Improving cost efficiency and environmental impact through the integration of light freight and passenger railway transport and last-mile distribution analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Emilio Larrodé ◽  
Victoria Muerza
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Distribution Analysis ◽  
Railway Transport ◽  
Last Mile

scholarly journals The Ecological Footprint of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7425
Author(s):  
Peter Kurzweil ◽  
Alfred Müller ◽  
Steffen Wahler
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Ecological Footprint ◽  
Vaccine Dose ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Cooling Technology ◽  
Chain Organization ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Compared to the medical, economic and social implications of COVID-19 vaccinations, little attention has been paid to the ecological balance to date. This study is an attempt to estimate the environmental impact of two mRNA vaccines in terms of CO2 equivalents with respect to their different freezing strategies and supply chain organization. Although it is impossible to accurately calculate the actual environmental impact of the new biochemical synthesis technology, it becomes apparent that transport accounts for up to 99% of the total carbon footprint. The emissions for air freight, road transportation and last-mile delivery are nearly as 19 times the emissions generated from ultra-deep freeze technologies, the production of dry ice, glass and medical polymers for packaging. The carbon footprint of a single mRNA vaccine dose injected into a patient is about 0.01 to 0.2 kg CO2 equivalents, depending on the cooling technology and the logistic routes to the vaccination sites in Germany.

DEGRADATION OF CRUDE OIL ENHANCED BY COMMERCIAL MICROBIAL CULTURES

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 995-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Aldrett ◽  
James S. Bonner ◽  
Thomas J. McDonald ◽  
Marc A. Mills ◽  
Robin L. Autenrieth
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Laboratory Study ◽  
Biological Markers ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
North Slope ◽  
Standard Methods ◽  
Microbial Cultures ◽  
Biological Methods

ABSTRACT Remediation and cleanup of oil spills has been attempted using different technologies. Biological methods such as bioremediation have been favored over others due to their cost efficiency and their low environmental impact. Bioremediation of Alaska North Slope crude oil was effectively attempted in a laboratory study using 13 commercial products. The products containing the microorganisms were provided by different vendors. The treatments were tested over a 28-day period, and the samples were extracted and analyzed using standard methods. After 28 days, four products showed an effective enhancement of the bioremediation process: the saturate fraction was degraded approximately 80%, and the aromatic fraction was degraded approximately 70%. Biological markers such as pristane, phytane, and C30 hopane were partially degraded.

scholarly journals The impact of the consumer’s decision on the life cycle assessment of organic pasta

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Elisabeth Gnielka ◽  
Christof Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Freshwater Ecotoxicity ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Freshwater Eutrophication

AbstractEvery consumer’s decision has an impact on the environment, and even basic food products such as pasta have an impact due to their high consumption rates. Factors that can be influenced by the consumer include the preparation (cooking), last mile and packaging phases. The last mile has not been considered in most studies but contributes considerably to the environmental impact of pasta. The three phases and their environmental impact on the life cycle of pasta are analyzed in this cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment. The focus of the study lies on the impact categories climate change, agricultural land occupation, fossil depletion, water depletion, freshwater eutrophication and freshwater ecotoxicity. Inventory data were taken from other studies, were collected in cooperation with a zero-packaging organic grocery store in Germany or were gained in test series. Our results show that the preparation of pasta has the greatest environmental impact (over 40% in the impact categories climate change and fossil depletion and over 50% in the impact category freshwater eutrophication), followed by the last mile (over 20% in the impact categories climate change and fossil depletion) and lastly the packaging (nearly 9% in the impact categories freshwater eutrophication and freshwater ecotoxicity). Based on our study´s results, we provide some recommendations for minimizing the environmental impacts of pasta.

scholarly journals Improvement of the Last Mile-Specific Issues in Railway Freight Transport

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10154
Author(s):  
Adrián Šperka ◽  
Martin Vojtek ◽  
Jaromír Široký ◽  
Juraj Čamaj
Keyword(s):  
Customer Orientation ◽  
Freight Transport ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Railway Transport ◽  
Ecological Process ◽  
Place Of Delivery ◽  
Rail Network ◽  
Railway Freight ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Negative Impacts

The last mile is characterized as the last step of delivery to the customer from the logistics point of view. It is necessary to aim and fulfill all customers’ needs mainly during the process of the last mile, because it is directly connected to them. Customer orientation can cause many complications that must be solved according to their will. This part of the supply chain is currently under pressure. Nowadays, trends have changed the last mile into a more ecological process mostly in the transport field. Railway transport is considered as an ecological transport mode therefore the last mile should be done by the railway transport. Preconditions for doing the last mile by the railway transport is the existence of siding (special purpose tracks) at the place of delivery. Our research focuses on minimizing the negative impacts of the last mile to customers in the context of using sidings. This research is based on the real conditions of the Slovak rail network, and on consultation with some experts from freight transport companies.

A bottom-up approach to model the environmental impact of the last-mile in an urban food-system

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rianne Eleonore Stelwagen ◽  
Petronella Margaretha Slegers ◽  
Liesbeth de Schutter ◽  
Eveline S. van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Food System ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Urban Food System ◽  
Last Mile

scholarly journals Life cycle assessment: Assessing the environmental impact in the railway maintenance

2018 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 01004
Author(s):  
Miro Hegedić ◽  
Nedeljko Štefanić ◽  
Mladen Nikšić
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Functional Unit ◽  
Transport Network ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Railway Transport ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
Railway Maintenance

The railway sector plays an important role in the European transport sector and its environmental sustainability is a highly important issue today recognized by all the main stakeholders, including the European Commission. EU-28 railway transport network consisted of 220,000 km of railway lines in 2013. Such a big railway transport network requires maintenance. Maintenance of a railway infrastructure is a resource- and cost-demanding activity that has as well a considerable impact on the environment. This paper presents the results of the environmental assessment of an innovative new product which aims to decrease the environmental impact of the railway maintenance processes. Life cycle assessment methodology was used and results show that the biggest environmental impact, in all impact categories, is achieved in the use and maintenance phase. In the end, the normalized data of the environmental impact were presented using the standard functional unit for the freight trains: tonne for kilometre (tkm). Additionally, authors have compared two different functional units that could be used in Life cycle assessment of the self-propelled freight railway vehicles, proposing the use of the new functional unit: tonne for working hour (twh). Use of such customized functional unit is more appropriate because of the specific nature of work that selfpropelled bulk carriages have.

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