Long-term Piloting Of Osmotic MBR For Potable Reuse: Performance, Life-Cycle Assessment, and Lessons Learned

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (14) ◽  
pp. 830-854
Author(s):  
Tzahi Y Cath ◽  
Ryan W Holloway ◽  
Leslie Miller-Robbie ◽  
Mehul Patel ◽  
Jennifer R Stokes ◽  
...  
Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3549
Author(s):  
Tulane Rodrigues da Silva ◽  
Afonso Rangel Garcez de Azevedo ◽  
Daiane Cecchin ◽  
Markssuel Teixeira Marvila ◽  
Mugahed Amran ◽  
...  

The urbanization process contributes to the growth of solid waste generation and causes an increase in environmental impacts and failures in the management of solid waste. The number of dumps is a concern due to the limited implementation and safe disposal of this waste. The interest in sustainable techniques has been growing in relation to waste management, which is largely absorbed by the civil construction sector. This work aimed to review plastic waste, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET), that can be incorporated with construction materials, such as concrete, mortars, asphalt mixtures, and paving. The use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) is related, as a tool that allows the sustainability of products and processes to be enhanced in the long term. After analyzing the recent literature, it was identified that studies related to plastic wastes in construction materials concentrate sustainability around the alternative destination of waste. Since the plastic waste from different production chains are obtained, it was possible to affirm the need for a broader assessment, such as the LCA, providing greater quantification of data making the alternative processes and products more sustainable. The study contributes to enhance sustainability in alternative building materials through LCA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10037
Author(s):  
Malte Scharf ◽  
Ludger Heide ◽  
Alexander Grahle ◽  
Anne Magdalene Syré ◽  
Dietmar Göhlich

In 2020, vehicle sales decreased dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, several voices have demanded a vehicle subsidy similar to the “environmental subsidy” in Germany in 2009. The ecological efficiency of vehicle subsidies is controversially discussed. This paper establishes a prognosis of the long-term environmental impacts of various car subsidy concepts. The CO2 emissions of the German car fleet impacted by the purchase subsidies are determined. A balance model of the CO2 emissions of the whole car life cycle is developed. The implementation of different subsidy scenarios directly affects the forecasted composition of the vehicle population and, therefore, the resulting life-cycle assessment. All scenarios compensate the additional emissions required by the production pull-in within the considered period and, hence, reduce the accumulated CO2 emissions until 2030. In the time period 2019–2030 and for a total number of 0.72 million subsidized vehicles—compensating the decrease due to the COVID-19 pandemic—savings of between 1.31 and 7.56 million t CO2 eq. are generated compared to the scenario without a subsidy. The exclusive funding of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is most effective, with an ecological break-even in 2025.


Author(s):  
R. Todd Stephens

This chapter examines the elements of the new Web 2.0 technology base and reviews the lessons learned when implementing these technologies. Collaborative applications have made enormous inroads into the enterprise and bring unprecedented speed and transparency to communications. Researchers and practitioners alike are focusing on how collaborative applications can replace the one-way communications inherent to Intranet sites. This chapter is intended for individuals who are looking toward the possibility of integrating these new technologies into the core communication medium. Unfortunately, there are still large barriers such as politics, turf battles, integration, and poor usability with the current product set. A company’s ability to manage information effectively over its life cycle, including sensing, collecting, organizing, processing, and maintaining information, is crucial to the long term success in a global economy. The success or failure of this integration may very well create or lose a competitive advantage for the enterprise. What is missing is a framework or roadmap in which organizations can plan out their execution of We 2.0 deployment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7975
Author(s):  
Edoardo Baldoni ◽  
Silvia Coderoni ◽  
Elisa Di Giuseppe ◽  
Marco D’Orazio ◽  
Roberto Esposti ◽  
...  

This article presents a novel software tool for the assessments of life-cycle environmental impacts and costs, which is aimed to support decision-making in the design phase of retrofit interventions in the building sector. By combining Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) calculations and functionalities, this tool allows evaluating the long-term trade-offs between economic and environmental performance of investment projects in energy efficiency for buildings, while accounting for uncertainties in input parameters and economic scenarios. A major novelty of the software tool is the stochastic nature of both the LCC and LCA dimensions. The LCA is implemented with Monte-Carlo methods, while the LCC accounts for the probabilistic interdependence of macroeconomic variables over time. The software also includes advanced specific tools for parametrization and sensitivity analysis. Exemplary applications are presented in order to illustrate the novelty and the functionalities of the software tool.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-194

In recent years, a considerable research effort has been devoted to Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA). However, most of the work has been focusing on improving the methodology as such and providing guidelines for carrying out LCA studies. Much less effort has been dedicated to the exploration and analysis of the applications of LCA within the actual context of business. Which are the drivers for starting LCA activities in a company? Which are the main applications? Which business departments are involved? This is the kind of questions addressed by the present paper. The paper reports the results of a survey about the use of LCA in business in four selected European Countries, namely Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. 1600 questionnaires have been sent out to selected companies in the four countries. As expected, there are considerable differences between countries because of a different level of environmental awareness. However, there are some main common results. The first one is that the cultural approach of Life-Cycle-Thinking is spreading out, but not yet the tool. LCA is not yet used as a routine tool for assessing environmental aspects of product innovation and it is still rather employed in a retrospective way than in a prospective one. Benefits of LCA are considered to be rather long-term ones. On the other hand, the large majority of firms is optimistic about the future use of LCA, most likely linked together with other instruments.


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