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The present study is motivated by the need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation given the new wave of chase for higher economic growth trajectories comes with its environmental cost implications, especially among developing blocs like the Emerging 7 (E7) countries. There is a consistent trade-off between economic growth versus environmental quality. Government apparatus are perpetually on the chase for low-carbon emission policies via the pursuit for green economy. To this end, this present study extends the conventional environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) argument by incorporating the role of institution in emerging industrialized economies (E7) and using second-generation panel analysis methods like mean group (MG), augmented mean group (AMG), common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG), and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test for more robust estimates and inferences. To this end, we explore the long-run and causality relationship between economic growth, quadratic form of economic growth, institutional quality, trade flow, investment in energy sector, and financial development in an EKC environment. Empirical analysis established a long-run equilibrium relationship among the outlined variables over the study period. The long-run regression shows the presence of EKC in the E7. Thus, suggesting the preference for GDP growth over environmental quality at the earlier stage of growth curve. Interestingly, investment in energy, trade flow dynamics across the blocs, and financial development dampens the detrimental effect of environmental pollution as we observed negative relationship with the ecological footprint. On the contrary, quality of institution is weak as institutional quality increase (worsen) the quality of environment in the E7 economies. From a policy perspective, this current study proposed the need for more stringent environmental treaties and regulations and promotion of green economy without compromising economic growth. In the conclusion part of the study, more details and specifics about the policy blueprint are presented.

In industrialized countries, large amounts of mineral wastes are produced. They are re-used in various ways, particularly in road and earth constructions, substituting primary resources such as gravel. However, they may also contain pollutants, such as heavy metals, which may be leached to the groundwater. The toxic impacts of these emissions are so far often neglected within Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of products or waste treatment services and thus, potentially large environmental impacts are currently missed. This study aims at closing this gap by assessing the ecotoxic impacts of heavy metal leaching from industrial mineral wastes in road and earth constructions. The flows of metals such as Sb, As, Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, V and Zn originating from three typical constructions to the environment are quantified, their fate in the environment is assessed and potential ecotoxic effects evaluated. For our reference country, Germany, the industrial wastes that are applied as Granular Secondary Construction Material (GSCM) carry more than 45,000 t of diverse heavy metals per year. Depending on the material quality and construction type applied, up to 150 t of heavy metals may leach to the environment within the first 100 years after construction. Heavy metal retardation in subsoil can potentially reduce the fate to groundwater by up to 100%. One major challenge of integrating leaching from constructions into macro-scale LCA frameworks is the high variability in micro-scale technical and geographical factors, such as material qualities, construction types and soil types. In our work, we consider a broad range of parameter values in the modeling of leaching and fate. This allows distinguishing between the impacts of various road constructions, as well as sites with different soil properties. The findings of this study promote the quantitative consideration of environmental impacts of long-term leaching in Life Cycle Assessment, complementing site-specific risk assessment, for the design of waste management strategies, particularly in the construction sector.

The technological development of preparing bio-oil from low-temperature hydrothermal conversion of agricultural and forestry waste has positive significance for alleviating the shortage of oil energy supply and reducing environmental pollution. This paper selects typical oxides (Al2O3, CeO2, MgO, SiO2, TiO2, and ZnO) as catalysts to set up a low-temperature (220 °C) hydrothermal conversion process of cotton stalk containing pretreatment processes including chopping. For moderate amplification estimation, lab-scale experimental data is used as a benchmark for calculation, and the functional unit for this study is set to be a 1 kg bio-oil product. The results suggest that the cerium dioxide-involved process with the highest bio-oil yield and highest synthetic consumption, and the silica-involved process with the lowest bio-oil yield, caused the highest environmental impact, resulting in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 67.729 kg CO2e/kg and 60.001 kg CO2e/kg, respectively. It indicates that catalysts need to consider the balance between synthetic consumption and catalytic performance. Magnifying lab-scale data to an industrial scale using scale-up frameworks introduces a low model uncertainty, as the practical value had little effect on the overall evaluation results. However, existing equipment data should be used to reduce the uncertainty of the model itself. The environmental sustainability of bio-oil production by low-temperature hydrothermal liquefaction still needs to be improved, especially by catalyst recovery and bio-oil yield improvement.

The worldwide demand for transportation systems is driven by increasing passenger and freight traffic, which is projected to double by 2050. While such growth in the transport sector is a sign of social and economic development, its repercussions on energy consumption and environmental emissions cannot be overlooked. Developments in the transportation industry must follow the trajectory of emerging energy generation systems. The UNSDG 7 (United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7) encourages “Affordable and Clean Energy”. Accordingly, there is a worldwide move towards electrification of transportation systems, the energy being derived from multiple non-renewable and renewable sources. This paper analyses the design and performance analysis of Denmark's hybrid energy-based EVCS (Electric Vehicle Charging Station). The proposed EVCS is mathematically modelled. The HOMER software is used to design and analyse the performance of EVCS, powered by PV, wind turbines, diesel generators, and storage batteries, at four locations in Denmark - Aalborg, Middelgrunden, Aarhus, and Hirtshals. System modelling and analysis were performed to analyse and compare the techno-economic performance parameters. In addition, CO2 emissions and fuel consumption at the four locations were also compared. Sensitivity analysis was carried out at Aalborg to understand the uncertainty effect on the performance of the EVCS.

Recent manufacturing systems did not just confine to optimal utilization of resources due to the global stance on strict environmental regimes. Collaborative effort to achieve sustainable practices in the decentralized manufacturing environment is a new complex problem. In this paper, with a networked manufacturing system we try to achieve both traditional as well as sustainable parameters by optimizing the performances such as makespan, machine utilization, and energy consumption. Thereafter, we formulate the problem as a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model. To handle this NP-hard problem and to find the optimal solutions a Controlled elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (CE-NSGA-II) has been adopted. Finally, the results are analyzed with different scenarios to prove the proposed approach validation.

Abstract As the world races toward its urban future, the quantity of wastes, one of the vital by-products of an enhancement in the standards of living, is exponentially rising. The treatment of wastes employing plasma is an upcoming area of research and is globally used for the simultaneous processing of diverse wastes coupled with the recovery of energy and materials. Ground-breaking and cost-effective thermal plasma technologies with high efficiencies are a prerequisite for the growth of this technology. This paper delivers an evaluation of the fundamentals such as the generation and characteristics of the thermal plasma along with the various types of wastes treatable by thermal plasma and the related issues. Furthermore, the authors discuss different types of advanced technologies as well as the material and energy recovery techniques and their present status worldwide, at lab-scale and industrial scale. The application of different thermal plasma technologies is discussed as a means to promote this technology into alternative applications, which require higher flexibility and greater efficiency. Mathematical modeling studies are also assessed with an objective to derive ideal conditions and permissible limits for the reactors and to test a variety of waste materials. A strategy to improve the feasibility and sustainability of waste utilization is via technological advancement and the minimization of environmental effects and process economics. This paper sheds light on diverse areas of waste utilization via thermal plasma as a potentially sustainable and environmentally friendly technology.

ABSTRACTNepal, a country rich in biomass, still does not have any commercial pellet production plants and is wasting large amounts of agricultural crop residue. The current study showed that about 5.61 million tonnes (Mt) of biomass in the form of pellets are potentially available from agricultural crop residues. The brick and cement industries could use these agro-pellets. Co-firing of pellets in such industries could play an important role in reducing the import volume of coal and minimize the related environmental loadings.

This study investigates a possible alternative reuse of spent coffee grounds (SCG), the major residue of the brewing process, to manufacture green geopolymeric materials for innovative building applications in energy-saving construction, in line with the European Green Deal towards zero-energy building. Specimens were prepared by a combination of biomass fly ash from the Kraft paper-pulp process, as raw material (70 wt%), and SCG (up to 17.5 %), as filler. The high amount of reused bio-wastes makes the material fit the requirements for the Minimum Environmental Criteria (MEC) certification, in light of the Circular Economy (CE) approach. Sustainability is also boosted by the manufacturing process that completely occurred at ambient conditions (20 °C, 65 % RH). Materials engineering performance is evaluated to predict possible applications in construction and promote an integrated architectural design process to propose a “coffee-house” equipped with an innovative energy structure and envelope. For the scope, different technological solutions are designed and virtual energy modelling is implemented to simulate the performance of a building model in different climatic conditions and estimate the possible real efficacy of the proposed solutions in relation to building efficiency and cost management, as envisaged by the EU 2018/844 on the buildings’ energy performance. The major result is that the developed material represents an optimum candidate to substitute traditional construction and building materials with a great manufacturing financial saving, up to 37 % for the 17.5 % SCG, and an energy improvement up to about 19 % per year, leading further saving in the yearly building management.