Green Warehousing: Exploration of Organisational Variables Fostering the Adoption of Energy-Efficient Material Handling Equipment

The lithium-ion battery (LIB) represents a useful lever for reducing material handling equipment’s (MHE) environmental impact. The exploitation of opportunity charging might improve LIB adoption, which is still prevented by the high investment cost. Since opportunity charging is affected by the system organization, the relationship between LIB and organizational variables is a meaningful work direction to reduce warehouses’ environmental impact, which is underrepresented by the current literature. The present paper aims at filling this gap by investigating the implications of organisational variables on LIB adoption in warehouses where handling activities are performed with forklift trucks. Based on an in-depth review of the literature and semi-structured interviews, the research presents an input-process-output model linking organisational variables and LIB forklift related costs with an application to a real case. This paper is original as it extends findings from the research fields of production and mobility to the warehouse arena, and it opens room for further research on warehouse sustainability. The paper also offers insights to warehouse managers making decisions about LIB adoption for their electric forklift fleets. This is particularly meaningful to reduce warehouse environmental impact, since MHE power source significantly contributes to greenhouse gases emissions.

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Environmental impact assessment on production and material supply stages of lithium-ion batteries with increasing demands for electric vehicles

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management ◽

10.1007/s10163-020-01166-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tomoya Sakunai ◽

Lisa Ito ◽

Akihiro Tokai

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Impact Assessment ◽

Lithium Ion Batteries ◽

Environmental Impact Assessment ◽

Electric Vehicles ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Material Supply

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IMPROVING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) PROCESS IN MALAYSIA

Jurnal Teknologi ◽

10.11113/jt.v78.4489 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 78 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Maisarah Makmor ◽

Zulhabri Ismail

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Impact Assessment ◽

Environmental Impact Assessment ◽

Questionnaire Survey ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Mixed Methods Approach ◽

Key Issues ◽

Document Review

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a planning tool to identify, predict and evaluate potential environmental impacts and mitigation measures in the early stages of proposed projects. Although EIA has been implemented in Malaysia for over 25 years, the EIA practices have yet to achieve the parameters of effective environmental management and sustainable development. Hence, this research aims to improve the EIA process in Malaysia. Three objectives were utilised in this research which are to recognise the fundamentals of EIA process and procedures applied in Malaysia, to analyse the issues in relation to the EIA preparation and submission conducted in Malaysia and to propose a set of recommendations to further improve the current EIA process in Malaysia. Mixed methods approach was embarked composed of qualitative instruments via document review and semi-structured interviews and quantitative instrument utilising questionnaire survey. Key issues on the EIA process in Malaysia were gathered from qualitative data collected. Analysis of data collected resulted to recommendations on the key issues regarding EIA. 25 proposed recommendations to improve the EIA process were contextualised and validated via questionnaire survey. Ergo, this research established an improved EIA process in Malaysia towards sustainable development to ameliorate the EIA practices in Malaysia.

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Life Cycle Assessment for Supporting Dimensioning Battery Storage Systems in Micro-Grids for Residential Applications

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14196189 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (19) ◽

pp. 6189

Author(s):

Maria M. Symeonidou ◽

Effrosyni Giama ◽

Agis M. Papadopoulos

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Energy System ◽

Mixed Integer ◽

Battery Storage ◽

Technical Parameters ◽

Type Size ◽

Energy And Climate Policy ◽

Lead Acid

The current EU energy and climate policy targets a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the forthcoming years. Carbon pricing, embedded in the EU emissions trading system, aims at achieving emission reductions in a more evenly spread way and at the lowest overall cost for society, compared with other environmental policy tools, such as coal or electricity taxes, or incentives such as subsidies on renewables. Still, the implementation of the decarbonization policy depends on several technical parameters such as the type, size and connectivity of the energy system as well as economic restrictions that occur. Within this paper, an optimization tool will be presented, focusing on cleaner energy production and on the control and reduction of environmental impact regarding energy storage solutions. Various types of batteries are examined and evaluated towards this direction. Emphasis is given to setting new criteria for the decision-making process, considering the size of battery storage and the selection of the battery type based on the environmental impact assessment parameter. The objective function of the system is formulated so as to evaluate, monitor and finally minimize environmental emissions, focusing mainly on carbon emissions. Optimization is carried out based on mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP). Two of the main battery types compared are lead–acid and lithium-ion; both of them result in results worth mentioning regarding the replacement impact (seven times during system lifetime for lead–acid) and the total environmental impact comparison (lithium-ion may reach a 60% reduction compared to lead–acid). Case studies are presented based on representative scenarios solved, which underline the importance of choosing the appropriate scope for each case and demonstrate the potential of the tool developed, as well as the possibilities for its further improvement.

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Making Management (More) Relevant: Breaking Down Disciplinary Walls and Pursuing Neglected Independent Variables

Journal of Management Education ◽

10.1177/1052562920934155 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 651-662

Author(s):

Rikki Abzug ◽

Adeyinka Adewale ◽

Rae André ◽

Pamela Derfus ◽

Peggy Hedges ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Management Education ◽

Organizational Variables ◽

Independent Variables ◽

Several Variables ◽

Business Curricula ◽

Systemic Variables ◽

Social And Environmental Impacts

The Walls Project encourages educators to broaden management teaching beyond individual and organizational variables and outcomes to systemic variables and outcomes. Its focus is on discovering independent variables that have social and environmental impacts and are currently neglected. Founded by six individuals who met at a RMLE UnConference in 2017, the Project decided to share pedagogical materials, examine them for commonalities, and present their findings at the MOBTC conference in 2019. This article summarizes these materials with an eye to revealing several variables of consequence, such as socioeconomic status and belief in economic growth, which are studied and taught infrequently in business schools. We suggest that researchers examine business curricula for similar neglected variables, study their impact across systems levels, and then develop them pedagogically to enhance management education that has a social and environmental impact.

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From Farm to Fork: Assessing the Sustainability of Traditional Culinary Preparations to Promote Healthy and Sustainable Diets in Chile's Metropolitan Region (P03-005-19)

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzz047.p03-005-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca Kanter ◽

Viviana Azúa ◽

Mariana León Villagra

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

First Nations ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Food Systems ◽

Metropolitan Region ◽

Climate Change Signal ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Study Objective ◽

Sustainable Diets ◽

Sustainable Diet

Abstract Objectives The high prevalences of ultra-processed foods and obesity in Chile, with increasing climate change, signal an urgent need for novel analyses to characterize sustainable diets. Therefore, the study objective was to describe the sustainability of 24 highly consumed and liked traditional Chilean culinary preparations (dishes) as perceived by those in the Metropolitan Region (RM). Methods Pre-existing methods on documenting traditional food systems were adapted, and combined with the FAO's 5 criteria for sustainable diets (culture, nutrition, environment, physical, and economic access). In 2018, 40 individual semi-structured interviews were done by an ethnographer/anthropologist, 8 per age (25–45 y, 45–64 y, > 65 y) or ethnic (first nations or not) group. Each interview involved tasks about 24 traditional dishes (card sort exercises per sustainable diet criteria; and brief surveys to assess diet and taste preferences), was recorded, and transcribed. Based on the positive associations between a dish and the 5 sustainable diet criteria, an average sustainability score (0–100%) was calculated by dish. ATLAS.ti v. 8.3.1 was used to conduct the study analyses. Results The traditional dishes identified as the most sustainable were: fruits (91%); salads (90%); scrambled eggs with tomato/onion (82%); vegetable soup (78%), and legumes (78%). With fish soup (52%), shredded beef (48%) and empanadas (39%) as the least sustainable. Of the 5 sustainable diet criteria, the environment dimension was the most difficult for participants to think about in relation to diet, and thus, verbally expound upon. Two-thirds of participants thought that no dish produced any environmental impact. Others erroneously confused environmental impact with health problems or with household contamination from cooking fried foods. The livestock and fishing industries were often cited as having negative environmental impacts. Conclusions Chileans in the RM can identify traditional dishes, largely based on primary agricultural products that are both healthy and sustainable. The finding that many lacked an understanding of how diet may be linked to the concept of sustainability; and more specifically, to environmental impacts signals an important need for more education and awareness regarding how sustainability relates to diet. Funding Sources CONICYT-FONDECYT Initiation Project.

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Could self-centrism rust the glitter of meaningful work? Exploring the darker sides of the construct

Development in Learning Organizations An International Journal ◽

10.1108/dlo-03-2020-0060 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Subhra Pattnaik ◽

Lalatendu Kesari Jena

Keyword(s):

Empirical Study ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Manufacturing Sector ◽

Meaningful Work ◽

Work And Family ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Content Type ◽

Family Ties

Purpose The paper explores if individuals experiencing deeply meaningful work turn self-centric and therein they negatively affect people around them. It also discusses ways to attenuate this darker effect of meaningful work. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with supervisors, peers, subordinates, and family of 24 executives in the Indian Aeronautical Manufacturing Sector who scored high on the Meaningful Work scale in another empirical study carried out by the authors in early 2019. Findings Individuals experiencing deeply Meaningful Work get self-centric, at times, where nothing beyond work appeals to them. This negatively affects their camaraderie at work and family ties. Originality/value The paper adds to the scarce literature on the darker side of Meaningful Work by exploring its effect on breeding self-centrism using an Indian sample.

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A comparative life cycle assessment on lithium-ion battery: Case study on electric vehicle battery in China considering battery evolution

Waste Management & Research ◽

10.1177/0734242x20966637 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 0734242X2096663 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shuoyao Wang ◽

Jeongsoo Yu

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Lithium Ion Battery ◽

Electric Vehicle ◽

Lithium Ion ◽

Collection Rate ◽

Recycling Industry ◽

Battery Recycling ◽

The Future

China has become the largest electric vehicle (EV) market in the world since 2015. Consequently, the lithium-ion battery (LiB) market in China is also expanding fast. LiB makers are continually introducing new types of LiBs into the market to improve LiBs’ performance. However, there will be a considerable amount of waste LiBs generated in China. These waste LiBs should be appropriately recycled to avoid resources’ waste or environmental pollution problems. Yet, because LiBs’ type keeps changing, the environmental impact and profitability of the waste LiB recycling industry in China become uncertain. In this research, we reveal the detailed life cycle process of EVs’ LiBs in China first. Then, the environmental impact of each type of LiB is speculated using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Moreover, we clarify how LiBs’ evolution will affect the economic effect of the waste battery recycling industry in China. We perform a sensitivity analysis focusing on waste LiBs’ collection rate. We found that along with LiBs’ evolution, their environmental impact is decreasing. Furthermore, if waste LiBs could be appropriately recycled, their life cycle environmental impact would be further dramatically decreased. On the other hand, the profitability of the waste battery recycling industry in China would decrease in the future. Moreover, it is essential to improve waste LiBs’ collection rate to establish an efficient waste LiB industry. Such a trend should be noticed by the Chinese government and waste LiB recycling operators to establish a sustainable waste LiB recycling industry in the future.

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