will provide sufficient
energy to power the two buses.
ENCOURAGING BEHAVIOURAL
CHANGE
Encouraging a shift to more sustainable
modes of transport is a key component of
EU transport policy. The LIFE SIDDHARTA
project (LIFE03 ENV/IT/000319), suc-
cessfully demonstrated the benefits of
introducing a demand responsive pub-
lic transport service on two urban bus
routes in the city of Genoa (Italy). The
existing diesel-powered buses on these
routes were replaced with methane-run
vehicles, which were then operated on-
demand (i.e. the passenger would enter
journey start and end points via phone or
Internet and a computer system would
then match the request to the vehicle in
the best way).
The new service was then promoted
with an awareness-raising campaign, to
encourage private car users to switch to
public transport. The pilot scheme, which
ran from June 2004 to September 2005
showed an increase from 40% to 63%
in the numbers of daily public transport
users within the target zone.
Modal shift was also the aim of the
GESMOPOLI project (LIFE05 ENV/
E/000262), which established on-site
partnerships to promote sustainable
mobility in six industrial parks in the
The ECOBUS project collected cooking oil to produce some 323 000 litres of bio-diesel to
fuel 264 buses in Valencia
The ETRUSCANs project prototype urban bus also incorporates solar power
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LIFE Focus
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region of Catalonia (Spain). Mobility plans
were produced for each estate and pilot
actions were carried out to promote and
demonstrate the benefits of car pool-
ing and alternative modes of transport.
CLEANER AND MORE EFFICIENT
TRANSPORT OVER WATER

EU transport policy actively encour-
ages a modal shift to transport over
water as a more sustainable alternative
to road or air transport. However, it also
recognises the considerable scope for
improving the environmental perform-
ance of water-based transport, which
is still largely reliant on diesel or heavy
fuel oils.
The LIFE LNG Tanker project (LIFE03
ENV/NL/000474) built and delivered the
smallest liquid natural gas (LNG) carrier
in the world, the 1 100 m
3
Pioneer Knut-
sen, which operated on short sea water-
ways in Norway for a 41-week demon-
stration phase. Compared with a diesel
alternative, the ship demonstrated a
30% reduction in CO
2
emissions, a 60%
reduction in hydrocarbon emissions and
an 80% reduction of NOx. The success
of the project led to an order for three
similar vessels from Gaz de France.
LIFE WINTECC (LIFE06 ENV/D/000479)
demonstrated an innovative wind pro-
pulsion technology for cargo vessels.
Implemented by Beluga Fleet Manage-
ment, an SME that manages heavy lift
cargo shipments worldwide, the project
succeeded in developing the SkySails-
System: a fully automated towing kite
and a wind-optimised routing system,
which is designed to be used in addition
to the ships propeller. The first proto-
type was tested in 2008 and during its
maiden voyage energy savings of more
than 20% were achieved, equivalent
to daily savings of some 2.5 tonnes of
fuel, or more than `500, according to
the project beneficiary.
Another German project, ZEM/SHIPS
(LIFE06 ENV/D/000465), developed the
first hydrogen-powered passenger ship.
Power-assisted by an electric motor run
from a fuel cell, the ship commenced
service in August 2008 on Hamburgs
Alster lake.
INTEGRATED APPROACHES
Bringing together a combination of dif-
ferent approaches, the CATCH project
(LIFE02 ENV/UK/000136) successfully
demonstrated the potential of inte-
grated strategies for reducing the envi-
ronmental impact of transport. Focusing
primarily on the city of Liverpool (UK),
the project combined actions to reduce
transport demand, such as walking
and cycling initiatives, with the deploy-
ment of clean fuels and hybrid buses.
The projects evaluation showed that
the wider implementation of the project
actions throughout the city would result
in emissions reductions of 50 939
tonnes/yr of CO
2
, contributing directly
to the EU GHG reduction targets, as well
as targets for air quality and the use of
renewable energy sources.
The LIFE RAVE project (LIFE02 ENV/
IT/000106) also successfully demon-
strated an integrated slow mobility sys-
tem in the city of Novara, Italy. Led by
the city council, the project combined
the creation of protected pedestrian
areas, cycle paths and bicycle parking
with the introduction of fast, low-emis-
sion buses and intelligent traffic lights.
These measures were complemented
by a strategy to discourage the use of
motorised vehicles.
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The smallest liquid natural gas carrier in the world was built by the LNG project which
reduced CO
2
, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide emissions
LIFE WINTECC used an automated towing kite for propelling cargo ships
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LIFE Focus
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Europes buildings offer many possibilities for making positive contributions to the
objectives of the EUs resource efficiency Flagship, particularly via improvements in
energy performance. A variety of LIFE projects have been active in this area and their
results are helping Europes buildings steer a more sustainable course.
j/
LIFE helps boosts
the energy efficiency
of EU building stock
A
s much as 40% of EU energy
consumption and 36% of EU
CO
2
emissions are associated with
buildings. Resource efficiency prin-
ciples are therefore highly relevant
for Europes building stock. Efforts to
improve the energy efficiency of both
existing and new built premises pro-
vide significant opportunities for miti-
gating negative climate change effects.
Bettering buildings energy efficiency
performance can also make useful con-
tributions to improving energy security,
and simultaneously generate employ-
ment in related sectors.
Policy approaches for strengthening
resource efficient building practices
are promoted through the Directive
on Energy Performance of Buildings
(2002/91/EC) and its recast (2010/31/
EU). This sets common Member State
standards and certification require-
ments for important energy consump-
tion factors such as heating, lighting,
insulation, and air conditioning sys-
tems. The directives objectives closely
complement goals in DG Environments
Resource-efficient Europe Flagship to
improve energy profiles of buildings.
Bold targets have been set across the EU
so that by 31 December 2020, all new
buildings shall be nearly zero-energy
consumption buildings. New buildings
occupied and owned by public authori-
ties will have to comply with the same
criteria by 31 December 2018. Signifi-
cant structural challenges are involved
with these strategic ambitions and an
interesting array of LIFE projects have
been helping the EU building sector
pave the way to a more energy efficient
future. Furthermore, as of 2013, all Mem-
ber States will have to set their minimum
energy performance requirements based
on a lifecycle assessment, ensuring opti-
mal cost efficiency.
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SYSTEMATIC AND SIMPLIFIED
APPROACHES
Directive 2002/91/EC calls for strong
methodological approaches to improve
energy efficiency in buildings. Several
different LIFE actions have addressed
this requirement. For instance, for the
transnational LIFE project SB-MED
(LIFE04 ENV/GR/000137), partners from
Greece, France and Germany joined
forces to collate, adapt and apply best
practices in European sustainable build-
ing design methods for schools. The
result was a methodology on sustain-
able school buildings that was tailored
to the particular needs of Mediterranean
countries. The new methodology holds
strong demonstration value for other
parts of the region and is especially
relevant for improving the performance
of existing buildings. By incorporating
factors such as alternative cooling tech-
niques, appropriate materials, natural
shading and renewable energy the new
methodology creates cost savings from
improved energy efficiency, estimated
at 35-50% for heating, and 25-30% for
cooling.
Another exampl e of a benefi ci al
resource efficiency methodology being
introduced by LIFE can be seen in
the EQuation project (LIFE00 ENV/
NL/000808), which showed that energy
performance gains of 15% were pos-
sible by adopting sustainable design
approaches. EQuation was nominated
as a Best LIFE Environment project in
2004-2005 (see pp 21-25).
Award schemes are often useful for
identifying and disseminating good
practices in resource efficiency meth-
odologies, and LIFEs SUSCON project
(LIFE05 ENV/GR/000235) ran a series
of competitions to encourage eco-
friendly construction techniques among
public and private sector stakeholders.
This work formed part of the projects
wider actions involving the design of
computerised systems for reducing the
environmental impact of construction
works. The software developed during
the LIFE project represented an innova-
tion in Greece and Cyprus because it
provided for the first time a full-scale
LIFE Focus
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Energy efficiency in heating and cooling was demonstrated thanks to an innovative methodology for sustainable school buildings
Wood and straw used for wall insulation helped the S-HOUSE project cut energy
consumption
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application of Integrated Product Policy
(IPP) and sustainable construction tech-
niques (combining energy efficiency with
land use, low impact materials, water con-
servation, health and safety and economic
performance criteria).
The results of these LIFE-funded works
directly support high level EU initiatives
such as the Action Plan for Energy Effi-
ciency and will of course remain valuable
for helping the resource efficiency Flagship
navigate the challenges that lay ahead.
ECO-INNOVATIONS
In addition to promoting more simpli-
fied and systematic approaches to
resource efficiency, the Flagship also
underscores the importance of speed-
ing up and spreading eco-innovations.
The LIFE programme has been at the
vanguard of such new thinking, through
projects such as Austrias S-House
(LIFE00 ENV/A/000243), which built an
eco-office from renewable and recy-
clable raw materials. Extensive use of
wood and straw for the outer panelling
and wall insulation helped cut energy
consumption by 9 kWh/m
2
/yr compared
with a standard house. It also helped
save raw materials, using only 10% of
the amount of natural resources that
would have been needed for standard
concrete walls. To add to this material
efficiency, the S-House also featured a
large, south-facing glazed facade and
stone flooring to capture heat, as well
as a prototype biomass stove capable
of storing and regulating energy.
MATERIAL EFFICIENCY
The German INSU-SHELL proj ect
(LIFE06 ENV/D/000471) focused its
attention on the issue of material effi-
ciency in order to reduce the impact of
the concrete industry - cement produc-
tion uses substantial amounts of energy
and accounts for some 5% of world-
wide annual CO
2
emissions.
The project aimed to lower the volumes
of concrete required for conventional
facades and walls through the intro-
duction of high-tech textiles that could
reinforce cement mixes and create
stronger, thinner walls (reduced from
the standard 70 mm to a more material
efficient 10 or 20 mm). This raw mate-
rial efficiency offers the prospect of sig-
nificant associated energy savings.
LIFE Focus
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FC0- CAMPS
The French FC0-CAMPS prc|-
ect (LIfe Nv[fk[eeejz1) demcn-
strated a serles cf rescurce efflclent
ecc-deslgn lnncvatlcns tallcred tc the
needs cf campslte managers. The prc|-
ect shcwed hcw energy ccnsumptlcn
cf chalet heatlng cculd be cut by 6o%
and cf camplng appllances by z8%
when chalets were made mcre energy
efflclent thrcugh lmprcved lnsulatlcn,
natural llghtlng, sclar pcwer and rccf
plantlng. Furcpe's camplng sectcr has
experlenced a resurgence ln recent
years and thls LlFF prc|ect wlll help
spread the wcrd abcut hcw tc bulld
energy efflclent, ecc-frlendly camplng
facllltles.
Austrias S-House built an eco-office from renewable and recyclable raw materials
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kFhFw 8ul Lul hC
A lct cf effcrt has been lnvested ln lmprcvlng the energy efflclency
pctentlal cf new bulldlngs but Furcpe's exlstlng bulldlng stcck ls badly ln
need cf sclutlcns tc bccst lts energy perfcrmance. LlFF's kFhFw 8ulLulhC
(LIfe8 Nv[A[eeez16) tackles thls challenge by strengthenlng the envlrcn-
mental capaclty cf the rencvatlcn sectcr. Ccncludlng ln zo1z, kFhFw 8ulLu-
lhC ls facllltatlng kncwledge transfers abcut energy and rescurce efflclent
ccnstructlcn materlals and prcvldlng tralnlng ln sustalnable rencvatlcn skllls
amcng target grcups ln the rencvatlcn trade that are cften dlfflcult tc reach,
such as mlcrc buslnesses and SMFs.
LIFE Focus
I
This new know-how builds on a grow-
ing library of data from LIFE projects
demonstrating effective energy efficient
building techniques. Notable among
these is Austrias LIFE BBMpassiv
project (LIFE02 ENV/A/000285) which
validated a series of green construc-
tion techniques during its investment in
the development of a multi-functional,
multi-storey administration building.
The result has been the creation of a
passive house that requires only 14
kWh/m/yr of heat thanks to the use of
hemp and cellulose insulating material.
The energy efficient building, which pri-
oritises airtight fabrics, could save 75
000 kg of CO
2
/yr in comparison with a
conventional building.
More data on material efficient techniques
will soon be available from the ongoing
EDEA project (LIFE07 ENV/E/000805),
which aims to improve knowledge about
resource efficiency in social housing
developments. The project seeks to show
how appropriate design of new products,
along with suitable application of exist-
ing products, can considerably improve
the environmental performance of build-
ings. It aims to do this without increasing
costs beyond the scope of social hous-
ing schemes. To this end, the project has
built an experimental house, a social
housing facility that is acting as a living
laboratory for testing and demonstrating
resource efficient approaches for low-cost
homes. Here, the EDEA team is conduct-
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ing applied research into intelligent home
technologies, renewable energies and
methods for reducing gas, heat, dust and
light emissions.
KNOWLEDGE BUILDING
As noted earlier, LIFE has been and will
continue to be an invaluable source for
helping public, private and NGO sectors
develop new know-how on energy and
other resource efficiency components.
Building knowledge about cost-effec-
tive ways to achieve a resource efficient
Europe is considered vital by the EU and
will play a long-term role in helping the
Flagship sail towards its goal of a sus-
tainable horizon.
e
An Austrian project validated considerable
energy savings with green construction
techniques
The EDEA project is improving knowledge about resource efficiency in social housing developments
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LIFE Focus
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Buildings capacity to store and regulate energy affects their efficiency ratings, and
LIFE funds have been used to help offset financial risks involved with finding eco-inno-
vation solutions for new types of resource efficient building materials that can reduce
European energy bills.
buildings provide more stable internal
temperatures and they tend to have
lower heating or cooling costs.
Market trends for lightweight build-
ings with low thermal mass have hence
created an escalating environmental
problem that conflicts with practical
and policy requirements for increased
energy efficiency and improved energy
balances.
LIGHTWEIGHT MATERIALS
WITH A HIGH THERMAL MASS
A LIFE project based in Luxembourg
has helped develop an innovative solu-
tion for this problem. The EFFERNERGY
project (LIFE06 ENV/L/000121) was led
by the Buildings Innovation department
of the private sector firm DuPont, and
LIFE support helped the company work
with SMEs to design a new type of light-
weight building material that exhibits a
high thermal mass.
The key to our eco innovation is a
Phase Change Material (PCM) which
changes its form at different tempera-
tures, explains Wim Maes, DuPonts
Contract Operati ons Manager for
Europe. We have produced a thin flat
wall panel that contains an internal layer
of special wax. When the temperature
in a room increases above 21 degrees
Celsius the wax in the PCM panel starts
to absorb heat energy and slowly melts.
If the room temperature drops to below
21 degrees the liquid wax material then
starts to change its phase back to a solid
state, and in doing so releases the stored
(latent) energy back into the room.The
result is a natural passive solution that
does not require air conditioning.
Despite the energy efficiency potential
of PCMs, their wider use in the past had
been hindered by application problems.
Dupont set out to tackle this issue by
developing a user-friendly PCM panel
that could be easily installed in any build-
ing, especially lightweight, quick-build,
prefabricated structures.
RISK REDUCTION
A lack of market demand for PCM build-
ing panels represented a large risk for
DuPont. LIFE support is able to help
companies bridge such risk gaps and the
programmes role in this area is acknowl-
Taking the risk out of
resource efficiency
investments
T
rends in building techniques over
recent years have seen a boom
in the use of prefabricated, lightweight
and modular constructions. This trend
is especially strong in the housing sec-
tor where wood and metal frame build-
ings are faster and cheaper to build than
concrete or stone alternatives. These
modern techniques can reduce the cost
of construction but they often remain
environmentally flawed in terms of the
buildings thermal mass.
Thermal mass is the ability of a building
to absorb and store heat. Buildings that
contain a lot of dense material, such as
concrete or stone, are able to soak up
heat or light energy and store this within
the walls, floors and ceilings. Buildings
made of materials such as wood and
metal cannot soak up and store as much
energy and have a lower thermal mass.
Rooms in low thermal mass buildings
therefore heat up quicker during hot
weather and become colder faster in win-
ter. They are less energy efficient because
they consume new energy each time the
room needs to be heated to a comfort-
able temperature, or cooled down using
air conditioning units. Heating and air
conditioning appliances are the largest
users of energy in Europes buildings.
Buildings with higher thermal mass are
able to better absorb heat energy from
solar or indoor sources. They store
the heat and release it when the room
temperature drops, as part of a natural
passive energy cycle. These types of
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Placement of the innovative thermal-mass
panels made of a wax-polymer blend
edged as a highly useful tool by benefici-
aries. Mr Maes reiterates this and says,
Research and development money at
DuPont is very competitive but with the
help of LIFE we were able to raise enough
financial support to get our project started.
Without LIFEs help the eco-innovations
we have introduced to the building market
might never have gotten further than the
drawing board. The LIFE project helped
us overcome the period when we didnt
have an income.
Ulrike Koster from DuPont explains fur-
ther, Its not about creating a new mate-
rial that will land in an existing market. Its
about creating a new solution with new
material landing in a non-existent market.
LIFE helped us to define a market strategy
for commercialising the initial eco innova-
tion idea of the PCM panel.
COMMERCIALISING PCM
Much of the projects 1.51 million of LIFE
co-finance was spent on the prototyping
phases for the PCM panels. Most of this
money was used by the SME and aca-
demic partners from France and Greece
that were involved in testing the PCM
materials. Notable among this work was
the development of new software to deter-
mine the specifications of the panel.
Without defined specifications the new
product would not be able to be adopted
by the market. Thanks to the work started
under LIFE and continued after-LIFE, in
2010, DuPont made software available
for the trade that includes PCM specifica-
tions. Building designers and their clients
can now check the energy efficiency and
thermal comfort of a building that includes
the PCM panels. DuPont says this was an
important lesson from the project think
ahead and start work early on determining
product specifications.
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
In addition to the issue of defining speci-
fications, a number of other time-con-
suming obstacles were overcome by
the project, and these offer some useful
insights for decision-makers involved in
promoting resource efficiency at regional,
national and EU levels. For example,
EFFERNERGY has shown how building
codes can hamper the uptake of PCM
panels because the official methodolo-
gies for calculating energy performance
do not know PCM yet, explains Jacques
Gilsent, DuPonts marketing manager.
They know concrete and they know
stone, so if you are builder and you want
to get the energy efficiency of your build-
ing validated you can only use conven-
tional materials.
This issue still represents a serious obsta-
cle to the energy saving benefits of PCMs
and only the regulators can change the
system. As each Member State has its
own building regulations, each Member
State has the power to make the changes
needed for promoting more energy effi-
cient building materials. The main driver
for changes in the industry continues
to be the official rules and legislation,
stresses Mr. Gilsent. Thus, a review of
building regulations and certification sys-
tems by decision-makers could encour-
age the industry to change its behaviour.
Wim Maes believes this is in the inter-
est of everyone who wants to change the
energy bill of the EU. As part of any such
review, the role of subsidies could be con-
sidered.
Other options for increasing uptake of
this type of eco-innovation lay with the
insurance certification systems that are
required for building materials. Before
builders can start a construction project
they normally need to get insurance to
cover their work and insurance compa-
nies seek assurances that the products
being used in a building are safe. All new
products need to be certified for insur-
ance purposes and so the energy sav-
ing benefits available from PCM panels
could also be accelerated by help from
the product certification bodies. DuPont
have found this certification process slow
and expensive. Its been difficult for us
as a large company, so imagine how chal-
lenging it might be for smaller companies
with similarly good eco-innovation ideas,
says Ms. Koster.
IN CONCLUSION
Examining the EFFERNERGY project
highlights the facts that energy storage is
a core part of energy efficiency, and that
PCM is an excellent solution for energy
storage in modern building methodolo-
gies. In 10 years time we might expect
that this approach could be much more
common, and this may be in part attrib-
uted to the risk finance provided by LIFE
to help DuPont and its partners produce
the industrys first ever user-friendly PCM
building panel.

LIFE Focus
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EFFENERGY improved the thermal performance of existing buildings
Project number: LIFE06 ENV/L/000121
Title: EFFENERGY - Energy Efficient
Building Systems
Beneficiary: DuPont Luxembourg
Contact: Wim Maes
Email: wim.maes@lux.dupont.com
Website: http://www.effenergy.dupont.com
Period: Dec-2005 to Nov-2008
LuXFM80ukC
LIFE Focus
I
Overfishing, pollution and unsustainable coastal development present a serious threat
to the EUs marine environment and coastal areas. LIFE projects are actively contribut-
ing to the implementation of EU policy to tackle these issues, testing and demonstrat-
ing new tools and approaches for protecting and conserving our marine resources,
including fish stocks.
j
Protecting Europes
fisheries and marine
resources
F
uropes coastal and maritime
areas are central to its wellbeing
and prosperity. Oceans and seas cover
more than half of EU territory and mari-
time regions are home to about 40%
of the EU population. These areas also
generate some 40% of EU GDP, with
economic activities focusing on areas
such as shipping and shipbuilding,
fisheries, offshore energy and coastal
and maritime tourism. The exploita-
tion of mineral resources, aquaculture,
blue biotechnology and emerging sub-
sea technologies are also increasingly
important sectors.
Facilitating the co-existence and devel-
opment of these different sectors, while
also protecting the marine environment
on which they depend, is an increas-
ingly important challenge for the EU.
Overexploitation of fish stocks, pollu-
tion from land and sea-based sources,
and unsustainable development now
represent a major threat. These prob-
lems are further compounded by the
negative impacts of climate change on
coasts and the marine environment.
If the resilience of our marine ecosys-
tems is continually undermined, the
potential to provide important resources
and services ranging from food pro-
vision to climate change and erosion
abatement to bioremediation of waste
and pollutants, as well as tourism and
aesthetic enjoyment - will also be com-
promised.
The ecosystem approach of the Marine
Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD
- see box) allows for the sustainable
use of goods and services, such as fish
stocks and other resources (biological
resources, minerals, ecosystem services
and renewable marine energy sources).
These marine resources, many of which
are still unknown, have a high potential
and can be used in applications such as
pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, biotech-
nology, bio-engineering/bionics, food
The Baltic MPAs project worked with fishermen to gather data on fishery by-catch
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TFF Fu' S l hTFCkATFu MAkl hF P0Ll C
The Furcpean unlcn, thrcugh lts Integrated Mar|t|me Pe||cy (lMP),
alms tc prcmcte the sustalnable use cf cceans, seas and ccasts. The lMP
fcsters lnteractlcn between all sea-related sectcrs and pcllcles ln the Fu,
ln partlcular transpcrt, flsherles, custcms and the prctectlcn cf the marlne
envlrcnment.
Adcpted ln }une zoo8, the Mar|ne 5trategy framewerk |rect|ve (zoo8/6/
FC) represents the envlrcnmental plllar cf the lMP. The dlrectlve alms "tc
achleve gccd envlrcnmental status cf the Fu's marlne waters by zozo and
tc prctect the rescurce base upcn whlch marlne-related eccncmlc and scclal
actlvltles depend." The dlrectlve prcvldes fcr Member States and ncn-Fu
ccuntrles tc cccperate wlthln Furcpean Marlne keglcns tc develcp and
lmplement strategles tc achleve thls gcal.
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production and processing. The careful

exploitation of some minerals and renew-
able energy resources may also relieve
pressure on land-based ecosystems
and reduce dependency on resources
outside of the EU. Furthermore, marine
and maritime technologies, resources
and services serve as catalysts for inno-
vation, competitiveness and, ultimately,
blue growth and jobs.
There are ways to guarantee resource
efficiency of our seas in the future, such
as by promoting sustainable fishing tech-
niques, minimising discard and by-catch
practises, developing technologies that
exploit marine resources sustainably,
and by preventing marine litter and pol-
lution. LIFE funded projects have a key
role to play in demonstrating how this is
possible in practice.
LIFE IN OUR SEAS
AND OCEANS
LIFE projects are at the forefront of
developing and demonstrating innova-
tive approaches that contribute to the
effective implementation of EU policy on
the marine environment. These projects
address a wide range of issues, including
the conservation of fish stocks, combat-
ing marine pollution, preserving habitats
and biodiversity, and the application of
an ecosystem approach to managing
marine resources.
The LIFE ECOSMA project (LIFE07 ENV/
D/000229), for example, is looking at
ways to promote more sustainable aqua-
culture as a means of relieving stress on
wild fish stocks and improving water
quality in the Baltic Sea. The project
seeks to increase production of, and
develop a market for, ecological mari-
culture products by promoting ecologi-
cal certification. It will create a directory
of German mariculture and establish a
regional committee on sustainable mari-
culture, leading to a draft White Paper
and a code of practice.
TESTING AN ECOSYSTEM
APPROACH IN THE CELTIC SEA
An ecosystem-based approach to manag-
ing marine resources is a key component
of the MSFD. This approach involves the
integrated management of land, water
and living resources in a way that pro-
motes conservation and sustainable use
of resources in an equitable way. It is now
widely recognised as the best means of
managing and governing activities affect-
ing the marine environment.
Contributing to knowledge in this area, the
PISCES project (LIFE07 ENV/UK/000943)
is working closely with stakeholders from
several Member States to test collabora-
tive methodologies for implementing an
ecosystem approach in the Celtic Sea.
Like other EU seas and oceans, the Celtic
Sea is under threat from a variety of exter-
nal pressures (climate change, fisheries,
food cultivation in the open ocean, chemi-
cal pollution, shipping, construction and
dredging, coastal development, recreation
and tourism).
The project will bring together stakehold-
ers and government representatives and
will lead to the development of agreed
mechanisms for implementing an ecosys-
tem approach to managing and overcom-
ing these pressures.
RECYCLING SOLID WASTE
Contributing directly to the implementa-
tion of the EUs Common Fisheries Policy,
the Integrated Maritime Policy and the
Waste Framework Directive, the 3R-FISH
project (LIFE07 ENV/E/000814) aims to
improve the quality of marine waters and
seabeds, and prevent marine litter in com-
pliance with the nothing overboard and
zero waste in ports principles. This will
be achieved by promoting the correct use
of equipment and by minimising the envi-
ronmental impact of solid waste from the
fishing industry (polystyrene, fishing nets,
lighting devices, batteries) by promoting
collection and recycling.
The project will support the reuse and
recycling of devices and equipment used
by the fishing industry in selected ports
Stakeholders are testing new methods for implementing an ecosystem approach
in the Celtic Sea
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in Galicia (Spain). Project actions include

the collection and recycling of disused
nets and expanded polystyrene, and the
collection and treatment of some 1 400
batteries). These innovative systems for
the management and recovery of waste,
throughout the entire lifecycle, will also aim
to recover secondary raw materials, thus
reducing use of primary raw materials.
PRESERVING MARINE HABITATS
AND BIODIVERSITY
The Baltic MPAs project (LIFE05 NAT/
LV/000100) provided a scientific basis
for the designation of Natura 2000 sites
in the marine territories of Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania by proposing seven new
marine protected areas (MPAs) and con-
ceiving management plans for six of
them. The project gathered data from
fishermen on species (seals, birds and
non-commercial fish) caught in their
gear, complemented with information
from independent project fishing activi-
ties. Hydro-dynamic modelling was used
to assess the impact on marine habitats
from the dumping of dredged material
and other activities. The project also
implemented measures to assess and
reduce the impact of fishery by-catch on
target bird and mammal species (such as
the struggling populations of ringed seal,
Pusa hispida).
Focusing on managing areas already des-
ignated for protection, the Co.Me.Bi.S.
project (LIFE06 NAT/IT/000050) aims to
safeguard and restore nine Sites of Com-
munity Importance (SCIs) in the coastal
zones of Lazio and Calabria (Italy), which
are under threat from human activities.
Project actions are focusing on priority
habitats such as Posidonia beds, Coastal
lagoons, Coastal dunes with Juniperus
spp, and Dunes with pine forests.
An important aspect of the project is the
involvement of local fisheries associa-
tions, tourism operators, environmental
NGOs and local and regional govern-
ment in ensuring the sustainable use of
coastal areas.
An earlier LIFE project also explored
effective approaches to managing Nat-
ura 2000 sites. In the context of increas-
ing pressure from urbanisation, tourism
development and other human activities,
the LIFE Zonas costeiras/Aores project
(LIFE98 NAT/P/005275) sought to
develop and implement integrated man-
agement plans for coastal and marine
habitats in the Azores (Portugal).
The project focused in particular on five
marine SCIs and seven Special Areas of
Conservation (SACs). It also proposed
the designation of new protected areas
under national law. Notable successes
of the project included the adoption of
new regulations on whale watching, a
reduction in by-catch, and the updating
of measures for the protection of birds.
It also defined management measures
for fishing activities to reduce by-catch of
sea turtles. The results show the poten-
tial value of modifications to fishing gear
when it comes to reducing by-catch.
The projects approach to preparing and
implementing its management plan has
also provided valuable lessons for other
marine SCIs in the EU.
Making more resource efficient use of
by-catch and discards, a priority for EU
policymakers, was also the subject of
LIFE BE-FAIR (LIFE05 ENV/E/000267),
and the follow-up project, FAROS
(LIFE08 ENV/E/000119), which are the
subject of a feature article on the fol-
lowing pages of this section.
The sustainable use of coastal areas in two Italian regions will be ensured through the active involvement of fisheries associations, tourism
operators, NGOs and local authorities
Measures for the protection of birds were
updated thanks to a Portuguese project
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LIFE Focus
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No discards, zero waste
Promoting a more efficient use of fisheries resources was the main aim of the LIFE BE-
FAIR project, which developed and tested new approaches for managing and reusing
fishing industry waste and by-catch.
efficiently reuse fish resources (discards
and by-catches) which represent poten-
tial food resources and sources of basic
compounds for the medical and pharma-
ceutical industries.The first stage of the
project involved an assessment of the
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A
pproximately 85 million tonnes of
wild fish are harvested globally
each year. Of this, an estimated 27 million
tonnes - almost one-third - is discarded, or
thrown back into the sea.
The remaining target catch is then sub-
ject to on-board processing, which cre-
ates significant quantities of waste, such
as heads, bones, guts and skins. This is
also usually returned to the sea. More
waste is produced on-shore as a result
of the activity of fishing ports, auctions,
fish traders and processing plants.
This combination of discards and waste
represents a serious threat to the sustain-
ability of the fisheries sector, contributing
not only to a depletion of fish populations
and a change in the overall structure of
marine trophic webs and habitats, but
also to the accumulation of pollutants
and the spread of parasites in the marine
environment.
NEW USES FOR FISHING
INDUSTRY WASTE AND
BY-CATCH
In line with EU objectives of no dis-
cards and zero waste, the LIFE BE-
FAIR project (LIFE05 ENV/E/000267)
sought to develop new commercial uses
for fishing industry waste and discards
by piloting innovative waste and discards
pre-processing and valorisation prac-
tices, both on-board fishing vessels and
also on-shore in a dedicated pilot plant.
The idea behind the project was that
everything harvested from the sea should
be treated as a valuable product, always
bearing in mind that resources are limited
and that fishing activities must become
sustainable, explains Luis Taboada
Antelo, LIFE project team member.
We are wasting valuable biomass from
which we can produce secondary raw
materials. The aim was to find ways to
A prototype for the extraction of fish oil
from fish livers was designed for use
onboard
LIFE Focus
I
activities in selected fisheries in Spain,
France and Portugal in order to deter-
mine the amount and type of discards
and by-products being generated.
This was essential to understanding the
feasibility of processes that we would
examine later, says Mr Taboada.
The results showed a wide variety of
fish species being caught as by-catch
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and significant volumes of discards and
waste being dumped back into the sea.
For example, Spanish trawlers operat-
ing in the North Atlantic, which targeted
Greenland halibut, also caught grenadier,
white hake, witch, American plaice, red-
fish or skates, shrimps, yellowtail and
even flounder and cod. Waste material
generated included viscera, heads and
trims of the target species, all of which
were thrown overboard.
In France, the results showed a discard
rate of about 13% for Atlantic fisheries
and 31% for the Mediterranean. Sar-
dine fisheries in the Mediterranean had
a discard rate of over 50%, because of
the presence of mixed banks of sar-
dines and anchovies.
According to information gathered in
Portugal, crustacean and demersal fin-
fish trawl fisheries were found to have
high discard rates, although the values
could be quite variable, according to
the season, fishery and boat type. The
highest rates (up to 60% for fishing
trawlers and 70% for crustacean trawls)
were found in the Algarve.
An assessment of activities on land
also revealed high levels of waste pro-
duction. At the port of Vigo (Spain), for
example, the local fish auction pro-
duced 10-14 tonnes/day of fish waste,
while waste generated by fish process-
ing amounted to some 35% of the total
fish catch.
In France, it was estimated that in 2005,
some 215 000 tonnes of waste was
generated as a result of fish trade and
fish processing activities. This mostly
comprised of fish heads (40%), fish
bones (27%) and viscera (25%).
NEW GUIDELINES AND
INCENTIVES FOR RESOURCE
EFFICIENT FISHING
Taking account of the types and amounts
of discards and waste generated, the
project team developed a Good-Prac-
tice Manual for the Recovery, Handling
and Classification of Discards and By-
Products. This manual includes pro-
posals for appropriate management
practices, on-board and on-shore, with
recommendations for preserving and
pre-treating discards and sub-products.
The guidelines for on-board activities
focus on two types of fishing vessels;
trawlers and long-liners. However, these
can easily be adapted to other fishing
vessels, fishing gear or types of catch.
While the manual was an important start-
ing point, the project team also recog-
nised that to translate this into practice,
Samples of chondroitin sulphate produced from fish cartilage
Hyaluronic acid (HA) can be extracted from the vitreous humour of certain fish species,
such as swordfish or tuna
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there had to be incentives to make it eco-
nomically attractive.
Keeping discards and waste on board
implies a cost, as it takes up space that
could be used to store fish with an eco-
nomic value, so you have to create an
incentive and demonstrate that fisher-
men can gain some economic return
from this, insists Mr Taboada.
To address this issue, the project devel-
oped four different prototypes which
were used to demonstrate the potential
to produce commercial products from
fish wastes and by-catch:
A mechanical device to extract vitreous
humour from fish eyes;
A fish oil extractor to obtain oils from
fish liver on-board;
A water reduction units; and
A multipurpose prototype for gelatine
extraction/chondroitin sulphate/en-
zyme processes.
A preliminary assessment of the market
potential of the different products was
also carried out.
Hyaluronic acid (HA) can be extracted
from the vitreous humour of certain
fish species, such as swordfish or tuna.
Used in the treatment of bone disease
and in cosmetics, this was found to be
the product with the highest commercial
value (up to 100 000 per kg). The mar-
ket opportunity for HA produced exclu-
sively from fish was found to be limited
because of the low concentration of this
compound in fish vitreous humour, but
as a complement to other sources, it was
found to have potential.
The prototype for the extraction of fish
oil from fish livers was designed for use
on-board and the shipowners union of
Vigo (ARVI) has agreed to test it on its
vessels.
The water reduction unit was also
designed for on-board use, where it could
help to reduce the volume of discard and
waste by crushing to obtain a dry cake.
Mr Taboada reports that this prototype
is already being used in France and there
is also interest in Vigo.
The multipurpose prototype worked by
extracting collagen from fish skins to
obtain a purified gelatine that could then
be used as a food supplement. The same
process can also be used to produce
chondroitin sulphate (CS), a substance
used, for instance, to treat rheumatism.
This can be extracted from the cartilage
of fish such as ray or monkfish, explains
Mr Taboada. Only about 20% of a ray is
edible, so at present the remaining 80%
is waste that can be transformed into a
valuable resource.
ESTABLISHING LINKS TO MARKET
The project clearly demonstrated a
resource efficient approach, showing the
potential to add-value to discards and
waste, and the willingness of fishermen
to implement the guidelines and adopt
the prototype equipment, as long as it
was economically feasible. However, two
key challenges remain.
The first is the irregularity of supply,
because of the variability of the types
and quantity of waste and by-catch.
And the second is the link to the market,
which has yet to be established.
According to Mr Taboada, it was not
possible to address these issues within
the timeframe of the project. This is why
we developed the follow-up LIFE FAROS
project (LIFE08 ENV/E/000119), which
aims to put all the pieces together; to
create a network and to establish the
link to market.
FAROS will also look at the introduction
of new on-board technology to retrieve
real time data on fish being harvested.
This will facilitate the generation of maps
of activity and resources at sea, and will
also help to predict areas where rates
of by-catch and discards are likely to
be higher, so that these areas can be
avoided or closed off during spawning
periods or if numbers of certain fish spe-
cies have dwindled.
The first thing to keep in mind is to try
and avoid by-catch, but if this is not
possible then lets exploit it and make
sure we use marine resources more effi-
ciently, concludes Mr Taboada.
At the port of Vigo in Spain the local fish auction produced 10-14 tonnes of fish waste
per day
Project number: LIFE05 ENV/E/000267
Title: Benign and environmentally friendly
fish processing practices to provide
added value and innovative solutions for
a responsible and sustainable management
of fisheries.
Beneficiary: The Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Cientficas (CSIC)
Contact: Antonio lvarez Alonso
Email: antonio@iim.csic.es
Website: http://www.befairproject.com
Period: Nov-2005 to Nov-2008
LIFE contribution: E909 000
SPAl h
LIFE Focus
I
Expanding cities and changing lifestyles demand an ever-increasing supply of natural
resources and energy. LIFE Environment projects are providing support at national,
local and regional levels for European Union strategies that promote more resource
efficient land use and planning in Europe.
Planning for a more resource

efficient European
landscape
T
he way we use our land space
can have major impacts on envi-
ronmental conditions and resource con-
sumption. These impacts can be direct,
such as the destruction of natural habi-
tats and landscapes, or indirect, such
as increasing the amount of traffic on
our roads - leading to more congestion,
air pollution and greenhouse gases. In
Europe, land use planning and man-
agement decisions are usually made
at local or regional level. However, the
European Union has a role to play in
ensuring Member States take environ-
mental concerns into account when
putting together their land use devel-
opment plans.
LIFE has been actively supporting
Europes local or regional authorities to
develop their land use planning strate-
gies in a more resource efficient way.
ECO-EFFICIENCY
Eco-efficiency, combining the ecologi-
cal, economic and social dimensions of
land use and planning, has emerged as
an important concept in the development
of a more resource efficient European
landscape. Several LIFE projects have
explored this concept. For example, the
Finnish ECOREG project (LIFE02 ENV/
FIN/000331)
1
demonstrated how eco-
efficiency monitoring, and the integra-
tion of environmental, economic and
socio-cultural dimensions into sustain-
able development can be implemented
at a regional level.
The project developed a series of eco-
indicators for the development of the
region of Kymenlaakso on the coun-
trys southern Baltic coast, which were
later included in a Regional Plan. The
indicators showed that the overall eco-
efficiency of Kymenlaasko improved
between 1995 and 2002.
The projects findings are relevant to the
development of more resource efficient
1 a Best LIFE Environment Project winner
2005-06
land use and planning policy at all levels:
the results are also highly transferable to
both larger and smaller regions of Europe,
municipalities, and also to companies or
organisations in the context of their envi-
ronmental management systems.
A second Finnish project, Green Valley
(LIFE02 ENV/FIN/000319) developed
a resource efficient land use plan for a
substantial new housing development in
The eco-efficiency of land use in Kymen-
laakso improved thanks to LIFE funding
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The Coastal Woodlands project (LIFE02
ENV/S/000355) demonstrated the appli-
cation of ICZM, focusing on the Baltic
Sea coastal zone woodlands of Finland,
Sweden and Estonia.
Surveys carried out by the project on the
cultural, social and environmental value
of these woodlands, as well as studies of
different forestry management activities,
resulted in the development of integrated
inventories and maps for the project area.
This new information was used in the
stakeholder consultations in the recom-
mendations for ICZM in the Baltic Sea.
The findings highlighted the cross-cutting
aspects of coastal management encom-
passing sustainable forestry, agriculture,
tourism and development planning.
Moreover, the project demonstrated bet-
ter use of legislation for nature protection
and rural planning as well as helping to
stimulate more environmentally-con-
scious attitudes toward land use.
SPATIAL PLANNING TOOLS
Spatial planning information is essential for
good environmental management deci-
sion-making and avoidance of conflicts.
There are many different producers of
such planning tools, but data are often
restricted by reasons of cost or acces-
sibility. The high-profile ENVIFACILITATE
project
2
(LIFE04 ENV/FI/000304) tackled
this problem designing accessible, tech-
nologically sustainable and user-friendly
mapping tools for shared environmental
spatial planning information.
The tools provide users with access online
to the most recent data. They allow maps
and databases to be overlaid to give a clear
representation of spatial data with the doz-
ens of alternative data layers available.
The project contributed towards several
national and international environmental
information systems. It also supported the
networking of planning information actors
at regional level; and developed an inter-
active tool to allow the public to partici-
pate in the regional planning process.
2 a Best of the Best LIFE Environment
project winner 2007-08
URBAN DIMENSION
Europe is highly urbanised, with four out
of every five of its citizens living in towns
or cities. The challenge for policy-mak-
ers is to come up with a sustainable and
integrated approach to urban develop-
ment and management that works in har-
mony with natural systems rather than
against them. A number of LIFE projects
are furthering the EUs Thematic Strategy
on Urban Development, which targets a
more integrated approach and supports
action at local level.
For example, the Spanish-led DIVERS
project (LIFE02 ENV/E/000176) devel-
oped tools and a shared database to
aid strategic urban planning towards a
model for a more sustainable city. Piloted
in five cities in Spain, Greece and Italy
the project has a high demonstration
value, as the strategy and methodology
is applicable to any city.
Another Spanish project GALLECS
- (LIFE02 ENV/E/000200) developed a
Strategic Plan for a rural area on the out-
skirts of Barcelona to address the phe-
nomenon of urban sprawl. The project
promoted more sustainable land use,
renewable energy and more efficient
water irrigation systems to demonstrate
that it is possible to achieve environmen-
tally, socially and economically sustain-
able development in transition zones on
the edge of cities. As a result, the project
was able to strengthen the rural areas
function as an ecological buffer zone
between the urban fringe and the coun-
tryside beyond.
Salo. The plan included specific actions
e.g. favouring the procurement of green
electricity and the enhancement of envi-
ronmental aspects in the public procure-
ment of the participating municipalities.
Stakeholder consultation led to greater
public involvement in the planning stage
and thus significant uptake of the com-
pleted dwellings.
Landscape management aspects also
delivered some 60 small-scale plans for
biodiversity, semi-natural habitats, land-
scape improvements and water protec-
tion. Furthermore, by involving the areas
cattle farmers, who play an important role
in maintaining meadows and thus contrib-
uting to biodiversity, the project was able
to recommend changes to the application
of EU agri-environmental support that
were subsequently adopted by regional
and national environmental authorities.

Another success was the promotion of
environmental training, which resulted in
the establishment of two new enterprises
targeting innovative waste management
technologies.
ICZM A PRIORITY
IN EU PLANNING
Integrated Coastal Zone Manage-
ment (ICZM) is about managing coastal
resources and coastal space by joining
up all the different policies which have an
effect on coastal regions.
Tools to aid strategic urban planning
were developed by the DIVERS project
ICZM focusing on the Baltic Sea coastal
zone woodlands was applied in Finland
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1
LIFE turns food for thought
into action
l
n the globalised economy and
interlinked environment, the EU is
increasingly affected by global changes
in resources, climate, material availability
and food prices. These issues are likely
to become more pressing, with a pro-
jected increase in global demand for food
of some 70% by 2050. Steps taken by
the Commission at EU level to address
climate change can also contribute to
improving global food security.
Key areas of policy intervention in the
food and beverage sector have included
improving resource use in production
and avoiding food waste.
The LIFE programme has played an
important role to date in helping to
implement these policy objectives
across the EU-27 and in neighbouring
countries.
IMPROVING RESOURCE USE IN
FOOD PRODUCTION
A plethora of LIFE Environment projects
have been dedicated to helping food
and beverage producers make better
use of their resources and raw materials.
The wine industry has been a particular
focus, given its growing importance and
geographic spread.
Resource use in the food and beverage sector has improved with LIFE funding
One of the earliest LIFE projects to target
wine production (LIFE99 ENV/E/000349)
took place in the Rioja region of Spain.
This high-profile demonstration project
was developed by the Rioja Economic
Development Agency (ADER), the Rioja
Water Board and the regional govern-
ment in order to develop an environ-
mentally sustainable and economically
viable model applicable to the entire
wine production process. Key areas for
resource efficient production that the
project focused on included: measures to
reduce the use of environmentally-harm-
ful pesticides in vine cultivation; improved
water treatment and use (including a pilot
wastewater treatment plant); investigat-
ing the potential for re-using grape by-
products (e.g. pomace); and integrating
wine production into sustainable urban
and rural management. The most notable
outcome of the project was the agree-
There is significant scope to produce and consume our food and drink in a more
resource efficient manner. EU policy initiatives in this regard have been supported on
the ground by a number of innovative LIFE Environment projects.
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SuSTAlhA8LF C0hSuMPTl0h Ahu
Pk0uuCTl0h 0F Fuk0PF'S F00u Ahu uklhK
As the Furcpean Fccd Sustalnable Prcductlcn and Ccnsumptlcn kcund
Table ln }anuary zo11 hlghllghted, fccd and drlnk lndustrles have an lmpcr-
tant part tc play ln a sclence-based, ccherent apprcach tc sustalnable
ccnsumptlcn and prcductlcn ln the fccd sectcr, cne that takes lntc acccunt
lnteractlcns acrcss the whcle fccd chaln.
The rcund table, cc-chalred by the Furcpean Ccmmlsslcn, set cut the fcl-
lcwlng three key cb|ectlves:
Tc establlsh sclentlflcally rellable and unlfcrm envlrcnmental assessment
methcdclcgles fcr fccd and drlnks,
Tc ldentlfy sultable tccls and guldance fcr vcluntary envlrcnmental ccm-
munlcatlcn tc ccnsumers and cther stakehclders, and
Tc prcmcte ccntlnucus envlrcnmental lmprcvement measures alcng the
whcle supply chaln.
LIFE Focus
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HAproWINE seeks to integrate waste
management and Lifecycle Assessment
tools into the wine industry
High nutritional value animal feed was produced from winery wastewater
ment of the wine companies to fund the
largest multi-winery effluent treatment
plant in Europe, the Station District of
Haro.
The Rioja project found that better han-
dling and storage would be required to
make commercial re-use of wine by-
products, knowledge that was widely
disseminated, including at Green Week
2000. The Greek DIONYSOS project
(LIFE03 ENV/GR/000223) has drawn
on this learning to successfully build a
pilot plant for processing winery solid
waste. The project was able to recover
high added-value polyphenols (used in
food supplements and cosmetics), use
the slurry wastes and sludgy waste-
water to produce high nutritional value
animal feed, and transform the remain-
ing waste into natural organic fertiliser
by composting. This LIFE Environment
Best of the Best project for 2007-
2008 has attracted much interest from
wineries keen to improve the resource
efficiency of their production processes
and develop financial viable uses for their
by-products. Two Greek wineries that did
not participate in the project have already
implemented its methods.
Two ongoing LIFE projects are looking to
build on these earlier success stories.
The WINEC project in Cyprus (LIFE08
ENV/CY/000455) is developing an envi-
ronmental management system (EMS)
and wastewater treatment plant for
the Tsiakkas Winery in the west of the
country. It is hoped that this will have an
important demonstration effect, since
many Cypriot wineries still spread their
untreated effluent in fields, thereby pol-
luting groundwater resources. Halting
the decline of soil fertility and improv-
ing water quality are EU-level goals for
reducing risks to future agricultural pro-
duction and food security.
Meanwhile, the HAproWINE project in
Spain (LIFE08 ENV/E/000143) seeks to
integrate waste management and Lifecy-
cle Assessment (LCA) tools into the wine
industry, including promoting the reuse
of winery wastes and creating a certifi-
cation scheme to help consumers make
more environmentally-friendly choices.
This lifecycle approach chimes with the
goals of the European Food Sustainable
Production and Consumption Round
Table (see box).

Improving resource efficiency through an
LCA approach was also the goal of the
ECOIL project (LIFE04 ENV/GR/000110)
(see pages 21-25).
SHOWING THE WAY
TO EFFICIENT PRODUCTION
The EU produces around half of the
worlds potato starch, a process that
uses large amounts of water and energy.
The LIFE New potatopro project (LIFE04
ENV/DK/000067) aimed to develop a
novel energy efficient process for potato
protein extraction on an industrial scale.
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Reductions in energy and water use were achieved through a Closed-Loop Blanching method
An innovative treatment process produced water efficiencies in a Dutch cheese factory
This new process, designed by Danish
beneficiary, Karup Kartoffelmelfabrik,
would also made more efficient use of
raw materials.
Results were impressive: by transform-
ing fruit water to high-value protein, the
starch factory was able to take steps
towards producing fertiliser concentrate
and biomass for energy production, as
well as towards treating process water
for reuse in the production process.
The beneficiarys new factory, co-funded
by LIFE, features a more efficient heating
and heat exchange system for the proc-
ess, as well as better decanting and dry-
ing of the end product. These improve-
ments have resulted in energy savings of
some 60% and a 40% reduction in water
consumption.
The new facility also removes 55-60% of
the nitrogen load from the wastewater.
The waste product, containing phospho-
rous and potassium, can then become
a useful secondary raw material, as it is
dried and sold as fertiliser sludge. The
factory also now has a system for sepa-
rating the potato proteins into fractions
and is attempting to produce a new
product with a low solanine content (the
substance that turns potatoes green).
A second good demonstration of
resource effi ci ency i n the potato
processing industry is provided by CLB
(LIFE05 ENV/NL/000035), a Dutch LIFE
project that developed an innovative new
method of blanching chips (French fries).
CLB stands for Closed-Loop Blanching,
a method that is designed to avoid the
negative environmental impacts waste
energy and water and loss of potato
solids (some 10-30%) of industry stand-
ard hot water blanching processes. The
CLB project achieved significant savings
in raw materials, as well as reductions
in energy and water use, transport and
overall emissions.
A closed-loop water treatment process
was also the goal of another Dutch project
targeting the dairy industry. LIFE Dairy,
No Water! (LIFE03 ENV/NL/000488)
achieved significant improvements in
resource use in a cheese factory in
Hogeveen by extracting whey water and
reusing it as process water. Although the
plant did not become totally self-sufficient
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Families who took part in the IDEAL 79

project reduced the amount of waste
they produced by purchasing ecogoods
and services
Best practice models and materials on waste prevention were tested in households in
Helsinki
in water, as planned, it did reduce water
intake from 825 million to 275 million
litres/yr, reduced wastewater by 255 mil-
lion litres/yr and eliminated the use of
groundwater. In addition, energy savings
amounted to some 7.8 Kton of CO
2
.
Reducing water consumption and asso-
ciated impacts of wastewater treatment
(such as sludge and odour emissions)
was also the goal of the Spanish JELLY
project (LIFE04 ENV/ES/000224), which
applied the EUs Integrated Pollution Pre-
vention and Control (IPPC) guidelines to
the manufacture of gelatine from pig skin.
The improvements instigated by the JELLY
project have cut the time needed for the
whole process from 60 hours to 10 hours.
Water savings are equivalent to the aver-
age consumption of a town with 6 000
inhabitants, with significant reductions in
energy consumption, solid waste by-prod-
ucts and odour emissions. Final product
quality is also higher because the gelatine
is exposed to higher temperatures for
less time. Other important achievements
include an investment payback time of
3 years 3 months and the discovery that
blood, proteins and fats contained in wash
waters could be recovered and converted
into valuable products made from these
secondary raw materials. A new company
Proca Ingredients S.L. has been set up
by the beneficiary and a project partner to
exploit this opportunity.
TACKLING FOOD WASTE
It is not only food and beverage pro-
ducers that LIFE has targeted, the pro-
gramme has also played a leading role
in the drive to avoid food waste among
consumers. Wastage leads to more
imports and exports of food, driving up
commodity prices, increasing instances
of land grabbing of agricultural land in
developing countries and putting more
pressure on the environment. An esti-
mated 179 kg/capita/yr of food is wasted
by the food processing industry, whole-
salers, caterers and households. A large
part of this wastage could be avoided,
especially at household level. The
French IDEAL 79 project (LIFE05 ENV/
F/000063) and WASTEPrevKit in Finland
(LIFE05 ENV/FIN/000539) are just two
examples of pilot schemes that are help-
ing to mainstream resource efficient food
consumption practices.
IDEAL 79 took practical steps to reduce
waste in Deux Svres, distributing an
eco-consumers guide to 160 000 homes
in the department and providing incen-
tives (e.g. price reduction vouchers)
to switch to purchasing eco-products
and services. Sales of eco-products in
large supermarkets increased 19% as
a result. Nine families who took part in
a pilot scheme to reduce the amount
of waste they produced by purchasing
eco-goods and services achieved an
average reduction of 120 kg (34%) in 12
months. The LIFE project also helped
reduce the average residual waste per
inhabitant of Deux Svres by 9.9% in
three years (from 314 kg per inhabit-
ant in 2005 to 283 kg per inhabitant in
2008) as well as raising awareness of
the need to conserve resources and
reduce waste.
The purpose of the WASTEPrevKit project
was to work, test, disseminate and adopt
best practice models and materials on
waste prevention. It was expected that
this would lead to a reduction in the
amount of waste in the test area. The
target groups were households, schools,
day care centres, vocational institutions,
public administrations and enterprises
in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. Infor-
mation campaigns were supported by a
diverse range of project actions, includ-
ing the development of teaching materi-
als, the extension of an existing waste
benchmarking service, and a two-year
pilot waste reduction project involving
households in the Viikki-Latokartano
area of Helsinki. Results were positive
(for instance, families taking part in the
pilot scheme reduced mixed waste by
9% and biowaste by 22% on average)
and are readily transferable.
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LIFE Focus
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Europe faces many challenges on the path to resource efficient agriculture and eco-
system services. The LIFE programme is helping to demonstrate ways of improving
water efficiency, reducing soil erosion and mitigating and adapting to the effects of
climate change, in line with EU policy goals.
LIFE aids agriculture

to preserve resources
0
ne of the main challenges that
the EU faces is how to reform
the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
so that Europe continues to contribute
to food production and to increasingly
deliver environmental improvements,
preserving soil fertility and other eco-
system services, avoiding deforestation
and promoting rural areas and liveli-
hoods.
At present agriculture and food produc-
tion are continuing to challenge envi-
ronmental resources, sometimes creat-
ing disservices
1
, even with the ongoing
reforms requirements for cross-com-
pliance (i.e. the requirement that farm-
ers respect environmental, food safety,
phytosanitary and animal welfare stand-
ards, in order to receive their direct pay-
ments). Hence more steps need to be
taken towards sustainable agricultural
practices that preserve and make an
1 Management practices in agriculture can
create disservices such as nutrient run-off,
sedimentation of water bodies, pesticides
poisoning, soil erosion, water depletion,
desertification and loss of habitats and
biodiversity
efficient use of our resources, as fore-
seen with the CAP reform that is under
preparation
2
.
The LIFE programme has led the way in
demonstrating agri-techniques that have
efficiently helped to preserve resources
2 See COM (2010) 672 final The CAP towards
2020: Meeting the food, natural resources
and territorial challenges of the future http://
eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=COM:2010:0672:FIN:en:PDF
while guaranteeing the same or higher
production levels, as the following exam-
ples illustrate.
WATER EFFICIENT
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture accounts for 70% of global
freshwater consumption and water scar-
city issues have affected 17% of EU ter-
ritory. The changing climate will further
reduce the availability of water in the
The AGRICARBON project will demonstrate that conservation agriculture can reduce
GHG emissions and adapt farming techniques to new climatic conditions
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driest areas of Europe. The OPTIMIZA-
GUA project (LIFE03 ENV/E/000164)
demonstrated efficient ways to reduce
water consumption in irrigation cultures
(cereals wheat and maize and grass)
by developing a prototype that com-
bined traditional rainwater collection and
storage systems with smart irrigation
systems. Rainwater is used for irriga-
tion, thus reducing the consumption of
water from public supply networks, with
the irrigation system adjusting the water
intake according to the crop, soil type,
weather conditions and availability of
water. The prototypes are wind and solar
powered, giving the project an energy
efficient dimension as well.
The project demonstrated great results in
terms of efficiency - 40% water savings
compared with traditional irrigation sys-
tems (20 000 m
3
in only 4 hectares).
Mediterranean countries use some 70%
of their water for irrigation purposes
and the average loss is high in an area
already faced with issues of water scar-
city. The Spanish gEa project focused on
improving water efficiency for irrigation
in El Vicario (LIFE05 ENV/E/000313). It
developed an automated online system
for real-time reading of meters, control
of water quality, regulation of water con-
sumption and detection of leaks. This
decision-support tool helped improve
the technical, hydraulic and administra-
tive management of El Vicarios irriga-
tion community and helped optimise
the management of the entire river basin.
Stakeholders (including farmers) were
trained to use the gEa system, which, in
trials, saved some 1 087 000 litres when
used on only two fields. This gives a
good idea of the extent of water savings
that could be achieved if the technology
were to be used extensively.
Lack of information, insufficient exper-
tise and scarcity of financial and human
resources sometimes make it difficult for
farmers to undertake actions or to find
innovative technologies to reduce water
LlFF Ahu TFF lhTFkhATl0hAL FAk 0F F0kFSTS (lF)
As the wcrld's fcrest rescurces are under threat frcm defcrestatlcn, flres and pests, the unlted hatlcns has declared
zo11 the lnternatlcnal ear cf Fcrests (lF). Thrcugh lts LlFF prcgramme the Fu has suppcrted and ccntlnues tc suppcrt
lnltlatlves tc preserve the reslllence cf fcrest rescurces.
The Cllmfcrlsk prc|ect (LIfe Nv[fI[eee/1) wlll map changes ln future fcrest grcwth and carbcn mltlgatlcn pctentlal
and changes ln the susceptlblllty cf fcrests tc drcught and selected blctlc dlsturbance (pests/pathcgens). The system wlll
be used tc develcp maps and lndlcatcrs that wlll suppcrt declslcn-maklng by publlc cfflclals and fcrest managers.
Fcrest blcmass prcvldes a carbcn stcre and ls lmpcrtant fcr mltlgatlng cllmate change. The LlFF 8lcenergy 8 Flre Prev.
prc|ect (LIfe Nv[5[eeee) alms tc develcp new fcrest management tccls and apprcaches tc mlnlmlse the rlsk
cf fcrest flres by reduclng the amcunt cf grcund-level waste blcmass ln fcrest areas. lt wlll alsc evaluate the pctentlal
cf blcmass as a scurce cf renewable energy and rural emplcyment.
The OPTIMIZAGUA prototype achieved notable water efficiencies by combining combined rainwater collection and storage systems
with smart irrigation
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use. The AQUA (LIFE09 ENV/IT/000075)
project aims to work with stakeholders
from agriculture and agri-industry to
produce and disseminate a Water Sav-
ing Kit that will demonstrate how to
anticipate environmental threats such as
water scarcity, as well as to respond to
eventual emergencies, such as subsid-
ence and droughts, based on a cradle
to cradle approach.
Mountain viticulture can lead to water
exploitation and soil erosion. To address
these problems, the PRIORAT project
(LIFE05 ENV/E/000330) developed a
Mountain Viticulture Sustainable Man-
agement System which introduces
a terracing system that - aside from
improving landscape conservation and
the organic content of soils - allows veg-
etation cover to be increased by 80%.
The increased vegetation produces a
better drainage system for rainwater,
which in turn significantly reduces soil
erosion. Furthermore, subsurface drip
irrigation systems were installed that cut
water consumption by 85%. The project
methodology allowed for a higher level of
productivity and economic benefits also
derived from reduced water, energy and
chemical consumption.
SOIL EROSION
Conventional agricultural techniques
can lead to soil erosion, water pollution,
loss of biodiversity and reduced carbon
sequestration. Some 18% of EU terri-
tory is affected by soil erosion, which is
particularly severe in the Mediterranean
because of the prevalence of steep
slopes, dry periods followed by high
precipitation and conservative farming
practices.
The ALMOND PRO-SOI L proj ect
(LIFE05 ENV/E/000288) demonstrated
the benefits of cultivating almond trees
to prevent desertification, soil erosion
and the abandonment of land in rural
areas. The project increased soil fertility
and biodiversity (via enhanced organic
matter content and microbial activity),
reducing erosion and improving the
soils physical structure, stability and
water holding capacity.
Another Spanish project, DOANA
SOSTENIBLE (LIFE00 ENV/E/000547),
tackled the problem of soil erosion on 33
pilot farms covering 318.9 ha by apply-
ing conservation agriculture techniques
such as vegetation cover to improve soil
The terracing system developed by LIFE PRIORAT increases vegetation cover and thus a better drainage system for rainwater
Conservation agriculture techniques such as vegetation cover improved soil quality in
the Doana National Park
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protection and diminish soil erosion and
the run-off of water and fertilisers. The
result was an improved conservation
status of the Guadiamar River.
In the UK, the Sowap project (LIFE03
ENV/UK/000617) replaced ploughing
with zero-till or non-inversion tillage to
reduce soil erosion and enable cover
crops during winter that improved soil
structure and enhanced soil biodiver-
sity. The results reduced run-off by as
much as 90%, particularly during heavy
rainfall, and cut soil erosion by 95% on
light sandy soils. Soil function was also
improved, as shown by higher soil car-
bon, nitrogen and moisture together with
increased invertebrate biodiversity.
CLIMATE CHANGE
The agricultural sectors potential to
mitigate, adapt to and reduce green-
house gas (GHG) emissions needs to be
developed to meet the EU energy and
ACklCuLTukF Ahu
TFF hATukA zooo hFTw0kK
climate agenda. LIFE projects are show-
ing what can be achieved by improving
energy efficiency, biomass and renew-
able energy production, and the protec-
tion of carbon in soils.
The Changing the Climate project
(LIFE07 INF/E/000852) aims to encour-
age the agro-forestry sector in Galicia
(Spain) to become involved in activities
that support adaptation and mitigation
measures. The project aims to promote
the use of renewable energies and bio-
fuels, recycling, the establishment of
energy efficiency measures, a shift to
organic farming and the use of climate-
adapted crops, as well as encouraging
farmers to adopt sustainable manage-
ment alternatives.
The Acci n Agrocl i mati ca proj ect
(LIFE09 ENV/ES/000441) will develop
tools for carrying out energy and GHG
audits on farms, and for identifying the
most suitable crops and best practices
for mitigation and adaptation to climate
change. Ultimately it aims to develop a
diagnostic software for energy balances
and GHG emissions and demonstrate
general practices for each farming sec-
tor to reduce energy use and GHG emis-
sions by 10% to 40%.
CO
2
emissions in farming come mainly
from ploughing, which causes soil car-
bon loss. The LIFE+AGRICARBON
project (LIFE08 ENV/E/000129) encour-
ages the uptake of conservation agri-
culture (CA) techniques that can reduce
GHG emissions and the adaptation of
farming techniques to new climatic
conditions resulting from global warm-
ing. Through the sink effect of CA, the
project aims to fix an additional 0.60-
1.50 tonnes of CO
2
/ ha/yr on farms,
a 20% reduction in CO
2
emissions. In
addition to reducing energy consump-
tion, the project also aims to quantifi-
ably improve soil quality.
Agrlculture has a ma|cr lnfluence cn the hatura zooo netwcrk and lts sur-
rcundlngs. lntenslve farmlng technlques and bad agrlcultural management
can prcduce pressures cn the ccnservatlcn status cf habltats and specles,
whereas cther fcrms cf agrlculture can be essentlal tc managlng extenslve
areas cf valuable habltat.
kefcrms cf the CAP and the kural uevelcpment kegulatlcn (zoo;-zo1) have
lntrcduced pcllcy tccls and measures that have lmprcved the lntegratlcn cf
blcdlverslty ccnslderatlcns lntc farmlng and fcrestry practlces acrcss the Fu.
hew rural develcpment measures under Plllar ll have alsc suppcrted farmlng
and fcrestry actlvltles that are beneflclal fcr wlldllfe.
The CAP refcrm, fcresees that, ln the future, envlrcnmental measures shculd
be tallcr made tc fulfll the needs cf reglcns and lccal areas such as hatura
zooo and hlgh-nature-value (Fhv) farms and the functlcns cf lntenslve and
extenslve farmlng practlces wlll have tc be revlsed.
A Spanish project demonstrated how cultivating almond trees could prevent desertifica-
tion and soil erosion
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LIFE Focus
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Conservation agriculture
reduces soil erosion
in Andalusian wetlands
The Spanish Humedales Sostenibles (Sustainable Wetlands) project showed how LIFE
can contribute to the conservation and efficient use of natural resources, taking into
account the needs for landscape preservation, flood protection, carbon storage, good
water quality and control and protection of biodiversity.
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ndalusia has a rich and diverse
natural heritage, especially in
terms of wetland habitats: some 17%
of Spanish of Spanish wetlands are
located in the region. These dynamic
ecosystems are also fragile and can
be negatively impacted by soil erosion
caused by the intensive agricultural
practices typically used in the Mediter-
ranean. Such practices can increase soil
loss and reduce the fertility and ability
of soil to absorb CO
2
, leading to the
loss of water content in the soil, nutrient
run-off and loss of biodiversity.
The aim of the LIFE Sustainable Wet-
lands project (LIFE04 ENV/ES/000269)
was to demonstrate the application of
agricultural practices that used resources
such as soil and water efficiently in order
to improve the conservation status of
Andalusian wetlands, whilst increasing
awareness amongst farmers of the impor-
tance of Natura 2000 sites. We wanted
to demonstrate the decisive role that agri-
culture can play in protecting our natural
resources and in providing us with impor-
tant ecosystem services, explains project
manager Jos Fernando Robles.
The LIFE project involved 33 farmers
in a pilot scheme showing how con-
servation agriculture (CA) techniques
can drastically reduce soil erosion in
the catchment areas of the wetlands. A
Geographical Information System (GIS)
was used to select the areas for the trial
and to help farmers choose the best soil
management systems and crop rota-
tions in accordance with the physical
characteristics of their farms. Demon-
stration plots covering 60 ha were estab-
lished in the surroundings of wetlands in
Utrera, Osuna-Lantejuela, Gosque and
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Lebrija-Las Cabezas. There, with train-
ing and guidance from the Technical
Office for the Promotion of Conserva-
tion Agriculture, the farmers tested tech-
niques including minimum or no tillage,
the maintenance of harvest residues on
soil surface, direct sowing and vegeta-
tion cover for arboreal crops. In addition,
the project produced a guide to CA tech-
niques that was disseminated to Andalu-
sias agricultural community.
CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
IN ACTION
Farms located in Lebrija have clay soils
that are significantly exposed to soil
erosion. The run-off of soils has heav-
ily impacted the areas wetlands caus-
ing siltation. Our land suffers from
soil erosion and I was very interested
in learning techniques for optimum soil
management, says Juan Cortines,
a local farmer who participated in the
LIFE project. Soil is one of the primary
resources that allows us to produce in
the long run. Without it we would have
no agriculture in this area.
One of the most important tasks, believes
project technician Emilio Cuberos, was
to train farmers how to produce in com-
pliance with the Natura 2000 network
and make them understand the impor-
tance and value that wetlands represent
in terms of biodiversity.
From the farmers point of view, produc-
tion levels are what matters most. Mr.
Cortines, who eliminated soil tillage and
applied direct sowing on his demonstra-
tion plot of 6 ha of sunflowers, is pleased
to note that over the three years during
which I applied the techniques, the pro-
duction levels remained the same and in
some cases they increased.
The farmland of Osuna also suffers from
soil erosion. Here, another local farmer,
Pedro Baena, applied CA techniques on
25 ha of olive groves and wheat fields.
Before introducing the techniques sug-
gested by the project, the land would
lose up to 4 cm/ha when it rained, says
Mr Baena. That is equivalent to 400
tonnes/ha/yr that will never be recov-
ered. This soil erosion also caused silta-
tion and sedimentation of the neighbour-
ing wetlands.
To reduce the soil erosion in his olive
groves, Mr Baena added vegetation
cover. According to Emilio Gonzlez,
General Secretary of the European Con-
servation Agriculture Federation (ECAF
a project partner), This produces the
effect of filtering water more rapidly so
that it does not remain on the surface,
thus reducing run-off and siltation. Fur-
thermore, the vegetation impedes the
loss of water.
PRESERVING RESOURCES AND
ENHANCING BIODIVERSITY
The projects technical team monitored
each of the demonstration plots and
compared them with plots where conven-
tional soil management techniques were
continuing to be applied. The results in
terms of soil erosion were impressive. For
example in the wetland area of Laguna
del Gosque, soil erosion decreased by 1
022 tonnes/yr for olive groves, by 1 489
tonnes/yr for corn/cotton crops and by 1
811 tonnes/yr for wheat/sunflower crops
in comparison with soil losses uses con-
ventional farming techniques.
Other benefits noted during monitor-
ing included a reduction in run-off and
an increase in the hydric content of the
soil where direct sowing was employed.
By avoiding tillage and, by maintaining
harvest residues on the surface, the
Osunas farmland would lose up to 400 tonnes/ha/yr of soil through precipitation
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61
organic content and fertility of the soil
was increased, while the carbon content
in the soil was found to have increased
by 1 tonne/yr.
The decrease in soil erosion was reflected
in less siltation of the wetlands, where a
significant increase in biodiversity was
also observed. Organic matter in the
soil is the main food source for micro-
organisms, which thus benefits all other
organisms in the trophic chain (insects,
mammals, birds, e.g. flamingos, etc). The
increase in vegetation cover on some of
the demonstration plots also meant more
hiding and nesting places for fauna, as
well as more food, thus enhancing the
biodiversity of the area.
GREEN SKILLS AND ECONOMIC
BENEFITS
The techniques applied by the project
were shown to reduce production costs
significantly (since no machinery was
required to till the soil). We have calcu-
lated that the savings are between 40 and
60 euros per hectare per year for annual
crops in southern Europe, says Mr. Rob-
les. This compensates for the investment
in machinery for direct sowing.
The LIFE funded project was also a clear
demonstration of how green skills in the
agricultural sector can be created, as
it requires greater professional skills to
apply the soil conservation techniques
correctly. More than half of the 33 farm-
ers are still applying the techniques
today. Some have not been able to invest
in the direct sowing machinery, how-
ever, more simple techniques are being
applied in the area and this is creating
interest amongst the farming commu-
nity of Andalusia even four years after
the project has ended, notes Mr Robles
proudly.
ACHIEVING FURTHER
RESOURCE EFFICIENCIES
Ultimately the project has demonstrated
how CA techniques can be applied to
make more efficient use of resources
(mostly soil and water), avoiding the
deterioration and sedimentation of pro-
tected wetlands whilst preserving biodi-
versity and enhancing production.
The project will facilitate the adaptation
of farms to the new context established
by the Natura 2000 Network and the
future CAP reform, says Mr. Robles. It
has demonstrated how CA techniques
can be easily adopted to preserve our
natural resources, which are the basis of
thriving agro-ecosystems.
Such techniques are in the midst of a
phase of expansion, not only in all the
countries of the Mediterranean, but
throughout the EU. The uptake of sus-
tainable practices that make efficient use
of our natural resources by farming com-
munities will provide European citizens
with quality, value and diversity of food
and ensure the long-term future of EU
agriculture and rural areas.
Project manager Jos Fernando Robles explains how soil erosion has caused the siltation and sedimentation of neighbouring wetlands
Project number: LIFE04 ENV/ES/000269
Title: Humedales Sostenibles - Integrated
management of agriculture in the surround-
ings of community importance wetlands
(sustainable wetlands)
Beneficiary: Asociacin Agraria Jvenes
Agricultores de Sevilla (ASAJA-Sevilla)
Contact: Jos Fernando Robles del Salto
Email: jfrobles.life@asajasev.es
Website: http://www.humedales.org
Period: Oct-2004 to Oct-2007
LIFE contribution: E541 000
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6z
LIFE shows the environmental
benefits of GPP
P
ubl i c authori ti es have great
purchasing power spending
around 17% of the EUs gross domestic
product and their choices about the
goods and services they purchase not
only have a significant impact on the
environment directly, but also greatly
influence the market for those goods
and services by boosting green busi-
nesses.
As a result, greening the performance
of public authorities or Green Public
Procurement (GPP) as it has come to
be known is an area that has received
much attention from legislators and
policymakers in the EU.
For GPP to become more widespread,
clear and verifiable environmental cri-
teria for products and services must
be established that are compatible
between Member States. A level play-
ing field will boost the single market,
reduce the impact of goods and serv-
ices on the environment and lead to a
more efficient use of resources. To date,
the Commission has developed EU
GPP criteria for 18 product and serv-
ice groups, and also adopted a new
procedure for the development of GPP
criteria in 2010. The aim is to make the
process more transparent and partici-
patory and enhance synergies among
the various eco-innovation labels that
are already in place.
Criteria help public authorities choose
the best environmental products on
the market whilst minimising verifica-
tion requirements and costs. In the
future, the way forward may be to put
in place mandatory Green Public Pro-
curement to support targeted areas of
innovative, resource efficient goods.
This approach could remove barriers
to innovation, such as when public
procurement of water delivery services
gives preference to well-tested solu-
tions, rather than resource efficient
ones.
A forthcoming Communication from the
European Commissions Directorate-
General for the Environment (DG ENV)
will point to the scope for procurement
to drive innovations that can improve
resource efficiency.
THE ROLE OF LIFE
LIFE projects have aimed to raise
awareness of GPP and promote the use
of GPP criteria by establishing regional
networks and developing and imple-
menting tools for joint procurement
practice. For example, the Italian GPP-
net project (LIFE02 ENV/IT/000023)
The GGPnet project produced a 300-page
handbook for public administrations
One way of favourably influencing Europes unsustainable use of its natural resources is
to encourage one of its largest consumers, public authorities, to adopt common green
criteria for purchasing such goods as computers, stationery (paper), vehicles and fur-
niture as well as fuel, food and electricity.
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LIFE Focus
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created a network of politicians and
executives in the Province of Cremona
to spread awareness of the potential of
GPP at all administrative levels.
The GPPnet project trained staff in
charge of public purchasing to identify
products and services with lower envi-
ronmental impacts, and to introduce
environmental criteria into purchasing
procedures, widely disseminating the
concept of resource efficiency through
GPP in so doing. To facilitate the train-
ing process, the project produced a
300-page handbook that contained a
step-by-step outline of how environ-
mental criteria can be introduced into
a public administrations purchasing
procedures, including ways of elimi-
nating administrative burdens that may
impede the adoption of GPP. The guide-
lines contained in this handbook, which
were used for calls for tender during
the project, demonstrate EU policy in
action and could be used as examples
for future common GPP guidelines.
The Province of Cremona is continuing
its GPP activities after the end of the
LIFE project. The legacy of the GPPnet
project is evident in other regions too. A
National Working Group on GPP, based
on the experiences of the project, was
established in Bologna in 2005. The
body is spreading the good procedures
determined during the project to local
and regional authorities throughout
Italy.
In line with the Commissions emphasis
on common criteria for GPP, the group
of tools for assisting GPP implemen-
tation developed by the LIFE LEAP
project (LIFE03 ENV/UK/000613) are
transferable across Europe. In fact, 11
local authorities in five Member States
were partners in the project. Launched
at the EcoProcura conference in Barce-
lona in 2006, the LEAP Toolkit consists
of eight tools for implementing GPP.
The tools outline a five-step implemen-
tation process, give examples of good
practice, set out standard specifications
for key products, and detail evaluation
priorities and the promotion of a green
market. Most importantly in terms of
resource efficiency, the criteria devel-
oped by the project could be used as a
basis for a future mandatory implemen-
tation of GPP.
Moreover, the project produced a
tool for testi ng j oi nt procurement
approaches to overcoming market bar-
riers for green purchasing in Europe.
Such a tool will help meet the policy
objectives highlighted in the EUs 6th
Environment Action Programme.
Lack of information remains an obsta-
cle to further take-up of GPP. The
ongoing GPPinfoNET project (LIFE07
INF/IT/000410), is demonstrating ways
of tackling this problem in Italy, and
with the potential to be transferable to
the EU as a whole. By the end of the
project, it aims to have ensured that at
least 30% of local authorities that have
joined regional networks will have pub-
lished green tenders and implemented
actions that favour the adoption of GPP
within their administrations: just one
example of how LIFE is furthering the
goal of resource efficiency by encour-
aging the widespread adoption of GPP.
To monitor the success of this project
and other initiatives, the Commission
has proposed two types of indicator:
quantitative indicators to assess the
progress of the policy and its impact
on the supply side; and impact-ori-
ented indicators allowing assessment
of the environmental and financial gains
made. A 2009 study tested this meth-
odology. Further evaluation will take
place in 2011, and statistical data will
serve as the basis for setting future tar-
gets for GPP implementation.
The figures are impressive. A saving of
the equivalent of 60 million tonnes of
CO
2
is achievable if all public authori-
ties across the EU demanded green
electricity (equivalent to the emissions
of 6.5 million Europeans). The Commis-
sion estimates that environmental build-
ing construction could lead to a similar
result. Large CO
2
reductions can also
be achieved through the use of energy-
efficient computers, and greater water
use efficiency could result in consider-
able savings.
The Furcpean Ccmmlsslcn ldentlfles the lack cf 'green skllls' - l.e.
expertlse and ccmpetence ln the use cf green technclcgles - as a speclflc bar-
rler tc lnncvatlcn. Creen skllls are needed tc develcp new technclcgles, mcre
rescurce efflclent prccesses and new wcrklng methcds. Fu zozo lnltlatlves,
such as "cuth cn the Mcve", and "Creen Skllls" wlll be addresslng these
lssues, but further actlcn speclflc tc rescurces may alsc need tc be taken. LlFF
prc|ects have shcwn that prcvldlng green skllls beneflts |cb creatlcn.
Fcr example, the Spanlsh FLvFS prc|ect (LIfe Nv[[eeej1/) created 11
permanent pcsltlcns fcr tralned staff lnvclved ln the separatlcn cf metal
allcys frcm end-cf-llfe vehlcle englnes. The green skllls emplcyed ln thls
prccess are havlng a slgnlflcant envlrcnmental lmpact ln terms cf waste
reductlcn and recycllng cf materlals, slnce the allcys are reused ln new
englnes fcr the autcmctlve sectcr.
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LIFE Focus
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Project list
The table below provides the complete list of LIFE projects on resource efficiency mentioned in this
publication. For more information on individual projects, visit the online database at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/projects/index.cfm
Project Reference Acronym Title Page
PRODUCTION PROCESSES
LIFE04 ENV/IT/000583 PROWATER Sustainable water management in the textile wet industry through
an innovative treatment process for wastewater re-use
6
LIFE05 ENV/IT/000846 BATTLE Best Available Technique for water reuse in TextiLE SMEs 6
LIFE05 ENV/E/000285 RESITEX Alternatives for waste volume reduction in the textile sector through
the application of minimisation measures in the process and in the
consumption
6
LIFE02 ENV/E/000216 AFINO
CONDUCTIVIDAD
Development of a new salt water purication system in the tanning
sector for reuse
7
LIFE04 ENV/IT/000414 N.E.S.S. New Eco Spray System 7
LIFE00 ENV/IT/000184 GIADA Integrated Environmental Management in the tannery district of
Chiampo Valley (Italy)
7
LIFE08 ENV/E/000140 OXATAN Environmentally friendly oxazolidine-tanned leather 7
LIFE05 TCY/GA/000115 HAGAR Environmental action for the sustainability of natural resources
through recycling of water and sludge frm marble production
7
LIFE02 ENV/UK/000140 Inwatco Integrated Water Management in former coal mining regions 8
LIFE05 ENV/E/000317 ELVES Development of a system for high-quality separation of metal alloys
from end-of-life-vehicle engines and its reuse in new engines and
components for automotive sector
8
LIFE05 ENV/D/000185 INCOCAST Demonstration of environmentally friendly aluminium engine block
Core Package casting (CPS) using an inorganic binder
9
LIFE04 ENV/IT/000598 ESD New ESD (eco-sustainable drawing) system, environment-friendly
to process steel wire rods / by-products, eliminating the current
pickling practice and the related chemical fumes possessing a high
environmental impact substituting the ...
9
LIFE06 ENV/NL/000176 Green Bearings Demonstrating innovative technologies that signicantly improve
the environmental performance of bearings
9
LIFE06 ENV/IT/000332 MEIGLASS Minimising the Environmental impact of GLASS recycling and glass
container production
10-12
LIFE07 ENV/IT/000361 NOVEDI No Vetro in Discarica (No glass in landll): demonstrating innovative
technologies for integral recovery of glass rejects actually landlled
12
LIFE08 ENV/IT/000421 VALIRE Valorisation of incentration residues 12
ECO-PRODUCTS AND ECO-DESIGN
LIFE04 ENV/IT/000589 EWG New clean technology for the decoration of all kinds of ceramic
surfaces, whether at or textured, with a minimal use of raw noble
materials
14
LIFE02 ENV/IT/000052 Micronishing A new dry process of micronishing of gres porcelain and natural
stone surfaces, which will substitute the stage of smoothing/
polishing, drastically decreasing the environmental impact of this
stage, to aim for a sustainable development
14
LIFE05 ENV/E/000301 Eco-Ceramics Ecological ceramics optimization. Alternative to sludge disposal 14
LIFE07 ENV/SLO/000710 UNISASH Resource efcient, Universal Window Sash 14
LIFE08 ENV/F/000481 CISDP Cleaning Industry Sustainable Development Programme 14
LIFE03 ENV/A/000002 PROCOOL Development and successful market penetration of HFC-free and
eco-efcient cold appliances for the commercial use
15
Best of the Best projects Best projects
6
LIFE Focus
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LIFE05 ENV/DK/000156 CO
2
REF Development and demonstration of a prototype transcritical CO
2

refrigeration system
15
LIFE00 ENV/IT/000213 Clean-Deco Development of a clean coating technology pvd for decorative
applications on metal components in place of the traditional
(galvanic) coating technologies
15
LIFE05 ENV/F/000062 GAP Clean alternative technology to chemical milling: demonstration of
technical, environmental and economic performance of mechanical
milling for the machining of complex shaped panels used in the
aeronautical and space industries - GAP (Green Advanced Panels)
project
16
LIFE03 ENV/E/000106 RECIPLAS Integrated reusable plastic crates and pallets, eliminating package
waste, for sustainable distribution of everyday commodities in
Europe.
16
LIFE99 ENV/IT/000034 Use and re-use Use and ... reuse. The processing centre in the logistics of
packaging of fresh fruit and vegetable products
16
LIFE09 ENV/ES/000454 WOODRUB Utilisation of recovered wood and rubber for alternative composite
products
17
LIFE95 ENV/IT/000393 New raw materials from agri-food and industrial wastes: sugar
paper, orange paper, smog paper
17
LIFE03 ENV/GR/000204 ECO-TEXTILE Introduction and Promotion of the ECO-LABEL to the greek textile
industry
17
LIFE08 ENV/E/000147 SHOELAW Promotion of Environmental Legislation among European Footwear
Industries
17
LIFE09 ENV/LU/000390 ECO2 Tyre Tech Development and validation of ecologically sustainable tyres
through lifecycle enhancing technologies
17
LIFE00 ENV/F/000593 E.D.I.T Eco Design Interactive Tools 17
LIFE06 ENV/L/000118 BioTyre Development and validation of ultra low rolling resistance tyre with
environmentally friendly resources
18-20
LIFECYCLE THINKING
LIFE02 ENV/S/000351 DANTES Eco-Efciency evaluation of new and existing products (DANTES) 23
LIFE00 ENV/NL/000808 EQuation Demonstration and dissmeination project for stimulating architects
and local governments to build sustainable with help of innovative
design tools
23
LIFE08 ENV/E/000135 FENIX Fenix-Finding regional environmental lifecycle information on
packaging waste management through exible software tools and
databases
23
LIFE03 ENV/IT/000333 Aqualabel Environmental certication of water resource distributed by
waterworks systems
23
LIFE04 ENV/IT/000588 LAIPP Dissemination of IPP tools in the furniture industry 24
LIFE04 ENV/GR/000110 ECOIL Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a decision support tool (DST) for
the eco-production of olive oil
24
LIFE03 ENV/EE/000194 OSELCA Introduction and Implementation of Life Cycle Assessment
Methodology in Estonia: Effects of Oil Shale Electricity on the
Environmental Performance of Products
24
LIFE00 ENV/FIN/000656 Rural LIFE Design Eco-design and marketing model for rural products and services 25
LIFE04 ENV/GR/000138 IPP TEL Integrated Product Policy in the Telecommunication Sector 25
LIFE04 ENV/DE/000047 Resolved Recovery of Solar Valuable Materials, Enrichment and
Decontamination
25
LIFE07 ENV/P/000639 ELECTROVALUE Electric and electronic eco-assembly alternatives for the
valorisation of the end-of-life products in the recycling
market
25
LIFE04 ENV/FR/000353 ACADEMY Airbus Corporate Answer to Disseminate integrated Environmental
Management System
26-28
LIFE05 ENV/F/000059 PAMELA Process for Advanced Management of End of Life of Aircraft 28
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WATER EFFICIENCY
LIFE00 ENV/EE/000922 RAKWANET Demonstration Activities for the Reduction of Water Losses
and Preservation of Water Quality in Over-dimensioned Water
Distribution Network in Rakvere Town, Estonia
30
LIFE09 ENV/IT/000136 PALM Pump And Leakage Management 30
LIFE07 ENV/IT/000475 TRUST Tool for regional - scale assessment of groundwater storage
improvement in adaptation to climate change (TRUST)
31
LIFE03 ENV/NL/000467 VERBAL The Vertical Flow Reed Bed at Leidsche Rijn. A natural way to lter
urban water
31
LIFE98 ENV/D/000509 Reuse lter backwash-
water
Reuse of lter backwashwater from groundwater treatment for
drinking water purposes with a submerged membrane system
31
LIFE07 INF/UK/000950 Eco-Animation Eco-Animation: a cutting edge cartoon to raise awareness on
climate change and sustainable use of natural resources among
European children
31
LIFE96 ENV/E/000509 Zaragoza Zaragoza: water saving city. Small steps, big solutions 32
LIFE03 ENV/E/000164 OPTIMIZAGUA Demonstration of water saving for watering uses through the
experimentation of articial
32
LIFE00 ENV/NL/000790 Maastricht Water Demonstration of integrated total water management for a cluster
of 8 industries, implementing a centralised water supply and a semi
collective WWTS and resulting in substantial ground water and
energy savings
32
LIFE02 ENV/E/000183 Dropawater Durable Regions On Peripheal Areas for Water Reduction 32
LIFE02 ENV/E/000210 HAGAR Tools of self-management for water irrigable in the overused hydric
systems
32
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT
LIFE02 ENV/GR/000359 IMMACULATE IMprovement of Urban Environment Quality of Air and Noise Levels
by an Integrated, Cost Effective and MUlti-Level Application of
Clean Vehicle Technologies
34
LIFE06 ENV/D/000477 PARFUM Particulates, Freight and heavy duty vehicles in Urban
Environments
34
LIFE07 ENV/IT/000434 MHyBus Methane and Hydrogen blend for public city transport bus:
technical demonstrative application and strategic policy measures
35
LIFE02 ENV/E/000253 ECOBUS Collecting used cooking oils to their recycling as biofuel for diesel
engines
35
LIFE05 ENV/P/000369 OIL PRODIESEL Integrated Waste Management System for the Reuse of Used
Frying Oils to Produce Biodiesel for Municipality Fleet of Oeiras
35
LIFE08 ENV/IT/00042 ETRUSCAN Under the Etruscan sun - Environmental friendly Transport to
RedUce Severe Climate change ANthropic factors
35
LIFE03 ENV/IT/000319 SIDDHARTA Smart and Innovative Demonstration of Demand Handy Responsive
Transport Application to improve the quality of the urban
environment
35
LIFE05 ENV/E/000262 GESMOPOLI Integral mobility management in industrial estates and areas 35
LIFE03 ENV/NL/000474 LNG Tanker Demonstrating the effective and safe use of liquid natural gas as fuel
for ship engines for short-sea shipping and inland waterway transport
36
LIFE06 ENV/D/000479 WINTECC Demonstration of an innovative wind propulsion technology for
cargo vessels
36
LIFE06 ENV/D/000465 ZEM/SHIPS Zero.Emission.Ships 36
LIFE02 ENV/UK/000136 CATCH Clean Accessible Transport for Community Health 36
LIFE02 ENV/IT/000106 RAVE The Green Ray of Novara 36
ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS
LIFE04 ENV/GR/000137 SB-MED Enhancing transferability of innovative techniques, tools, methods
and mechanisms to implement sustainable building in the
Mediterranean region
38
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LIFE00 ENV/NL/000808 EQuation Demonstration and dissemination project for stimulating architects
and local governments to build sustainable with help of innovative
design tools
38
LIFE05 ENV/GR/000235 SUSCON Sustainable Construction in Public and Private Works through IPP
approach
38
LIFE00 ENV/A/000243 S-House S-House: innovative use of renewable resources demonstrated by
means of an ofce and exhibition building
39
LIFE06 ENV/D/000471 INSU-SHELL Environmentally Friendly Facade Elements made of thermal
insulated Textile Reinforced Concrete
39
LIFE04 ENV/FR/000321 ECO-CAMPS Eco-design and eco-engineering of buildings, amenities and
accommodations in campsites
39
LIFE02 ENV/A/000285 BBMpassiv Multifunctional company and administration building with logistics
and cultural centre in passive house standard in sustainable timber
construction
40
LIFE07 ENV/E/000805 EDEA Efcient Development of Eco-Architecture: Methods and
Technologies for Public Social Housing Building in Extremadura
40
LIFE08 ENV/A/000216 RENEW BUILDING Demonstration and Dissemination of Climate and Environmental
Friendly Renovation and Building with Renewable Resources and
Ecological Materials
40
LIFE06 ENV/L/000121 EFFERNERGY Energy Efcient Building Systems 41-42
FISH AND MARINE RESOURCES
LIFE07 ENV/D/000229 ECOSMA Ecological Certication of Products from Sustainable Marine
Aquaculture
44
LIFE07 ENV/UK/000943 PISCES Partnerships Involving Stakeholders in the Celtic sea Eco-System 44
LIFE07 ENV/E/000814 3R-FISH Integral management model of recovery and recycling of the proper
solid waste from the shing and port activities
44
LIFE05 NAT/LV/000100 Baltic MPAs Marine protected areas in the Eastern Baltic Sea 45
LIFE06 NAT/IT/000050 Co.Me.Bi.S. Urgent conservation measures for biodiversity of Central
Mediterranean Sea
45
LIFE98 NAT/P/005275 Zonas costeiras/Aores Integrated management of coastal and marine zones in the Azores 45
LIFE05 ENV/E/000267 BE-FAIR Benign and environmentally friendly sh processing practices to
provide added value and innovative solutions for a responsible and
sustainable management of sheries
46-48
LIFE08 ENV/E/000119 FAROS Integral networking of shing actors to organize a responsible
optimal and sustainable exploitation of marine resources
48
LAND USE AND PLANNING
LIFE02 ENV/FIN/000331 ECOREG The Eco-Efciency of Regions - Case Kymenlaakso 49
LIFE02 ENV/FIN/000319 Green Valley Operation model of environmental management in Salo region 49
LIFE02 ENV/S/000355 Coastal Woodlands Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Woodlands by the Baltic
Sea
50
LIFE04 ENV/FI/000304 ENVIFACILITATE Integration of spatial environmental information across different
themes, scales, resolutions and uses : added value of facilitating
mechanisms
50
LIFE02 ENV/E/000176 DIVERS Information, Competitiveness and Sustainability in Urban System 50
LIFE02 ENV/E/000200 GALLECS Demonstration project on land use and environmental
management of the physical planning in Gallecs as a biological
and stable connector in the fringe space of Barcelona
metropolitan area
50
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
LIFE99 ENV/E/000349 Business, environment and wine: from the winegrape to the bottle.
Vertical integration of the environment in the wine production
process and horizontal optimization of resources
51
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LIFE03 ENV/GR/000223 DIONYSOS Development of an economically viable process for the integrated
management via utilization of winemaking industry waste;
production of high added value natural products and organic
fertilizer
52
LIFE08 ENV/CY/000455 WINEC Advanced systems for the enhancement of the environmental
performance of WINEries in Cyprus
52
LIFE08 ENV/E/000143 HAproWINE Integrated waste management and life cycle assessment in the
wine industry: From waste to high-value products
52
LIFE04 ENV/GR/000110 ECOIL Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a decision support tool (DST) for
the eco-production of olive oil
52
LIFE04 ENV/DK/000067 New potatopro Novel energy efcient process for potato protein extraction 52
LIFE05 ENV/NL/000035 CLB Demonstration of a closed loop blanching system for the potato
processing industry
53
LIFE03 ENV/NL/000488 Dairy, No Water! A dairy industry which is self-supporting in water 53
LIFE04 ENV/ES/000224 JELLY Demonstration project for gelatine production with use of innovative
technology achieving an important washing wastewater reduction
54
LIFE05 ENV/F/000063 IDEAL 79 Sustainable Initiatives and Local Alternatives towards waste
prevention
54
LIFE05 ENV/FIN/000539 WASTEPrevKit Waste Prevention Kit for enterprises, education and households 54
AGRICULTURE AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
LIFE09 ENV/FI/000571 Climforisk Climate change induced drought effects on forest growth and
vulnerability
56
LIFE09 ENV/ES/000450 Bioenergy & Fire Prev. Contribution of forest biomass generated in the prevention of forest
res in the EU energy strategy
56
LIFE03 ENV/E/000164 OPTIMIZAGUA Demonstration of water saving for watering uses through the
experimentation of articial
56
LIFE05 ENV/E/000313 gEa Excellence in irrigation water management 56
LIFE09 ENV/IT/000075 AQUA Adoption of Quality water Use in Agro-industry sector 57
LIFE05 ENV/E/000330 PRIORAT Making compatible mountain viticulture development with
European Landscape Convention objectives
57
LIFE05 ENV/E/000288 ALMOND PRO-SOIL Soil protection in Mediterraanean areas with increased soil erosion
rate through cultivation of new
57
LIFE00 ENV/E/000547 DOANA SOSTENIBLE Design and Application of a Sustainable Soil Management Model
for Orchard Crops in the Doana National Park Area
57
LIFE03 ENV/UK/000617 Sowap Soil and Surface water protection using conservation tillage in
northern and central europe
58
LIFE07 INF/E/000852 Changing the Climate LIFE+campaign Changing the change. The Galician agriculture
and forest sector facing climate change
58
LIFE09 ENV/ES/000441 Accin Agroclimatica Combating climate change through farming: application of a
common evaluation system in the 4 largest agricultural economies
of the EU
58
LIFE08 ENV/E/000129 LIFE+AGRICARBON Sustainable agriculture in Carbon arithmetics 58
LIFE04 ENV/ES/000269 Humedales Sostenibles Integrated management of agriculture in the surroundings of
community importance wetlands
59-61
GREEN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND GREEN SKILLS
LIFE02 ENV/IT/000023 GPPnet Green Public Procurement Network 62
LIFE03 ENV/UK/000613 LEAP Local Authority EMAS and Procurement 63
LIFE07 INF/IT/000410 GPPinfoNET GPPinfoNET The Green Public Procurement Information Network 63
LIFE05 ENV/E/000317 ELVES Development of a system for high-quality separation of metal alloys
from end-of-life-vehicle engines and its reuse in new engines and
components for automotive sector
63
68
LIFE Focus
I
Available LIFE Environment publications
LIFE and local authorities: Helping
regions and municipalities tackle envi-
ronmental challenges
(2010 - 60 pp. - ISBN 978-92-79-18643-1
- ISSN 1725-5619)
Water for life - LIFE for water: Protecting
Europes water resources
(2010 - 68 pp. - ISBN 978-92-79-15238-2
- ISSN 1725-5619)
LIFE among the olives: Good practice in
improving environmental performance in
the olive oil sector
(2010 - 56 pp. - ISBN 978-92-79-14154-6
- ISSN 1725-5619)
Getting more from less: LIFE and sus-
tainable production in the EU
(2009 - 40pp. - ISBN 978-92-79-12231-6
- ISSN 1725-5619)
Breathing LIFE into greener businesses:
Demonstrating innovative approaches
to improving the environmental perfor-
mance of European businesses
(2008 - 60pp. - ISBN 978-92-79-10656-9
- ISSN 1725-5619)
LIFE on the farm: Supporting environ-
mentally sustainable agriculture in Europe
(2008 - 60 pp. - 978-92-79-08976-3 - ISSN
1725-5619)
LIFE and waste recycling: Innovative
waste management options in Europe
(2007 - 60 pp. - ISBN 978-92-79-07397-7
- ISSN 1725-5619)
LIFE and Energy: Innovative solutions for
sustainable and efficient energy in Europe
(2007 64pp. ISBN 978 92-79-04969-9 -
ISSN 1725-5619)
LIFE-Third Countries 1992-2006
(2007, 64 pp. ISBN 978-92-79-05694-9
ISSN 1725-5619)
LIFE in the City: Innovative solutions for
Europes urban environment
(2006, 64pp. - ISBN 92-79-02254-7 ISSN
1725-5619)
The air we breathe: LIFE and the Euro-
pean Union clean air policy
(2004 - 32 pp. ISBN 92-894-7899-3
ISSN 1725-5619)
A cleaner, greener Europe - LIFE and the
European Union waste policy
(2004 - 28 pp. ISBN 92-894-6018-0
ISSN 1725-5619)
Best LIFE Environment projects 2009
(2010, 32pp.-ISBN 978-92-79-16432-3
ISSN 1725-5619)
Environment Policy & Governance Proj-
ects 2009 compilation (2010, 125pp.
ISBN 978-92-79-13884-3)
Information & Communications Proj ects
2009 compilation (2010, 14pp.
ISBN 978-92-79-16138-4)
Nature & Biodiversity Projects 2009
compilation (2010, 91pp. ISBN 978-92-
79-16139-1)
Environment Policy & Governance
Projects 2008 compilation (2009, 107pp.
ISBN 978-92-79-13424-1)
Information & Communications Projects
2008 compilation (2009, 21pp. ISBN
978-92-79-13425-8)
Nature & Biodiversity Projects 2008
compilation (2009, 87pp. ISBN 978-92-
79-13426-5)
Best LIFE Environment projects 2008-
2009 (2009, 32pp.-ISBN 978-92-79-13109-7
ISSN 1725-5619)
Environment Policy & Governance and
Information & Communications Projects
2007 compilation (2009, 92 pp.-ISBN 978-
92-79-12256-9)
Other publications LIFE-Focus brochures
A number of LIFE publications are
available on the LIFE website:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/
life/publications/lifepublications/
index.htm
A number of printed copies of
certain LIFE publications are
available and can be ordered free-
of-charge at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/
life/publications/order.htm
6
LIFE+ LInstrument Financier pour lEnvironnement / The financial instrument for the environment
Period covered (LIFE+) 2007-2013.
EU funding available approximately EUR 2 143 million
Type of intervention at least 78% of the budget is for co-financing actions in favour of the environment (LIFE+
projects) in the Member States of the European Union and in certain non-EU countries.
LIFE+ projects
> LIFE+ Nature projects improve the conservation status of endangered species and natural habitats. They support the
implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives and the Natura 2000 network.
> LIFE+ Biodiversity projects improve biodiversity in the EU. They contribute to the implementation of the objectives of
the Commission Communication, Halting the loss of Biodiversity by 2010 and beyond (COM (2006) 216 final).
> LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance projects contribute to the development and demonstration of innovative
policy approaches, technologies, methods and instruments in support of European environmental policy and legislation.
> LIFE+ Information and Communication projects are communication and awareness raising campaigns related to the
implementation, updating and development of European environmental policy and legislation, including the prevention
of forest fires and training for forest fire agents.
Further information further information on LIFE and LIFE+ is available at http://ec.europa.eu/life.
How to apply for LIFE+ funding The European Commission organises annual calls for proposals. Full details are
available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/funding/lifeplus.htm
Contact
European Commission Directorate-General for the Environment
LIFE Unit BU-9 02/1 B-1049 Brussels Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/life
LIFE and Resource Efficiency: Decoupling Growth from Resource Use
Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union
2011 - 72p - 21 x 29.7 cm
ISBN 978-92-79-19764-2
ISSN 1725-5619
doi:10.2779/74370
ISSN 1725-5619
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LIFE and Resource Efficiency

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LIFE and Resource Efficiency

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LIFE and resource efficiency

Decoupling growth from resource use

LIFE producing resource

in new auto parts and engines. A facil-

production and processing. The careful

in Galicia (Spain). Project actions include

Planning for a more resource

Families who took part in the IDEAL 79

LIFE aids agriculture

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