However, according to a study of the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), greenhouse gas
emissions from aluminum production, which account for 1% of the
total greenhouse gas emissions attributed to human activities, may
hinder this substitution (International Aluminum Institute, 2005;
Pachauri and Reisinger, 2007). Accordingly, aluminum substitution
for copper presents a dilemma between reducing the production
costs of air conditioners (by replacing copper with aluminum) and
restricting greenhouse gas emissions. Studying the carbon emissions
generated by the copper and aluminum usage in the Chinese
indoor air conditioner industry is thus necessary to achieve lowcarbon
and sustainable development.
The life cycle assessment (LCA) method (Guinee et al., 2006) is
useful for evaluating CO2 emission during copper and aluminum
production. LCA has been widely applied in carbon footprint
accounting in the literature. Virtanen et al. (2011) studied the
contribution of a Finnish food chain to climate change, showing
that the effect of a single lunch portion ranged between 0.65 and
3.80 kg of equivalent CO2. This study presented an approach to steer
the Finnish food sector toward an environmentally sustainable
path. However, practical tools for consumers and farmers particularly
require further development. GonzálezeGarcía et al. (2010)
recently reported the environmental impact of a non-wood-based
pulp production process using an LCA approach. In this study, the
authors collected life cycle inventory (LCI) data through on-site
measurement, and when necessary, the data were supplemented