scholarly journals The Different Analysis of Carbon Footprint according to Life Cycle Assessment of Furniture Type: A case study of the Table

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
Karuna Kwangsawat ◽  
Yanin Rugwongwan
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Furniture Manufacturing ◽  
Raw Material Selection

This article attempts to present the process of preparing an analysis on differential Carbon Footprint of each furniture types according to their product life cycle. The case study on one type of furniture namely "Tables" is to assessment the environmental effect of the production process and the method of raw material selection in furniture manufacturing and by using carbon footprint is an indicator of its effect. By using different types of furniture and product grouping furniture to indicate and calculate the quantity of carbon footprint. During the study customer's perception in response to environmentally friendly products, the result is expected to be the quantity of carbon footprint could be classified into three levels, i.e. furniture with the high, the medium and the low level of carbon footprints.Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Life Cycle Assessment, Furniture Design, Environmental.ISSN: 2398-4287© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

scholarly journals Life-Cycle Assessment of Carbon Footprint of Bike-Share and Bus Systems in Campus Transit

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Sishen Wang ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Pengyu Xie ◽  
Xiaodan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Co2 Emission ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Transit System ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Bus System ◽  
Bike Share

Low-carbon transport system is desired for sustainable cities. The study aims to compare carbon footprint of two transportation modes in campus transit, bus and bike-share systems, using life-cycle assessment (LCA). A case study was conducted for the four-campus (College Ave, Cook/Douglass, Busch, Livingston) transit system at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ). The life-cycle of two systems were disaggregated into four stages, namely, raw material acquisition and manufacture, transportation, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life. Three uncertain factors—fossil fuel type, number of bikes provided, and bus ridership—were set as variables for sensitivity analysis. Normalization method was used in two impact categories to analyze and compare environmental impacts. The results show that the majority of CO2 emission and energy consumption comes from the raw material stage (extraction and upstream production) of the bike-share system and the operation stage of the campus bus system. The CO2 emission and energy consumption of the current campus bus system are 46 and 13 times of that of the proposed bike-share system, respectively. Three uncertain factors can influence the results: (1) biodiesel can significantly reduce CO2 emission and energy consumption of the current campus bus system; (2) the increased number of bikes increases CO2 emission of the bike-share system; (3) the increase of bus ridership may result in similar impact between two systems. Finally, an alternative hybrid transit system is proposed that uses campus buses to connect four campuses and creates a bike-share system to satisfy travel demands within each campus. The hybrid system reaches the most environmentally friendly state when 70% passenger-miles provided by campus bus and 30% by bike-share system. Further research is needed to consider the uncertainty of biking behavior and travel choice in LCA. Applicable recommendations include increasing ridership of campus buses and building a bike-share in campus to support the current campus bus system. Other strategies such as increasing parking fees and improving biking environment can also be implemented to reduce automobile usage and encourage biking behavior.

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.

Tools for Sustainable Product Design: Review and Expectation

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingjin Peng ◽  
Arash Hosseinpour ◽  
Peihua Gu ◽  
Zhun Fan
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
Sustainable Product Design ◽  
Structural Formation ◽  
Sustainable Product

Sustainable product design plans the entire life cycle of a product from its raw material selection, conceptual and structural formation, manufacturing processing, and usage to its end-of-life, reuse, and recycle. The product design needs the sustainable knowledge and proper tools. Current computer-aided design systems are insufficient to represent complex relationships of product functions, structures and life cycle options. It is required for design tools to support product life cycle planning with multi-objective optimal solutions. In this paper, our experience in design of a wheelchair is used as an example to discuss the need of design tools. The aim is to define ideal tools for design of sustainable products.

scholarly journals Standardized Recipes and Their Influence on the Environmental Impact Assessment of Mixed Dishes: A Case Study on Pizza

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9466
Author(s):  
Katerina S. Stylianou ◽  
Emily McDonald ◽  
Victor L. Fulgoni III ◽  
Olivier Jolliet
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Decomposition Methods ◽  
Carbon Footprints ◽  
Improvement Potential ◽  
The U.S

Food and diet life cycle assessment (LCA) studies offer insights on the environmental performance and improvement potential of food systems and dietary patterns. However, the influence of ingredient resolution in food-LCAs is often overlooked. To address this, four distinct decomposition methods were used to determine ingredients for mixed dishes and characterize their environmental impacts, using the carbon footprint of the U.S. daily pizza intake as a case study. Pizza-specific and daily pizza intake carbon footprints varied substantially between decomposition methods. The carbon footprint for vegetarian pizza was 0.18–0.45 kg CO2eq/serving, for meat pizza was 0.56–0.73 kg CO2eq/serving, and for currently consumed pizzas in the U.S. (26.3 g/person/day; 75 pizzas types) was 0.072–0.098 kg CO2eq/person/day. These ranges could be explained by differences in pizza coverage, ingredient resolution, availability of ingredient environmental information, and ingredient adjustability for losses between decomposition methods. From the approaches considered, the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, which reports standardized food recipes in relative weights, appears to offer the most appropriate and useful food decompositions for food-LCAs. The influence and limitations of sources of reference flows should be better evaluated and acknowledged in food and diet LCAs.

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