Sustainable Production and Consumption最新文献

Intensive dairy farming (IDF) is crucial for achieving the second Sustainable Development Goal due to its superior milk production efficiency. However, IDF heavily relies on external inputs to increase productivity; this practice simultaneously increases environmental pollution, thereby posing significant challenges to its sustainability. This study conducted a comparative analysis of the environmental and economic sustainability of general-IDF, moderate-IDF, high-IDF, and traditional dairy farming (TDF) in China using a comprehensive method that integrates cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment and life cycle costing. Results showed that among the three IDF scenarios, high-IDF had the lowest external costs, and general-IDF had the lowest internal and total costs. Compared with TDF, IDF demonstrated poorer comprehensive environmental and economic performance, attributed to an increase in roughage expenditure ranging from 28.47 % to 116.73 %. In addition, the output value per ton of milk from IDF was $95.61 to $116.12 less than the total costs, implying the unsustainability of IDF from an integrated environmental and economic perspective. The global warming was the largest environmental impact category for dairy farming, contributing approximately 55 % to the total external costs. Feed dominated the environmental and economic burden with the proportion of approximately 50 % and 60 %, respectively. Key measures to achieve sustainability of IDF were to optimize feed production and consumption, with recommendations for improving feed efficiency and using cow manure as fertilizer. Adjusting the structure and layout of IDF in accordance with the social environment can also enhance the productivity and environmental and economic sustainability of IDF in China.

Society asks engineers and designers, though sustainability targets, to be highly concerned with socio-technical and environmental consequences generated by the technology they develop and deploy in society. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a methodology can be a tool for assessing the sustainability of technological change of scale, however, the diversity of LCA approaches hinders their adoption by engineers, including LCA practitioners in product design teams.

Therefore, clarifying LCA approaches available in the literature is necessary to deal with the environmental assessment of emerging technology upscaling. To this end, this research paper carries out a literature review of LCA practices and characterises them with conceptual and operational characteristics. This characterization provided the basis for matching the available LCA approaches with the different facets (also known as archetypes) of a technology upscaling to be environmentally assessed, based on their common characteristics.

This literature review produced three main results: first, fifteen LCA modes are characterized by definition, addressed questions, studied objects, the expertise required, scope specificities, and structuring references. Second, guidelines have been extracted from selected case studies or reviews from different engineering fields (e.g. chemistry, energy, transport). This constitutes a generic LCA framework to environmentally assess each upscaling archetype. Third, the LCA references are ranked by the related engineering fields. Finally, the challenges of extending these three results are discussed, especially concerning the emergence of new LCA modes in reaction to specific needs for environmental assessments (e.g. transition LCA) and in an eco-design perspective based on environmental upscaling assessment.

This work paves the way for two kinds of further research: first, to refine theoretical and practical LCA modes compatibility based on developments by LCA experts. Second, to produce operational guidelines for engineers and designers practicing LCA to transfer ongoing and future LCA developments. This would bring comprehensiveness to the environmental assessment of emerging technology upscaling and a sustainability vision of technology development and production.

Water resources are a critical component of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, making it vital to examine the pressures on WEF systems from a water resource perspective. However, few studies have examined how international trade can cause water stress on local WEF systems. This study begins by compiling an inventory of water use within the WEF system, and further employs Multi-Regional Input-Output model and structural decomposition analysis to analyze the water usage in each country's WEF system driven by global consumption, the associated risk contributions, and the underlying drivers. The findings indicate that demand from Brazil, China, the United States, and Russia significantly increased water stress on the WEF system from 2010 to 2020. In most countries, external consumption contributes <20 % to WEF water risks. However, in countries where the external water risk contribution exceeds 20 % and overall water risk is lower, this external risk is often dominated by the electric energy sector. The study also shows that water stress induced by China, Germany, Japan, and the United States has a more diffuse impact on food systems in water-scarce countries compared to energy systems. In major consuming nations like China and the United States, the increase in global WEF water stress is primarily driven by rising domestic demand. Conversely, in developed countries such as Germany and Japan, changes in foreign production structures heighten the water stress on the global WEF system. This study identifies the primary modes of water stress transmission in global trade and explores potential mitigation strategies. Implementing local water-saving measures in countries with high water scarcity risks, supported by developed countries along the supply chain, is crucial for the integrated utilization of water resources and the sustainable provision and production of essential resources.

Achieving low carbon emissions in the aluminum industry is greatly dependent on supply-side recycling, but recycling potential and benefits remain unclear. This study aims to explore proactively the long-term transition pathways for China's aluminum industry under the influence of multiple factors, by using top-down material flow analysis and Weibull distribution which quantifies aluminum stocks and flows across various sectors from 1978 to 2060 and then projects the recycling potential, energy conservation, and emission performance under 18 potential scenarios which accounts for social development, process changes, and production patterns to support sustainable pathways aligned with climate targets. The findings underscore the importance of transportation and infrastructure sectors, as well as demographic trends, in driving China's aluminum demand, with in-use stocks peaking between 2034 and 2045, contingent upon population dynamics. The increasing availability of scrap material necessitates enhanced recycling for sustainable resource utilization. Scenarios 6, 12, and 18 (durable products, a 5 % growth in secondary aluminum) show that secondary aluminum can fully meet China's needs, driven by high recycling rates that address supply challenges and yield substantial energy and carbon reduction. The optimal scenario 6 illustrates cumulative CO₂ mitigation of 21.28 Gt and power savings of 9.03 PWh by 2050, which could even support the _1.5DS-China target. The longevity of end-of-life products significantly impacts secondary supply proportions. The short-flow processes for secondary aluminum are essential to the industry's climate commitments.

The strong influence of biological processes and site conditions, the large diversity in management, compositional changes of agricultural produce, and the circularity of processes challenge the assessment of environmental impacts of the bioeconomy. This paper introduces a novel sustainability assessment and material flow model to study biological resource utilization impacts (BIORIM) which aims to address these challenges. The model represents important bioeconomic production systems (e.g. arable land, dairy farm, biogas plant) and considers input properties, production parameters such as site conditions or management, and different emission factors when calculating products and emissions. For this reason, the functions that represent the conversion processes need to be executed in the correct order when analysing larger production networks. The model keeps full track of mass, carbon and nitrogen flows, and therefore allows assessing how much is lost during processing, ending up in the produce and is recycled. The modelling approach is illustrated at the example of a dairy farm where dairy manure is used as an organic fertilizer for fodder crop production in the following year. This is compared to a scenario that includes a biogas plant. The comparison of manure storage to biogas production reveals that this change does not only affects direct emissions. Biogas production leads to higher carbon losses and thus negatively affects the humus balance. The manure storage, on the other hand, leads to higher nitrogen losses, which result in a lower fertilization value of the manure, and therefore a higher amount of mineral fertilizer is required in the following year. Together with the emission savings from the energy production, this results in a lower global warming effect of the biogas scenario. The study shows that it is important to consider the interplay of processes when assessing impacts of bioeconomic production systems.

Consequential Life Cycle Assessment (CLCA) can play an important role in providing insights for decision-makers regarding potential market-mediated resource/environmental consequences stemming from changes in product systems. However, the consistent application of CLCA encounters challenges due to the absence of common guidelines. This systematic review studied different sets of literature to develop a methodological framework for CLCA of plant protein extraction through fractionation, using Canada as an example. Given that economic models are integral components of CLCA, this systematic review offers a comprehensive survey of the economic models employed in 18 CLCA studies, shedding light on their respective strengths and weaknesses. Notably, the study identifies the use of both Computable General Equilibrium and Partial Equilibrium models for enabling the analysis of large-scale and long-term changes. The estimation of land use changes (both direct and indirect) is an integral part and economic models are instrumental in quantifying indirect land use changes. For characterizing the common modelling practices in the agri-food sector, 33 CLCA studies were reviewed to extract information on the decision context, time horizon, identification of marginal/substitutable markets, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, etc. ‘Increased supply’ and ‘increased demand’ are both found to be important decision contexts. It is a common practice to identify marginal markets based on assumptions, literature, and other sources along with employing economic models for some cases. However, economic models in the agri-food studies were used more often for estimating land use change impacts. To elaborate the case study of plant protein extraction (i.e., pea fractionation), some of the alternative uses of the co-products of pea fractionation processes as a basis for determining probable marginal markets were identified. Building upon these findings, the review culminates in the proposal of a detailed methodological framework for CLCA applied to pea fractionation, incorporating considerations of marginal markets that revolve around utilizing co-products like pea starch and pea fibre. Future research could focus on identifying marginal markets relevant to the Canadian landscape, thereby enhancing the applicability and relevance of CLCA within this region.

Low-carbon behaviour changes are essential for achieving the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius. Increasingly, it is recognised that such behaviour changes cause further effects in individuals' lifestyles, which are important to understand for the success of such low-carbon behaviour changes. Rebound effects can occur that undermine the carbon savings, and individual well-being can suffer leading to decreased acceptance of changes and undermine broader sustainability goals. This paper systematically and empirically maps what types of effects individuals experience with low-carbon lifestyle changes, what desirable effects are encouraged and how undesirable effects can be addressed and how undesirable effects can be addressed.

For this purpose, we adopted a qualitative research approach, conducting five workshops with a total of 84 participants across five EU countries (Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Spain, Sweden) who had changed their lifestyles by adopting significant low-carbon lifestyle options. In the workshops, the consequences of four low-carbon lifestyle changes – giving up (1) car ownership, (2) flying, (3) meat, or (4) living space – were explored using simplified cause-effect diagrams, personal written reflections and discussions in focus groups.

Our results point to the relevance of intrinsic motivation to explain the likelihood for rebounding as well as the other social effects of the behaviour change on the individual and household. Findings indicated a wide range of both negative and positive effects related to feelings and perceptions of individual freedom, mental and physical conditions, and social consequences. Intrinsically motivated individuals showed a high awareness of the problem of rebounding and appeared more able to cope with negative consequences in general and reduce them. Monetary savings from a behaviour change increase the likelihood for rebounding; however, citizens with higher environmental awareness reported re-spending on other low-carbon behaviours and technologies indicating positive spillover effects. Finally, we observed the strong supporting effects of social communities for individuals to manage the negative consequences of low-carbon behaviour changes.

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is an emerging climate change mitigation technology. At this early stage of development, there are still major uncertainties about the extent to which CCU can help mitigate climate change due economic and technological challenges. This study focuses on an additional complication in the development and deployment of CCU: how the public perceives its benefits, risks, and acceptability. In a nationally representative study of U.S. adults (N = 1200), we examined (1) overall support for CCU; (2) public expectations about CCU's effects on health, the economy, and climate change; and (3) whether perceptions vary depending on which aspects of CCU are discussed (general overview of CCU, proposed local facility, or using CCU-derived products). Using an oversample of Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian American participants (n = 471, total N = 1671), we also explored how beliefs differed across race/ethnicity and gender as well as the influence of psychological traits of environmentalist identity and aversion to tampering with nature. We found that the U.S. public had moderately positive views of CCU overall, with important nuances. First, people were less positive about CCU facilities in their home communities than they were about the idea of CCU in general or about products made with CCU. Second, people believed CCU would benefit the economy more than health or climate change. Third, individual differences in demographics and psychological traits matter for perceptions: (1) women were more wary of CCU than men, and (2) while White participants had more positive views about CCU the more they identified as environmentalists, the same was not always true for Hispanic or Black respondents. The study, thus, reveals the nuanced ways in which different American audiences may respond to CCU proposals.

The expansion of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) installations has precipitated a growing conflict for land resources between energy generation and agricultural production. Agrivoltaics, which integrate PV systems with crop production, have emerged as promising solutions to alleviate land-use conflicts. This research integrates spatial data on PV installations with agricultural productivity figures to assess the impact of China's PV expansion on croplands and estimate the yield potential for six main crops under agrivoltaics. The results disclose a substantial incursion of PV plants into croplands, totaling 911 km² by the year 2020. Compared to PV installations causing these croplands to be completely abandoned, agrivoltaics in a full-density PV system scenario could preserve up to 139 km² of cropland with a corresponding crop yield of 7.1 × 10⁴ tons, which is 9 % of the crop yield in a no-PV scenario. In a half-density PV system scenario, agrivoltaics could conserve 585 km² of cropland with a corresponding crop yield of 4.6 × 10⁵ tons, which is 55 % of the crop yield in a no-PV scenario. A regional distinction is observed, with northern agricultural regions demonstrating a more favorable agrivoltaic yield potential than the south. This study provides valuable insights for developing policies and best practices related to implementing agrivoltaics and PV spatial planning, thus steering a more sustainable coexistence of China's energy production and agricultural yield imperatives.

Leather production contributes positively to economic developments but can create severe environmental impacts, due to the associated consumptions of water and chemicals. The substance of main concern is the basic chromium sulphate, widely used as tanning agent, which provides high-technical performance to the finished leather. This study quantifies the environmental sustainability of a conventional leather production process and those of three innovative processes, characterised by limited consumptions of chromium and water. Standardised life cycle assessments were implemented, with reference to the production chains starting from pickled skins until the production of two finished leathers (for goods and footwear), having the same technical and aesthetic characteristics of those from the conventional process. The innovative tanning processes adopt conventional rotating drums or substitute them with spray nozzles or aerosol rooms, and require a specific pre-treatment that includes de-pickling, drying and stabilisation of input skins. Tests at industrial scale (or at pilot scale for the solution with aerosol rooms) indicate that the new processes strongly reduce impacts in terms of Human toxicity-cancer, Ecotoxicity freshwater and Resource use-minerals and metals (up to 57 %, 29 % and 48 %, respectively) even though they imply an increase in terms of Climate Change (up to 51 %). Losses of chromium in wastewater and solid waste are reduced from >33 g/m²_{finished leather}, for the conventional process, to about 8 g/m²_{finished leather}, 5 g/m²_{finished leather}, and 1 g/m²_{finished leather}, for the innovative processes.

The environmental sustainability of the proposed new processes increases from the solution with drums (and less water and chromium) to that utilising spray nozzles and aerosol rooms. A great improving can be obtained even just with the “simple” new drum solution, able to reduce the Human toxicity-cancer potential up to 53 % and Resource use-minerals and metals potential up to 42 %.