Eldbjørg Blikra Vea - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Eldbjørg Blikra Vea
Science of The Total Environment
Sustainability, 2018
The circular economy concept offers a number of solutions to increasing amounts of biowaste and r... more The circular economy concept offers a number of solutions to increasing amounts of biowaste and resource scarcity by valorising biowaste. However, it is necessary to consistently address the environmental benefits and impacts of circular biowaste management systems (CBWMS). Various decision support tools (DST) for environmental assessment of waste management systems (WMS) exist. This study provides a review of life cycle assessment based WMS-DSTs. Twenty-five WMS-DSTs were identified and analysed through a shortlisting procedure. Eight tools were shortlisted for the assessment of their applicability to deliver sustainability assessment of CBWMS. It was found that six tools model key properties that are necessary for assessing the environmental sustainability of CBWMSs, including waste-specific modelling of gaseous emissions, biogas generation or bioproduct composition. However, only two tools consider both waste-specific heavy metals content in bioproducts and the associated implica...
Forests, 2022
Quantifying the environmental impacts of value chains on the earth’s ecological limits is crucial... more Quantifying the environmental impacts of value chains on the earth’s ecological limits is crucial to designing science-based strategies for environmental sustainability. Combining the Planetary Boundaries (PB) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework can be used to estimate if a value chain can be considered as Absolute Environmentally Sustainable (AES) in relation to the PB. One of the crucial steps in implementing the PB-LCA framework is using sharing principals to downscale the global PB to smaller scales (e.g., country) and calculate an assigned Safe Operating Space (aSOS). This study assesses the potential AES of a wood panel value chain in Austria and Slovakia to understand the consequences of applying diverse sharing principles on different economies. Two economic and one emission-based sharing principles were compared. The results show that depending on the sharing principle implemented, different conclusions on the AES and potential strategies at a value chain and national...
Science of The Total Environment, 2021
Environmental Research Letters, 2020
Environmental sustainability boundaries can help us navigate a sustainable development trajectory... more Environmental sustainability boundaries can help us navigate a sustainable development trajectory, by evaluating environmental performance of current actions in relation to such boundaries. However, current definitions of environmental sustainability boundaries have shortcomings when used in environmental assessments. The shortcomings include considerations of regional differentiation and transparency with respect to how uncertainty is addressed. This paper seeks to improve the definition and application of environmental sustainability boundaries in environmental assessments by reviewing existing approaches to set them and elaborating an analytical framework for defining, communicating and adopting environmental sustainability boundaries in assessments. 110 original environmental sustainability boundaries were identified from existing literature and grouped into 13 categories of boundary approaches. The framework addresses five components (objective, boundary principle, uncertainty ...
Procedia CIRP, 2018
The food provisioning of European cities depends on the global food supply system. However, both ... more The food provisioning of European cities depends on the global food supply system. However, both economic crises, environmental pressure and climate change effects represent a risk for food chain stability. Urban agriculture (UA) increases the self-sufficiency and resiliency of cities and is able to deliver positive environmental and social benefits. However, its efficacy depends on several variables, including the type of UA and the geographical location of the city. This paper analyses ReFarmers' pilot farm, a vertical high-yield hydroponic croft located in the urban area of Lyon, France, from a life cycle perspective. The results show that the hydroponic farm performs better than cultivations in heated greenhouses, and similarly to conventional open field farms. Moreover, the source of the electricity input is a determinant factor that, if carbon neutral (e.g. wind energy) allows vertical hydroponic production to outperform the two conventional types of agriculture.
Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 2017
Environmental science & technology, Jan 20, 2017
Chemosphere, 2014
h i g h l i g h t s CTPs vary 2.4-6.5 orders for Al, Be, Cr(III), Cu and Fe(III) in different wat... more h i g h l i g h t s CTPs vary 2.4-6.5 orders for Al, Be, Cr(III), Cu and Fe(III) in different waters. Most toxic metals are Al and Cu in acidic water (pH < 6.4), but Cd in other water. Emission weighted CTPs based on EU waters were recommended as site generic CTPs. Most site generic CTP was higher or similar to default CTP in USEtox and USES-LCA. New CTPs were within $2 orders of magnitudes compared to USEtox and USES-LCA CTPs.
Science of The Total Environment
Sustainability, 2018
The circular economy concept offers a number of solutions to increasing amounts of biowaste and r... more The circular economy concept offers a number of solutions to increasing amounts of biowaste and resource scarcity by valorising biowaste. However, it is necessary to consistently address the environmental benefits and impacts of circular biowaste management systems (CBWMS). Various decision support tools (DST) for environmental assessment of waste management systems (WMS) exist. This study provides a review of life cycle assessment based WMS-DSTs. Twenty-five WMS-DSTs were identified and analysed through a shortlisting procedure. Eight tools were shortlisted for the assessment of their applicability to deliver sustainability assessment of CBWMS. It was found that six tools model key properties that are necessary for assessing the environmental sustainability of CBWMSs, including waste-specific modelling of gaseous emissions, biogas generation or bioproduct composition. However, only two tools consider both waste-specific heavy metals content in bioproducts and the associated implica...
Forests, 2022
Quantifying the environmental impacts of value chains on the earth’s ecological limits is crucial... more Quantifying the environmental impacts of value chains on the earth’s ecological limits is crucial to designing science-based strategies for environmental sustainability. Combining the Planetary Boundaries (PB) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework can be used to estimate if a value chain can be considered as Absolute Environmentally Sustainable (AES) in relation to the PB. One of the crucial steps in implementing the PB-LCA framework is using sharing principals to downscale the global PB to smaller scales (e.g., country) and calculate an assigned Safe Operating Space (aSOS). This study assesses the potential AES of a wood panel value chain in Austria and Slovakia to understand the consequences of applying diverse sharing principles on different economies. Two economic and one emission-based sharing principles were compared. The results show that depending on the sharing principle implemented, different conclusions on the AES and potential strategies at a value chain and national...
Science of The Total Environment, 2021
Environmental Research Letters, 2020
Environmental sustainability boundaries can help us navigate a sustainable development trajectory... more Environmental sustainability boundaries can help us navigate a sustainable development trajectory, by evaluating environmental performance of current actions in relation to such boundaries. However, current definitions of environmental sustainability boundaries have shortcomings when used in environmental assessments. The shortcomings include considerations of regional differentiation and transparency with respect to how uncertainty is addressed. This paper seeks to improve the definition and application of environmental sustainability boundaries in environmental assessments by reviewing existing approaches to set them and elaborating an analytical framework for defining, communicating and adopting environmental sustainability boundaries in assessments. 110 original environmental sustainability boundaries were identified from existing literature and grouped into 13 categories of boundary approaches. The framework addresses five components (objective, boundary principle, uncertainty ...
Procedia CIRP, 2018
The food provisioning of European cities depends on the global food supply system. However, both ... more The food provisioning of European cities depends on the global food supply system. However, both economic crises, environmental pressure and climate change effects represent a risk for food chain stability. Urban agriculture (UA) increases the self-sufficiency and resiliency of cities and is able to deliver positive environmental and social benefits. However, its efficacy depends on several variables, including the type of UA and the geographical location of the city. This paper analyses ReFarmers' pilot farm, a vertical high-yield hydroponic croft located in the urban area of Lyon, France, from a life cycle perspective. The results show that the hydroponic farm performs better than cultivations in heated greenhouses, and similarly to conventional open field farms. Moreover, the source of the electricity input is a determinant factor that, if carbon neutral (e.g. wind energy) allows vertical hydroponic production to outperform the two conventional types of agriculture.
Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 2017
Environmental science & technology, Jan 20, 2017
Chemosphere, 2014
h i g h l i g h t s CTPs vary 2.4-6.5 orders for Al, Be, Cr(III), Cu and Fe(III) in different wat... more h i g h l i g h t s CTPs vary 2.4-6.5 orders for Al, Be, Cr(III), Cu and Fe(III) in different waters. Most toxic metals are Al and Cu in acidic water (pH < 6.4), but Cd in other water. Emission weighted CTPs based on EU waters were recommended as site generic CTPs. Most site generic CTP was higher or similar to default CTP in USEtox and USES-LCA. New CTPs were within $2 orders of magnitudes compared to USEtox and USES-LCA CTPs.