• Energy Research
• Closed Access close
• Restricted close
• Open Source close
• 11. Sustainability close
• 15. Life on land close
• 9. Industry and infrastructure close

Abstract This paper aims to investigate sustainable waste management solutions for the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, based on a life cycle approach. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed by using the LCA-IWM methodology. The model was adapted to the Brazilian solid waste context and to the local characteristics, including waste composition, electricity mix and regulations. The annual amount of waste generated was the functional unit adopted. Eight municipal solid waste management strategies were evaluated. Scenarios including mixed waste collection and source separated collection as well as materials recovery and energy from waste were investigated. Scenarios were ranked based on the LCA results. Sensitivity analysis was carried out by varying the electricity mix. The results indicate that the current situation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Rio de Janeiro presents the worst performance in terms of aggregated environmental burdens, indicating the urgency for implement new strategies toward a more environmentally friendly and sustainable MSW management system. It is noted that the better LCA performances were obtained in scenarios with high separately collection rates. Among them, the scenario based on recyclables recovery and anaerobic digestion shows to be a promising strategy to improve environmental sustainability. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the ranking of scenarios was not affected by changes in the electricity mix. From the results, the investment in source separated waste collection and materials recovery is the most environmentally friendly MSW strategy for Rio de Janeiro. In addition, scenarios with an emphasis in materials recovery presented higher environmental benefits than the alternatives focused on energy generation.

Plants exhibit plasticity in response to their current environment and, in some cases, to that of the previous generation (i.e. maternal effects). However, few studies have evaluated both within- and between-generation plasticities and the extent to which they interact to influence fitness, especially in natural environments. The plasticity of adult traits to two generations of natural differences in light was determined for Campanulastrum americanum, a forest-edge herb that expresses annual and biennial life histories. Plasticity was found to an individual's light environment (within generation) and the maternal light environment (between generations). Responses to ambient light for size traits and timing of flowering were probably passive, whereas apparently adaptive responses were found for light acquisition traits. Maternal light influenced the expression of most adult traits but had the strongest effect when plants were germinated in natural environments. The transgenerational effects of light were consistent with adaptive plasticity for several traits. Plastic within-generation changes in flowering time may also result in adaptive between-generation effects by altering the offspring life history schedule. Finally, the results underscore the importance of conducting studies of within- and between-generation plasticity in natural populations, where the environmental context is relevant to that in which the traits evolved.

Abstract In recent years living walls have increasingly spread, thus becoming a diffuse architectural envelope cladding technology. Consequently, a more precise understanding of their thermal behavior and impact on the building energy balance are needed. One of the most important effects provided by the use of living walls is the shading of the building envelope, with clear benefits during the cooling period. Furthermore, many features characterize the thermal behavior of living walls, namely plant species, leaf area index (LAI), evapotranspiration, emissivity and air cavity type. All these particular characteristics have been accounted in the mathematical model developed in the frame of the presented research, whose aim is to provide a tool for the prediction of the thermal behavior of living walls. Two kinds of living walls, one with grass and closed air cavity and the other one with vertical garden and open air cavity were considered. The results achieved by means of the developed model show a good agreement with the measurements also supported by model efficiency indexes such as Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency index (NSEC). Values of around 0.7 were obtained for the NSEC index for both the investigated living walls.

Following the environmental crises of recent decades, a turning point in the awareness of the fragility of ecosystems has been marked, i.e., environmental awareness. This has contributed to the development of various environmental laws and regulations such as the “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment,” the “Restriction of Hazardous Substances,” and the “Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals” regulations and the “Energy Using Products” Directives. Our work contributes to the development of eco-friendly product manufacturing processes. In order to estimate and optimize the environmental impacts of a product, most of the methodologies, concepts, and tools that integrate computer-aided design (CAD) and life cycle assessment systems generally exploit the feature technology at the level of each feature independently of the others, i.e., “microplanning.” The feature interaction technology (FIT) is treated only in few studies, but it is pivotal in the eco-manufacturing process. In this paper, we propose a new manufacturing-scenarios-based methodology by using FIT and a Multi-criteria Decision Support Method (MCDSM), which helps manufacturers maintain their marketplaces by producing goods in an eco-friendly way. In fact, this methodology helps designers choose from the CAD design phase the most ecological manufacturing process from possible existent scenarios in real time.

In this study, a comprehensive exergy analysis was applied to a solar power system (SPS) located in the city of Van, Turkey. Van was always known as a sun city throughout history with the name of TUSBA. It has an average of 300 sunny days a year, an altitude of 1727 m, and an average daily temperature of 9.85°C. Considering how the need for sustainable and renewable energy sources - and knowledge over them - constantly increases, this SPS was built to reveal the true solar potential of the campus area of Yuzuncu Yil University of the city of Van, hopefully as a precursor for further large-scale SPS constructions in the region. A daily analysis considering energy production and global radiation was applied to the system in 2013 for 365 days. It was found that the yearly exergy efficiency of the system was 10% and total electrical energy production was 31,038.95 kWh, averaging 1763.5 kWh/kWp yearly.

Abstract This study develops a novel sustainability assessment methodology for energy systems using life-cycle emission factors and sustainability indicators. Here, the global warming and environmental impact dimensions of the sustainability assessment methodology are examined in detail. A comparative analysis shows that a wind-battery system produces fewer potential global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, air pollution, and water pollution impacts compared to a gas-fired system. The wind-battery system generates 13% of the life-cycle GHG emissions and 22% of the life-cycle ozone-depleting substance emissions of a gas-fired power plant. Nitrous oxide contributes more than 90% of the stratospheric ozone depletion potential of gas-fired and wind-battery systems.

Abstract This study demonstrates the possibility to use energy-cost optimal building designs based on life cycle approach. There is a lack of studies that cover the comprehensive assessment of both embodied energy (EE) and operational energy (OE) in a single optimization problem. The primary goal of the current study is to compare the optimized results of using OE+EE together and OE only. The optimization is performed on a case study building (townhouse) in Finland with three structural alternatives (i.e., reinforced concrete (RC); cross-laminated timber (CLT) and Steel). Different options for insulation thickness of external wall, roof, floor and window types were considered as decision variables as the scope of the present study is on building envelope. The objectives of the optimization are to minimize life cycle energy (LCE) and life cycle costs (LCC). The LCE difference between the most and least energy efficient solution on the pareto front is greater in case of the OE optimization, compared to OE+EE optimization. For all studied structures, the EE of the optimal solutions from OE+EE optimization ranges 16%–23% of LCE. Many of the non-dominated optimal solutions obtained from the OE+EE optimization shows a higher U-value for the building envelope components compared to the optimal solutions from the OE optimization. A relationship between both OE and EE with the overall thermal resistance of the building envelope is discussed to obtain a deeper understanding of such differences in U-value for the optimal solutions obtained from the OE+EE and OE optimization.

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.

Abstract A forecast of transport activity, energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from transportation, carried out under ‘business as usual’ economic assumptions, is presented for the 10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe that have acquired the status of ‘accession countries’ to the European Union. Energy demand is projected under considerations of the dynamic evolution of transport modes and their use, the evolution of automotive fuel prices, which are assumed to gradually converge with Western European price levels within the current decade, and assumptions on efficiency improvements in all transport modes according to current technological trends and European regulations. The results, showing transportation energy demand to double and CO2 emissions to be 70% higher in 2030 compared to 2000, are compared with other published forecasts and discussed with a view to potential future energy and environmental impacts in these countries, outlining major policy implications.