Sustainable Production and Consumption最新文献

This paper presents the development of photovoltaic (PV) end-of-life (EoL) policy options in Malaysia with consideration of the respective environmental impacts and economic implication. Five policy options were initially formulated based on different combinations of voluntary and regulatory approaches, PV module EoL pathways, i.e. recycling, landfill and incineration, and types of EoL PV modules. Then, the environmental impacts of each option were evaluated using life cycle assessment based on seven relevant impact categories. Later, the economic implication of each policy option was determined based on revenue gained from recovered materials and cost of recycling. Results showed that recycling yields net environmental benefits in all impact categories for crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules and almost all impact categories for cadmium telluride (CdTe) modules. While both regulatory and voluntary approaches offer reduced environmental impacts, the former is more beneficial than the latter as it provides higher quantity of recycled EoL PV modules, net environmental benefit, net primary energy avoidance and net economic benefit. Also, the inclusion of both c-Si and CdTe in recycling is preferred as it yields higher quantity of recycled PV modules as well as higher net environmental benefit and net primary energy avoidance gained in most impact categories. However, the net economic benefit is lower than recycling c-Si alone because the cost of recycling CdTe modules is higher than the revenue gained from recovered materials. These findings seek to assist in establishing sustainable EoL PV management.

Cattle are ruminant livestock that emit enteric methane (CH₄) as part of their natural digestive process. The U.S. beef cattle industry is receiving pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including methane. The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef has set a target for the U.S. feedlot sector to reduce emissions by 10 % per pound of beef by 2030. Feed additive 3-Nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) has been developed to help mitigate methane emissions. While not yet approved for use in U.S. beef production, adoption of 3-NOP in U.S. feedlots upon approval remains unknown as no widespread economic incentive currently exists in the marketplace to spur adoption. The objectives of this study are: (1) to determine potential 3-NOP adoption by U.S. feedlot cattle producers given various marketplace incentives and (2) to explore how differing approaches to reducing emissions from beef production to achieve sector targets impact social welfare. Our study uses data from a U.S. feedlot producer survey to estimate willingness-to-adopt (WTA) measures. Regression results are used to map potential adoption of 3-NOP given various market and policy scenarios. The survey sample is then split into small producers (<2000 head sold in last 12 months) and large producers (2000+ head sold in last 12 months) to determine differences in WTA based on operation size. We find that producers prefer incentives in the form of processor premiums over government subsidies. The incentive level needed to spur adoption increases as the implementation cost of 3-NOP increases and decreases if net profit estimations are included in the messaging. On average, small producers require a higher incentive to adopt 3-NOP than large producers. Improving the emissions reduction efficacy of 3-NOP reduces the level of incentive needed to achieve aggregate emissions targets. The least expensive avenue to achieve emissions reduction targets results in greater outlays to large producers as compared to small producers. The marginal cost to society of feeding 3-NOP to an additional steer or heifer in the feedlot increases with each animal. As such, it may be that improving the efficacy of 3-NOP through increased investment in research and development is less costly than spurring more producers to adopt the additive in their feed rations. Ultimately, producers, processors, beef consumers, voting residents, taxpayers, and policymakers all have influence in shaping how the beef industry tackles the emissions reduction conundrum.

An appropriate food model should move towards sustainable food systems that promote healthy food choices. Current food systems have a significant impact on the health of people and the planet and guide producer decisions and consumer food choices not only in households but also in the HORECA (HOtels, REstaurants and CAtering) sector. This work uses a methodology that combines three environmental footprints - carbon, water and energy - and the healthy quality of the diet in terms of nutritional indicators, as well as its adequacy with World Health Organisation recommendations in terms of calory intake and nutritional quality, to assess the degree of sustainability and healthiness of dietary patterns. For this purpose, the Life Cycle Assessment methodology was applied for the evaluation of various menu options in a university canteen, as well as health indicators such as nutrient quality and caloric intake. For this purpose, a composite indicator called SUHEi (Sustainability and Food Health Index) was estimated from primary data and a consumer-friendly ecolabel was proposed. It is expected that the results of this research will provide consumers with information and criteria to support sustainable and healthy eating patterns.

In Ireland, the world's first-of-a-kind integrated dairy biorefinery has been developed to address waste disposal challenges in the dairy industry by converting dairy side streams into high-value biochemicals, specifically lactic acid (LA). This study aims to assess the environmental impacts of this innovative technology at a commercial scale through a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) study. Experimental data from a pilot-plant facility was scaled up to a production capacity of 20,000 tons of LA per year using SuperPro Designer®. This data was combined with information from upstream processes such as milk production, cheese production, and transport, using OpenLCA. The cradle-to-gate LCA revealed that milk production had the greatest overall impact across all categories. Enteric fermentation has the most significant impact on climate change, while fertilizer and concentrate feed production primarily contributed to non-renewable energy demand, ozone formation, human toxicity, water consumption and fossil depletion. Fertilizer application substantially influenced eutrophication, acidification and ecotoxicity indicators. However, scenario analysis showed that implementing strategies like substituting biorefinery byproducts with fossil-based products, increasing renewable energy penetration, and integrating dairy beef production could result in significant environmental savings across all impact categories. Moreover, the findings highlighted that the handling of co-products would determine the magnitude of the system's impact. This study concludes that combining process design analysis with accessible data at a higher Technology readiness level (TRL) 7 offers an opportunity to identify hotspots and recommend alternative strategies to improve the environmental sustainability of the whole system at the design stage. Additionally, this study provides valuable guidance for minimizing environmental impacts during the design phase, enabling informed investment decisions before construction. Ultimately, it plays a crucial role in establishing a circular bioeconomy within the dairy industry by effectively utilizing the side streams to produce sustainable biobased chemicals, specifically LA.

With growing concerns about global warming, industrial carbon footprints have garnered increased attention due to the energy-intensive and uninterrupted operation of industrial equipment. Fine-grained modeling and visual analytics of industrial carbon footprints can reveal the mechanisms behind the formation and evolution of carbon chains. However, the mechanisms underlying industrial carbon emissions remain unclear, leading to a lack of accuracy and specificity in current carbon quantification models. To address these gaps, we developed a comprehensive quantitative model that considers specific pathways involved in industrial processes, providing more accurate estimations of carbon emissions. We also designed an innovative visual analytical framework that uncovers implicit patterns and spatiotemporal distributions of industrial carbon footprints. By comparing our approach with state-of-the-art studies, we validated the superiority of our method in terms of its intuitiveness and interactivity. Empirical studies revealed potential emission patterns and spatiotemporal dynamics that traditional studies could not identify. We identified four consistent patterns in industrial carbon emissions: normal, high-emission, low-emission, and dedicated patterns. Our findings also led to optimization suggestions for different emission patterns, highlighting the system’s capability in extracting valuable insights from workshop carbon emission data. Our research showcases a unified visual analytical approach that supports exploratory analysis, and we believe it will uncover implicit knowledge within industrial carbon data, providing valuable insights for optimization.

Agricultural food production stands as a primary source of global greenhouse gas emissions, with residue management widely acknowledged as an effective avenue to achieve carbon neutrality. However, there is a lack of comprehensive assessment of the carbon footprint of agricultural residue production, processing, and recycling from farm to gate. Here we conducted a hybrid approach that integrated the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model and life cycle carbon footprint to co-optimize water and residue management, targeting carbon neutrality and yield increase. The results revealed that controlled drainage with sub-irrigation (CDSI) served as a potent water management strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (15.65 %) while increasing yield (24.34 %) compared to free drainage. Regardless of the type of bioproduct, incorporating CDSI with downstream residue utilization exhibited substantial potential for carbon-negative emissions, reducing the average farm carbon footprint to −1538.15 kg CO₂ eq yr⁻¹. Among those scenarios, the CDSI with bioethanol scenario particularly stands out with its robust carbon mitigation capability (−1994.94 kg CO₂ eq yr⁻¹), driven by the enormous energy demand throughout the agricultural production process and the environmental friendliness of bioethanol, which substantially exceeds that of gasoline. However, challenges such as high plant construction costs and extended investment payback periods associated with residue conversion underscore the need for the urgent establishment of national subsidies and market mechanisms to foster carbon neutrality in agricultural production.

The literature on Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is rich in frameworks, methods, and tools for assessing sustainable impacts as a strategy for implementing a circular economy. However, a structured overview of integrating sustainability assessment methodologies with the IS life cycle to pursue sustainable development is lacking. This paper aims to build a knowledge base on sustainability assessment methodologies along the IS life cycle through a conceptual framework as a tool to achieve sustainable development. For this purpose, a systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, allowing the selection of 105 cases, which were subjected to descriptive and content analysis. From this analysis, we characterized the IS cases considering the levels of the circular economy, the R-imperatives, the origin and governance configuration of the IS, and the sustainable assessment methods within the IS life cycle stages. The analysis revealed the use of 54 distinct methodologies to assess the three dimensions of sustainability, which were classified in 12 clusters and integrated in a conceptual framework considering the IS life cycle phases (identification, assessment, implementation, and monitoring). The framework enables researchers, policymakers, and industry practitioners to identify sustainable assessment methodologies, the specific sustainability dimensions being assessed, and the corresponding stage of the IS life cycle. This approach is designed to address key internal and external factors of symbiotic networks, enabling the proposal of effective policies, the provision of financial incentives, and the facilitation of knowledge sharing. Ultimately, this will foster real synergies within the industrial ecosystem, resulting in tangible sustainability benefits for businesses, the environment, and society. Future research is needed on sustainability assessment methodologies to support the implementation and monitoring phases to facilitate the implementation of successful IS cases.

Across the globe, with the increasing emphasis on decarbonization, lithium-ion battery (LIB) demand for mobility (which serves as a power source for electric vehicles) and stationary energy storage sector (SESs) increases, which generates a large stock of end-of-life (EOL) LIBs. Continually increasing the stock of EOL LIB having different LIB variants necessitates the development of efficient circular economy (CE) strategies (recycling and repurposing) to recover raw materials contained in them. Focusing on different CE strategies, we develop a system dynamics model to address the complexity of the raw material recovery process by analyzing the interrelationship between collection rate (government), EOL LIB variant mix (consumer preference), and EOL LIB allocation to recycling and repurposing (Battery OEMs). Our analysis reveals that a high EOL collection rate and recycling reduces the raw material (Lithium (Li), Nickel (Ni), and Cobalt (Co)) demand by 2%–17% based on LIB variant proportion in EOL LIB stock. We observe thrice higher Co recovery and 1.5 times higher Ni recovery in material-rich battery chemistries as compared to others. Repurposing delays the raw material recovery but reduces LIB’s demand for SESs. In addition, we observe that the repurposed EOL LIB supply increases the recyclable EOL LIB supply by 0.027–0.2 million units at the end of 2030. Hence, it is imperative for emerging economic countries like India, with scarce strategic raw materials sources and increasing demand for LIB from mobility and SES sectors, to frame policies that incentivize the collection and EOL handling process infrastructure and prioritize between recycling and repurposing of EOL LIBs.

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.