Battery electric vehicles (BEV) as opposed to internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV) are seen as a viable solution for reducing transportation related environmental impacts. There are however advantages and disadvantages to both alternatives. Environmental life cycle assessments (LCA) are used to quantify the environmental lifecycle impact of these vehicles. The social impact for people in the value chain of these alternatives has not yet been tested. For this purpose, a social lifecycle assessment (S-LCA) can be conducted. This paper compares BEVs and ICEVs in a S-LCA according to the UNEP/SETAC guidelines, using the Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment database (PSILCA). It was found that overall, the ICEV seems to have lower levels of social risk related to the life cycle than the BEV has. These differences are smaller or opposite when the lifetime of both vehicles is assumed to be longer. The raw material extraction seems to be a hotspot for social risks, especially the extraction of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo has high risk levels. The paper includes the assessment of a future end of life scenario where BEV batteries are recycled. Recycling could reduce the amount of social risk related to the BEV. The utility of the PSILCA for this case and the general cost sensitivity of this method was discussed. It was concluded that while the PSILCA is useful to provide insights in social risks related to a products lifecycle and uncovering hotspots, it is not very suitable to compare product systems where a high number of assumptions are made. The results of this study should therefore not be used for generalisations.

Water scarcity problems will continue to exacerbate in many parts of the world, urging society to mitigate or adapt. Consequently, unconventional water resources, such as municipal wastewater, are becoming more relevant. This thesis aims to measure and evaluate the social impacts of wastewater treatment (WWT) systems potentially stemming from the social performance of organizations and social risks in the value chain. Two WWT systems are studied: one is the current WWT facility operating in La Llagosta, Barcelona, Spain (reference system), and the other is one of the case studies of the Water Mining (WM) project (original system). The WM project aims to apply innovative approaches to recover clean water and other resources from municipal and industrial wastewater and seawater. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) was applied to evaluate the social performances of organizations in a site-specific assessment and to assess the social risks along the systems’ value chains in a generic assessment through PSILCA. The results of the latter show that, in both systems, most risks occur in some subcategories from the “Workers”, “Local community”, “Society”, and “Value chain actors” stakeholder categories. The results of the former indicate that the organizations performed relatively well in both systems. However, improvements are needed in some subcategories. Moreover, after accounting for each organization’s share and allocating the results, the original system’s performance is better than the reference system in most subcategories. For each organization that did not achieve the acceptable level (Basic Requirement), suggestions for improvement are offered. Finally, although social performances could be linked to a product and multifunctionality could be solved, the results must be interpreted with caution in light of the limitations of S-LCA. Further research is needed for the assessment of the social implications of circular systems.

Solar generated energy is an alternative to fossil fuel generated energy. However, solar modules have a lifetime and as sales are increasing, waste of solar modules is increasing as well. Cadmium telluride solar cells consist of a material that has a high intrinsic toxicity, cadmium, and a material that is scarce, tellurium. Effective recycling of these materials is therefore needed to lower their impact on the environment. In literature, studies were found that looked at the impacts of the life cycle of CdTe solar cells of which many excluded the recycling stage. As multiple pathways exist for recycling of CdTe solar modules, it is key is to see how they compare to each other. There are a few studies that did include or assessed only a recycling stage. These assessments are all done with distinctive methods, assumptions, and boundaries, making it very hard to compare these results. In literature, a lack incompetent comparison between recycling pathways, including qualitative and quantitative aspect, was identified. The goal of this research was to find qualitative and quantitative trade-offs of potentialEnd-of-Life strategies that are able to lower environmental impacts of CdTe solar modules. By conducting harmonization on existing environmental impact data found in literature and assessing environmental impacts in a Life Cycle Assessment, the quantitative trade-offs were found. Qualitative trade-offs were found in an assessment that include maturity of technology, costs of the technology, and value of recovered material. General quantitative trade-offs that were found were that recycling lowered the environmental impacts, but energy needed for recycling had a large contribution to the remaining impacts. Additionally, the use of chemical recycle processes lowered impacts, however the chemicals that were used gave a large contribution to the impacts remaining due to extraction of chemicals and treatment of wastewater. General qualitative trade-offs could be found in the fact that high recovery values often have high costs related to them. Especially the use of chemicals does retrieve a lot of material, but I expensive. In summary, trade-offs can be found in energy and chemicals use and in costs versus value retrieved. The results of this study add knowledge on the trade-offs of each recycle strategy. This can be weighed against each other and be helpful in deciding which recycle pathways to follow when the incoming CdTe solar module waste needs to be disposed of.