scholarly journals Sustainable People Home-Work Logistics: An Integrated Model of Circular Economy in the Chiampo Valley

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12009
Author(s):  
Maurizio Faccio ◽  
Serena Finco ◽  
Ilenia Zennaro
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Integrated Model ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Home Work

Logistics activities, e.g., transportations of goods and people, are responsible for at least one-third of energy consumption and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. About 70% of them are related to people’s mobility, with millions of cars moving every day. The people home-work logistics represents undoubtedly an important part of it since flows are concentrated on fixed time windows (beginning, lunch break, and end of the working day) creating huge traffic congestions and negative impacts on time, economics, and the environment. This study proposes an integrated model, summarized through a methodological framework, where three actors (companies, public administrations and local shops) work together aiming to economically incentivize the use of sustainable mobility systems. Three are the main elements of the proposed sustainable people home-work logistics model: (1) the economic self-sustainability of the incentives, funded in different ways by the actors, (2) the scalability, thanks to the possibility to add new territories to the project and (3) the territorial circular economy generated thanks to the incentive’s destinations and the public-private integration. Starting from survey questionnaires and territorial attributes, sustainable mobility ways are defined. Then, participant workers are monitored by activating a mobile app, called Ecoattivi, during their home-work journeys. In such a way, workers can directly analyze their sustainable mobility and reach the possibility to accumulate and spend money in local shops as a function of the saved CO2. On the other hand, companies and public administrations compete in a special ranking for sustainable mobility. The methodological framework has been applied to a real case study in the Chiampo Valley, in the northeast of Italy, where about 10 small towns and dozens of companies in 2020 started the “Bike to Work Valchiampo” project.

scholarly journals Optimization of Disassembly Strategies for Electric Vehicle Batteries

Batteries ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Sabri Baazouzi ◽  
Felix Paul Rist ◽  
Max Weeber ◽  
Kai Peter Birke
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicle ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Component Level ◽  
Battery System ◽  
Safety Risks ◽  
Disassembly Sequence ◽  
Resource Intensity ◽  
Automated Disassembly

Various studies show that electrification, integrated into a circular economy, is crucial to reach sustainable mobility solutions. In this context, the circular use of electric vehicle batteries (EVBs) is particularly relevant because of the resource intensity during manufacturing. After reaching the end-of-life phase, EVBs can be subjected to various circular economy strategies, all of which require the previous disassembly. Today, disassembly is carried out manually and represents a bottleneck process. At the same time, extremely high return volumes have been forecast for the next few years, and manual disassembly is associated with safety risks. That is why automated disassembly is identified as being a key enabler of highly efficient circularity. However, several challenges need to be addressed to ensure secure, economic, and ecological disassembly processes. One of these is ensuring that optimal disassembly strategies are determined, considering the uncertainties during disassembly. This paper introduces our design for an adaptive disassembly planner with an integrated disassembly strategy optimizer. Furthermore, we present our optimization method for obtaining optimal disassembly strategies as a combination of three decisions: (1) the optimal disassembly sequence, (2) the optimal disassembly depth, and (3) the optimal circular economy strategy at the component level. Finally, we apply the proposed method to derive optimal disassembly strategies for one selected battery system for two condition scenarios. The results show that the optimization of disassembly strategies must also be used as a tool in the design phase of battery systems to boost the disassembly automation and thus contribute to achieving profitable circular economy solutions for EVBs.

scholarly journals “Mobility as a Service” Platforms: A Critical Path towards Increasing the Sustainability of Transportation Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Oliveira Cruz ◽  
Joaquim Miranda Sarmento
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Critical Path ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Home Work ◽  
The Internet Of Things

Urban mobility is experiencing a profound change. Mobility patterns are becoming more complex, and typical home–work–home travel is no longer the rule, as journeys tend to connect multiple points in a rather inconstant pattern. This has changed the approach to transport planning. Existing transportation planning and operation approaches have been focussed on the ability to identify and forecast typical home–work/school–home travel and subsequently plan the transport system accordingly. The traditional approach has been: Forecast - > plan - > deliver. New mobility patterns and mobility solutions are characterised by greater flexibility, taking advantage of the “sharing concept” and simultaneously providing solutions that have lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These dynamics and an evolving environment raise several new challenges at different levels, fostering the development of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). This system transforms the physical transportation system into a commodity and takes advantage of the internet of things (IoT). However, the onset of MaaS solutions is anything but linear. Several business models have emerged, with different partners originating from different industries (e.g., technological, transport operators, infrastructure managers, etc.) developing their own solutions, often in competition with others. It is not unusual to find different MaaS solutions in the same city, which integrate different solutions. This paper intends to provide an analysis on the main challenges affecting mobility in general, and MaaS in particular, as well as the main business models used for delivering MaaS solutions. The paper uses a case study in Lisbon to illustrate some of the challenges.

scholarly journals An advanced planner for urban freight delivering

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (48) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio COMI ◽  
Berta BUTTARAZZI ◽  
Massimiliano SCHIRALDI ◽  
Rosy INNARELLA ◽  
Martina VARISCO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Road Network ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Delivery Time ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Urban Freight ◽  
The Road ◽  
On The Road

The paper aims at introducing an advanced delivery tour planner to support operators in urban delivery operations through a combined approach which chooses delivery bays and delivery time windows while optimizing the delivery routes. After a literature review on tools for the management and the control of the delivery system implemented for optimizing the usage of on-street delivery bays, a prototypical tour delivery planner is described. The tool allows transport and logistics operators to book the delivery bays and to have real-time suggestions on the delivery tour to follow, through the minimization of the total delivery time. Currently, at development phase, the tool has been tested in a target zone, considering the road network and time/city delivering constraints and real-time data about vehicles location, traffic and delivery bay availability. The tool identifies the possible tours based on the delivery preferences, ranks the possible solutions according to the total route time based on information on the road network (i.e. travel time forecasts), performs a further optimization to reduce the total travel times and presents the user the best alternative along with the indications of which delivery bay to use in each delivery stop. The developed prototype is composed by two main parts: a web application that manages communication between the database and the road network simulation, and, an Android mobile App that supports transport and logistic operators in managing their delivering, pre trip and en route, showing and updating routing based on real-time information.

scholarly journals All change for climate change

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony R Walker
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New York ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Ipcc Report ◽  
Single Use

Governments, corporations and individuals all need to take immediate action to help change the global economy toward a circular economy. A circular economy which uses fewer resources and based on renewable clean technologies to help limit global warming to 1.5 °C. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warned that limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels would require current greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions to be cut in half by 2030. Yet actions by governments, corporations and individuals are lagging behind. Many countries are failing their obligations made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Even the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency set a 50% reduction target of GHG emissions for global shipping by 2050, but this falls short of the IPCC target by 20 years. The United Nations climate summit in New York this week (September 2019) needs to send a strong wake up call to the entire world for us all to change. Change makers like Greta Thunberg has already done that. Individual actions to change consumer behaviour can play a major role to help reduce GHG emissions. Even reducing use of single-use plastics (a petroleum derivative) and incineration can help reduce GHG emissions. GHG emissions from plastics could reach 15% of the global carbon budget by 2050 if not curbed. In Europe, plastic production and incineration emits an estimated ~400 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Therefore, reducing single-use plastic use could curb GHG emissions.

scholarly journals Analysis of Circular Development and Investment Possibilities (Transport, Energy and Building) Related to International Sports Event Planning

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bálint Horváth ◽  
Csaba Fogarassy
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Sports Events ◽  
Electric Scooter ◽  
Traffic Systems ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Economic Perspectives ◽  
The Cost

Abstract This study investigates the possibilities of various development areas (transport, energy, building) to make the cost-efficient realisation of high-profile investments, and organising and holding international sports events possible. Using a case study, the paper introduces development routes based on the evaluation of environmental and economic perspectives. The current research introduces the investment characteristics based on the development of the Hungarian building, energy and transport sectors for the 2017-2030 period. The main criterion is the integration of ‘circular economy’. For sectors which operate with high material and energy consumption, the consideration of circular economy principles may prove to be important for sustainable development. Through planning highvolume sports and worldwide events, the usual development strategy for traffic systems focuses on public transport and rentable vehicles (f. e. electric scooter, or bicycle) which can decrease CO2 emissions via modern technological solutions. Regarding the buildings, sports arenas and related facilities, besides the existing low-carbon solutions, the functions of buildings must be expanded and their usage prolonged. The management of waste left after the life cycle is expended has to be pre-planned. These are the options for making the sector’s GHG emissions decrease apart from circular tenders, which can be further combined with SMART energetic solutions.

scholarly journals Circular Economy Model: Insights from a Case Study in South Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Palmieri ◽  
Alessandro Suardi ◽  
Vincenzo Alfano ◽  
Luigi Pari
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Economic Evaluations ◽  
South Italy ◽  
New Business

This study aims to analyze the economic and environmental sustainability of a case study of an energy power plant that produces electricity from pruning residues of olive groves from nine municipalities in southern Italy. To assess the economic sustainability of the agro-energetic chain, the profitability and efficiency ratios are calculated. Moreover, the GHG emissions of the agro-energetic pruning supply chain due to both the pruning collection at the field level, and their combustion for energy production at the power plant, are calculated. To put together the environmental and economic evaluations, the ecoefficiency ratio was calculated to measure the value added per 1Mg of GHG emitted into the atmosphere. The findings show the whole agro-energetic chain, namely the power plant and the collection company have both a good return on owner’s equity (ROE) ratio (15.89% and 31.48%, respectively) and ROI ratio (4.34% and 6.14% respectively). Moreover, the power plant’s ecoefficiency ratio (2.64€ per 1Mg of GHG) is slightly lower than harvest firm one (2.91€ per 1Mg of GHG). The findings could be useful to develop new business models based on the circular economy concept. In fact, the business model proposed could push entrepreneurs towards new income opportunities, at the same time, helping local farms and reducing the environmental impacts.

Methodological framework for the implementation of circular economy in urban systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 248 ◽  
pp. 119227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Sánchez Levoso ◽  
Carles M. Gasol ◽  
Julia Martínez-Blanco ◽  
Xavier Gabarell Durany ◽  
Martin Lehmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Methodological Framework

Some Statistical Characteristics of Voice Fundamental Frequency

1975 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 192-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiyuki Horii
Keyword(s):  
Oral Reading ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
The Other ◽  
Statistical Characteristics ◽  
Sampling Errors ◽  
Single Sentence ◽  
Fundamental Frequencies ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Voice Fundamental Frequency

Two experiments are reported in which the magnitude of sampling errors associated with estimates of the mean, median, and standard deviation of voice fundamental frequencies (f o ) during oral reading is investigated as a function of sample size. In one experiment, voices are sampled with fixed time windows. In the other experiment, results of f o analysis are compared for single-sentence voice samples and paragraph voice samples. Overall shape of f o distributions as well as interrelationships among various distributional measures are discussed.

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