Search

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to transform the way we live, work, and learn. Using IoT could thus be a game-changer for municipalities towards sustainability. The Swedish municipality of Södertälje strives to develop IoT concepts and use open data for a sustainable and inclusive society. The goal of this study was to explore how IoT can enable route optimization and placement planning for increased operational efficiency. The goal was also to enhance the knowledge of the environmental and social benefits of IoT systems in the waste collection system in Södertälje. The analysis is based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and interviews. The results show a minor climate change impact for the IoT solutions in the overall smart waste collection system. The major climate impact contributor was instead associated with the trash bags used. Additionally, the study showed that the performance of the system relies on smart planning of the operations and the transportations. Original conference held October 2021. Selected presentations were invited to submit full conference papers to be included in proceedings published in May 2022. Det inkluderande, hållbara och uppkopplade samhället

This study assessed the environmental impacts of recycling the plant nutrients in anaerobically digested food waste as fertilizer in agriculture. This was compared with the impacts of using chemical fertilizer, where the food waste was incinerated, producing heat. The study site was a biogas plant in central Sweden and life cycle assessment methodology was used. The impacts studied were primary energy use, global warming potential (GWP), potential acidification, potential eutrophication, cadmium flow to farmland and use of phosphate rock. Use of digested food waste as fertilizer proved to have larger negative results than use of chemical fertilizer in all categories assessed except use of non-renewable phosphate rock. Sensitivity analyses showed that the scenarios were comparable in terms of primary energy use and better for GWP if some improvements in the anaerobic digestion system were made. However, acidification and eutrophication caused by digestate handling and the cadmium content of digestate should still be considered.

This paper describes the trend of utilizing oil palm residue, i.e. the empty fruit bunches (EFB) left after extraction of the palm oil, using a case study of Malaysia, which is one of the world's major palm oil producers, and discusses the environmental performance of recycling technologies being developed in Malaysia for fuel, fiber, and fertilizer. Seven technologies are analyzed: ethanol production, methane recovery, briquette production, biofuel for combined heat and power (CHP) plants, composting, medium density fiberboard (MDF) production, and pulp and paper production. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used to discuss the environmental impacts of these technologies for adding value to this biomass. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to determine the land use effects for the various technologies utilizing EFB and to estimate the energy generation potential of raw EFB in CHP plants and methane production. Among the technologies for energy production, CHP plants have the best performance if the electricity generated is connected to the national grid, with superior benefits in the majority of impact categories compared to briquette, methane, and ethanol production. Overall, we find that methane recovery and composting are more environmentally friendly than other technologies, as measured by reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Pulp and paper, and MDF production are favorable technologies for land use impacts; however, they have intense primary energy requirements, chemical use in the processes, and emissions from their waste treatment systems. Our results provide information for decision makers when planning for sustainable use of oil palm biomass.

Biomass refers to renewable energy sources and comes from biological materials such as trees, plants, manure as well as municipal solid wastes. Effective utilization of biomass as an energy resource requires the use of an optimization model to take into account biomass availability, transportation distances, and the scales and locations of power facilities within a region. In this study, we develop a new analytical tool that integrates cost, energy savings, greenhouse gas considerations, scenario analysis, and a Geographic Information System (GIS) to provide a comprehensive analysis of alternative systems for optimizing biomass energy production. The goal is to find a system that optimizes the use of biomass waste by analyzing the cost, net avoided CO 2 emission, and net energy savings with the objective of profit maximization. In this paper, we describe an application of the modeling tool described above to one of the fastest growing agriculture industries in Asia, the palm oil industry, for the case of Malaysia. Five scenarios utilizing palm oil waste as energy resources are discussed. The scenario of installing of new Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants in the region yielded a number of benefits in terms of net energy savings, net avoided CO 2 emission, and profits. The results also demonstrate the benefits of utilizing excess heat for biomass pre-treatment. The choice of a suitable CHP plant scale, management strategies for biomass seasonal availability, and market price of biomass are also important factors for effective use of the biomass in a region.