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The battery electric vehicle (BEV) industry, commanding over half of the global market share in China, has garnered significant attention in response to escalating concerns about climate change. NCM (LiNi x Co y Mn z O 2) batteries, prized for their high energy density, are pivotal in this industry. However, their production relies on critical metals, posing environmental challenges. Recycling processes aim to address this issue by recovering critical metals from end-of-life batteries. The industry is updating from NCM 111 to NCM 811 batteries to enhance energy density and reduce costs, but the key factors influencing the material flows and environmental impacts remain uncertain. This paper aims to identify the key factors contributing to the potential differences in material flows and environmental impacts introduced by the NCM battery upgrading in China. Following the new energy vehicle sales projections in China until 2035, a dynamic material flow analysis was employed to calculate material demands, recovered amounts, and substitution rates for various upgrading scenarios. The study reveals that the majority of retired batteries until 2035 were sold between 2022 and 2029. Material substitution rates prove to be more sensitive to the upgrading scenario than the lifetime and growth rate of BEVs. Faster NCM 811 penetration results in over 2.5 times more saved cobalt demand compared to additional nickel demand. A life cycle assessment of NCM batteries reveals a 39% lower global warming impact for NCM 811 compared to NCM 111, highlighting environmental benefits from increased energy density and reduced cobalt consumption. The energy density improvement contributed 85%, while the alteration in material composition contributed 15% to the global warming reduction in NCM 811. Recycling emerges as a crucial strategy in mitigating environmental impacts across all categories, particularly addressing eutrophication, previously deemed challenging due to the difficulty in recovering Li 2 CO 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID–19 has disrupted human life considerably since the beginning of 2020. The transport sector is one of the most affected sector due to restrictions imposed to curb COVID–19 pandemic. This paper evaluates the environmental impacts of COVID–19 response scenarios using life cycle assessment approach. Six regions selected for the study are Australia, China, European Union (EU), India, United Kingdom (UK), and United States of America (USA). Data for vehicle population, vehicle kilometers travelled, fleet type, and fuel efficiency were used for 2015–2020. The environmental impacts were calculated for five scenarios; Baseline–2019, Business As Usual (BAU) and COVID–19 Response Scenario (CRS) for 2020 and 2030 namely, 2020–BAU, 2020–CRS, 2030–BAU, and 2030–CRS. The results indicate that COVID–19 occurrence and related response measures did not contribute to significant environment benefits in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP) and other pollutants in short term and long term. This implies that although immediate reductions in emissions were observed in many studies, the long term effects were minimal due to irregular policies and unmanaged demand. Further, to achieve environment benefits sustained measures should be implemented in long term with proper planning and supporting infrastructure. Although electric vehicle strategies will provide benefits; emphasis on vehicle production and fuel production technologies is also needed to achieve the emission reduction targets. The findings are relevant for policy makers while devising policies to achieve the targets. • Vehicle stock will grow significantly in 2030 for developing countries • China's 2030 transport sector GWP will be highest, 1772 MT CO 2 eq, surpassing USA • Only USA showed reductions for all pollutants in 2030 COVID-19 response scenario • All countries had similar trends for most pollutants at different life cycle stages • COVID–19 occurrence didn't contribute to significant benefits in short & long term [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The annual market demand for disposable baby diapers exceeds 20 billion units (690 kt) in the European Union (EU). Almost 40,000 disposable diapers are used every minute, producing 1.3 t/min (dry weight) of waste. Based on the estimates in this work, this requires 90.3 PJ of primary energy and emits 2.7 Mt CO 2 eq. annually. In an attempt to reduce resource, waste and environmental impacts associated with diapers, this paper focuses on novel design and manufacture of disposable baby diapers. This involves using optimised absorbent core and novel bonding technologies to replace conventional gluing of diaper materials. Life cycle assessment has been performed to compare the environmental performance of these new diapers, here termed "glueless", with standard designs. The annual resource consumption and environmental impacts of glueless diapers have been estimated at different production levels: a single production platform, an industrial plant, a country (Italy) and the EU, taking into account different production volumes, electricity mixes and waste management options. Different market penetration scenarios have been considered to determine potential environmental implications at the EU level by 2020. The results reveal that glueless diapers reduce the consumption of raw materials by 23% (9.2 g/diaper), primary energy demand by 25% (752 kJ/diaper) and global warming potential by 10% (10.4 g CO 2 eq./diaper) compared to the standard diapers. They also have more than 50% lower eutrophication, ozone depletion and human and eco-toxicity. Up to 16 PJ primary energy and 191,000 t CO 2 eq. would be saved annually in the EU by using glueless diapers. The cumulative savings would amount to 47 PJ and 566,000 t CO 2 eq. by 2020. The annual consumption of raw materials at the EU level would be reduced by 196,000 t with cumulative savings of up to 584,000 t by 2020, also reducing the equivalent amount of waste from the disposal of diapers. Consequently, glueless diapers can contribute to meeting the energy, climate and resource efficiency goals specified in the EU 2020 strategy. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Novel design and manufacture of "glueless" disposable baby diapers is considered. • Glueless diapers save 23% of materials and 25% of energy relative to standard type. • Most life cycle impacts are reduced by >50% and global warming potential by 10%. • Up to 584,000 t of waste and 566,000 t of CO 2 eq. can be saved by 2020. • Glueless diapers can help meet the EU energy, resource and climate change targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two economic activities have been integrated in southern Brazil: olive cultivation and sheep farming. The favorable edaphoclimatic conditions in the southern region for cultivating olive trees and cultural preferences for the consumption of sheep meat make this integration a valuable strategy. Considering that every activity causes environmental impact and the exploitation of natural resources, new systems that promote sustainable development and the efficient use of these resources become necessary. This paper presents the first study of the carbon footprint of the life cycle of integrating of sheep and olive farming, with the objective to build an inventory based on primary data collected on olive and sheep farms in Brazil, determine the carbon footprint of the conventional and integrated system and estimate the potential for mitigating GHG emissions. The evaluation was performed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The study focuses on the detailed analysis of the processes and activities that are responsible for GHG emissions, including enteric methane emissions, methane emissions from manure management, emissions from nitrogen fertilizer use and limestone application and energy consumption. For this, two major scenarios were considered, the first centered around on the traditional olive cultivation and sheep farming systems individually, and the second involved their synergistic integration. The findings indicate that the conventional system is associated with a global warming impact of 6.8 kg CO 2 eq per liter olive oil and kg live weight. In contrast, the integrated system demonstrates a significant mitigation potential of 27.7%, resulting in a reduced global warming impact of 4.92 kg CO 2 eq. This advantage is a consequence of the synergy between the systems, as they now occupy the same area, which allows the sharing of agricultural activities and agrochemical inputs, in addition to optimizing nutrient recycling and complementing each other. Additionally, the results of a sensitivity analysis showed that enteric methane from sheep and the application of limestone to the soil are the most influential parameters on the carbon footprint, indicating that they are key parameters for the development of GHG mitigation strategies, some of which were discussed in the article. • First life cycle assessment of integration between olive and sheep farming in Brazil. • The inventory was constructed with primary data collected in situ. • The study assesses the carbon footprint of the olive and sheep farming system. • The results show environmental advantages of the integration of olive and sheep farming systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the energy and environmental crisis is increasingly prominent, and how to solve the global energy and environmental problems is one of the challenges facing the world today. China is a major producer and consumer of organosilicon, so it is necessary to explore the stage of high energy consumption and high pollution in the organosilicon industrial chain. In 2022, the proportion of submerged arc furnaces of 25000 kVA and higher in China reached 40%. Further expansion of these furnaces in the future is inevitable. However, research on the life cycle assessment of organosilicon manufactured using large-capacity submerged arc furnaces is still blank.Therefore,in this paper, the life cycle assessment method is used to evaluate the synthesis process of chemical grade silicon-organosilicon monomer prepared by large capacity (33000 kVA) submerged arc furnace, and the dominant process in various environmental impacts is defined.At the same time, the measures to improve the production process of organosilicon monomer were put forward. In the production process of 1000 kg organosilicon monomer, global warming potential (GWP) contributed the most (73.43%) to the comprehensive environmental impact, followed by chronic public health impact (HTI, 10.55%). Energy consumption (EN) accounted for 8.50%, while resource consumption (RU) accounted for 7.43%. The contributions of other environmental factors were relatively small (0.09%).The energy consumption and environmental pollution in the production of organosilicon monomer can be reduced by strictly controlling the quality of raw materials into the furnace, using heat pump technology in the distillation unit, and comprehensively utilizing the heat of reaction by-products and steam condensate. [Display omitted] • This study is the first one in China to conduct LCA for the preparation of chemical grade silicon-organosilicon monomer synthesis process in 33000 kVA submerged arc furnace. It provides the best improvement suggestions for reducing the environmental load of the product life cycle process and achieving cleaner production. • In response to the national development policy of large-scale submerged arc furnace, the dominant process of preparing organosilicon monomer based on 33000 kva submerged arc furnace in various environmental impacts was clarified. • The main technical improvement directions are: Strictly control the quality of raw materials for submerged arc furnace; Strictly control the sulfur content and nitrogen content of carbonaceous reductant, and adopt the most suitable flue gas treatment technology route; Smelt with large submerged arc furnace; Use heat pump technology for distillation unit; Optimize the monomer synthesis device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A rapid development of building environmental research from the globe is witnessed in recent years to deal with the environmental issues, especially in terms of energy consumption and carbon emissions, due to the substantial environmental burdens associated with the building industry. Thus, numerous scientific efforts have been devoted to buildings through environmental assessment like a life cycle assessment (LCA) and a methodological framework development. Concerning the rapid growth of buildings, LCA is increasingly used for assessing and mitigating the associated environmental impacts from material selection to the whole building systems. This study aims to comprehensively review the LCA implication on buildings by discussing the contemporary issues related to the development of this research field. The study considers a wide range of literature including case studies, reviews and surveys, and these articles are critically examined according to the predefined criteria developed. An in-depth analysis is also conducted on selected studies to unveil the criticality of the assessments and results under different considerations. In addition to demonstrating the research gaps for comprehensive assessment of buildings, the adoption of a circular economy (CE) concept is highlighted by providing a comprehensive framework. The findings show that resource recovery and resource-efficient building construction are seldom considered in prevailing studies. As a result, the framework proposed in this paper should help support a paradigm shift towards a comprehensive research for increasing the accuracy and practicability by introducing the CE principle to the building industry for enhancing its sustainability performance. Highlights • Literature related to building-environmental research was critically analyzed. • LCA implication on buildings was comprehensively reviewed by discussing the contemporary issues. • Selected papers were critically analyzed to unveil the research trends and practices. • Knowledge gaps for comprehensive assessment of buildings under the CE principle are identified. • Comprehensive framework based on the CE principle was proposed for comprehensiveness building LCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (AM) refers to a group of manufacturing techniques that produce components in a layer-by-layer fashion. By virtue of its capability to produce parts with complex geometry and functionally graded materials, AM has been introduced and used in multiple industrial sectors and is leading the way into the “third industrial revolution”. One of the key considerations in Additively Manufactured Products (AMP) is the issue of sustainability which attracts increasing attention as modern society becomes more aware of environmental concerns. As a response to the growing requirement for sustainability, industries and customers are inclined to assess products and services through the perspective of life cycle sustainability. The integration of life cycle sustainability and AMP is still an open question and is the primary motivation for this study. Since the eventual goal of all advanced technologies is to serve and satisfy human society, social sustainability must be an essential part of all decisions regarding AMP. Limited studies that integrate social sustainability into AMP life cycle analysis is a current research gap in the body of the literature, and thus this paper will address it. The primary merit of this paper is developing a suitable full-dimension sustainability life cycle assessment framework to obtain a fundamental understanding of the performance of AMP life cycle sustainability. The proposed framework applies a more systemic AMP life span including AMP design, AM, usage, and end-of-life (EOL) handling. An AM produced gear is used as an example to illustrate the life cycle sustainability assessment framework. The results show that the AM stage has the highest influence on economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability and the EOL stage has the highest social impact. The results also indicate that AM mass production can significantly reduce the impact of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low price and excellent flexibility of plastic straws make them very popular, yet their short lifespan and improper disposal after use result in major resource waste and environmental burdens. To this end, paper straws and polylactic acid (PLA) straw alternatives have emerged on the market. Aiming to present a comparative sustainability study of drinking straws, this article provides a life cycle assessment of drinking straws made of polypropylene (PP), paper, and polylactic acid (PLA) based on Chinese context, as well as a scenario analysis of the availability of low-carbon electricity (LCE) and its recycling capacity (RC). The functional unit was set as a straw suitable for 500 ml milk tea cups, and the system boundary is from cradle to grave, including raw material preparation process, straw production process, usage process, waste process, transportation and recovery process. The comparative analysis revealed that the plastic straw alternative would not be superior in all indicators, but would lead to environmental problem-shifting, which will provide a basis for decision making and avoid bias caused by subjective choices. Scenario analysis shows that the synergistic effect of LCE and RC can minimize the environmental burden for paper straw, especially in terms of Primary Energy Demand (PED) which reduced by 27.9% with 100% RC and 50% LCE, and this is mainly due to RC. The findings of this work can offer theoretical justification, data references, and fresh perspectives for environmental evaluation of straws. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the published research pertaining to the use of superheated steam for carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite reclamation. Superheated steam has been used for this purpose for around a decade and was initially investigated to prevent the degradation of reclaimed fibres, which occurs during the oxidative char removal step of most pyrolysis-based reclamation techniques. The review evaluates the various methodologies employed with particular focus on the physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of the reclaimed fibres, and the environmental impact of using superheated steam for carbon fibre reclamation as determined by life cycle assessment. Superheated steam studies report recovering carbon fibres with retained tensile moduli of around 90%–100% and tensile strengths of 65%–100% when compared to virgin carbon fibres, however, when optimised it is shown that carbon fibres can be recovered with no loss in stiffness and strength. Most studies are still at laboratory- or pilot-scale, however, several companies are collaborating with researchers to investigate the potential of this reclamation method on a larger scale. Early analysis on the energy use of carbon fibre reclamation using superheated steam shows that energy savings of 25% could be made by recycling CFRP waste using superheated steam and using the recovered carbon fibres to displace virgin carbon fibres rather than landfilling and incinerating this waste. • Review of the developments pertaining to superheated steam use for carbon fibre reinforced polymer reclamation. • Superheated steam reclaimed carbon fibres retain tensile strengths of 65%–100% and tensile moduli of around 90%–100%. • Review of the life cycle assessment of superheated steam-based carbon fibre reinforced polymer reclamation. • Examples of superheated steam reclamation processes entering the pilot-plant/industrial phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food industry is one of the world's largest contributors to carbon emissions, due to energy consumption throughout the food life cycle. This paper is focused on the residential consumption phase of the food life cycle assessment (LCA), i.e., energy consumption during home cooking. Specifically, while much effort has been placed on improving appliance energy efficiency, appliance models used in various applications, including the food LCA, are not updated regularly. This process is hindered by the fact that the cooking appliance models are either very cumbersome, requiring knowledge of parameters which are difficult to obtain or dependent on manufacturers' data which do not always reflect variable cooking behaviour of the general public. This paper proposes a methodology for generating accurate appliance models from energy consumption data, obtained by smart meters that are becoming widely available worldwide, without detailed knowledge of additional parameters such as food being prepared, mass of food, etc. Furthermore, the proposed models, due to the nature of smart meter data, are built incorporating actual usage patterns reflecting specific cooking practice. We validate our results from large, geographically spread energy datasets and demonstrate, as a case study, the impact of up-to-date models in the consumption phase of food LCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of goods and services are highly dependent on the use of natural resources. Until very recently, there was an implicit belief that the physical expansion of the economic system could be unlimited, as if the planet would have conditions and time enough to recover and continue to supply resources. This belief implies a confidence in an economic system that would provide whatever is necessary for a continuous growing production and consumption. Even believing that technology alone is not enough to solve the current environmental problems, it is certain that it can collaborate to mitigate climate change and to adaptation to changes in the environment. By bringing environmental aspects into discussions, eco-innovations can affect and transform the innovation system in order to create sustainable processes. However, the main challenge towards the transition to a more sustainable, cleaner and more equitable society is to set innovation in a new context, as until very recently it only considered the economic variables. This change means to value the social and environmental dimension of the innovation. In addition to eco-innovation, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is spreading in the industrial environment, offering promising perspectives. LCA is considered a valuable methodology in the environmental sustainability of industry. In this context, the present study addresses LCA and its relationship with the generation of eco-innovations. Drawing on contributions from literature on eco-innovation and LCA, the paper analyses available evidence on this relationship in a context of the transition towards sustainable development. To structure the debate, the paper offers a conceptual approach and an illustrative case on international researchers' and practitioners’ perceptions on the potentially positive relationship between eco-innovation and LCA. The study gathers data in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and in Scopus, in order to provide a picture of the distribution of documents retrieved from these databases, dealing with both eco-innovation and LCA topics. The paper concludes that the convergence of the eco-innovation and LCA studies is quite plausible, but at least in its initial phase, the literature that unites both themes is scarcely found in publications in the area of innovation, being more frequent in the area of engineering and management that usually addresses LCA studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the energy and environmental impacts of organic and conventional apples cultivated in the North of Italy, by applying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The authors examined the supply chain of apples, including the input of raw materials and energy sources, the farming step, the post-harvest processes and the distribution of apples to the final users. The paper develops two original contributions: 1) it enhances the limited number of studies on LCA applied to apples; 2) it compares organic and conventional apples produced in lands characterized by the same climatic conditions, to evaluate which of the two products is more competitive from an energy and environmental point of view. The results showed that, despite a lower productivity, preferring organic apples versus conventional apples could help to reduce the environmental impacts for most of the examined impact categories. With a few exceptions, differences lower than 7% occur between the eco-profiles of the two examined products. A relevant share of the primary energy consumption and almost all of the examined environmental impacts are caused by the post-harvest processes and by transport to the final users, assuming that the products are distributed on local, national and international markets. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the farming step showed that a significant share in the overall energy and environmental impacts is due to the use of fertilizers and pesticides and to diesel consumption of agricultural machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser cladding is one of the principal means of equipment remanufacturing and the environmental profiles of this technology has become a research focus. This paper examines the environmental impacts of cast iron cylinder head block remanufacturing through laser cladding using life cycle assessment (LCA), and compares it with the new cylinder head block manufacturing. Resource and energy consumptions of each manufacturing and remanufacturing processes are collected along the production line and then the results of six selected environmental impact categories are calculated. Consistency and sensitivity analysis is also conducted after life cycle impact assessment. The results reveal that cylinder head remanufacturing by laser cladding will achieve large environmental benefits, which can cut environment impact over the entire life cycle by 63.8% on average. This paper also discusses the trend of changes in environmental impacts using scenario analysis over different remanufacturing levels. By taking characterized global warming potential (GWP) as the assessment index, the result shows that remanufacturing will no longer be the preferred option if it needs to repair more than 16 cracks by laser cladding for the cylinder head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In machining processes, there are contradictions between high efficiency and environmentally-friendly machining. This indicated that there is a major potential for sustainable machining to both increase efficiency and protect ecological balance. For this, the employment of effective methods has become imperative to reduce resource use. In this way, the use of analysis and optimization tools to select the tool material, cutting parameters, cooling/lubrication conditions, etc., will be a benefit for minimizing waste without sacrificing efficiency. In the literature, researchers have used various methods to reveal the requirements of sustainability. However, reaching the concept of sustainable machining by using one more than technique confuses the readers. Therefore, it was deemed necessary to present and discuss the current methods, models and analyzes in a comprehensive review paper. In this context, this paper reviewed the previously published works, especially focusing on sustainability and energy consumption modeling methods in machining operations. At the end of the study, it was seen that LCA provides a systematic and quantitative view of the system and thus can act as a decision support tool. Moreover, it can give an idea to the manufacturers about the improvement of the process and the areas of innovation. However, the method has several disadvantages such as relatively expensive and specific software, obtaining inventory data, impractical to use, time-consuming and requires large amounts of data. Various mathematical models and algorithms have been developed to deal with the complex situations and offer a more practical use compared to LCA. However, it is difficult to state that clear results have been achieved thanks to these models. It was seen that in complex machining processes, only approximate results can be found with models, which leads to questioning the reliability of the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Ice cream is consumed daily worldwide and yet its environmental impacts are scarcely known. This paper presents a first comprehensive life cycle assessment of market-leading vanilla and chocolate ice creams, considering both regular and premium products. The results suggest that their impacts are broadly similar across the 18 impact categories considered. For the majority of the impacts, chocolate regular ice cream is a slightly better option than the other varieties. Overall, the regular versions of the product have lower environmental impacts than the premium. Raw materials contribute most to the majority of impacts (>70%). The exception is ozone depletion, which is mainly due to refrigerated storage at the retailer (95%). The impacts are highly sensitive to the duration of storage and the type of refrigerant. Furthermore, the global warming potential of chocolate ice cream is very sensitive to land use change associated with cocoa beans cultivation, increasing the impact by 60%. Considering annual consumption of ice cream in the UK, the total primary energy demand contributes to 3.8% of energy consumption in the whole food sector while greenhouse emissions contribute 1.8%. Future improvements in the supply chain should focus on milk and cocoa production, reduced storage time and types of refrigerant used. Product reformulation to reduce the amount of milk (fat) and sugar should also be considered, in line with the emerging health-driven market trends. In addition to industry and policy makers, the findings of this study will be of interest to consumers, enabling them to make better choices with respect to environmental impacts of most popular ice creams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the context of China's severe energy and environmental problems, as an alternative vehicle fuel bioethanol is a promising choice because its theoretically renewable and carbon neutral. To guarantee grain security, China is developing non-grain fuel ethanol. Based on a life cycle assessment (LCA), this paper assesses the uncertainty of energy efficiency and environmental performance in the development of cassava ethanol of 1.5-generation bioethanol whose raw materials are non-staple crops. The results show that cassava ethanol is a good alternative vehicle fuel from the view of energy efficiency. From an environment perspective, global warming potential and photochemical ozone formation potential of cassava ethanol are better than gasoline, but acidification potential and respiratory inorganics inferior. The Monte Carlo simulation reveals cassava ethanol is feasible compared with gasoline in the case of uncertain variables. Among these uncertain variables, cassava yield, nitrogen fertilizer use, and steam use are the most important variables for energy efficiency and environmental performance of cassava ethanol. Furthermore, this study calculates the potentials for energy savings and emissions reduction with improving key aspects, and gives the suggestions of enhancing the performance of key indicators to promote the development of bioethanol vehicle fuel. Highlights • Cassava ethanol is a good alternative vehicle fuel from the view of energy efficiency. • Cassava ethanol decreases GWP and POFP, but increases AP and RI compared with gasoline. • Cassava yield, nitrogen fertilizer usage and steam usage have the greatest impact on cassava ethanol. • The potentials of energy-saving and emission-reduction are calculated with improving key aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, several technologies and management strategies are proposed for upgrading wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in order to improve sludge stabilization or minimize sludge production. In order to make sure that this leads to overall improvements, their techno-economic and environmental performance has to be carefully evaluated. In response to this, the techno-economic and environmental performance was assessed for a considered model reference WWTP upgraded with separate treatment and disposal for primary and secondary sludge to provide guidance to research, policy and investment efforts. This paper departs in an experimental campaign carried out within the EU project “ROUTES” and describes an assessment of an upgrade of a WWTP, involving wet oxidation of primary sludge and thermophilic anaerobic digestion (integrated with thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment) for secondary sludge. The reference plant and the upgrade implied different disposal routes for the resulting sludges: incineration for the stabilized sludge deriving from the reference WWTP; agricultural land application for the secondary stabilized sludge from the upgraded plant and landfilling for the solid residue deriving from the wet oxidation process (as non-hazardous waste). The mass balance carried out for both reference and upgraded WWTPs showed a reduction of total sludge production (up to 45%) for the upgraded WWTP. The additional energy demand of the upgraded solution (+22.4 Wh/(PE d), PE: population equivalent) was partially balanced by the electric energy produced by combined heat and power unit installed in the upgraded WWTP (−18.08 Wh/(PE d)). The integrated assessment showed that the upgraded solution, although resulting in an increase of WWTP technical complexity, may contribute to environmental and economic advantages. The paper provides guidance in terms of which aspects need a more thorough evaluation when this upgrade is considered in real cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the environmental impacts of drill and blast tunnelling by life cycle assessment. In order to understand the potential of cleaner tunnelling, this paper also analysis the influence of tunnel length and size on pollutant emissions. The excavation practices of rock tunnel in Norway over past 20 years are used to estimate material, equipment and energy consumption. The background data are drawn out from various databases in the Simapro software. The results indicate that: 1) the most important contributor to the climate change and terrestrial eco-toxicity impacts are the loading and hauling process. Its relative contribution also increases when the tunnel becomes bigger or longer. 2) The drilling and blasting process is the dominate contributor to the human toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation and terrestrial acidification impacts. The relative influence of this process, however, slightly decreases when tunnels become bigger or longer. 3) The three main sources for all impacts are explosives, diesel and electricity. Therefore, a significant potential of environmental impacts reduction could be reached by optimising drilling and blasting operation to reduce explosive consumption, and by improving renewable energy sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to analyse and compare the environmental performances of the most widely used cooking appliances (the induction hob vs. the gas hob) considering a typical Italian scenario in terms of food, family and social habits. Cooking appliances are subject to energy labelling, and they represent the most impacting system inside households. This study was performed in accordance with the international standard, ISO 14040/14044, by using an attributional Life Cycle Assessment (aLCA). The functional unit is defined as the “preparation of a complete homemade meal (lunch) for 20 years consumed by a four-member family in Italy”. This study shows the dominance, in terms of environmental impact, of the induction hob with respect to the gas hob for most of the selected midpoint indicators. In particular, the induction hob accounts for more than 60% of the climate change and ozone depletion impact categories and more than 70% of the metal depletion category. The same trend is also noticed in the end-point categories (human health, ecosystem qualities and resources) and for the Cumulative Energy Demand indicator. Based on the experimental evidence of this work, the use phase is the most important due to the different energy carriers (natural gas vs. electrical energy). This finding is the result of the nature of the energy carrier (the electricity grid mix) in the Italian scenario, which is mainly based on non-renewable sources. In addition, concerning the production phase of the two appliances, the induction hob shows a relevant dominance in terms of the human toxicity and metal depletion impact categories due to the use of rare metals and coppers in the cooktop part manufacturing. The outcomes obtained from this study may be used by household manufacturers to improve the performance and design solutions of their appliances as well as by end users in their selection of cooking technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing sustainable business models for high energy-consuming equipment (HECE) has attracted increasing attention. Product Service System (PSS) is one eminent candidate, in which assessing economic and environmental performance of PSS during the entire lifecycle of the equipment is of utmost importance. All the stakeholders should conclude their own benefits in advance. Yet, there is only few decision-making support tools for developing PSS of HECE, and the stakeholders can hardly apply them because of a lack of expertise. This paper articulates an evaluation tool which combines life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) to support the development of PSS for HECE. A framework is proposed to guide the evaluation procedure which consists of seven steps including goal and scope definition, system boundary determination, methods selection, scenarios construction, data collection, quantitative analysis and results interpretation. Air separation equipment (ASE), a typical HECE, is selected as a case study. The results show that extra economic benefits for both manufacturer and client are associated with increased investment, more environmental burdens and higher risk. Developing PSS might not always be a sustainable practice, e.g., gas supply service would lead to extra economic and environmental burdens due to frequent transportation. The suitable conditions for implementing different PSS modes are analysed and discussed. The case study demonstrates that the stakeholders can carry out LCA and LCC in a more efficient, convenient and comprehensive manner using our proposed evaluation tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable management of aluminium has become crucial due to the exponential growth in global demand. The transition to a sustainable society with lightweight electric vehicles has led to the increasing use of aluminium in the transportation sector. This has consequently led to the importance of aluminium recycling to prevent the valuable material stream going to landfill. In addition, the extraction of primary aluminium has high environmental impact due to the high energy consumption and waste generation in comparison to secondary aluminium processing. Despite being one of the most recycled metals, ongoing trends of multi-material designs and the associated joining choices have caused increasing difficulty of separating aluminium with high purity. This paper evaluates the types of joining techniques causing impurities in the aluminium streams, and the relationship between particle size reduction and the presence of impurities due to joints particularly for end-of-life vehicles. An empirical experiment in a leading European recycling facility was conducted and demonstrated that mechanical fasteners, such as machine screws, socket screws, bolt screws and rivets, are the major types of joining technique causing impurities. Based on the observations from this case study, the characteristics of imperfectly liberated joints are examined. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is also performed to evaluate the environmental impact of recycling different aluminium scrap qualities with varying impurity levels. The outcomes are then used to provide ecodesign guidelines aimed at improving the quality and increase the quantity of recycled aluminium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural gas is regarded as a cleaner alternative to coal combustion-based power generation (CPG) for urban use. Because of the insufficient natural gas reserve in China, coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) has been under rapid development. However, coal-based SNG production process has problems of environmental pollution and emission transfer. This paper uses life cycle assessment to compare the CPG and SNG energy production and usage routes, in order to find a reasonable way to reduce the environmental pollution and production cost. Results show that the CPG route is superior to the SNG route in terms of the haze pollution emissions, greenhouse gases emissions, coal resource consumption and life cycle cost. However, the water consumption of the CPG route is much higher than that of the SNG route. The SNG route is more suitable to adopt in water-deficient areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the life-cycle environmental implications linked to the energy efficiency improvement by a nano-technological aerogel based panel insulation solution. A cradle to grave approach has been taken for the environmental evaluation of the product life-cycle, including its integration in an existing residential building for the evaluation of the building’s use phase. The model developed has been also assessed in the 5 European climate zones, evaluating the different performance due to the different weather conditions and the effect of increasing the thickness used. Also, an evaluation of the impacts achieved depending on the heating source used, together with the comparative analysis with other traditional insulation materials complete the paper. This innovative aerogel based panel takes advantage of nanotechnology to increase its lifetime and reduce its thickness, in-building installation time and cost in comparison to conventional insulating materials. As a result, due to its low thermal conductivity (0.015 W/mK), only 10 mm aerogel based insulation panel is needed to achieve the same level of insulation of 25 mm thickness of standard Expanded Polystyrene Panel. This difference increases when the passive house requirements of façade thermal insulation are considered with thermal transmittance values in the range between 0.1 and 0.15 W/(m 2 K). From the results, a reasonable thickness of insulation material is available only with Aeropan in comparison to Expanded Polystyrene, Extruded Polystyrene and Mineral Wool, demonstrating its suitability in the accomplishment of passive house requirements with a significant reduction of the space needed. Thus, net life-cycle environmental benefits were found in all scenarios making this product suitable for the retrofitting of existing buildings by both, external or internal thermal insulation, minimizing at the same time the space occupied by the insulation solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's growing capacity of bioethanol production renders the conversion of ethanol-to-jet fuel (ETJ) promising. However, ETJ studies are currently scarce in China. This study employed process simulation to model two novel ETJ processes that combined corn cob gasification, syngas-to-ethanol, and ethanol-to-jet fuel. This paper also discussed the other three ETJs, in which ethanol were obtained via direct-fermentation of corn, cassava, and corn cob, respectively. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of ETJs in China. The results showed that the ETJ pathway, which included corn cob gasification plus fermentation, showed the least energy consumption and GHG emission, with 370.05 KJ/MJ jet fuel and 31.66 gCO 2 eq/MJ jet fuel, respectively. Sensitivity analysis was performed to identify parameters that had a significant impact on the results, and uncertainty analysis was implemented to check the reliability of the result. Further analysis revealed that cleaner electricity and heat production could effectively reduce the GHG emissions of the energy-intensive ETJs, with the highest reduction of 21.55%. Given that few life cycle assessments of ETJs in China have reported, this study can assist policy-makers to decide the path in which China's sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) should evolve. [Display omitted] • Life cycle analysis for 5 ethanol-to-jet fuels established toward China situation. • The process based on corn-cob-syngas fermentation showed the best carbon reduction. • Optimizing biomass and ethanol conversion could greatly reduce GHG emissions. • Electricity mixes highly impacted on the process based on corn-cob-syngas catalysis. • Life cycle results were mostly sensitive to the displacement allocation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There is a need for higher education to cultivate deep knowledge and skills in the ever-evolving area of sustainability. This paper explores one strategy for teaching Product Design Engineering students Design for Environment. A critical aspect is the connection between an industry partner, MicroHeat Technologies, who have developed water and energy efficient point of use water heating technology, and undergraduate students from Swinburne University with competencies in both design and engineering. This paper documents how students can explore Design for Environment strategies in a project based learning environment, verifying and quantifying environmental gains throughout the design process from concept to detailed design proposal. Engineering methods such as whole systems design and life cycle assessment were used to better equip these student designers with the tools to quantify the benefits of proposed designs in relation to sustainability. The student group was introduced to the MicroHeat technology, which has the capacity to be at the forefront of Design for Environment, the authenticity of which was used to enhance student engagement levels. The project successes were demonstrated by exceeding the industry partner expectations in terms of the breadth and high resolution of outcomes, detail for manufacture and usability. The student work revealed how higher education tied to industry innovation could prepare students to contribute to curtailing the ecological crisis when based in industry, in this case by integrating credible technology options with effective Design for Environment methodology into the design process and outcomes. These results strengthen the case for educators in sustainability to explore industry-based partnerships for cross-disciplinary student projects, with the course now running for a fourth successive year. In consultation with students and the industry partner, Swinburne staff members continue to refine the curriculum, to improve outcomes both from a project and pedagogical perspective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Steel production is one of the most energy and carbon intensive industries contributing 5–7% of the global CO 2 emissions. In the search for ways to decrease fossil CO 2 emissions, biomass-based reducing agents are considered as one promising opportunity. This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review of technological possibilities and constraints, environmental performance and economical limitations of using biomass-based reducing agents in iron and steelmaking processes. The review indicates that biomass-based reducing agents could be applied in the main iron and steelmaking unit processes with varied fossil fuel replacement ratios. The greatest potential to replace fossil fuel is in the charcoal injection to the blast furnace. Life cycle emissions of steelmaking may be considerably lowered through biomass-based reducing agent use. The main constraint in facilitating the transition towards biomass-based steelmaking seems to be the high price of biomass and biomass-based reducing agents compared to fossil-based reducing agents. In the future, there is a need to develop simultaneously cross-industrial production platforms to produce biomass-based reducing agents and other, more valuable products from biomass. This would enhance the economic and environmental performance of producing steel with biomass-based reducing agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper serves as both a literature review and a preliminary study of the quantitative effects of temporality relating to the age of data as well as spatiality in Life Cycle Assessment. Temporality and spatiality due to age of data have not been the subject of formal analysis. In this study, temporality and spatiality is studied in relation to the input stages of manufacture as opposed to emissions-related studies. To this end, the Greenhouse gases, Regulatory Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation 2 model is used. Created by the Argonne National Laboratory, this model offers information on the life cycle of sedans, sport-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks with a variety of different power train configurations and manufacturing of materials. Historic data on net energy intensity for materials of manufacture were analyzed using Monte Carlo simulations in order to explore temporal and spatial variability which can be attributed to age of data. Subsequent analysis showed that, depending on the mix of materials used, temporal and spatial variation has quantified effects on total energy calculations for all vehicle types. However, this variation is dependent on the type of material in question and its corresponding weight. A set of variability analysis tools previously unused in Life Cycle Assessments was used to establish a platform for future analysis in this area, including previous precepts regarding the use of predefined probability distributions (normal, lognormal, etc.) in modeling. The temporal and spatial variance due to the age of data found here have significance in the inventory stage and for the robustness of Life Cycle Assessment findings. In doing so, this study brought attention to a subject which could have consequences across a wide variety of industrial manufacturing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction management in China has embraced a new practice encompassing the evaluation criteria of green construction. Thus, greenhouse gas emissions produced during the construction period should not be overlooked anymore. The greenhouse gas emissions from construction projects are evaluated based on life cycle assessment theory, and on green construction evaluation and management techniques. A procedure for assessing the greenhouse gas emissions from construction projects is developed using the unit construction process, and by classifying and integrating the different components of construction projects. A segregation-integration method was established for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions of construction project. A mathematical model and framework to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions from construction projects have been established. The energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for earthwork, foundation work, masonry, and reinforced concrete during construction are calculated based on the example of a commercial building in a large-scale residential complex in the Pingshan New District of Shenzhen City. The greenhouse gas emissions were calculated as equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. High-rise buildings and villas have the highest unit carbon emissions of 54.51 kg/m 2 , and account for 84% of the carbon dioxide emissions produced during the construction of the residential community. The unit carbon emissions for construction of the entire residential community are approximately 54.18 kg/m 2 . The scientific value of this paper is that the carbon emissions during the construction stage of a residential community were quantitatively assessed. The unit carbon emissions of the buildings during construction can be used to calculate unit energy consumption of buildings during construction, which should be useful in realising energy savings, and can therefore provide management guidance for reducing energy consumption during the life cycle of building, especially consumption during construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal, a major source for electricity generation in many regions, is expected to keep its position among global energy sources in the next two decades. There are significant life cycle impacts of coal used for electricity generation such as heavy metal emissions and acidification. Impacts related to the combustion phase have so far been the focus of attention and are better documented than other phases of the life cycle. Relatively less attention has been paid to impacts of mining and coal preparation processes at mining sites due to generation of large quantities of wastewater, particulate matter and heavy metal emissions, and the use of heavy machinery which is energy-intensive. To this date, there are only a few studies specifically addressing impacts associated with the mining and coal preparation phases in the open literature. To further advance our understanding of the scale of impacts during these phases, this paper presents a life cycle assessment of lignite from extraction phase to the delivery to the power plant based on analysis of high quality data from twelve lignite mining sites that serve major lignite power plants in Turkey. For impacts on land use, four indicators which include erosion resistance, mechanical filtration, groundwater replenishment loss and biotic production, are estimated. Following life cycle impact assessment, two environmental performance improvement alternatives that can be easily implemented in mining sites are evaluated to quantify the potential degree of improvement. These alternatives include dewatering of the slurry waste and recovery of coal, and using biodiesel mixed fuel and watering roads to reduce dust formation. The analyses show that 40% improvement can be realized for ecotoxicity potential to water category through simple changes in mining practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature available on alternative fuel heavy-duty trucks often focuses on greenhouse gas emissions and total cost of ownership assessments, drawing an insightful but incomplete picture of the best solutions for each context. Using Iceland as case study, this paper attempts to provide a broader perspective by including energy security, technical feasibility and air pollutant emissions in the assessment. AFLEET and GREET are used to calculate the life cycle emissions and the total cost of ownership of 10 heavy-duty powertrains using representative vehicle categories in Iceland: regional and delivery trucks. The technical feasibility of battery-electric and hydrogen trucks is addressed in terms of battery/tank required capacity for representative fuel efficiency values, while the resources available in Iceland are used to determine the local fuel production capacity and the potential impact of each alternative fuel pathway on energy security. The results suggest that battery-electric trucks present the highest environmental and economic benefits, although the limited range of current battery technology implies a high penetration only in delivery trucks. Hydrogen and compressed natural gas pathways present attractive results for regional trucks, although their implementation is limited due to high life cycle costs and insufficient feedstock capacity. Renewable diesel stands out as a potential solution to fill the gap for regional trucks as it presents overall satisfactory results throughout all dimensions addressed. The results suggest that a 100% alternative fuel heavy-duty fleet energy demand could be met using local resources in Iceland. [Display omitted] • The transition towards alternative fuel heavy duty vehicles in Iceland is studied. • Nine alternative fuel heavy duty powertrains are assessed in LCA and TCO terms. • The link between alternative fuel production and energy security is discussed. • BEV stands out as the most attractive pathway for both vehicle categories. • Iceland could meet 100% of HDV energy demand using domestically produced fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-design that addresses the consumption of resources and energy, as well as pollution emissions from a product life-cycle perspective, is an effective way to solve environmental problems. However, the optimal eco-design solution is hardly generated in the conceptual design stage due to the complex association of the life cycle design information. To this end, this paper proposes a new eco-design model based on a life cycle integrated framework to effectively manage life cycle information in the conceptual design phase. In this work, (1) The life cycle-oriented model is proposed to integrate the product design information in terms of a systematic association mechanism between function, structure, material and process to construct the design space. (2) A life cycle design scenario-based similarity matching method is developed to support the environmental impact assessment of design options in the design space. (3) A hope tree-based heuristic search algorithm with the principle of minimizing environmental impact is proposed to efficiently obtain the eco-design solution. An application for eco-design of the lift equipment is given to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method. The results show that the environmental impact of the generated eco-design solution is improved by 19.48%, and the material and use stage has the highest environmental impact which accounts for 39.59% and 47.74% respectively. This work provides a targeted method for guiding designers to implement eco-design in the conceptual design phase through the life cycle. [Display omitted] • An integrated life cycle model is proposed to express the design information of function, structure, material and process. • A scenario-based similarity matching method is proposed to acquire the LCI for the design options. • Hope tree-based algorithm is used to efficiently obtain the optimal eco-design solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As economies in the European Union are ultimately driven by the final consumption of citizens, policy makers need proper indicators to monitor the environmental impacts associated with this consumption. These indicators can be constructed using two different approaches, each having their strengths and limitations. The top-down approach is based on environmentally extended input–output analysis and quantifies the environmental impacts of product groups and services provided by industrial sectors. The bottom-up approach is based on Life Cycle Assessment and quantifies the environmental impacts of a selection of representative products. The bottom-up approach has already been used by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre to calculate the impacts of the final consumption per capita in the European Union in 2006. In this paper, we calculated these impacts through a top-down approach, using the Exiobase database. The covered household activities are food, consumer goods, mobility, shelter and services. The goal was to calculate all the impact categories recommended by the International Reference Life Cycle Data handbook, and compare both approaches. However, the categories ionizing radiation, toxicity and abiotic resource depletion could not be included, as some relevant emissions and resources are not available in Exiobase. To study more profoundly the impact on natural resources, we added the Cumulative Exergy Extraction From the Natural Environment to the impact assessment. When comparing both approaches, it can be concluded that there is a considerable shift in the results. This means that the information obtained by a top-down approach could supplement the information base for policy support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal heating by coal contributes considerably to the haze pollution in Chinese cities during cold period, e.g., Beijing 53%. It is widely considered that, as a supplement of natural gas, the use of coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) to replace coal for municipal heating is conductive to mitigate the haze pollution in metropolitan areas. Would it still be a good alternative if the whole life cycle of SNG were taken into consideration? In this study, SNG as an alternative for municipal heating is analyzed in comparison with coal. To target cleaner production, life cycle assessment methodology is used to analyze SNG contribution to haze pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, as well as energy consumption. Compared to coal heating route, SNG heating route could reduce 44% of the haze pollutants emissions from life cycle perspective and up to 98% of the emissions in urban area. Thus, if municipal heating were entirely supplied by natural gas and SNG, there would be 52% less haze pollutants emissions in winter of Beijing. However, this “good” performance is at the cost of transferring haze pollutants emissions from urban areas to SNG-producing regions. It is also at the cost of consuming 90% more coal and emitting 65% more GHGs than the coal heating route from life cycle point of view. To tackle the problems of haze pollutants transfer and the increase of GHGs emissions, the paper suggests implementing ecological compensation and carbon tax policies in the coal-based SNG industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluations of the environmental sustainability of lifestyles and consumption practices have been taking centre stage in European research projects in recent years. Considerable work has been undertaken on the environmental assessment of food consumption patterns, and several analytical tools and methodologies have been proposed to quantify the environmental burden of production and consumption. Claims have been made in several international reports that the Mediterranean diet offers the best consumption pattern in terms of both the environment and health, but there has never been a specific assessment of the Mediterranean diet in comparison with other food consumption behaviours. This paper explores the environmental burdens of the Mediterranean diet applied in the Italian context. The environmental performance of this diet is compared to the national average diet in Italy, as well as to two empirical scenarios of healthy and vegetarian food consumption patterns. The environmental burdens of the different diets are assessed in terms of their energy consumption and their carbon footprint using a hybrid IOA-LCA method. This method considers the positive aspects of both bottom-up methodologies (e.g. life cycle assessment – LCA) and top-down methodologies (e.g. input–output analysis – IOA). The results allow several comparisons to be made between the different diets. When compared with the national average diet, the Mediterranean diet reveals an improvement in environmental performance of 95.75 MJ (2.44%) and 27.46 kg CO 2 equivalent (6.81%) per family. The best overall environmental performance can be found with the vegetarian diet in which energy consumption is 3.14% lower and the carbon footprint 12.7% lower than the national average diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction in the use of raw materials and the spread of energy efficient processes and components are necessary from both the economic and the environmental viewpoints. This paper presents the design of an innovative multi-functional agricultural machinery able to integrate three separate traditional implements used for hay raking, hay baling and bale wrapping, i.e. hay rake, round baler and bale wrapper machines, with the aim of speeding up the harvesting operations and reducing both the energy consumption and the global environmental impact. A comparative analysis about the adoption of the traditional implements and the new multi-functional machinery is reported. Particularly, the reduction in both the fuel consumption (−32%), the human labor (−66.7%) is discussed together with a differential environmental analysis of the proposed system and the traditional implements. To meet such a last purpose, the study adopts the life cycle assessment methodology carefully quantifying the impact indicators for three different categories, i.e. human health, ecosystem quality and resource depletion. The results highlight a global environmental impact reduction of about 35%. The proposed system represents an effective and competitive improvement to ease and speed the haymaking process and to reduce the environmental impact of such a key farmer activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle environmental performance of lignocellulosic ethanol produced through different production pathways and having different co-products has rarely been reported in the literature, with most studies focusing on a single pre-treatment and single co-product (electricity). The aim of this paper is to understand the life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions implications of alternative pre-treatment technologies (dilute acid hydrolysis, ammonia fiber expansion and autohydrolysis) and co-products (electricity, pellet, protein and xylitol) through developing a consistent life cycle framework for ethanol production from corn stover. Results show that the choices of pre-treatment technology and co-product(s) can impact ethanol yield, life cycle energy use and GHG emissions. Dilute acid pathways generally exhibit higher ethanol yields (20-25%) and lower net total energy use (15-25%) than the autohydrolysis and ammonia fiber expansion pathways. Similar GHG emissions are found for the pre-treatment technologies when producing the same co-product. Xylitol co-production diverts xylose from ethanol production and results in the lowest ethanol yield (200 L per dry t of stover). Compared to producing only electricity as a co-product, the co-production of pellets and xylitol decreases life cycle GHG emissions associated with the ethanol, while protein production increases emissions. The life cycle GHG emissions of blended ethanol fuel (85% denatured ethanol by volume) range from -38.5-37.2 g CO2 eq/MJ of fuel produced, reducing emissions by 61-141% relative to gasoline. All ethanol pathways result in major reductions of fossil energy use relative to gasoline, at least by 47%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood and bark chip mulch has been shown to reduce net orchard greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on an Okanagan Valley (British Columbia, Canada) apple orchard. However, this benefit was shown to be outweighed by the (attributional) life cycle impacts associated with mulch production. The current study expanded the scope of prior investigations to perform a consequential life cycle assessment of the impacts of increasing wood chip/bark mulch use in the production of apples on Okanagan orchards. This assessment included the impacts of the orchard system as well as other current alternative uses of wood chip/bark mulch which included bioenergy production and paper manufacturing. Many environmental impact categories were examined including human toxicity, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, depletion of abiotic resources (elements, ultimate reserves), photochemical oxidation, ozone layer depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, acidification potential, climate change, eutrophication, land use – land competition, and energy use (including non-renewable: fossil, nuclear, primary forest; and renewable: biomass, geothermal, solar, water and wind). One scenario was modelled to represent the case in which no mulch was used on orchards (only used for alternative products). A second model was created to represent the marginal impacts of adding the amount of mulch to an apple orchard necessary to produce 1 kg of apples (0.575 kg bark and 0.144 kg wood chips). These amounts of bark and wood chips were assumed to be taken away from their current alternative uses (co-generation for bark and paper production for wood chips), thereby decreasing the amount of electricity and heat produced by bark by 0.653 kWh electricity and 0.653 MJ heat, and the amount of paper produced by wood chips by 0.144 kg paper. In turn, these amounts of electricity, heat and paper were assumed to be produced by their marginal production technologies – hydro-electric generation for electricity, natural gas for heat, and recycled paper for paper production. Finally, the scenarios were modelled assuming the marginal market for co-generation from bark was in Washington, USA rather than the Okanagan, as a sensitivity analysis. The results did not show a clear environmental benefit to either using or not using mulch on orchards. In the scenario in which bark mulch was assumed to be used either on apple orchards or for co-generation in British Columbia, impacts in 14 categories (including climate change, eutrophication, acidification, all toxicities, land use and some renewable energy use) were lower when mulch was used on the orchard, and results for 5 categories (including some non-renewable and renewable resources/energy use) were higher. When bark mulch was assumed to be used either on orchards or for co-generation in Washington, terrestrial ecotoxicity, land use, biomass and solar energy use were lower when mulch was used on the orchard, and all others (15 categories) were higher. There was a large amount of uncertainty in the model, coming from data variability, data quality and impact assessment uncertainty. Overall, the orchard system played a significant role in the impact assessment results, and was the main contributor to the overall uncertainty. Based on these results, mulch use on orchards cannot be recommended to reduce environmental impacts, but the marginal impacts of using mulch warrant further investigation. • Wood/bark mulch can reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions on orchards. • Increased use of mulch on orchards would decrease its use in energy and paper production. • Impacts of energy and paper production without mulch are variable. • Overall net impacts of mulch use on orchards depend on displaced alternative uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the substantial effort on almost all levels during the last decades, the buildings' renovation rate needs to be at least doubled from the current 1% to meet ambitious energy efficiency goals. In the same way, the energy-intensive material replacement did not reach yet the desired grade in terms of sustainability measures and outlined goals heading to a low-carbon economy. This paper summarizes principles of sustainable development together with the current methodological framework relevant to the civil engineering and construction industry. The main part is devoted to the identification and understanding of principal factors preventing faster adoption of energy efficiency measures. High initial financial costs, investment risk over a long-term period, poor acceptance of sustainable measures, lack of information, and limited methodological framework for a reliable evaluation of environmental projects with the intergeneration context or understanding of externalities of human activities are identified as the main barriers to the sustainable building retrofits. These barriers are closely related each other and can be merged into several groups according to the stakeholders or scientific disciplines to amplify their primary impact. Notwithstanding, solution strategies based on narrow boundary conditions and limited multidisciplinary approach prevent substantial advances towards the sustainable building sector. In this regard, the major obstacles preventing the achievement of energy efficiency goals can be remedied by interdisciplinary cooperation. • Lacking multidisciplinary approach hinders sustainable measures adoption. • Limited public acceptance prevents a stronger political commitment. • Methods of social measures need to be studied for decision support. • Sustainable building industry transition is not a technical issue only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential and commercial buildings consume around 40% of the total energy of the world. The building sector is also responsible for 30% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. There is an urgent need to assess the environmental carbon footprint (CFP) of global building industry. This study reviews the related studies and calculates the CFP of a residential building constructed in Turkey by considering the type of construction materials, energy consumption habits, maintenance and demolition stages in a 50 year of life cycle. The CFP of a common type of residential building constructed in Turkey found to be 48.87 kgCO 2 eq/m2/year. The CFP of structural elements used during the construction phase has been calculated to be 6.94 kgCO 2 eq/m2/year, which is about 14.21% of the total footprint. It is investigated that; the operational stage is the foremost contributor, representing 64.11% of CFP. The CO 2 emissions have been decreased by 38.05% by the implementation of basic methods. Unlike other studies, this paper revealed that the CFP from transportation of habitants is 6.5% more than the construction stage contributing 15.13% of overall emissions. The comparative studies of constructions in different countries show that CFP significantly depend on the behavioral factors of citizens of a country and the system boundaries selected. The results exposed that the effects of transportation should not be disregarded in the future studies. [Display omitted] • The total life cycle CFP of the building found to be 48.87 kgCO 2 eq/m2/year. • The CFP of construction materials is calculated to be 6.94 kgCO 2 eq/m2/year. • CFP from transportation of habitants is 6.5% more than the construction stage contributing 15.13% of overall emissions. • The daily energy use of the habitants is the main contributor to the CFP, representing the 64.11% of CFP. • The CFP of the building has been decreased by 38.05% by the implementation of low-carbon strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper utilizes life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to evaluate the conversion of U.S. municipal solid waste (MSW) to liquid transportation fuels via gasification and Fischer-Tropsch (FT). The model estimates the cumulative energy demand and global warming potential (GWP) associated with the conversion of 1 Mg (1 Mg = 1000 kg) of MSW delivered to the front gate of a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) facility into liquid transportation fuels. In addition, net energy production is reported to quantify system performance. The system is expanded to include substituted electricity and fuel. Under a set of default assumptions, the model estimates that 1 Mg of MSW entering the RDF facility yields 123 L of gasoline, 57 L of diesel, 79 kg of other FT products, and 193 kWh of gross electricity production. For each Mg of MSW, the conversion process consumes 4.4 GJ of primary energy while creating fuels and electricity with a cumulative energy content of 10.8 GJ. Across a range of waste compositions, the liquid fuels produced by gasification and FT processing resulted in a net GWP ranging from −267 to −144 kg CO2e per Mg MSW, including offsets for conventional electricity and fuel production. The energy requirement associated with syngas compression for FT processing was significant and resulted in high levels of process-related GWP. The model demonstrates that an increased biogenic MSW fraction, assumed to be carbon neutral, reduced the GWP. However, a greater GWP reduction could be obtained through reduced FT pressure requirements, increased gas reaction rates, or a less carbon intensive power mix. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of the present study has been to assess the environmental profile of an experimental decentralized waste management system which is based on the anaerobic codigestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and dewatered sewage sludge in small plants (annual capacity: about 3000 t coupled at a 75 kW CHP unit) distributed over the territory. Two scenarios have been analysed: with and without aerobic composting post-treatment. In so far as an environmental point of view is concerned, such scenarios have been compared with the past and the current approaches occurring in the case study area (NE Italy) and characterized by a strong centralization. Environmental performances of the different scenarios have been assessed through Life Cycle Assessment methodology. Our results indicate that the anaerobic codigestion of dewatered sewage sludge and OFMSW in small plants combined with composting post-treatment may offer an environmentally sustainable option of waste management in small communities. This is achieved by (1) a strong reduction in the distances and volumes transported by road, (2) low energy requirement for the process itself, (3) energy saving from CHP unit and (4) energy/resources saving from the compost produced by the digested matter. Also social advantages may be gained, such as increased public acceptability of waste treatment facilities and increased awareness among citizen on waste management issue. To note that these advantages are closely related to some key assumptions like the use of digested matter as fertilizer. Assumptions and work limits are discussed in the final section of the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: China has become the primary energy consumer in the world, consuming 48.2% of the world''s coal in 2010. Of this percentage, 48.0% of China''s coal consumption is used by the power generation industry, which causes unavoidable environmental problems in the country. This paper presents complete life cycle modeling and a comparative assessment of current clean coal power generation technologies in China, including a state-of-the-art commercial ultra super-critical system. In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is adopted for energy and environment analysis, followed by a brief economic discussion. Incorporating up-to-date data and country-specific situations, the present work covers all up-stream stages of the electricity life cycle before final consumption: coal mining, coal transportation, and coal power generation. The modeling results show that ultra super-critical systems (USC) have the highest life cycle energy efficiency due to the highest net generating efficiency and the lowest plant auxiliary power consumption among the cases examined. The global warming potential (GWP) scores show reverse dependencies of net generating efficiency. An integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) was demonstrated to be the cleanest technology and has the lowest scores in most of the life cycle impact categories, in particular in acidification potential (AP) and photo-oxidant formation potential (POCP). IGCC ranks as the highest in capital costs due to its complexity, while USC and super-critical systems are among the lowest in capital cost because of their commercialization in China. Evaluation of coal power generation combined with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) shows that the CCS technologies can reduce the total life cycle CO2 emission from coal power plants substantially, although higher levels of CO2 are generated from the extra energy consumption by the CCS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes a pavement life cycle assessment (LCA) model developed to evaluate energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from pavement rehabilitation strategies. The LCA model analyzes the energy and GHG emissions associated with material production, construction and pavement use, which includes the effects of pavement rolling resistance on vehicle operation. The model was used to evaluate a set of case studies of pavement rehabilitation for both asphalt and concrete surfaces with different rolling resistances and traffic levels. The primary goal of the case studies is to evaluate the effect of rolling resistance on the life cycle performance of pavements, not to compare asphalt and concrete pavements. Energy and GHG emission savings from pavement rehabilitation are compared with an alternative where no rehabilitation occurs, only routine maintenance of damaged pavement. The results of the case studies show that for highway sections with high traffic volumes the energy and GHG savings accrued during the use phase due to reduced rolling resistance can be significantly larger than the energy use and GHG emissions from material production and construction, with the extent of the benefit dependent on constructed smoothness. These savings can be larger than those from other strategies to reduce highway transportation energy use and emissions, such as projected improvements in vehicle fuel economy. For low traffic volume highways, the smoothness obtained by the contractor and materials used have a more significant effect on the performance of the rehabilitation, and may result in a net increase in energy use and GHG emissions if low traffic volumes and poor construction quality occur together. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Lime production is characterized by large emissions of CO2 and by other environmental impacts. In Cuba this industry operates with outdated technology, resulting in low energy and material efficiency and in high environmental impacts. In order to improve the environmental performance of the lime industry in Cuba it is necessary to have an overview of the environmental impacts associated with the production process. This paper quantifies the environmental impacts of lime production in Cuba by means of LCA methodology in a cradle-to-gate evaluation. It also aims at establishing a benchmark for improvement by comparing the environmental impact of this industry in Cuba with a plant in an industrialized country. For the inventory evaluation the process of lime production was divided in five production stages. When necessary, the data was completed with literature sources. For the impact assessment the impacts in the following categories were considered: energy consumption, global warming, human toxicity, photoxidant formation and acidification. Results show that the calcination stage and the consumption of fuel, electricity and limestone are the main contributors to environmental impact of the production process. The economic assessment shows possibilities to improve the environmental performance while achieving cost reductions in the production process. The larger improvements in the environmental performance and cost saving can be achieved by improving the energy efficiency of the calcination stage. This can partially be accomplished with moderate investments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper focuses on investigating several aspects of the machining process from an ecological perspective, the result being a macro-level analysis. The analysis presented here considers not only the environmental impact of the material removal process itself, but also the impact of the associated processes such as the material preparation, and the scrap processing. A macro-level assessment of the comparative life cycle environmental performance of the near-dry machining (NDM) using TiN-coated carbide tools and the flood machining (FM) is performed by a case study referring to the gear milling. The assessment, using the SimaPro 7.1.5 software and the ecoinvent1.5 database, includes combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the workpiece material, the scrap processing, the use of lubrication, and the energy consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The semiconductor industry plays a leading role in supporting economic stabilization and social progress in Taiwan. In this paper, Eco-indicator 95 and Impact 2002+ are utilized to evaluate the potential environmental impacts from five production processes of the double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM). The comparisons between these two impact methods and their scopes are also discussed. From our results, global warming potential and non-renewable energy consumption were identified as the major environmental impacts. Applications of Eco-indicator 95 and IMPACT 2002+ also suggest that summer smog and respiratory inorganics are significant impact categories. The comparison of the scopes of these two methods identifies that low GWP potential PFCs substitution and electricity saving are effective ways to decrease environmental impacts of DRAM manufacturing. In addition, IMPACT 2002+ is a more applicable LCA method for the semiconductor industry in Taiwan due to the structure and reference area of this method and the characteristics of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Mussels as a commercial product involve a range of activities which can be included within four different sub-sectors: culture, dispatch centres, canning factories and, finally, cooking plants. This paper deals with the environmental evaluation of the whole mussel sector from a Life Cycle Assessment approach. The use of exhaustive inventories led to the subsequent environmental characterization of the mussel sector in terms of the contribution observed for each of the sub-sectors. In this sense, the sub-sector associated with dispatch centres presented the largest contributions to the potential environmental impacts, clearly ahead of mussel farming. Furthermore, the sub-sectors of mussel cooking plants and canning factories showed a much lower contribution to the potential environmental impacts. Several improvement potentials were identified from the characterization results, stressing the minimization of the electric energy consumption in dispatch centres. A comparative LCA was performed in order to contrast the environmental performance of the three main commercial mussel products: fresh mussels, canned mussels and frozen mussels. The analysis showed that fresh mussels have the least favourable environmental profile. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the energy and carbon balance of two residential house alternatives; a typical wood frame home using more conventional materials (brick cladding, vinyl windows, asphalt shingles, and fibreglass insulation) and a similar wood frame house that also maximizes wood use throughout (cedar shingles and siding, wood windows, and cellulose insulation) in place of the more typical materials used – a wood-intensive house. Carbon emission and fossil fuel consumption balances were established for the two homes based on the cumulative total of three subsystems: (1) forest harvesting and regeneration; (2) cradle-to-gate product manufacturing, construction, and replacement effects over a 100-year service life; and (3) end-of-life effects – landfilling with methane capture and combustion or recovery of biomass for energy production. The net carbon balance of the wood-intensive house showed a complete offset of the manufacturing emissions by the credit given to the system for forest re-growth. Including landfill methane emissions, the wood-intensive life cycle yielded 20tons of CO2e emissions compared to 72tons for the typical house. The wood-intensive home''s life cycle also consumed only 45% of the fossil fuels used in the typical house. Diverting wood materials from the landfill at the end of life improved the life cycle balances of both the typical and wood-intensive houses. The carbon balance of the wood-intensive house was 5.2tons of CO2e permanently removed from the atmosphere (a net carbon sink) as compared to 63.4 of total CO2e emissions for the typical house. Substitution of wood fuel for natural gas and coal in electricity production led to a net energy balance of the wood-intensive house that was nearly neutral, 87.1GJ energy use, 88% lower than the scenario in which the materials were landfilled. Allocating biomass generation and carbon sequestration in the forest on an economic basis as opposed to a mass basis significantly improves the life cycle balances of both houses. Employing an economic allocation method to the forest leads to 3–5 times greater carbon sequestration and fossil fuel substitution attributable to the house, which is doubled in forestry regimes that remove stumps and slash as fuel. Thus, wood use has the potential to create a significantly negative carbon footprint for a house up to the point of occupancy and even offset a portion of heating and cooling energy use and carbon emissions; the wood-intensive house is energy and carbon neutral for 34–68 years in Ottawa and has the potential to be a net carbon sink and energy producer in a more temperate climate like San Francisco. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents the findings of a life cycle assessment (LCA) of electricity generated from the combustion of sugar cane bagasse in Mauritian sugar mills. The study arose from the identification of the need for to provide data for the development of an LCA profile for the electricity mix in Mauritius. The system is limited geographically to the island of Mauritius and is intended to be the representative of current agricultural techniques practiced and current manufacturing processes used by Mauritian sugar mills. The unit operations that make up the system are the growing and harvesting of sugar cane, the transport of the harvested cane to sugar mills, the production of bagasse as a by-product from the sugar milling process, and the combustion of bagasse to generate heat and electricity. The functional unit of the study is the generation of 1GWh of electricity exported to the national electricity grid. The characterised data for 1GWh of bagasse-derived electricity were compared with data for 1GWh of coal-derived electricity, using the same set of characterisation factors. The results of this comparison indicate that bagasse-derived electricity performs well in the areas of greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, and non-renewable energy inputs, but performs poorly in relation to water consumption and eutrophication. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One important opportunity to reduce energy waste and global warming is renovation, retrofit, and refurbishment of existing buildings. Adding a multi-layer internal insulation is an efficient way to upgrade an existing housing into a nearly zero-energy buildings, NZEB. There is a vast variety of products and solutions for the building envelope with different environmental impacts. In this paper a methodology is presented to establish a two-criteria framework to rank thermal insulation materials to be used in the envelope. The objective was to design an optimal insulation system based on a multi-objective approach to maximize the energy saving and minimize the environmental impact. Using twelve typical insulation materials with different thicknesses, a four-layer insulation system was developed and applied to a Case study, a typical multi-story apartment building located in a hot summer and cold winter zone. Results revealed there are several optimum solutions to significantly reduce the building energy consumption, with important differences in their environmental impacts. For the case study, eight Pareto-optimal solutions were derived using the two-objective optimization offering more than 70% reduction in the energy demand, and a global warming potential range of 192–1500 kgCo2 eq. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]