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Analyses of the potentials of electric mobility in commercial transport have shown that in terms of trip patterns and daily mileage EVs are suitable for urban freight transport and city logistics. The deployment of EVs could reduce exhaust and noise emissions. But the potential is not being exploited, and there are only a few vehicles in use in commercial fleets. This paper will give insights into the status of electric mobility in European urban freight and logistics. The paper introduces the potential for the further implementation and development of electric vehicles in city logistics, based on the activities realized under EUFAL (Electric urban freight and logistics) project, realized under the ERA-NET Cofund Electric Mobility Europe.

Recycling of waste materials is desirable to reduce the consumption of limited primary resources, but also includes the risk of recycling unwanted, hazardous substances. In Austria, the legal framework demands secondary products must not present a higher risk than comparable products derived from primary resources. However, the act provides no definition on how to assess this risk potential. This paper describes the development of different quantitative and qualitative methods to estimate the transfer of contaminants in recycling processes. The quantitative methods comprise the comparison of concentrations of harmful substances in recycling products to corresponding primary products and to existing limit values. The developed evaluation matrix, which considers further aspects, allows for the assessment of the qualitative risk potential. The results show that, depending on the assessed waste fraction, particular contaminants can be critical. Their concentrations were higher than in comparable primary materials and did not comply with existing limit values. On the other hand, the results show that a long-term, well-established quality control system can assure compliance with the limit values. The results of the qualitative assessment obtained with the evaluation matrix support the results of the quantitative assessment. Therefore, the evaluation matrix can be suitable to quickly screen waste streams used for recycling to estimate their potential environmental and health risks. To prevent the transfer of contaminants into product cycles, improved data of relevant substances in secondary resources are necessary. In addition, regulations for material recycling are required to assure adequate quality control measures, including limit values.

This paper demonstrates the power of material flow analysis (MFA) for designing waste management (WM) systems and for supporting decisions with regards to given environmental and resource goals. Based on a comprehensive case study of a nationwide WM-system, advantages and drawbacks of a mass balance approach are discussed. Using the software STAN, a material flow system comprising all relevant inputs, stocks and outputs of wastes, products, residues, and emissions is established and quantified. Material balances on the level of goods and selected substances (C, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, N, Ni, P, Pb, Zn) are developed to characterize this WM-system. The MFA results serve well as a base for further assessments. Based on given goals, stakeholders engaged in this study selected the following seven criteria for evaluating their WM-system: (i) waste input into the system, (ii) export of waste (iii) gaseous emissions from waste treatment plants, (iv) long-term gaseous and liquid emissions from landfills, (v) waste being recycled, (vi) waste for energy recovery, (vii) total waste landfilled. By scenario analysis, strengths and weaknesses of different measures were identified. The results reveal the benefits of a mass balance approach due to redundancy, data consistency, and transparency for optimization, design, and decision making in WM.

This article reviews, categorizes, and evaluates the objectives, means, and results of the application of material flow analysis (MFA) in waste management. It identifies those areas where MFA methodologies are most successful in supporting waste management decisions. The focus of this review is on the distinction between MFA on the level of goods and on the level of substances. Based on 83 reviewed studies, potentials, strengths, and weaknesses are investigated for the two levels of MFA when applied for analysis, evaluation, and improvement of waste management systems. The differences are discussed in view of effectiveness, applicability, and data availability. The results show that MFA on the level of goods are instrumental for understanding how waste management systems function, facilitating the connections of stakeholders, authorities, and waste management companies. The substance level is essential to assess qualitative aspects regarding resources and environment. Knowledge about the transformation, transport, and storage of valuable and hazardous substances forms the base for identifying both resource potentials and risks for human health and the environment. The results of this review encourage the application of MFA on both levels of goods and substances for decision making in waste management. Because of the mass balance principle, this combination has proven to be a powerful tool for comprehensively assessing if a chosen system reaches designated waste management goals

Aesthetics as a philosophical discipline was initiated by Alexander G. Baumgarten, who conceived it as a science of the lower faculties of experience or the study of sensual perception in general. This perspective changed, however, just one generation later, when aesthetics was defined in the narrower sense of a theory of beauty and the fine arts. Kant opposed the application of the term “aesthetics” to a critique of taste and suggested giving up this use of the term and applying it solely to transcendental aesthetics, as a true science, or employing it “partly in a transcendental, partly in a psychological signification”. In this sense, it was employed by H.D. Zschokke, still in the eighteenth century, but was systematically developed by G.T. Fechner in his Vorschule der Aesthetik in 1876. Based on Fechner’s concept of aesthetics as an empirical discipline, psychological aesthetics found extensive application in experimental psychology at the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century, but also strong opposition from the part of traditional philosophical aesthetics. At that time, the theory of Einfuhlung (empathy) had been developed as the dominating theoretical fundament of psychological aesthetics. In the course of the twentieth century, different paradigmatic approaches were proposed, which for the most part reflected paradigmatic turns of psychology in general (e.g. phenomenology, Gestalt psychology, cognitive psychology).

Assessment methods are common tools to support decisions regarding waste management. The objective of this review article is to provide guidance for the selection of appropriate evaluation methods. For this purpose, frequently used assessment methods are reviewed, categorised, and summarised. In total, 151 studies have been considered in view of their goals, methodologies, systems investigated, and results regarding economic, environmental, and social issues. A goal shared by all studies is the support of stakeholders. Most studies are based on life cycle assessments, multi-criteria-decision-making, cost-benefit analysis, risk assessments, and benchmarking. Approximately 40% of the reviewed articles are life cycle assessment-based; and more than 50% apply scenario analysis to identify the best waste management options. Most studies focus on municipal solid waste and consider specific environmental loadings. Economic aspects are considered by approximately 50% of the studies, and only a small number evaluate social aspects. The choice of system elements and boundaries varies significantly among the studies; thus, assessment results are sometimes contradictory. Based on the results of this review, we recommend the following considerations when assessing waste management systems: (i) a mass balance approach based on a rigid input–output analysis of the entire system, (ii) a goal-oriented evaluation of the results of the mass balance, which takes into account the intended waste management objectives; and (iii) a transparent and reproducible presentation of the methodology, data, and results.

Publisher Summary Stagnating economic growth and an increasing number of unemployed, form the framework that raises the question of “technical progress” and “innovation” to a central starting point for many activities in economic policies. The universities have become a focus of public interest. It is not the sole task of a university—and especially of a technical university—to guarantee the education of a sufficient number of highly qualified junior laborers and to be engaged in the research of new technical knowledge. It has become a central task of the universities, to a larger extent, to make accessible to industry the results of their research and development activities. Besides stimulating a vocational education for future enterprise that was primarily practice-oriented, the main task of the institute consisted of the reproduction and further development of machinery from France and England. The principles of this machinery were transmitted to the manufacturer with the help of exhibitions. Until about the middle of the century, the official policy was to educate technical intelligentsia and support technological mediation.

Publisher Summary Stagnating economic growth and an increasing number of unemployed, form the framework that raises the question of “technical progress” and “innovation” to a central starting point for many activities in economic policies. The universities have become a focus of public interest. It is not the sole task of a university—and especially of a technical university—to guarantee the education of a sufficient number of highly qualified junior laborers and to be engaged in the research of new technical knowledge. It has become a central task of the universities, to a larger extent, to make accessible to industry the results of their research and development activities. Besides stimulating a vocational education for future enterprise that was primarily practice-oriented, the main task of the institute consisted of the reproduction and further development of machinery from France and England. The principles of this machinery were transmitted to the manufacturer with the help of exhibitions. Until about the middle of the century, the official policy was to educate technical intelligentsia and support technological mediation.