scholarly journals Methodology and calculation model for recycling of composite construction products

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 07016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Vladimirov ◽  
Ioan Bica
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Calculation Model ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Applied Model ◽  
Construction Products ◽  
Normative Requirements ◽  
Technical Specifications ◽  
Comparative Results

The circular economy development has increased awareness on how construction products are treated at the end-of-life stage (EoL). With a growing recognition of the finite nature of primary resources, manufacturing processes are being shifted from the traditional take-make-dispose approach to a greater holistic practice, where valuable and/or scarce substances are recovered at the end of a product’s life. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is gaining wider attractiveness, as assessment of environmental impacts constitutes an effective quantitative decision tool to identifying sustainable solutions. At the same time, existing guidelines, technical specifications and methods for LCA assessment at EoL are rather heterogeneous regarding modelling and calculation of related secondary material and energy streams. For construction products, category rules for Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) according to EN 15804 (issued through the European Committee for Standardization) and the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) (developed by the European Commission) currently represent the most advanced methodological references. The study presents the methodological approach per EN 15804, describing the benefits and loads beyond the typical disposal stage. Thus, the environmental impacts of a construction element can be credited in accord to its material and energetic recycling potential. An applied model is realized for water pipes made of composite material. The calculation is exemplified and comparative results of allocation scenarios per EN 15804 and PEF are discussed, demonstrating correlations between the normative requirements and their application. The results support further identification, assessment and ranking of recycling alternatives (i.e. mechanical, thermal, chemical).

scholarly journals Green Assets of Equines in the European Context of the Ecological Transition of Agriculture

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Rzekęć ◽  
Céline Vial ◽  
Geneviève Bigot
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
European Policies ◽  
Effective Inclusion ◽  
Horse Industry ◽  
Ecological Transition ◽  
Sustainable Transition

Despite the decline of equine populations in the middle of the 20th century, the European horse industry is growing again thanks to economic alternatives found in the diversification of the uses of equines (sports, racing, leisure, etc.). Equines have many environmental advantages, but the fragmentation of the sector and the lack of synthetic knowledge about their environmental impacts do not enable the promotion of these assets and their effective inclusion in management practices and European policies. To highlight the equine environmental impacts, a literature review was carried out to cover the main European stakes. This work led to the identification of five “green assets”, fields where equines show unique environmental advantages compared to other agricultural productions. These green assets are linked to the nature of equines (grazing and domestic biodiversity), to their geographical distribution (land use), and to their use by human beings (tourism and work). Today, when searching for sustainable solutions to modern environmental issues, the use of equines is a neglected green alternative. Better knowledge and use of equine green assets could partly respond to more ecological agricultural needs and contribute to the development of this animal industry, which has a place in regional development and in Europe’s sustainable transition.

scholarly journals Carbon Footprint Assessment of Construction Waste Packaging Using the Package-to-Product Indicator

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10094
Author(s):  
Jan Pešta ◽  
Markéta Šerešová ◽  
Vladimír Kočí
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Environmental Footprint ◽  
Product Environmental Footprint ◽  
Material Recovery ◽  
Construction Products ◽  
Tile System ◽  
The Impact

The environmental impacts of buildings are based on the construction products, which together with their packaging can be assessed as one product system. To reduce the environmental impacts of buildings, the products and their packaging need to be optimised and analysed using environmental assessment. The purpose of this study is to assess the packaging related to the product according to the Life Cycle Assessment method. The environmental assessment was performed using the Product Environmental Footprint methodology, version 3.0. To compare the primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging, the results of the climate change indicator were used as a base to calculate the Package-to-Product (PtP) indicator. Among the considered scenarios to handle the waste packaging (landfilling scenario, material recovery scenario, energy recovery scenario, and the mixed scenario), the material recovery scenario is the most preferable and, for most of the packaging materials, the scenario with the lowest impact. Following the PtP result, the secondary packaging in the roof tile system has a significant share of the impact of the whole system (16% for the energy recovery scenario). Moreover, the results confirm the PtP indicator as the appropriate indicator to analyse the environmental impacts of construction products.

scholarly journals USGv6 Profile

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug Montgomery ◽  
Mark Carson ◽  
Timothy Winters ◽  
Michayla Newcombe ◽  
Timothy Carlin
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Test Program ◽  
Normative Requirements ◽  
Technical Specifications ◽  
Network Functions

This profile establishes a basic taxonomy of IPv6 capabilities, defined in terms of IETF specifications, resulting in specific capability labels for common network functions and usage scenarios. The profile maps each such labeled capability to one or more specific technical specifications, or parts of specifications. Each labeled capability adopts by reference the normative requirements of the cited specifications. In rare cases the profile may augment or modify the normative requirements of a base specification. The defined capability labels effectively form a vocabulary for expressing IPv6 requirements for, and documenting the IPv6 capabilities of, specific products. It is expected that this profile, when combined with the USGv6 Test Program, can facilitate the efficient adoption of IPv6 technologies in Federal information systems.

scholarly journals Tourism Environmental Impacts Assessment to Guide Public Authorities towards Sustainable Choices for the Post-COVID Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Selena Candia ◽  
Francesca Pirlone
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
National Park ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Typical Case ◽  
Lca Methodology ◽  
Tourism Impact ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Sustainable Solutions

The collapse of tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many destinations to rethink their economic model, by focusing on sustainability and innovation. Advances in tourism impact assessment can not only improve tourism products and services, but also guide the sector towards responsible choices for the post-COVID era. The paper proposes a new way to assess tourism products using the Life Cycle Assessment—LCA methodology. Thanks to this method the authors quantify the environmental impacts of tourism choices and propose alternative green solutions. Innovation is therefore aimed at promoting a new awareness to support sustainable tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the impacts have been quantified, local governments can make decisions in their plans to promote the most sustainable solutions. The application of the methodology to a typical case study for the Mediterranean area—Cinque Terre National Park in the Liguria Region (Italy)—further helps administrations to transfer and replicate the authors’ proposal. The proposed methodology is applied taking into account several priority issues for host territories such as the activities carried out by tourists, tourism mobility, and accommodation.

scholarly journals Comparison of Environmental Impact of Three Different Slab Systems for Life Cycle Assessment of a Commercial Building in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7278
Author(s):  
Inkwan Paik ◽  
Seunguk Na
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Flat Plate ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
Comparative Results

The environmental impacts of the construction stage should be considered since a large amount of building materials are used to construct a building at this stage. Studies on the improvement of construction techniques or the application of newly developed construction methods for reducing the environmental impacts are relatively scant compared to other topics of studies. This study aimed to assess and compare the environmental impacts of the ordinary solid slab, the flat plate slab and the voided slab system during the construction phase. A process-based quantitative model was adopted to evaluate the environmental impacts and the comparative results were analysed to demonstrate the significant characteristics of the environmental impacts of the construction of slab in a building. The assessment results show that the environmental impacts from the ordinary solid slab are the highest and the voided slab system is the lowest among three slab systems. As the slab system of the studied building was replaced, it was shown that the environmental impact indicators showed the decreased tendency. Based on the results of environmental impact reduction from the ordinary solid slab, the flat plate slab and the voided slab system, the voided slab system would have the least environmental impact in all indicators.

Features and Factors Determining the Direction of Integrated Use of Secondary Building Resources

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-146
Author(s):  
Georgy Lunev
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Environmental Safety ◽  
Construction Waste ◽  
Construction Products ◽  
The Creation ◽  
New Facilities ◽  
Strategic Goal

The article discusses the features and factors that determine the direction of integrated use of secondary building resources (SBR) in modern conditions. The author formulates the basic methodological approach to the integrated management of SBR which consists in the fact that management of recycling should begin not at the stage of formation and collection but at all stages of construction products life cycle. It is concluded that in the design of new facilities it is necessary to consider in advance the issues of environmental safety in disassembly, technology and methods of production of construction and demolition works (CDmW), the effectiveness of further processing and use of SBR. To develop efficient SBR use the author proposes the creation of integrated regional recycling of construction waste. The strategic goal may be the establishment of an industry of secondary construction resources recycling.

scholarly journals An Integrated Assessment of the Sustainability of Green and Built-up Roofs

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Muga ◽  
Amlan Mukherjee ◽  
James Mihelcic
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Green Roof ◽  
Life Cycle Costing ◽  
Green Technology ◽  
Material Extraction

There is growing demand to develop methods that integrate environmental and economic assessment of more sustainable technologies incorporated into commercial and residential buildings. In this paper, we incorporate economic and energy use data obtained for a green roof operating in the Midwest U.S. at latitude 42.94N into an integrated approach to estimate and compare the economic and environmental impacts of an intensive (or extensive) green roof with a built-up roof. The life cycle stages included in the analysis were material acquisition life stage which including the transportation effects from material extraction through manufacturing to the finished products, and the use and maintenance life stage of the building. Environmental impact analysis indicates that green roof emits three times more environmental pollutants than built-up roofs in the material acquisition life stage. However, in the use and maintenance life stage, built-up roof emits three times more pollutants than a green roof. Overall, when emissions from both material acquisition life stage and use and maintenance life stage are combined, the built-up roof contributes almost 3 times more (or 46% more) environmental emissions than green roof over a 45-year building life span. Furthermore the overall energy use, specifically energy involved in the transportation from material extraction through to the finished product indicate that green roof uses 2.5 times less energy than a built-up roof. An Economic Input and Output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) was used to estimate the environmental impacts. The economic impact over an assumed 45-year building life was determined using life cycle costing, taking into account Net Present Value (NPV) calculations. Life cycle costing results indicate that green roof costs approximately 50% less to maintain over a 45 year-building life than a built-up roof. A Monte Carlo simulation is also performed to account for any variability in cost data. In addition, the paper presents a method to quantify the value incentive that a decision-maker has in adopting green technology. Results from the study indicate that when a green roof is compared to the Midwest regional NPV of a built-up roof, we find that the cost to maintain it ($35 per square foot) lies well below the average regional NPV of $59 per square foot of a built-up roof.

scholarly journals A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Meat Trays Made of Various Packaging Materials

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Maga ◽  
Markus Hiebel ◽  
Venkat Aryan
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Polyethylene Terephthalate ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol

In light of the debate on the circular economy, the EU strategy for plastics, and several national regulations, such as the German Packaging Act, polymeric foam materials as well as hybrid packaging (multilayered plastic) are now in focus. To understand the environmental impacts of various tray solutions for meat packaging, a comparative environmental assessment was conducted. As an environmental assessment method, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied following the ISO standards 14040/44. The nine packaging solutions investigated were: PS-based trays (extruded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene with five-layered structure containing ethylene vinyl alcohol), PET-based trays (recycled polyethylene terephthalate, with and without polyethylene layer, and amorphous polyethylene terephthalate), polypropylene (PP) and polylactic acid (PLA). The scope of the LCA study included the production of the tray and the end-of-life stage. The production of meat, the filling of the tray with meat and the tray sealing were not taken into account. The results show that the PS-based trays, especially the mono material solutions made of extruded polystyrene (XPS), show the lowest environmental impact across all 12 impact categories except for resource depletion. Multilayer products exhibit higher environmental impacts. The LCA also shows that the end-of-life stage has an important influence on the environmental performance of trays. However, the production of the trays dominates the overall results. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis illustrates that, even if higher recycling rates were realised in the future, XPS based solutions would still outperform the rest from an environmental perspective.

The Post-Material Values of Young People and Interactive Technologies in the Formation of a Culture of Scientific Dialogue in the Student Environment

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Inna Borisovna Romanenko ◽  
Yuriy Mikhailovich Romanenko ◽  
Alexey Alexandrovich Voskresenskiy
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Educational Policy ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Interactive Technologies ◽  
Modern Education ◽  
Scientific Dialogue ◽  
The Social ◽  
Normative Requirements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Material Values

The task of reforming and improving the social and humanitarian component of modern education is related to the understanding of time as an existential experience associated with the phenomenon of age. According to the theory of generations of N. Howe and W. Strauss, age is defined as a measure of awareness of one's own living life. It is a methodological approach of this study. The generations of Y and Z are the subject of special attention in the study being the group that actually forms the requests for the educational policy of the state. Considerable attention is paid to the formation of skills and culture of conducting scientific dialogue in the student environment (the development of certain norms of behavior, the adoption of the normative requirements for scientific dialogue, the assimilation of various formats for discussions, projective activities, etc.).

scholarly journals Environmental Impacts of Building Construction Using Cross-laminated Timber Panel Construction Method: A Case of the Research Building in Kyushu, Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsuyuki Nakano ◽  
Masahiko Karube ◽  
Nobuaki Hattori
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Photochemical Oxidation ◽  
Cross Laminated Timber ◽  
Biogenic Carbon

In Japan, there has been an increase in the number of buildings built using cross-laminated timber (CLT) in order to utilize the abundant forest resources in the country. However, no studies have evaluated the environmental impact of the construction of CLT buildings in Japan. This study evaluates the environmental impacts from the start of construction to the completion of a real CLT building in Kumamoto city, Kyushu region, southern Japan. We investigated the input of the materials and energy used in the construction of the building. The environmental impact categories evaluated include climate change, ozone layer depletion, eutrophication, acidification, and photochemical oxidation. We found that the concrete used for the foundations, and the cement-based soil stabilizer used for ground reinforcement accounted for 42% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The construction site was previously used as a seedbed field, necessitating ground reinforcement. Furthermore, the large foundations were designed in order to raise the low height of the wooden structure from the ground level. Developing and applying methods with lower environmental impacts for ground reinforcement and building foundations is recommended. In addition, we found that by using biomass-derived electricity in CLT manufacturing, the environmental impacts of CLT manufacturing could be reduced, thus reducing the environmental impacts of the entire building. The biogenic carbon fixed in the wooden parts during the building usage accounted for 32% of the total GHG emissions of the building construction. Since this biogenic carbon will be released to the atmosphere at the end-of-life stage of the building, a long-term usage of the CLT buildings and/or reuse of the CLT is recommended.

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