Postpandemic Evaluation of the Eco-Efficiency of Personal Protective Equipment Against COVID-19 in Emergency Departments: Proposal for a Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on emergency department (ED) care in Canada and around the world. To prevent transmission of COVID-19, personal protective equipment (PPE) was required for all ED care providers in contact with suspected cases. With mass vaccination and improvements in several infection prevention components, our hypothesis is that the risks of transmission of COVID-19 will be significantly reduced and that current PPE use will have economic and ecological consequences that exceed its anticipated benefits. Evidence is needed to evaluate PPE use so that recommendations can ensure the clinical, economic, and environmental efficiency (ie, eco-efficiency) of its use. OBJECTIVE: To support the development of recommendations for the eco-efficient use of PPE, our research objectives are to (1) estimate the clinical effectiveness (reduced transmission, hospitalizations, mortality, and work absenteeism) of PPE against COVID-19 for health care workers; (2) estimate the financial cost of using PPE in the ED for the management of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients; and (3) estimate the ecological footprint of PPE use against COVID-19 in the ED. METHODS: We will conduct a mixed method study to evaluate the eco-efficiency of PPE use in the 5 EDs of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval (Québec, Canada). To achieve our goals, the project will include four phases: systematic review of the literature to assess the clinical effectiveness of PPE (objective 1; phase 1); cost estimation of PPE use in the ED using a time-driven activity-based costing method (objective 2; phase 2); ecological footprint estimation of PPE use using a life cycle assessment approach (objective 3; phase 3); and cost-consequence analysis and focus groups (integration of objectives 1 to 3; phase 4). RESULTS: The first 3 phases have started. The results of these phases will be available in 2023. Phase 4 will begin in 2023 and results will be available in 2024. CONCLUSIONS: While the benefits of PPE use are likely to diminish as health care workers' immunity increases, it is important to assess its economic and ecological impacts to develop recommendations to guide its eco-efficient use. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42022302598; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=302598. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/50682.

Remarkable Spatial Disparity of Life Cycle Inventory for Coal Production in China.

Coal is the primary energy source in China, and its life cycle inventory (LCI) is widely used as background data for life cycle assessment studies. Previous research indicates that the inventory of coal production varies regionally. However, the development of complete regionalized LCIs for coal production is quite limited. Here, we establish the first provincial-level LCIs of local coal production and market for coal in China, based on a database of 6,122 coal mines and developed models. In the inventory results of local coal production, the coefficients of variation (CVs) of nine indicators exceed 0.5, especially SO2 and particulate matter emission factors (CVs > 1). Compared with that, the interprovincial coal trade homogenizes the provincial production inventory of market for coal relatively, despite four indicators with CVs exceeding 0.5. Therefore, the regionalized inventory with remarkable spatial differentiation can provide more accurate fundamental data for future research such as electricity production. Furthermore, CH4 emissions from coal production account for 24% of China's total methane emissions, highlighting its significance in mitigating global warming. Moreover, through the increasing coal trade, the significant and implicit plunder of water resources from the three coal net-exporting provinces, located in water-scarce areas, should be noted.

The impacts of hydropower on freshwater macroinvertebrate richness: A global meta-analysis.

Hydroelectric dams and their reservoirs have been suggested to affect freshwater biodiversity. Nevertheless, studies investigating the consequences of hydroelectric dams and reservoirs on macroinvertebrate richness have reached opposite conclusions. We performed a meta-analysis devised to elucidate the effects of hydropower, dams and reservoirs on macroinvertebrate richness while accounting for the potential role played by moderators such as biomes, impact types, study designs, sampling seasons and gears. We used a random/mixed-effects model, combined with robust variance estimation, to conduct the meta-analysis on 107 pairs of observations (i.e., impacted versus reference) extracted from 24 studies (more than one observation per study). Hydropower, dams and reservoirs did significantly impact (P = 0.04) macroinvertebrate richness in a clear, directional and statistically significant way, where macroinvertebrate richness in hydropower, dams and reservoirs impacted environments were significantly lower than in unimpacted environments. We also observed a large range of effect sizes, from very negative to very positive impacts of hydropower. We tried to account for the large variability in effect sizes using moderators, but none of the moderators included in the meta-analysis had statistically significant effects. This suggests that some other moderators (unavailable for the 24 studies) might be important (e.g., temperature, granulometry, wave disturbance and macrophytes) and that macroinvertebrate richness may be driven by local, smaller scale processes. As new studies become available, it would be interesting to keep enriching this meta-analysis, as well as collecting local habitat variables, to see if we could statistically strengthen and deepen the conclusions of this meta-analysis.

A Commodity Supply Mix for More Regionalized Life Cycle Assessments.

Supply chain information is invaluable to further regionalize product life cycle assessments (LCAs), but detailed information linking production and consumption centers is not always available. We introduce the commodity supply mix (CSM) defined as the trade-volume-weighted average representing the combined geographic areas for the production of a commodity exported to a given market with the goal of (1) enhancing the relevance of inventory and impact regionalization and (2) allocating these impacts to specific markets. We apply the CSM to the Brazilian soybean supply chain mapped by Trase to obtain the mix of ecoregions and river basins linked to domestic consumption and exports to China, EU, France, and the rest of the world, before quantifying damage to biodiversity, and water scarcity footprints. The EU had the lowest potential biodiversity damage but the largest water scarcity footprint following respective sourcing patterns in 12 ecoregions and 18 river basins. These results differed from the average impact scores obtained from Brazilian soybean production information alone. The CSM can be derived at different scales (subnationally, internationally) using existing supply chain information and constitutes an additional step toward greater regionalization in LCAs, particularly for impacts with greater spatial variability such as biodiversity and water scarcity.

Temporally-differentiated biogenic carbon accounting of wood building product life cycles.

Although standards have identified temporary carbon storage as an important element to consider in wood product LCAs, there has been no consensus on a methodology for its accounting. This work aims to improve the accounting of carbon storage and fluxes in long-life wood products in LCA. Biogenic carbon from harvested roundwood logs were tracked using the Carbon Budget Model Framework for Harvested Wood Products (CBMF-HWP). Carbon flows through wood product manufacturing, building life and end-of-life phases, and carbon stocks and fluxes from harvest to the atmosphere were estimated. To cover the products commonly used in the Canadian building industry, a range of softwood products types, provinces and territories and building lifetimes were considered. In addition, policy scenarios were considered in order to model the effects of dynamic parameters through time as a policy target is reached. Most wood products have similar emissions profiles, though cross-laminated timber has higher sawmill emissions and oriented-strand board has higher initial post-demolition emissions. The region of construction is also predictive of the initial post-demolition emissions. Higher recycling rates shift materials from landfills into subsequent product systems, thus avoiding landfill emissions. Landfill decay rates are affected by climate and results in a large range of landfill emissions. The degree of postponement of end-of-life emissions is highly dependent upon the wood product type, region and building lifespan parameters. This work develops biogenic carbon profiles that allows for modelling dynamic cradle-to-grave LCAs of Canadian wood products. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s42452-020-03979-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Integrating Pressure-Driven Membrane Separation Processes to Improve Eco-Efficiency in Cheese Manufacture: A Preliminary Case Study.

Pressure-driven membrane separation processes are commonly used in cheese milk standardization. Using ultrafiltration (UF) or microfiltration (MF), membrane separation processes make it possible to concentrate the milk proteins and increase the yields of cheese vats. However, the contribution of membrane separation processes to the environmental impact and economical profitability of dairy processes is still unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the contribution of membrane separation processes to the eco-efficiency of cheddar cheese production in Québec (Canada) using process simulation. Three scenarios were compared: two included UF or MF at the cheese milk standardization step, and one did not incorporate membrane separation processes. The results showed that even if membrane separation processes make it possible to increase vat yields, they do not improve the eco-efficiency of cheddar cheese processes. However, membrane separation processes may benefit the eco-efficiency of the process more when used for byproduct valorization.

A comprehensive planetary boundary-based method for the nitrogen cycle in life cycle assessment: Development and application to a tomato production case study.

Existing methods that apply the planetary boundary for the nitrogen cycle in life cycle assessment are spatially generic and use an indicator with limited environmental relevance. Here, we develop a spatially resolved method that can quantify the impact of nitrogen emissions to air, soil, freshwater or coastal water on "safe operating space" (SOS) for natural soil, freshwater and coastal water. The method can be used to identify potential "planetary boundary hotspots" in the life cycle of products and to inform appropriate interventions. The method is based on a coupling of existing environmental models and the identification of threshold and reference values in natural soil, freshwater and coastal water. The method is demonstrated for a case study on nitrogen emissions from open-field tomato production in 27 farming areas based on data for 199 farms in the year 2014. Nitrogen emissions were modelled from farm-level data on fertilizer application, fuel consumption and climate- and soil conditions. Two sharing principles, "status quo" and "gross value added", were tested for the assignment of SOS to 1 t of tomatoes. The coupling of models and identification of threshold and reference values resulted in spatially resolved characterization factors applicable to any nitrogen emission and estimations of SOS for each environmental compartment. In the case study, tomato production was found to range from not transgressing to transgressing its assigned SOS in each of the 27 farming areas, depending on the receiving compartment and sharing principle. A high nitrogen use efficiency scenario had the potential to reverse transgressions of assigned SOS for up to three farming locations. Despite of several sources of uncertainty, the developed method may be used in decision-support by stakeholders, ranging from individual producers to global governance institutions. To avoid sub-optimization, it should be applied with methods covering the other planetary boundaries.

Defining freshwater as a natural resource: A framework linking water use to the area of protection natural resources.

PURPOSE: While many examples have shown unsustainable use of freshwater resources, existing LCIA methods for water use do not comprehensively address impacts to natural resources for future generations. This framework aims to (1) define freshwater resource as an item to protect within the Area of Protection (AoP) natural resources, (2) identify relevant impact pathways affecting freshwater resources, and (3) outline methodological choices for impact characterization model development. METHOD: Considering the current scope of the AoP natural resources, the complex nature of freshwater resources and its important dimensions to safeguard safe future supply, a definition of freshwater resource is proposed, including water quality aspects. In order to clearly define what is to be protected, the freshwater resource is put in perspective through the lens of the three main safeguard subjects defined by Dewulf et al. (2015). In addition, an extensive literature review identifies a wide range of possible impact pathways to freshwater resources, establishing the link between different inventory elementary flows (water consumption, emissions and land use) and their potential to cause long-term freshwater depletion or degradation. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Freshwater as a resource has a particular status in LCA resource assessment. First, it exists in the form of three types of resources: flow, fund, or stock. Then, in addition to being a resource for human economic activities (e.g. hydropower), it is above all a non-substitutable support for life that can be affected by both consumption (source function) and pollution (sink function). Therefore, both types of elementary flows (water consumption and emissions) should be linked to a damage indicator for freshwater as a resource. Land use is also identified as a potential stressor to freshwater resources by altering runoff, infiltration and erosion processes as well as evapotranspiration. It is suggested to use the concept of recovery period to operationalize this framework: when the recovery period lasts longer than a given period of time, impacts are considered to be irreversible and fall into the concern of freshwater resources protection (i.e. affecting future generations), while short-term impacts effect the AoP ecosystem quality and human health directly. It is shown that it is relevant to include this concept in the impact assessment stage in order to discriminate the long-term from the short-term impacts, as some dynamic fate models already do. CONCLUSION: This framework provides a solid basis for the consistent development of future LCIA methods for freshwater resources, thereby capturing the potential long-term impacts that could warn decision makers about potential safe water supply issues in the future.

Effect of Ultrafiltration of Milk Prior to Fermentation on Mass Balance and Process Efficiency in Greek-Style Yogurt Manufacture.

Ultrafiltration (UF) can be used to concentrate yogurt to produce Greek-style yogurt (GSY) (UF-YOG), but this generates acid whey permeate, which is an environmental issue. However, when UF is applied before fermentation (UF-MILK), a nonacidified whey permeate is generated. For this study, two model GSYs (UF-YOG and UF-MILK) were produced to compare the composition, UF performance, and energy consumption of the two processes. For UF-MILK, skim milk was ultrafiltered with a 30 kDa spiral-wound UF membrane to achieve a 3× volume reduction factor (VRF). The retentate was fermented to a pH of 4.5. The UF-YOG process was the same except that regular yogurt was ultrafiltered. Both GSYs had similar protein (~10%) and solid content (~17%). As expected, lactic acid/lactate was not detected in UF-MILK permeate, while 7.3 g/kg was recovered from the UF-YOG permeate. Permeation flux values (11.6 to 13.3 L m-2 h-1) and total flux decline (47% to 50%) were constant during UF-MILK, whereas drastic decreases in these two membrane performance indicators (average flux: 38.5 to 10.9 L m-2 h-1; total flux decline: 2% to 38%) were calculated for UF-YOG. Moreover, for UF-YOG, UF membrane performance never recovered, even when drastic and repeated cleaning steps were applied. Energy consumption was 1.6 kWh/kg GSY and remained constant for UF-MILK, whereas it increased from 0.6 to 1.5 kWh/kg GSY for UF-YOG. Our results show that, although the composition of GSYs was similar for both processes, the UF step of yogurt concentration affected process efficiency due to drastic and permanent membrane fouling.

A Multimedia Hydrological Fate Modeling Framework To Assess Water Consumption Impacts in Life Cycle Assessment.

Many new methods have recently been developed to address environmental consequences of water consumption in life cycle assessment (LCA). However, such methods can only partially be compared and combined, because their modeling structure and metrics are inconsistent. Moreover, they focus on specific water sources (e.g., river) and miss description of transport flows between water compartments (e.g., from river to atmosphere via evaporation) and regions (e.g., atmospheric advection). Consequently, they provide a partial regard of the local and global hydrological cycle and derived impacts on the environment. This paper proposes consensus-based guidelines for a harmonized development of the next generation of water consumption LCA indicators, with a focus on consequences of water consumption on ecosystem quality. To include the consideration of the multimedia water fate between compartments of the water cycle, we provide spatial regionalization and temporal specification guidance. The principles and recommendations of the paper are applied to an illustrative case study. The guidelines set the basis of a more accurate, novel way of modeling water consumption impacts in LCA. The environmental relevance of this LCA impact category will improve, yet much research is needed to make the guidelines operational.

Occupational Health Impacts Due to Exposure to Organic Chemicals over an Entire Product Life Cycle.

This article presents an innovative approach to include occupational exposures to organic chemicals in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) by building on the characterization factors set out in Kijko et al. (2015) to calculate the potential impact of occupational exposure over the entire supply chain of product or service. Based on an economic input-output model and labor and economic data, the total impacts per dollar of production are provided for 430 commodity categories and range from 0.025 to 6.6 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) per million dollar of final economic demand. The approach is applied on a case study assessing human health impacts over the life cycle of a piece of office furniture. It illustrates how to combine monitoring data collected at the manufacturing facility and averaged sector specific data to model the entire supply chain. This paper makes the inclusion of occupational exposure to chemicals fully compatible with the LCA framework by including the supply chain of a given production process and will help industries focus on the leading causes of human health impacts and prevent impact shifting.

Indoor Air Pollutant Exposure for Life Cycle Assessment: Regional Health Impact Factors for Households.

Human exposure to indoor pollutant concentrations is receiving increasing interest in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). We address this issue by incorporating an indoor compartment into the USEtox model, as well as by providing recommended parameter values for households in four different regions of the world differing geographically, economically, and socially. With these parameter values, intake fractions and comparative toxicity potentials for indoor emissions of dwellings for different air tightness levels were calculated. The resulting intake fractions for indoor exposure vary by 2 orders of magnitude, due to the variability of ventilation rate, building occupation, and volume. To compare health impacts as a result of indoor exposure with those from outdoor exposure, the indoor exposure characterization factors determined with the modified USEtox model were applied in a case study on cooking in non-OECD countries. This study demonstrates the appropriateness and significance of integrating indoor environments into LCA, which ensures a more holistic account of all exposure environments and allows for a better accountability of health impacts. The model, intake fractions, and characterization factors are made available for use in standard LCA studies via www.usetox.org and in standard LCA software.

Impact of Occupational Exposure to Chemicals in Life Cycle Assessment: A Novel Characterization Model Based on Measured Concentrations and Labor Hours.

According to Lim et al., based on World Health Organization (WHO) data, hazardous chemicals in the workplace are responsible for over 370,000 premature deaths annually. Despite these high figures, life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) does not yet include a fully operational method to consider occupational impacts in its scope over the entire supply chain. This paper describes a novel approach to account for occupational exposure to chemicals by inhalation in LCA. It combines labor statistics and measured occupational concentrations of chemicals from the OSHA database to calculate operational LCIA characterization factors (i.e., intakes per hour worked and impact intensities for 19,069 organic chemical/sector combinations with confidence intervals across the entire U.S. manufacturing industry). For the seven chemicals that most contribute to the global impact, measured workplace concentrations range between 5 × 10(-4) and 3 × 10(3) mg/m(3). Carcinogenic impacts range over 4 orders of magnitude, from 1.3 × 10(-8) and up to 3.4 × 10(-4) DALY per blue-collar worker labor hour. The innovative approach set out in this paper assesses health impacts from occupational exposure to chemicals with population exposure to outdoor emissions, making it possible to integrate occupational exposure within LCIA. It broadens the LCIA scope to analyze hotspots and avoid impact shifting.

Characterization factors for terrestrial acidification at the global scale: a systematic analysis of spatial variability and uncertainty.

Characterization factors (CFs) are used in life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the potential impact per unit of emission. CFs are obtained from a characterization model which assess the environmental mechanisms along the cause-effect chain linking an emission to its potential damage on a given area of protection, such as loss in ecosystem quality. Up to now, CFs for acidifying emissions did not cover the global scale and were only representative of their characterization model geographical scope. Consequently, current LCA practices implicitly assume that all emissions from a global supply chain occur within the continent referring to the characterization method geographical scope. This paper provides worldwide 2°×2.5° spatially-explicit CFs, representing the change in relative loss of terrestrial vascular plant species due to an emission change of nitrogen oxides (NOx), ammonia (NH3) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). We found that spatial variability in the CFs is much larger compared to statistical uncertainty (six orders of magnitude vs. two orders of magnitude). Spatial variability is mainly caused by the atmospheric fate factor and soil sensitivity factor, while the ecological effect factor is the dominant contributor to the statistical uncertainty. The CFs provided in our study allow the worldwide spatially explicit evaluation of life cycle impacts related to acidifying emissions. This opens the door to evaluate regional life cycle emissions of different products in a global economy.

Spatial analysis of toxic emissions in LCA: a sub-continental nested USEtox model with freshwater archetypes.

This paper develops continent-specific factors for the USEtox model and analyses the accuracy of different model architectures, spatial scales and archetypes in evaluating toxic impacts, with a focus on freshwater pathways. Inter-continental variation is analysed by comparing chemical fate and intake fractions between sub-continental zones of two life cycle impact assessment models: (1) the nested USEtox model parameterized with sub-continental zones and (2) the spatially differentiated IMPACTWorld model with 17 interconnected sub-continental regions. Substance residence time in water varies by up to two orders of magnitude among the 17 zones assessed with IMPACTWorld and USEtox, and intake fraction varies by up to three orders of magnitude. Despite this variation, the nested USEtox model succeeds in mimicking the results of the spatially differentiated model, with the exception of very persistent volatile pollutants that can be transported to polar regions. Intra-continental variation is analysed by comparing fate and intake fractions modelled with the a-spatial (one box) IMPACT Europe continental model vs. the spatially differentiated version of the same model. Results show that the one box model might overestimate chemical fate and characterisation factors for freshwater eco-toxicity of persistent pollutants by up to three orders of magnitude for point source emissions. Subdividing Europe into three archetypes, based on freshwater residence time (how long it takes water to reach the sea), improves the prediction of fate and intake fractions for point source emissions, bringing them within a factor five compared to the spatial model. We demonstrated that a sub-continental nested model such as USEtox, with continent-specific parameterization complemented with freshwater archetypes, can thus represent inter- and intra-continental spatial variations, whilst minimizing model complexity.

Life cycle impact assessment of terrestrial acidification: modeling spatially explicit soil sensitivity at the global scale.

This paper presents a novel life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) approach to derive spatially explicit soil sensitivity indicators for terrestrial acidification. This global approach is compatible with a subsequent damage assessment, making it possible to consistently link the developed midpoint indicators with a later endpoint assessment along the cause-effect chain-a prerequisite in LCIA. Four different soil chemical indicators were preselected to evaluate sensitivity factors (SFs) for regional receiving environments at the global scale, namely the base cations to aluminum ratio, aluminum to calcium ratio, pH, and aluminum concentration. These chemical indicators were assessed using the PROFILE geochemical steady-state soil model and a global data set of regional soil parameters developed specifically for this study. Results showed that the most sensitive regions (i.e., where SF is maximized) are in Canada, northern Europe, the Amazon, central Africa, and East and Southeast Asia. However, the approach is not bereft of uncertainty. Indeed, a Monte Carlo analysis showed that input parameter variability may induce SF variations of up to over 6 orders of magnitude for certain chemical indicators. These findings improve current practices and enable the development of regional characterization models to assess regional life cycle inventories in a global economy.

Evaluating the relevance of seasonal differentiation of human health intake fractions in life cycle assessment.

The intake fraction (iF) is the fraction of an emitted mass of chemical that is ultimately taken in by an entire population, and it is used as an indicator of human health potential impacts related to environmental chemical persistence and bioaccumulation in the food chain. In chemical screening applications, the iF can be predicted using multimedia and multipathway fate and exposure models. One of the sources of iF uncertainty is the natural seasonal variability of the input parameters used in the models, i.e., the physicochemical properties of the pollutant and the landscape and exposure parameters. The objective of this article is to determine the relevance of including seasonal differentiation when assessing iFs in life cycle assessment. This was done by calculating and comparing seasonal iFs with each other and with iFs at 25° C, for both Canadian and global contexts. Two Canadian seasonal models based on the IMPACT 2002 predictive tool, and 2 models for the global context based on the USEtox consensus model were developed to calculate summer and winter iFs. Emissions into air and water and a set of 35 representative organic chemicals were considered. Partition coefficients for seasonal conditions were calculated using an integration of the van't Hoff equation. First-order degradation rate constants were calculated assuming that the rate constant doubles with each 10° C increase in temperature. For Canadian air emissions, results indicated that iFs for winter emissions could be up to 1 to 2 orders of magnitude higher than summer iFs or iFs calculated at 25° C. For Canadian water emissions, results showed that iFs for both summer and winter conditions were, in general, closer to each other with outliers within 1 order of magnitude to iFs calculated at 25° C. Results also indicated that seasonal variability was of lesser importance when assessing iFs within a global context. Because the ranking between chemicals was maintained, it can be concluded that seasonal variability is not relevant within a comparative context. However, this difference might be significant when comparing the magnitude of human toxicity impacts versus other impact categories contributing to human health damages.

Regional characterization of freshwater Use in LCA: modeling direct impacts on human health.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology that quantifies potential environmental impacts for comparative purposes in a decision-making context. While potential environmental impacts from pollutant emissions into water are characterized in LCA, impacts from water unavailability are not yet fully quantified. Water use can make the resource unavailable to other users by displacement or quality degradation. A reduction in water availability to human users can potentially affect human health. If financial resources are available, there can be adaptations that may, in turn, shift the environmental burdens to other life cycle stages and impact categories. This paper proposes a model to evaluate these potential impacts in an LCA context. It considers the water that is withdrawn and released, its quality and scarcity in order to evaluate the loss of functionality associated with water uses. Regionalized results are presented for impacts on human health for two modeling approaches regarding affected users, including or not domestic uses, and expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALY). A consumption and quality based scarcity indicator is also proposed as a midpoint. An illustrative example is presented for the production of corrugated board with different effluents, demonstrating the importance of considering quality, process effluents and the difference between the modeling approaches.

Environmental impacts of remediation of a trichloroethene-contaminated site: life cycle assessment of remediation alternatives.

The environmental impacts of remediation of a chloroethene-contaminated site were evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). The compared remediation options are (i) in situ bioremediation by enhanced reductive dechlorination (ERD), (ii) in situ thermal desorption (ISTD), and (iii) excavation of the contaminated soil followed by off-site treatment and disposal. The results showed that choosing the ERD option will reduce the life-cycle impacts of remediation remarkably compared to choosing either ISTD or excavation, which are more energy-demanding. In addition to the secondary impacts of remediation, this study includes assessment of local toxic impacts (the primary impact) related to the on-site contaminant leaching to groundwater and subsequent human exposure via drinking water. The primary human toxic impacts were high for ERD due to the formation and leaching of chlorinated degradation products, especially vinyl chloride during remediation. However, the secondary human toxic impacts of ISTD and excavation are likely to be even higher, particularly due to upstream impacts from steel production. The newly launched model, USEtox, was applied for characterization of primary and secondary toxic impacts and combined with a site-dependent fate model of the leaching of chlorinated ethenes from the fractured clay till site.