Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ) Research Papers (original) (raw)

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations. Abstract This paper firstly reviews the current state of knowledge on sustainable cookery and the environmental impacts of the food consumption phase. It then uses the example of a dish of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding to explore energy use in food production and consumption. Part 1 of this paper conducts a meta-analysis of 33 roast beef and Yorkshire pudding recipes in order to create a representative recipe for analysis. Part 2 of this paper then uses life cycle assessment and energy use data is coupled with the representative recipe of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, to calculate the embodied energy of the meal. Seven interventions are modelled to illustrate how sustainable cookery can play a role as part of a sustainable food system. Interventions show that sustainable cookery has the potential to reduce cookery related energy use by 18%, and integrating sustainable cookery within a sustainable food system has the potential to reduce the total energy use by 55%. Finally, the paper discusses the issue of how the adoption of the sustainable cookery agenda may help or hinder attempts to shift consumers towards sustainable diets.

Background, aim, and scope Pulp and paper production is one of the most important Portuguese economic activities. Mostly based on eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), nearly 70% of the pulp produced is exported, mainly to the European Union. The aim of this paper is to compare the environmental impacts of the production of Portuguese printing and writing paper based on eucalyptus with those from the production of paper from industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa). Materials and methods We have used a life cycle assessment approach to compare both types of paper. The functional unit used was a ton of white printing and writing paper. Data was mostly derived from the Portuguese literature for eucalyptus and from scientific literature for hemp. The impact categories/indicators taken into account were global warming, photochemical oxidant formation (summer smog), acidification, eutrophication, and direct land use. Results and discussion Industrial hemp presents higher environmental impacts than eucalyptus paper in all environmental categories analyzed. The main differences are in the crop and the pulp production stages. This is because hemp makes use of higher number of mechanical operations and larger amounts of fertilizer in the former and larger amounts of chemical additives in the latter. Conclusions There is scope for improving industrial hemp paper production. We present some suggestions on how to reduce some of the environmental impacts identified for hemp, so that the pulp and paper industry can continue its progress towards a more environmentally friendly paper production. Recommendations and perspectives New studies could be based on the alternatives presented throughout the paper for improving hemp paper. Further studies should incorporate analyses on water consumption, soil erosion, soil nutrient depletion, and impacts on biodiversity.

Organic agriculture has experienced remarkable growth in recent decades as societal interest in environmental protection and healthy eating has increased. Research has shown that relative to conventional agriculture, organic farming is more efficient in its use of non-renewable energy, maintains or improves soil quality, and has less of a detrimental effect on water quality and biodiversity. Studies have had more mixed findings, however, when examining the impact of organic farming on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. Life cycle assessments (LCAs) in particular have indicated that organic farming can often result in higher GHG emissions per unit product as a result of lower yields. The organic movement has the opportunity to embrace the science of LCA and use this information in developing tools for site-specific assessments that can point toward strategies for improvements. Responding effectively to the climate change crisis should be at the core of the organic movement's values. Additionally, while societal-level behavioral and policy changes will be required to reduce waste and shift diets to achieve essential reductions in GHG emissions throughout food systems, organic farming should be open to seriously considering emerging technologies and methods to improve its performance and reduce GHG emissions at the production stage.

- by Sean Clark
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- Climate Change, Food Systems, Agriculture, Carbon Sequestration

Agrivoltaic systems, which deliberately maximize the utility of a single parcel of land for both solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity production and agriculture, have been demonstrated as a viable technology that can ameliorate competing land uses and meet growing energy and food demands efficiently. The goal of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of a novel pasture-based agrivoltaic concept: co-farming rabbits and solar PV. A life cycle assessment (LCA) quantified the impacts of 1) the integrated agrivoltaic concept in comparison to conventional practices including 2) separate rabbit farming and PV production and 3) separate rabbit farming and conventional electricity production. The impact assessment methods employed to determine the environmental impacts were IPCC 2013 global warming potential 100a V1.03 and fossil energy demand V1.11. The results indicate that the pasture-based agrivoltaic system produces the least amount of greenhouse gas emissions (3.8 million kg ...

- by Chelsea Schelly
- •
- Photovoltaics, Renewable Energy, Energy Engineering, Energy

A complete life cycle assessment of hydrogen and gasoline vehicles, from fuel production to its utilization in fuels cells and internal combustion engines is conducted based on energy utilization and greenhouse gases emissions in order to compare its efficiency. Results are provided for two alternative technologies for hydrogen production, namely natural gas reforming and electrolysis (from wind and solar energy). Significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions are predicted from production of hydrogen through renewable energy sources, especially from wind power generation. Nevertheless, the economic feasibility of renewable production of hydrogen strictly depends on the ratio in cost between hydrogen and natural gas

The purpose of this study was to apply new methods of econometric models to the Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) of physical assets, by integrating investments such as maintenance, technology,
sustainability, and technological upgrades, and to propose a means to evaluate the Life Cycle
Investment (LCI), with emphasis on sustainability. Sustainability is a recurrent theme of existing
studies and will be a concern in coming decades. As a result, equipment with a smaller environmental
footprint is being continually developed. This paper presents a method to evaluate asset depreciation
with an emphasis on the maintenance investment, technology depreciation, sustainability depreciation,
and technological upgrade investment. To demonstrate the value added of the proposed
model, it was compared with existing models that do not take the previously mentioned aspects into
consideration. The econometric model is consistent with asset life cycle plans as part of the Strategic
Asset Management Plan of the Asset Management System. It is clearly demonstrated that the proposed
approach is new and the results are conclusive, as demonstrated by the presented models and
their results. This research aims to introduce new methods that integrate the factors of technology
upgrades and sustainability for the evaluation of assets’ LCA and replacement time. Despite the
increase in investment in technology upgrades and sustainability, the results of the Integrated Life
Cycle Assessment First Method (ILCAM1), which represents an improved approach for the analyzed
data, show that the asset life is extended, thus increasing sustainability and promoting the circular
economy. By comparison, the Integrated Life Cycle Investment Assessment Method (ILCIAM) shows
improved results due to the investment in technology upgrades and sustainability. Therefore, this
study presents an integrated approach that may offer a valid tool for decision makers.

Life Cycle Assessment is a methodology that investigates impacts linked to a product or service during its entire life cycle. Life Cycle Assessment studies investigate processes and sub-processes in a fragmented way to ascertain their inputs, outputs and emissions and get an overview of the generating sources of their environmental loads. The lifecycle concept involves all direct and indirect processes of the studied object. This article aims to model the material flows in the masonry and drywall systems and internal walls in a Brazilian scenario, and calculate the climate change impacts generated by the transport of the component materials of the systems. Internal walls of a residential dwelling in Rio de Janeiro are analyzed from a qualitative inventory of all life cycles with an analysis of material flows, based on technical and academic literature. All Life Cycle Impact Assessment of the systems is carried out with international data from the database, and using the IPCC2013 method for climate change impacts. This study disregards the refurbishment and possible extensions within the use phase. Thus, the inventory identifies weaknesses of the systems while the impact assessment validates the results. This study allows us a complete understanding about the inner walls systems in the Brazilian scenario, evidencing its main weaknesses and subsidizes decision-making for the industry and for planning of the new buildings.

Natural resources are consumed in food production, and food loss is consequently accompanied
with a loss of resources as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study
analyses food loss based on India-specific production data (for the year 2013) and reported
food loss rates during production and post-harvest stages of major food crops and animal
products in India. Further, the study evaluates the environmental impacts of food loss
in terms of utilization of water, land resources and GHG emissions. The total food loss
in harvest and post-harvest stages of the food supply chain for the selected food items
amounted to 58.3 ± 2.22 million tonnes (Mt) in the year 2013 with the highest losses by
mass in sugarcane and rice. The volume of water associated with the food losses was
found to be 115 ± 4.15 billion m3, of which 105 ± 3.77 billion m3 was direct water use
(blue + green) and 9.54 ± 0.38 billion m3 was indirect water use (grey). Wasted sugarcane
and rice were found to be the largest contributors for water loss. Land footprint and carbon
footprint associated with food loss were found to be 9.58 ± 0.4 million hectares (Mha) and
64.1 ± 3.8 Mt CO2eq, respectively, with rice accounting for the largest impact in both. This
highlights the immediate need for quantification and taking measures for minimization of
losses across the food supply chains in India.

- by Puneet Sirari and +1
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- GHG Emissions, Water Footprint, Environment and climate change, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

Recent researches on building construction and deconstruction seem to suggest that, from a theoretical point of view, the criteria for buildings' connection selection might lead to scenarios of total material recovery and would allow the closing of the material loop cycle.
This paper presents the first step of a research that aims to create a knowledge base about the relation between buildings' connections and material recovery. As in Architecture were building design is often approached with top-down strategies, main literature consulted also presents a top-down thinking in building connections and joining framing were these themes hardly are the central focus. Therefore, as an alternative, a bottom-up or inductive approach to buildings' connections is necessary in order to obtain a more solid knowledge support on the topic. Connections' classifications need to be linked together in order to form a larger view of connections
complexity and related issues.

Ez egy olyan elemzés, mely saját kutatáson alapszik és saját értékelő rendszert alkalmaz.

Today, sustainability is an important and crucial issue regarding several activities performed by man. The professionals in the field of architecture and urbanism are increasingly being spurred to minimize environmental impacts and building costs. In developing cities, such as those from Northeast Brazil, the environment impact tends to be larger; therefore, the use of sustainable architecture becomes much more relevant. In this scenario, numerous sustainability practices are researched and developed to be applied to architectural projects, such as the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique, which might be used into architecture housing projects. Therefore, this research aims at establishing guidelines for sustainable building practices and low technology architecture in Northeast Brazil, mainly focusing on the state of Paraíba, based on parameters such as materials; energy, waste and environmental comfort. Because of this, four examples of internationally environmentally certified multi-family dwellings which carry LCA process in their construction have been chosen to be a case study, to associate them with the local reality outlined in problems of possible forms of implementation of feasible alternatives of sustainability in construction. It was found that there are viable practices for sustainable architecture in accordance with the local reality of the life cycle assessment process amongst the previously established parameters. The results provide evidence that it is achievable to apply the concepts of sustainability and efficiency in local architecture without using big technology, construction techniques or high costs.

- by Geovany Jessé Alexandre Silva and +1
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- Sustainable Architecture, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

Cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment is used to estimate the potential environmental impacts, from the manufacturing to disposal of any product, process or activity. One of the main difficulties concerned with Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) is the lack of LCI data from developing or emerging countries. Production phase of textile is delocalized to these countries, and this fact has to be taken into account in the frame of a Global Production-Consumption chain. In this study, production location country is Pakistan and consumption takes place in France. Another scope is the textile product selection: cotton curtains were selected as a product to focus on diverse prospective in the production-consumption chain. Lastly, the assessment of environmental impacts consists in tracking all the inputs (including energy, water, etc.…) and the outputs of each step of the production-consumption chain. For example, major atmospheric pollutants such as CO 2 , SO 2 , NO x , and other particulates, are quantified.

- by Sohail Yasin
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- Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

The ship recycling industry in Bangladesh provides critical metal resources for construction and consumer products in the country, which has no native metal sources. This industry illustrates how industrial recycling can arise in a self-organized manner and be maintained through social embeddedness. Information provided through interviews with shipyard owners, traders, and blacksmiths illustrate the importance of historical, cognitive, structural, and cultural embeddedness to maintaining the flow of metals from the ships beached in the coastal city of Chittagong to the capitol city of Dhaka, more than 300 km away. The industry began through small scale metal scavenging; the early scavengers developed the major metal trading businesses operating today, maintained by family relationships. The metalwork-ing community maintains a balance between the strong family ties and weak social ties, ensuring an optimum flow of information among the businessmen in the community. The engagement with scrap handling produces a sense of pride and a pleasure of innovation that binds this community with waste recycling. Thus, the embeddedness of this community through self-recruitment and trade information via social ties directs the resource flows in the community.

- by S.M. Mizanur Rahman and +1
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- Industrial Ecology, Ecological Economics, Environmental Sustainability, Islamic Microfinance

During the last decades, the Italian Alps were characterized by a very high rate of agricultural aban-donment that mainly affected small farms. The remaining farms, especially in the dairy cattle sector, moved towards increasing size, intensified production and abandonment of traditional summer grazing of the herds in high altitude pastures. The aim of the study was to estimate the carbon footprint (CF) of cow milk production in the Italian Alps, comparing the traditional farming system based on summer grazing in the highlands with the emerging more intensive systems. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the variations in the outcomes of different allocation methods and of different scenarios of land use change (LUC) emissions for soybean production. A group of 32 dairy farms was analyzed in a " cradle to farm gate " life cycle assessment (LCA); 9 of them transferred the whole herd including lactating cows to the high altitude pastures for three months in the summer season (Summer Grazing ¼ SG) while the remaining 23 (no Summer Grazing ¼ noSG) maintained their lactating cows in the valley barns all over the year. On average the farms had a small herd size (54 AE 61 lactating cows) but a high stocking rate (3.7 AE 2.0 Livestock Unit ha À1). The average milk production was 6206 AE 1892 kg FPCM cow À1 year À1 with a huge difference between the two groups (7017 AE 1445 kg FPCM cow À1 for noSG and 4132 AE 1184 for SG). NoSG farms had also higher feed efficiency than SG ones. The CF values obtained in the baseline scenario were 1.55 AE 0.21 and 1.72 AE 0.37 kg CO 2-eq. kg À1 FPCM for, respectively, noSG and SG farms. Considering different allocation methods, no significant differences were observed between the carbon footprint of the two systems. When LUC emissions were accounted for, CF increased especially in noSG farms due to the high amount of concentrate feed purchased. Traditional activity of summer grazing in high pastureland did not show any mitigation effect on the carbon footprint of milk, mainly as a consequence of low milk yield and low feed efficiency. The sensitivity analysis for different allocation methods and for different LUC emissions underlined the fact that one of LCA's limits is that a change of key assumptions can determine a change of the overall results. In particular including the emissions related to LUC for soybean production significantly affects the final outcome, the amount of feed purchased by the farm becoming one of the major driver of milk CF.

- by Alberto Tamburini
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- Alps, Dairy Cow, Milk production, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

Today built heritage conservation should consider constantly changing needs of users. In particular, recent problems related to the economic crisis and to environmental pollution make issues related to consumption reduction and environmental impact particularly important.
Even if historical buildings have many sustainable features in terms of embodied energy and land consumption, they don’t perfectly meet current standards and impose many restraints from a constructive and typological/functional point of view.
In recent years a new approach to preservation has been derived from the theory of “care of monuments” by Ruskin: a preventive and constant maintenance, interpreted as less destructive and cheaper intervention and management of the continual becoming. Besides a lifecycle approach leads to reconsider management and to rethink the intervention putting in place a balance between positive and negative contributions in the long term.
The LCA mantra “from cradle to grave” is usually applied to new products taking into account all components, from the extraction/production of raw materials to the disposal of constructive elements. Since the main goal of historical buildings' conservation is to shift to infinity their dismissal time, this study aims to lay the foundations for an innovative approach for sustainability assessment of existing buildings that should consider the resources savings and doesn’t set a time limit for the building’s life.
The paper focuses on “minor” built heritage, the most exposed to abandonment and decay.

- by Emanuele Zamperini and +1
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- Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Historic Preservation, Sustainable Development

Between 117 and 200 million kettles are used in the European Union (EU) every year. However, the full environmental
impacts of kettles remain largely unknown. This paper presents a comprehensive life cycle assessment of
conventional plastic and metallic kettles in comparisonwith eco-kettles. The results showthat the use stage contributes
80% to the impacts. For this reason, the eco-kettle has over 30% lower environmental impacts due to a greater
water efficiency and related lower energy consumption. These results have been extrapolated to the EU level to consider
the implications for proposed eco-design regulations. For these purposes, the effects on the impacts of durability
of kettles and improvements in their energy andwater efficiency have been assessed as they have been identified
as two key parameters in the proposed regulations. The results suggest that increasing the current average durability
from 4.4 to seven years would reduce the impacts by less than 5%. Thus, improving durability is not a key issue for
improving the environmental performance of kettles and does not justify the need for an eco-design regulation
based exclusively on it. However, improvements in water and energy efficiency through eco-design can bring relevant
environmental savings. Boiling the exact amount of water neededwould reduce the impacts by around a third
and using water temperature control by further 2%–5%. The study has also considered the effects of reducing significantly
the number of kettles in use after the UK (large user of kettles) leaves the EU and reducing the excess water
typically boiled by the consumer. Even under these circumstances, the environmental savings justify the development
of a specific EU eco-design regulation for kettles. However, consumer engagement will be key to the implementation
and achievement of the expected environmental benefits.

- by Harish Jeswani and +1
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- European Studies, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Energy

This study examines the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier for spreading renewable energy and mitigating environmental problems, and proposes a system for carrying clean water together with hydrogen. Practical simulations were carried out assuming the present conditions of Kazakhstan. The capital and most other large cities are located both far from clean water sources, and areas with plenty of sunshine. The proposed model consists of hydrogen generation by solar-powered electrolysis, transportation of hydrogen by railways and electric power generation using fuel cells in cities. The fuel cells also generate clean liquid water. This paper proposes a hydrogen transportation system by railway, where Ti-based hydrogen storage alloys fabricated with readily available metals in Kazakhstan are used. The railway is the most practical means of transportation compared to other methods in terms of utilities, economy, environment and time.

The power sector is contributing more to the global warming potential. Renewable energy technology is one of the alternative to reduce the carbon emission and global warming potential. In the renewable energy, wind and solar cell power are the best methods to produce the power. But the efficiency of the systems are fairly low compared to the conventional method. This paper presents the most important factors that affect the power output of the wind and solar cell system. The efficiency of the system mostly depends on the climate condition of the particular location. This paper discusses about the effect of temperature and irradiation on the solar cell power output. Also a mathematical model is developed to study the parameters that affect the electrical power generated by the wind turbines. The considered parameters are turbine swept area, air density and wind speed. They are tested for the V1.65MW and V1.8MW wind turbines and also for the 124W and 170W solar panel. In this paper, the location has been taken as Gandhigram Rural University, Dindigul, Tamil nadu, India. KEYWORD: Wind Turbine, Solar cell, Wind speed, Air density, Irradiation, Temperature.

- by mari muthu
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- Wind Energy, Life Cycle Assessment, Wind Energy (Engineering), Wind Power

Modern lifestyles have popularised the use of food containers, also known as food savers or Tupperware. However, their environmental impacts are currently unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper presents the first comprehensive assessment of the life cycle environmental sustainability of reusable plastic and glass food savers and evaluates different options for improvements, focusing on European conditions. Taking a cradle-to-grave approach, the paper considers twelve environmental impacts, including global warming potential (GWP), acidification, eutrophication, human and ecotoxicities. The results suggest that, for example, the total GWP of using both types of food saver in the European Union (EU) amounts to 653 kt CO2 eq./year, equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Bermuda. The use stage is the main contributor to the impacts (>40%), related to the washing of containers. Glass food savers have 12%–64% higher impacts than the plastic and should have up to 3.5 times greater lifespan to match the environmental footprint of plastic containers. Three improvement scenarios have been considered at the EU level for the year 2020: low-carbon electricity mix; implementation of the EU eco-design regulation for dishwashers; and adoption of more resource-efficient hand dishwashing techniques. The results suggest that the implementation of all three improvement options would reduce the impacts by 12%–47%. The option with the greatest potential for reducing the impacts (12%–27%) is improved hand dishwashing to reduce the amount of water, energy and detergents used. Thus, policy makers and manufacturers should devise strategies to raise awareness and guide consumers in adopting these techniques with the aim of reducing the environmental impacts associated with reusable food savers used by millions of people worldwide.

The Circular Economy introduced new research challenges to be faced. Linear and circular supply chain comparisons require general methodologies to obtain significant and scalable results. A two-step methodology is here proposed to facilitate the interpretation of results during a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Firstly, an LCA analysis has been conducted on four single-use-Polypropylene (PP), Poly-lactic acid (PLA), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and Cardboard+Polyethylene coat-and reusable-PP, PLA, PET, and glass-cups. Secondly, the analyzed midpoint impact categories have been ag-gregated into the three main life cycle phases: production, use and EoL. Then, they have been used to assess the environmental break-even point (BEP), i.e. the minimum number of uses necessary for a reusable cup to be preferable than a single-use cup, considering two End of Life (energy recovery, and recycling) and three use phase strategies (onsite handwashing, onsite and offsite washing). Considering offsite washing-transport distance of 20km and industrial washing machines-and energy recovery, findings highlight that reusable plastic cups reach a break-even point for climate change and non-renewable energy use for < 150, while single-use PP cups are the best option in terms of acidification, eutrophication, and water scarcity indicator. With respect to PP single-use cups, for acid-ification, eutrophication, and water scarcity indicator, a BEP cannot be achieved, even in the case of infinite reuses. Results evidenced all the conditions for reaching a BEP, allowing to identify possible strategies to improve the efficiency of reusable products and to obtain an environmental benefit.

- by Dario Cottafava and +3
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- Life Cycle Assessment, Plastics, Reuse, Circular Economy

Personal computing generates 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions created by the production, use and end of life treatment of devices such as desktop computers and notebooks. Consequently, legislation exists to encourage organisations to procure computers with a low total carbon footprint. The rationale being that both scope 2 use-phase and scope 3 supply chain emissions can be reduced in the long term to contribute to wider reaching abatement targets. However, research finds that current computer product carbon footprint information is both insufficiently available and inconsistent to enable such a strategy. Further research determines barriers including associated incremental cost and perceived impact also prevent the diffusion of sustainable computing strategies. As such, the case study objective is to examine the impact of overcoming such limitations and barriers within an organisation subject to both the new legislation and a holistic climate emergency. By doing so the research question, 'Can meaningful representation of end user computing carbon footprint data drive human behavioural changes to abate greenhouse gas emissions?' is answered. Conducted over 3-years using newly developed methodologies, end user computer related emissions are quantified within a Greater London Council. Presented in a format reflecting the triple bottom line of corporate and social responsibility accounting, values for planet, people and profit are defined using standard emissions units, environmental equivalents, a per capita ratio and monetary savings. Subsequent behavioural changes driven by access to the new information are fourfold. Firstly, adoption of low energy devices reduces annual scope 2 emissions by 15,841 kgCO2e. Secondly, extended device retention periods displaces 515,190 kgCO2e of supply chain emissions. Thirdly, a new technology enabled remote working scheme is justified and adopted, avoiding 4,516,584 kgCO2e of commuting emissions. Finally, new computer procurement assessment practices are adopted to ensure ongoing abatement is maximised and compliance with legislation exceeded. Consequently, the council responds to the climate emergency strategy via the newly proven sustainable end user computing strategy by reducing energy consumption, waste and contributing to sustainable transport. In total, related emissions are reduced by 39% per year whilst saving £228,418 annually. As such, it is proven that the barriers of cost and perceived impact are surmountable and significant emissions abatement achievable when presented with meaningful information that drives behavioural change.

Resource recovery solutions are an essential part of a sustainable water sector. Sustainability of these solutions needs to be analysed to assess, compare and optimize them. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is the most commonly used framework for sustainability assessment. This review paper discusses three critical characteristics
of water sector resource recovery solutions: (i) their potential to actively benefit natural processes through reciprocal services, (ii) their dependence upon natural resources and processes, and (iii) their goal to
avoid transgression of environmental thresholds. We analyse these three characteristics in the context of the following features of LCSA: (i) it being a damage assessment-based framework, (ii) its treatment of economic and natural capital as substitutable and (iii) the absence of environmental thresholds and past emissions in its environmental assessment methodology. We use a real-life resource recovery case study from the Netherlands to evaluate and demonstrate the mentioned features of the existing LCSA framework. Our review indicates that,
LCSA can be modified for application to resource recovery solutions if it includes reciprocity towards nature as an essential component, limits compensations between economic welfare and environmental damage, and incorporates environmental thresholds and past emissions.

- by Jan Peter Hoek and +1
- •
- Industrial Ecology, Water, Water Management, Circular Economy

This review assesses the state-of-the-art in comparative Life Cycle Assessment of fossil-based and bio-based polymers. Published assessments are critically reviewed and compared to the European Union Product Environmental Footprint (EU PEF) standards. No published articles were found to fully meet the standards, but the critical review method was used to classify the articles by their level of compliance. 25 articles partially met the PEF standards, giving 39 fossil-based and 50 bio-based polymer case results. Ultimately, it was possible to compare seven bio-based polymers and seven fossil-based polymers across seven impact categories (energy use, ecotoxicity, acidification, eutrophication, climate change, particulate matter formation and ozone depletion). Significant variation was found between polymer types and between fossil-based and bio-based polymers, meaning it was not possible to conclusively declare any polymer type as having the least environmental impact in any category. Significant variation was also seen between different studies of the same polymer, for both fossil-based and bio-based polymers. In some cases this variation was of the order of 400%. Results suggest that a large part of this variation is related to the Life Cycle Assessment methodologies applied, particularly in the end-of-life treatment, the use of credits for absorbed Carbon Dioxide, and the allocation of multifunctional process impacts. The feedstock source and processing method assumed for bio-based polymers was also a major sources of variation. The challenges of Life Cycle Assessment, particularly in a complex, geographically diverse and young industry like bio-based polymers, are recognised. It is proposed that the PEF standards should be adopted more widely in order to homogenise the methods used and allow meaningful comparison between LCA studies on fossil-based and bio-based polymers, and between studies of the same polymers.

- by Stuart Walker
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- Life Cycle Assessment, Bioplastics, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

Rice husk is one of the alternative fuels for Thailand because of its high potential and environmental benefits. Nonetheless, the environmental profile of the electricity production from rice husk must be assessed to ensure reduced environmental damage. A 10 MW pilot plant using rice husk as feedstock is the study site. The environmental impacts from rice husk power plant are evaluated by using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. Energy, material and carbon balances have been determined for tracing the system flow. Carbon closure has been used for describing of the net amount of CO2 released from the system in relation to the amount being recycled between the power plant and the CO2 adsorbed by rice husk. The transportation of rice husk to the power plant has significant on global warming, but not on acidification and photo-oxidant formation. The results showed that the impact potentials from rice husk power plant are lesser than the conventional plants for most of the cate...

- by SUTHUM PATUMSAWAD
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- Renewable Energy, Fossil Fuels, Environmental Impact, Rice Husk

This study evaluates the potential of carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without compromising oil production goals. A novel, dynamic carbon lifecycle analysis (d-LCA) was developed and used to understand the evolution of the environmental impact (CO2 emissions) and mitigation (geologic CO2 storage) associated with an expanded carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) system, from start to closure of operations. EOR operational performance was assessed through CO2 utilization rates, which relate usage of CO2 to oil production. Because field operational strategies have a significant impact on reservoir engineering parameters that affect both CO2 storage and oil production (e.g., sweep efficiency, flood conformance, fluid saturation distribution), we conducted a scenario analysis that assessed the operational and environmental performance of four common and novel CO2-EOR field
development strategies. Each scenario was evaluated with and without stacked saline carbon storage, an EOR/storage combination strategy where excess CO2 from the recycling facility is injected into an
underlying saline aquifer for long-term carbon storage. The dynamic interplay between operational and environmental performance formed the basis of our CCUS technology analysis. The results showed that all CO2-EOR evaluated scenarios start operating with a negative carbon footprint and, years into the project, transitioned into operating with a positive carbon footprint. The transition points were significantly different in each scenario. Water-alternating-gas (WAG) was identified as the CO2 injection strategy with the highest potential to co-optimize EOR and carbon storage goals. The results provide an understanding of the evolution of the system’s net carbon balance in all four field development strategies studied. The environmental performance can be significantly improved with stacked storage, where a negative carbon footprint can be maintained throughout the life of the operation in most of the injection scenarios modeled. This information will be useful to CO2-EOR operators seeking value in storing more CO2 through a carbon credit program (e.g., the 45Q carbon credit program in the USA). Most importantly, this study serves as confirmation that CO2-EOR can be operationally designed to both enhance oil production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

- by Vanessa Nunez-Lopez
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- Enhanced Oil Recovery, CCS, Energy transition, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

This article will put the “smart city” hype in perspective and compare it to its antithesis: the ecovillage.

- by Gibran Vita
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- Industrial Ecology, Systems Thinking, Urban Design, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

Within this work, life cycle assessment modeling is used to determine top design priorities and quantitatively inform sustainable design decision-making for a prefabricated modular building. A case-study life-cycle assessment was performed for a 5,000 ft2 prefabricated commercial building constructed in San Francisco, California, and scenario analysis was run examining the life cycle environmental impacts of various energy and material design substitutions, and a structural design change. Results show that even for a highly energy-efficient modular building, the top design priority is still minimizing operational energy impacts, since this strongly dominates the building life cycle's environmental impacts. However, as an energy-efficient building approaches net zero energy, manufacturing-phase impacts are dominant, and a new set of design priorities emerges. Transportation and end-of-life disposal impacts were of low to negligible importance in both cases.

and sharing with colleagues.

- by Ilan Zugman
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- Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

This paper presents a green engineering plan for using PET(polyethylene terephthalate)as opposed to the traditional used PC (polycarbonate)for packaged drinking water with a prime focus on the environmental impacts and sustainability. It presents a comprehensive material selection process for choosing the PET bottles, justifying the reasoning for choosing them over the more often used PC bottles. Furthermore, the paper also presents a product life cycle for the PET bottles with a detailed life cycle assessment analysis using life cycle assessment software i.e., openLCA software. With the help of LCA software the environmental impacts of both form of the bottles is analyzed and compared concluding that PET bottles are by far more eco-friendly and are therefore the future of plastic packaging. Keywords: environmental impact, sustainability, pet, pc, life cycle assessment

The environmental sustainability of an organic and a conventional lettuce cultivation system, situated at Northern Greece, was investigated. Data from all stages (i.e. irrigation, machinery used, and fertilizing) of lettuce cultivation were collected and their sustainability was assessed by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Two different functional units, namely per hectare of cultivation and per ton of lettuce produced, were used and the environmental impacts, on mid and endpoint level, and CO2 emissions were estimated by means of the SimaPro 8 LCA software. It was found that the environmental footprint and the CO2 emissions were lower by 11% and 15%, respectively, for organic than for the conventional lettuce cultivation, when sustainability was assessed per area (ha) of cultivation. On the contrary, conventional lettuce cultivation showed a better environmental performance than organic by 51% and 53% in terms of CO2 emissions and total environmental impacts, respectively, when the amount of lettuce produced is used as the functional unit of calculations. This is attributed to the fact that the organic system, due to its lower crop yields, requires significantly larger cultivation area to achieve the same crop production with conventional. Moreover, it was found that in all cases the irrigation stage primarily contributed to most impact categories, due to its high energy demands for ground water pumping and the fossil-dependent Greek electricity grid. In addition, in all cases the conventional lettuce cultivation system yielded a significantly high impact onto freshwater eutrophication, due to the use of chemical fertilizers, thus posing serious stresses on local freshwater ecosystems. A sensitivity analysis was carried out and alternative, more sustainable, scenarios were proposed.

El Análisis de Ciclo de Vida de materiales de construcción locales, contribuye a la elaboración de bases de datos, donde se muestre y cuantifique el impacto ambiental de los procesos necesarios para la fabricación, uso y descarte de cada material; siendo una herramienta de apoyo en la toma de decisiones de diseño enfocadas hacia una arquitectura y procesos constructivos más sostenibles. El presente trabajo muestra un estudio de Inventario de Ciclo de Vida realizado en una empresa del noroccidente de Pichincha sobre el proceso productivo de tallos de bambú Dendrocalamus asper tratado, comercializados principalmente para su aplicación como estructura en edificaciones. El método fue desarrollado conforme los procedimientos indicados en la norma ISO 14042. Los resultados indican los factores de mayor impacto ambiental durante el proceso, en este caso el combustible usado para el transporte del producto. Abstract: Life Cycle Assessment of local building materials contributes to the devel...

- by Myrian Larco
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- Construction Materials, Eidos, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ), Bamboo plantations

Sustainable development policies are often on the agenda as global warming and resource depletion problems are increasing. The construction sector is one of the focal points of these studies with high environmental burdens. Many building materials, methods and tools are used together during the construction process. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method has been developed in order to determine the environmental load of these inputs. As a result of LCA studies, the load of components or processes on the environment can be calculated and critical points can be determined. In this study, the sustainability of construction materials have researched by books, post graduate theses and articles around the world but especially in Turkey and summarised with a table. Yapı Malzemelerinin Yaşam Döngü Değerlendirmesi: Literatür Taraması ÖZET Küresel ısınma ve kaynakların tükenmesi problemlerinin artması sebebiyle sürdürülebilir kalkınma politikaları sıklıkla gündeme gelmektedir. İnşaat sektörü ise ortaya çıkardığı yüksek çevresel yüklerle bu çalışmaların odaklarından biridir. Yapının ortaya çıkması sürecinde pek çok inşaat malzemesi, yöntemi ve aracı bir arada kullanılmaktadır. Bu girdilerin çevresel yüklerinin ortaya çıkartılabilmesi amacıyla Yaşam Döngü Değerlendirmesi (YDD) yöntemi geliştirilmiştir. YDD çalışmalarının sonucunda bileşenlerin veya süreçlerin çevreye verdiği yükler hesaplanabilmekte, kritik noktalar tespit edilebilmektedir. Bu çalışmada inşaat malzemelerinin sürdürülebilirlikleri ve YDD'lerinin ve Dünya'daki özellikle Türkiye'deki kitaplar, lisans üstü tezler ve makaleler üzerinden kaynak incelemesi yapılmış ve tablo halinde özetlenmiştir.

- by HAKAN ARSLAN and +1
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- Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

The environmental impacts of two 3D printers were compared to a traditional CNC milling machine to determine which method is the most sustainable for general prototyping, or if such a statement can even be made. A life-cycle assessment was performed, comparing a Haas VF0 CNC mill to a Dimension 1200BST FDM and an Objet Connex 350 “inkjet” / “polyjet”. The functional unit was the manufacture of two specific parts in ABS plastic or similar polymer required by the machines. Several scenarios were considered, all scored using the ReCiPe Endpoint H and IMPACT 2002+ methodologies. Results showed the sustainability of additive manufacturing and CNC machining depends primarily on the percent utilization of each machine; this determines environmental impacts more than which machine is used. For both 3D printers, electricity use is always the dominant impact, but for CNC at maximum utilization, material waste became dominant. At both high and low utilization, the FDM machine had the lowest ecological impacts per part for similar utilization. The inkjet machine sometimes performed better and sometimes worse than CNC, depending on process parameters.

This study applied the Monte Carlo method to generate probabilistic distributions for describing the CO 2 footprint of the superstructure of a high-rise concrete office building. The distribution profile was constructed with the material use data collected from thirteen high-rise office concrete buildings in Hong Kong. Our results indicate that the superstructure of an office building (i.e. it does not embrace foundation or basement), on average, had a footprint of 215.1 kg CO 2 /m 2 . External walls and upper floor construction had the highest CO 2 footprint, followed by suspended ceilings and finishes. These three elements altogether accounted for an average of 84.2% of the CO 2 footprint associated with the superstructure. Furthermore, this study also evaluated the emissions reduction impacts of five different material use options over a 60-year lifespan. Among all the studied options, the most effective option is to maintain 15-30% of the existing structural and non-structural building elements as it can reduce the CO 2 footprint by 17.3%. Diverting construction wastes to recycling can reduce the CO 2 footprint by 5.9%. Reusing resources and importing regional materials can each only reduce the CO 2 footprint by 3.2% and 3.1% respectively. In contrast, the CO 2 footprint will be increased by 5% if off-site fabricated materials are used in facades, slabs and partition walls.

- by Jackie ng
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- Environmental Sustainability, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) are the building blocks of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and hence calculating the impacts on environment. Being the world’s most used man made material, concrete deserves the due attention when it comes to the associated environmental impacts and the fact that technology, fuel and electricity mix, production method and source of raw materials are highly variable makes it further significant to have Life Cycle Inventories (LCI) according the region of production and Australia is no exception. Currently, the LCI data used in Australia comes from a range of sources including European database, ecoinvent, and Australasian database from 2005, BPIC database from 2011. This paper compares the new data to earlier data sources in terms of different indicator results and the ability of the data to meet different concrete specifications. The results show that the GHG profile of cement and concrete do not vary substantially between different datasets, the other indicator results shown substantial variation. The study also shows that the provision of a limited number of concrete designs could lead to substantial errors is these are used to represent all concrete mixes.

- by Bharat Sharma
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- Sustainable agriculture, Food Packaging, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

As wine supply chains become increasingly globalized, sustainability issues take on ever greater importance. This is the first study to analyse the environmental sustainability aspect of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a global wine supply chain perspective, covering just over 90% of Finland's wine imports. Lacking substantial domestic production capacity, virtually all wine consumed in Finland is imported. Finland is comparable to its Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Norway, in this respect. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was combined with sensitivity and scenario analyses to investigate GHG emissions implications from prospective policy changes. Our results spotlight differences related to wine production in the eight main wine producing countries for the Finnish market (Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, and the United States), related logistics, and all packaging types for wine used in Finland (glass bottle, Bag-in-Box, PET bottle, beverage carton, and pouch). We found an average value of 1.23 kg CO 2 e for 0.75 L wine consumed in Finland, ranging from 0.59 kg CO 2 e for French wine in a bag-in-box packaging to 1.92 kg CO 2 e for Australian wine in a glass bottle. After identifying the main GHG emission hotspots in the wine supply chain, our scenario analyses highlight the effects of reducing glass bottle weight, moving away from glass packaging toward bag-in-box, increasing bulk wine export volumes to Finland, and following the European Commission's Energy 2020 strategy which targets increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent.

- by Bodo Steiner and +1
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- Environmental Management, Environmental Sustainability, Business Management, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

The article shows the comparative studies in waste management between High income countries and low income countries. It shows increase in waste generation as well as the steps taken by the governing agencies for solid waste management. It discusses the variation in waste generation caused by: Climate, seasonal variation, cultural, religious differences, industrial development as well as economical development.
As per the present scenario in low and high income countries Europe ( Hoorweg and bhada, 1999) is considered to be high income group and Asia is compared to be in low or middle income country where the there is a need to upgrade the disposal, transportation and recycling process. There is a need of implementing new procedures in low income countries.
This finally summarises the waste management strategies in different economical situation countries to improve the latest global trends which have likely positive effect and controlling the growth of trend in waste arising for different income countries.

- by Srujith Kumar
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- Quantity Surveying, Environmental Management, Construction, Waste Management

Nachhaltiges Bauen mit Holz - Zusammenfassung der Stärken des Baustoffes Holz unter ökologischen Aspekten.

Making a plastic bottle is not the problem, making a plastic bottle with no or minimal damage to the environment is.
Plastic is a substance of infinite shapes, of infinite uses, of infinite possibilities, but also of infinite time. There are 5 major stages involved in the life-cycle of the plastic bottler; raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, product use and disposal and recycling.
The raw materials after when they are extracted go to a manufacturer which then takes everything and makes them into plastic pellets. These pellets are shrunk using heat and pressure and they reshape those pieces of plastics to a stable structured container.
The sheer magnitude of plastic bottle production and its growth rate, contrasted by a worrying inability to dispose of it efficiently, has experts raising the alarm. Despite the growing span of knowledge regarding this biohazard, the world can’t seem to stop demanding it. Growing dependency on the product by populations is raising concern about the future of the world’s ecosystems and the health of emerging economies. There is no other material that has transcends all nations, all modern economies, and all social classes notwithstanding their wealth or way of life in the same manner as plastic has done is continuing to do.

- by Ali Moro
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- Environmental Science, Environmental Education, Environmental Management, Plastic

Within developing countries, wastewater treatment (WWT) has improved in recent years but remains a
high priority sustainability challenge. Accordingly, life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have recently
started to analyse the environmental impacts of WWT technologies on the specific context of less
developed countries, mainly in China and India. This work presents a comprehensive review of this
knowledge with the aim of critically analysing the main conclusions, gaps and challenges for future
WWT-related LCAs in developing countries. The most commonly assessed technologies in the 43
reviewed articles are different variations of activated sludge and extensive treatments applied in
decentralized systems; however, studies focused on advanced technologies or new sources of pollution
(e.g. micropollutants) are still lacking. Goal and system boundaries are normally clearly defined, but
significant stages for some technologies such as the construction and sludge management are frequently
not included and functional units should be defined accordingly to specific conditions in developing
countries. At the inventory level, a more concise description of sources and technical parameters would
greatly improve the quality of the LCAs along with accountability of direct greenhouse gas emissions.
Eutrophication and global warming are the two most commonly assessed impacts; however, the
calculation of terrestrial ecotoxicity when the sludge is used for agricultural purposes, of water use and of
the land use change impacts associated to extensive technologies should be encouraged. The estimation
of more site-specific databases, characterization factors (especially for eutrophication) or normalization
and weighting values combined with more affordable access to background databases and LCA software,
would deeply increase the accuracy of WWT-related LCAs in developing countries. An increased usage of
the uncertainty analysis should be encouraged to assess the influence of these gaps in the final interpretation of the results. The review finishes with a summary of the main challenges and research gaps
identified and with specific guidelines for future researchers to avoid the most common shortcomings
found in the reviewed studies.

Energy efficiency of vacuum cleaners has been declining over the past decades while at the same time their number in Europe has been increasing. The European Commission has recently adopted an eco-design regulation to improve the environmental performance of vacuum cleaners. In addition to the existing directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), the regulation could potentially have significant effects on the environmental performance of vacuum cleaners. However, the scale of the effects is currently unknown, beyond scant information on greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, this paper considers for the first time life cycle environmental impacts of vacuum cleaners and the effects of the implementation of these regulations at the European level. The effects of electricity decarbonisation, product lifetime and end-of-life disposal options are also considered. The results suggest that the implementation of the eco-design regulation alone will reduce significantly the impacts from vacuum cleaners (37%-44%) by 2020 compared with current situation. If business as usual continued and the regulation was not implemented, the impacts would be 82%-109% higher by 2020 compared to the impacts with the implementation of the regulation. Improvements associated with the implementation of the WEEE directive will be much smaller (<1% in 2020). However, if the WEEE directive did not exist, then the impacts would be 2%-21% higher by 2020 relative to the impacts with the implementation of the directive. Further improvements in most impacts (6%-20%) could be achieved by decarbonising the electricity mix. Therefore, energy efficiency measures must be accompanied by appropriate actions to reduce the environmental impacts of electricity generation; otherwise, the benefits of improved energy efficiency could be limited. Moreover, because of expected lower life expectancy of vacuum cleaners and limited availability of some raw materials, the eco-design regulation should be broadened to reduce the impacts from raw materials, production and end-of-life management.

RESUMEN Este trabajo se propone analizar los impactos socio-ambientales que se producen por la explotación del litio en la Puna Jujeña desde la obtención de la salmuera de litio en los salares hasta que se obtiene el carbonato de litio una vez transformada en las plantas de procesamiento y también reflexionar sobre la probidad de las herramientas utilizadas para evaluar dichos impactos, en particular " el análisis del ciclo de vida ". Este documento analizó el ciclo de vida del concentrado de litio y sus derivados a partir de datos pertenecientes al Salar de Atacama en Chile. También se comenta un estudio aplicado a las baterías destinadas a los coches eléctricos. Se hace notar que no se tienen en cuenta debidamente los efectos del uso de agua ni los que se provocan sobre las economías de tipo social que funcionan en estos territorios. ABSTRACT This paper explores social and environmental impacts in Puna Jujuy in Argentine produced from lithium brine until obtaining lithium carbonate once transformed into processing plants and if instruments used are good to evaluate impacts, in particular, analyzes the " life cycle analisis ". This paper presents the life cycle of lithium concentrate and other products from data belonging to the Salar de Atacama in Chile. Also uses a case study __ in Li. ion batteries __ and argues that water and social impacts are not taken in account as it should. Palabras clave: ciclo de vida, litio, carbonato de litio, impactos ambientales y sociales, agua.

- by Alejandra Sorolla
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- Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA )

Analysing the status of bamboo resources, available processing technologies and highlighting specific contribution of the bamboo sector in India, this paper suggests strategies to unlock the untapped potential of the bamboo sector in national development, and in fulfilling India’s Climate Change commitments.
The recommendations include:
(i) Establishing a dedicated statutory body — Bamboo Development Board — for strategic planning and integrated efforts;
(ii) Detailed, species-wise survey of bamboo resource in forests and private lands;
(iii) Identifying the most suitable industry-specific bamboo processing zones to promote circular economy in bamboo utilization;
(iv) Redefining bamboo forest management prescriptions with the aim to produce appropriate raw materials for different end products, with the introduction of other local/preferred species;
(v) Diagnostic study of the operational status of CFCs and industries already set up;
(vi) Awareness programs for engineers and architects, as well as designers and manufacturers with a focus on housing construction, furniture, transport, food, renewable energy, air/water purification;
(vii) Certification of selected bamboo forests and plantations to augment exports.

- by Arun Bansal
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- Sustainable Livelihoods, Bamboo Composites, Certification, Bamboo construction