Cleaner Environmental Systems最新文献

The growing importance of green building practices in addressing environmental concerns, with a focus on energy efficiency, resource conservation, and occupant well-being, necessitates innovative solutions. Building Information Modeling (BIM), a sophisticated digital platform facilitating real-time collaboration and construction process visualization, emerges as a promising tool to enhance efficiency in construction projects. This study explores the role of BIM in advancing sustainability in smaller-scale construction projects. The methodology encompasses a comprehensive literature review and a quantitative analysis, including Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), with a case study centered in Perak, Malaysia. The research aims to assess the impact of BIM on resource efficiency, energy performance, waste reduction, and collaborative decision-making in small-scale green buildings. The findings reveal significant positive correlations between BIM adoption and early-stage design optimization, energy efficiency analysis, material selection, life cycle assessment, waste reduction, and prefabrication. This study underscores the vital role of integrating BIM in smaller-scale construction to promote environmentally responsible practices and achieve sustainable outcomes. Future research avenues may explore strategies for optimized BIM integration and deeper insights into the financial aspects of BIM adoption.

Technologies are better evaluated as packages, i.e., bundles of adoption decisions, rather than a segregate adoption, given the preeminent effect of the combinations on food and nutrition security, productivity, and other welfare outcomes. This study therefore assessed the effect of organic and inorganic soil fertility management technologies on net revenue and Nutrition security of smallholder farmers in Southwest Ethiopia. A multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) model, which captures both self-selection bias and the interactions between choices of alternative packages, was applied for this study since farmers’ adoption decisions are likely influenced by unobservable characteristics that may be correlated with the outcomes of interest. The investigation result revealed that, from the three adoption combinations of organic and inorganic soil fertility management technologies, joint adoption of the two technology groups was found to have a significant effect on both net revenue and Nutrition security simultaneously. Unlikely, the isolated adoption of the two soil fertility management technologies may not result in an intended nutrition security outcome. Thus, for the simultaneous improvement in net revenue and nutrition security, the study recommends concentrating on the joint practice of the two organic and inorganic soil fertility management technologies.

The Twin Transition is gaining increasing relevance in the manufacturing sector as it strives to implement and exploit digital technologies to improve the Environmental Sustainability of companies. This topic holds particular relevance in the Cosmetic Industry. However, cosmetics companies, especially Small and Medium Enterprises, encounter challenges in effectively implementing digital technologies. This results in a substantial gap between the theoretical potential of the Twin Transition and the practical implementations. To fill the gap, a key role might be played by assessment and roadmapping tools that provide companies with the help and support they need. In this contribution a novel assessment and roadmapping tool is proposed. The employed methodology combines a systematic literature review with Action research approach. The proposed tool is called the Twin Transition Cosmetic Roadmapping Tool. It supports enterprises in the assessment of their current level of Twin Transition based on which a roadmap for improvement is framed. It is the first Twin Transition roadmapping tool specific for cosmetics industry. Furthermore, it encompasses all the mechanisms by which Twin Transition can be achieved throughout the entire product life cycle. The paper concludes with an application of the tool in an industrial case study, presenting and discussing the results.

Free trade has made developed economies transfer a great deal of energy-intensive industries to developing economies, which induces more energy consumption in developing economies. The global spread of COVID-19 has led to trade protectionism that directly undermine the international free trade system. This paper is aimed to explore how trade protectionist measures affect global embodied energy flows, taking the case for 43 typical economies. Firstly, we combine the multi-regional input-output analysis and scenario analysis to construct an accounting framework of embodied energy consumption under free trade and restricted trade scenarios. The impact of trade protection on 43 economies' energy flows is discussed from the perspective of industrial sectors and disaggregated value chain links. Secondly, the role of technology, structure and scale factors in the protection's impact on embodied energy consumption is discussed based on structural decomposition analysis. The results indicate that under the scenario of trade-free, global energy consumption is 3880.91 million tons of oil equivalent. Under the scenario of trade-restricted, global energy consumption is 4435.56 million tons of oil equivalent, and global trade protection measures would increase global energy consumption by 554.65 million tons of oil equivalent. Trade of final products, trade of last-stage intermediate products and trade of other-stage intermediate products of the value chain contributed 42.7%, 40.5% and 16.8%, respectively, with the manufacturing industry facing the biggest impact. For emerging developing economies, such as China and Russia, their domestic energy consumption would decrease by 193.52 and 163.74 million tons of oil equivalent due to export tightening, respectively, while for developed economies, trade protection would result in an increase of 343.31 million tons of oil equivalent in EU countries. In addition, structural change and scale growth are the main factors that promote energy consumption growth under the trade restriction scenario, making it increase by 66% and 21% respectively.

The current tools that allow the application of precision agriculture in livestock systems are undergoing growing diffusion. Given the significant share of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the livestock sector, this study investigates the potential contribution of precision agriculture technologies to animal farming sustainability, particularly when considering alternative energy sources.

The research compared two intensive dairy farms in the upper Po Valley (conventional farm - CF - and precision agriculture farm - PAF) using the life cycle assessment approach, considering as declared unit 1 kg of fat protein corrected milk, and aiming to (i) assess the main environmental impact categories for precision and conventional farming; (ii) compare different allocation modes (reference, mass, economic). In the reference mode all the burdens and all the environmental impacts of the farming system are allocated to the main product, which is the milk. The chosen impact categories were: global warming potential, acidification and eutrophication potentials, non-renewable energy, agricultural land occupation and fossil depletion.

Based on the results, in the case of reference allocation, PAF impacts are lower than those from CF for all the impact categories except for global warming potential. When considering mass and economic allocations, the impacts of PAF and CF show the same behaviour for the various impact categories; however, the calculated equivalents place PAF at an increased sustainability level than CF.

Therefore, precision agriculture technologies in animal farming are viable cues for the sustainability of the zootechnical sector and are worth being deepened in future studies focusing on the outcomes of zootechnical automation.

Hungary is currently in the early stage of its sustainable development endeavours, with notable strides being made since 2022. The study explores the attitudes of the Hungarian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs). To achieve this, a two-fold methodology is employed. Firstly, the study utilizes the literature research and the Eurostat database to assess the country's SDG indicators. Secondly, an SME questionnaire is designed to gather relevant information regarding the connected organizational attitudes. To visually illustrate the relevance and the presence of SDGs within Hungarian SMEs, an SDG relevance-presence map is developed, to serve as a crucial milestone for formulating strategies centred around sustainable development in this sector. Based on the results, the SDGs in the operation of SMEs are classified into three groups, which categorization can be clearly connected to the three-pillar model. The research not only elucidates the primary associations, but also provides valuable insights to both policy makers and the Hungarian government. Furthermore, these insights shed light on the elements within which concentrated efforts could yield the greatest improvements for the country. Despite the fact that our research was centred on Hungary, the study underscores the broader applicability of our findings.

Consumers are increasingly interested in knowing the environmental impacts of foods. In addition, producers are interested in receiving recommendations to reduce their impacts. This faces two major challenges: (1) certain systems are not widely studied and (2) not all production stages are included in system boundaries (e.g. only the agricultural stage or the supply chain). Life Cycle Assessment was applied to a specific small-scale and low-input organic apple value chain. The system boundaries included the cultivation, processing and distribution. All transport and waste management were considered. The main contributors to environmental impacts are: cultivation, juice and applesauce production, retail and consumption. Compared to literature, cultivation is efficient. Processing and retail are respectively influenced by the use of glass packaging, the cold storage of fresh apples and the transport to stores. Consumption was influenced by the management of apple waste and the consumer trip. Literature survey and results confirm that the system was not represented in the literature and provides new insights into the entire value chain, as well as new proxy LCIs. Similar specific studies should be repeated in the future to cover the variability. It is an essential step towards applying the environmental footprint fairly to alternative systems.