Life Cycle Assessment Dataset for Kidney Care Environmental Optimisations within Haemodialysis

This dataset supports a study on environmental optimizations in haemodialysis (HD) kidney care, focusing on reducing carbon emissions, water usage, and social impacts such as forced labour. It includes detailed analyses of interventions to improve sustainability across multiple domains:

Travel Reduction: Data explores the impact of reducing patient travel distances by 10%, 50%, and 90%, highlighting significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings (up to 2,540 kg CO2e per patient annually) and associated reductions in water usage and forced labour risks. Interventions include promoting home-based dialysis, telemedicine, and optimized patient facility allocation.

Water Management: The dataset documents innovations such as reclaiming reverse osmosis water for reuse, optimizing water treatment plant operations, and reducing water consumption during dialysis processes. Larger centres and daily operation schedules show better water efficiency compared to smaller, less frequent setups.

Waste Management: Data highlights strategies for diverting waste from clinical to domestic streams, recycling dialysis materials, and adopting advanced technologies like pyrolysis. These measures reduce the environmental and economic burden of waste disposal, including incineration costs.

Energy Optimizations: Included interventions cover energy-saving technologies such as heat exchangers in dialysis machines, solar panel installations, and IT system automation. Solar energy adoption demonstrates varied CO2e savings based on regional energy mixes.

Incremental Dialysis: Data supports the transition to incremental dialysis—starting with fewer weekly sessions—to preserve resources, reduce GHG emissions, and maintain residual kidney function, offering both environmental and clinical benefits.

Each intervention was assessed using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies, with functional units based on annual HD use for one patient. Metrics include carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e), water deprivation, and forced labour hours, aligned with EU Product Environmental Footprint standards. The dataset provides comparative results to guide clinical sites in prioritizing high-impact interventions, offering actionable insights into sustainable HD care.