scholarly journals Low-carbon design for product packaging: a case study on wineglass

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Xu ◽  
Jiao-Jing Pan
Keyword(s):  
Material Processing ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Product Packaging ◽  
Packaging Industry ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Packaging Structure

Abstract The study on carbon emissions in packaging industry is a very important but easily overlooked field. In order to explore carbon emissions of the packaging life cycle, the wineglass is used as the packaging object to discuss the difference between carbon emissions and costs caused by two new packaging structures and a common packaging structure on the market. The measurement boundary includes raw material collection, raw material processing, packaging manufacturing, transportation and end of life. It was found that reasonable packaging structure instead the buffer function of expanded polyethylene can effectively reduce the carbon emissions and costs.

scholarly journals Carbon Emission Estimation of Assembled Composite Concrete Beams during Construction

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1810
Author(s):  
Kaitong Xu ◽  
Haibo Kang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Ping Jiang ◽  
Na Li
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Composite Beams ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Construction Process ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Carbon Emission Reduction ◽  
The Government

At present, the issue of carbon emissions from buildings has become a hot topic, and carbon emission reduction is also becoming a political and economic contest for countries. As a result, the government and researchers have gradually begun to attach great importance to the industrialization of low-carbon and energy-saving buildings. The rise of prefabricated buildings has promoted a major transformation of the construction methods in the construction industry, which is conducive to reducing the consumption of resources and energy, and of great significance in promoting the low-carbon emission reduction of industrial buildings. This article mainly studies the calculation model for carbon emissions of the three-stage life cycle of component production, logistics transportation, and on-site installation in the whole construction process of composite beams for prefabricated buildings. The construction of CG-2 composite beams in Fujian province, China, was taken as the example. Based on the life cycle assessment method, carbon emissions from the actual construction process of composite beams were evaluated, and that generated by the composite beam components during the transportation stage by using diesel, gasoline, and electric energy consumption methods were compared in detail. The results show that (1) the carbon emissions generated by composite beams during the production stage were relatively high, accounting for 80.8% of the total carbon emissions, while during the transport stage and installation stage, they only accounted for 7.6% and 11.6%, respectively; and (2) during the transportation stage with three different energy-consuming trucks, the carbon emissions from diesel fuel trucks were higher, reaching 186.05 kg, followed by gasoline trucks, which generated about 115.68 kg; electric trucks produced the lowest, only 12.24 kg.

The ecological footprint evaluation of low carbon campuses based on life cycle assessment: A case study of Tianjin, China

2017 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 266-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongbo Liu ◽  
Xinghua Wang ◽  
Jiangye Yang ◽  
Xia Zhou ◽  
Yunfeng Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Ecological Footprint ◽  
Low Carbon

scholarly journals Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment of an Innovative Bio-Based Material in Construction: A Case Study of a Phase Change Material Panel

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Heidari ◽  
Damien Mathis ◽  
Pierre Blanchet ◽  
Ben Amor
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Phase Change ◽  
Phase Change Material ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Data Intensive ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Change Material

Research Highlights: This is the first study that analyzes the environmental performance of wood-based phase change material (PCM) panels. Background and Objectives: Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful environmental management tool. However, a full LCA, especially during the early design phase of a product, is far too time and data intensive for industrial companies to conduct during their production and consumption processes. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for simpler methods to demonstrate a company’s resource efficiency potential without being data or time intensive. The goal of this study is to investigate the suitability of streamlined LCA (SLCA) tools and methods used in the building material industry, and to assess their robustness in the case study of a wood-based PCM panel. Materials and Methods: The Bilan Produit tool was selected as the SLCA tool and a matrix LCA was selected as the most commonly used SLCA method. A specific case study of a wood-based PCM panel was selected with a focus on its application in building construction in the province of Québec. Results: As a semi-quantitative LCA method, the matrix LCA provided a quick screening of the product life cycle and its hotspot stages, i.e., life cycle stages with high impact. However, the results of the full LCA and SLCA tools were quantitative and based on scientific databases. The use of the PCM panel and heating energy had the highest environmental impacts as compared to other inputs. The results of the full LCA and SLCA also identified energy consumption as a hotspot. Insufficient material or processes in the SLCA databases was one of the reasons for the difference between the results of the SLCA and full LCA. Conclusions: The examined SLCA methods provided proper explanations for the bio-based material in construction, but several limitations still exist, and the methods should be improved to make them more robust when implemented in such a specific sector.

scholarly journals Sustainable Reuse of Military Facilities with a Carbon Inventory: Kinmen, Taiwan

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1810
Author(s):  
Hua-Yueh Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Cell System ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Military Facilities ◽  
Construction Operation

Military government was lifted from Kinmen in 1992. The opening-up of cross-strait relations transformed the island into a tourist destination. This transformation led to electricity and water shortages in Kinmen. With the reduction in the number of troops, military facilities fell into disuse and are now being released for local government use. The aim of this project was to monitor the carbon footprint of a reused military facility during renovation of the facility. The LCBA-Neuma system, a local carbon survey software developed by the Low Carbon Building Alliance (LCBA) and National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, was used in this project. The system analyzes the carbon footprint of the various phases of the building life cycle (LC) during renovation and carbon compensation strategies were employed to achieve the low carbon target. This project has pioneered the transformation of a disused military facility using this approach. The carbon footprint of energy uses during post-construction operation (CFeu) accounted for the majority of carbon emissions among all stages, at 1,088,632.19 kgCO2e/60y, while the carbon footprint of the new building materials (CFm) was the second highest, at 214,983.66 kgCO2e/60y. Installation of a solar cell system of 25.2 kWp on the rooftop as a carbon offset measure compensated for an estimated 66.1% of the total life-cycle carbon emissions. The findings of this study show that the process of reusing old military facilities can achieve the ultimate goal of zero carbon construction and sustainable development.

Assessing the Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Cost of Thermoelectric Generators for Passenger Automobiles: A Life Cycle Perspective

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Kishita ◽  
Michinori Uwasu ◽  
Hiroyuki Takeda ◽  
Keishiro Hara ◽  
Yuji Ohishi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Thermoelectric Materials ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Life Cycle Perspective

Toward realizing a low-carbon society, a thermoelectric generator (TEG) is promising for energy harvesting by generating electricity from thermal energy, especially waste heat. While there are various technologies available for energy recovery, one of the strengths of TEGs is to retrieve usable energy from waste heat whose temperature is as low as 200∼300 degrees Celsius. Yet, the conversion efficiency of the current thermoelectric materials remains low at 5∼10%, which makes it difficult to diffuse TEGs in our society. In order to clarify required performances of TEGs to diffuse them in the future, this paper aims to assess the life cycle CO2 emissions (LCCO2) and life cycle cost (LCC) of TEGs based on several product lifecycle scenarios, each of which assumes different future situations in, e.g., conversion efficiency of TEGs. In this paper, we focus on TEGs for passenger automobiles since a range of the temperatures of their exhaust gas is suitable for TEGs. Additionally, we focus on bismuth telluride (Bi-Te) materials to develop TEGs since they have already been available for commercial use. A case study of installing Bi-Te TEGs in passenger automobiles is carried out. The region of interest is Suita City, Osaka, Japan. By describing two scenarios that assume different conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials, we compare assessment results from the viewpoints of LCCO2 and LCC. The results reveal that using TEGs has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions of the city by 0.07∼0.30%. It is also shown that the TEG cost needs to be drastically reduced to make the usage of TEGs profitable.

scholarly journals Comparing Three Building Life Cycle Assessment Tools for the Canadian Construction Industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayley Cormick
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Life Cycle Assessments ◽  
Bill Of Materials ◽  
Building Life Cycle

This research aims to contribute to quantifying whole building life cycle assessment using various software tools to determine how they can aid the construction industry in reducing carbon emissions, and in particular embodied emissions, through analysis and reporting. The conducted research seeks to examine and compare three whole building life cycle assessment tools; Athena Impact Estimator, Tally and One-Click LCA to relate the input variability to the outputs of the three programs. The three whole building life-cycle assessments were conducted using a case study building with an identical bill of materials and compared to determine the applicability and strengths of one program over another. The research confirmed that the three programs output significantly different results given the variability in scope, allowable program inputs and generated “black-box” back-end calculations, where the outputted whole building life cycle carbon equivalents of One-Click LCA is less than half than of Tally meaning the programs outputs cannot be simply compared side-by-side.

scholarly journals Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions and Energy Implications of High Penetration of Photovoltaics and Electric Vehicles in California

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 5165
Author(s):  
Marco Raugei ◽  
Alessio Peluso ◽  
Enrica Leccisi ◽  
Vasilis Fthenakis
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Lithium Ion ◽  
Net Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
High Penetration ◽  
Original Grid ◽  
Carbon Performance ◽  
High Level

California has set two ambitious targets aimed at achieving a high level of decarbonization in the coming decades, namely (i) to generate 60% and 100% of its electricity using renewable energy (RE) technologies, respectively, by 2030 and by 2045, and (ii) introducing at least 5 million zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030, as a first step towards all new vehicles being ZEVs by 2035. In addition, in California, photovoltaics (PVs) coupled with lithium-ion battery (LIB) storage and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are, respectively, the most promising candidates for new RE installations and new ZEVs, respectively. However, concerns have been voiced about how meeting both targets at the same time could potentially negatively affect the electricity grid’s stability, and hence also its overall energy and carbon performance. This paper addresses those concerns by presenting a thorough life-cycle carbon emission and energy analysis based on an original grid balancing model that uses a combination of historical hourly dispatch and demand data and future projections of hourly demand for BEV charging. Five different scenarios are assessed, and the results unequivocally indicate that a future 80% RE grid mix in California is not only able to cope with the increased demand caused by BEVs, but it can do so with low carbon emissions (<110 g CO2-eq/kWh) and satisfactory net energy returns (EROIPE-eq = 12–16).

scholarly journals A Comparative Study on the Life Cycle Assessment of New Zealand Residential Buildings

Buildings ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Aflah Alamsah Dani ◽  
Krishanu Roy ◽  
Rehan Masood ◽  
Zhiyuan Fang ◽  
James B. P. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Cradle To Cradle ◽  
The Difference

In New Zealand, housing is typically low density, with light timber framing being the dominant form of construction with more than 90% of the market. From 2020, as a result of the global pandemic, there was a shortage of timber in New Zealand, resulting in increased popularity for light steel framing, the main alternative to timber for housing. At the same time, the New Zealand government is committed to sustainability practises through legislation and frameworks, such as the reduction of whole-of-life carbon emissions for the building industry. New Zealand recently announced reducing its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50% within 2030. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects associated with a product over its life cycle. Despite the popularity of LCA in the construction industry of New Zealand, prior research results seem varied. There is no unified NZ context database to perform an LCA for buildings. Therefore, in this paper, a comprehensive study using LCA was conducted to quantify and compare the quantity of carbon emissions from two commonly designed houses in the Auckland region, one built from light timber and the other from light steel, both designed for a lifespan of 90 years. The cradle-to-cradle system boundary was used for the LCA. From the results of this study, it was found that the light steel house had 12.3% more carbon in total (including embodied and operational carbons) when compared to the light timber house, of which the manufacturing of two houses had a difference of 50.4% in terms of carbon emissions. However, when the end-of-life (EOL) analysis was included, it was found that the extra carbon could be offset due to the steel’s recyclability, reducing the amount of embodied carbon in the manufacturing process. Therefore, there was no significant difference in carbon emissions between the light steel and the light timber building, with the difference being only 12.3%.

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