Analysing the impact of restructuring transportation, production and distribution on costs and environment – a case from the Thai Rubber industry

Addressing the social life cycle inventory analysis data gap: Insights from a case study of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The production of six regionally important cellulosic biomass feedstocks, including pine, eucalyptus, unmanaged hardwoods, forest residues, switchgrass, and sweet sorghum, was analyzed using consistent life cycle methodologies and system boundaries to identify feedstocks with the lowest cost and environmental impacts. Supply chain analysis models were created for each feedstock calculating costs and supply chain requirements for the production 453,592 dry tonnes of biomass per year. Cradle-to-gate environmental impacts from these supply systems were quantified for nine mid-point indicators using SimaPro 7.2 LCA software. Conversion of grassland to managed forest for bioenergy resulted in large reductions in GHG emissions, due to carbon sequestration associated with direct land use change. However, converting forests to energy cropland resulted in large increases in GHG emissions. Production of forest-based feedstocks for biofuels resulted in lower delivered cost, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and lower overall environmental impacts than the studied agricultural feedstocks. Forest residues had the lowest environmental impact and delivered cost per dry tonne. Using forest-based biomass feedstocks instead of agricultural feedstocks would result in lower cradle-to-gate environmental impacts and delivered biomass costs for biofuel production in the southern U.S.

Mitigating Curtailment and Carbon Emissions through Load Migration between Data Centers

In-forest drying of roundwood and biomass (residues) can result in more efficient transport operations from an economical and environmental perspective. On the negative side, in-forest drying may result in dry matter losses (DML), impacting the quantity and quality of residues delivered to energy plants. This paper investigated the impact of roundwood and residues in-forest drying and DML on supply chain costs and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. For the assessment, a short-term optimization planning tool was applied to a supply chain located in Asturias, Spain, consisting of fourteen supply points and two demand points: A pulp mill (demanding roundwood) and a power plant (demanding residues). Four scenarios were included in the analysis comprising different combinations of DML for roundwood and residues resulting from in-forest drying. Our results indicate that in scenarios that include in-forest drying and DML, the negative economic effects are offset by the substantial reductions in transport costs and GHG emissions. In-forest drying of roundwood and residues without DML can result in a 6.5% reduction in supply chain costs, 14.9% fewer truckloads to destination points, and 18.1% less fuel consumption and GHG emissions.

In recent years, sustainable supply chain management has gained increasing attention, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout supply chains have been identified as one of the most important sustainability issues. This paper presents an investigation of the problem of transshipment among distribution centers (DCs) in a cold supply chain to achieve sustainable inventory cross-filling. Although transshipment is an effective tool for supply chain pooling, the possibility of increased GHG emissions raises environmental concerns. This study establishes a sustainable cold-chain logistics model that considers GHG emissions from DC storage and transshipment trucks. The new sustainable cold-chain model also reflects laden status and cargo weights of trucks for accurate emission assessment. An optimization model is also developed to minimize both GHG emissions and costs in the cold chain. Numerical simulations are conducted for diverse problem cases to examine important problem characteristics. The result analysis identifies that inventory service levels and demand variability have a strong impact on GHG emissions in transshipment; small p-values in the statistical analysis verify the significance of this effect. The different effects of demand variability and service levels on each emission source are also analyzed. The results demonstrate that transshipment among DCs can effectively reduce both GHG emissions and costs in cold supply chains. This study provides useful models and tools to assess GHG emissions and optimize decisions for the design and operation of transshipment. The proposed models will enable the assessment of sustainable alternatives and achieve sustainability objectives effectively for cold supply chains.

Connecting food supply chains

Global economic development has highlighted the issue of climate change, which is one of the most important environmental issues plaguing human beings. It is widely agreed that excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are important factors contributing to global warming. Many countries have formulated corresponding GHG emission reduction plans to deal with climate change issues. An important GHG emission source is released from sewage-sludge treatment systems. However, there has not been a comprehensive quantitative GHG emissions evaluation system in the case of sewage-sludge treatment systems, due to multiple emission sources, complex processes, and different standards. In previous studies, the Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, 2006) and Chinese Greenhouse Gas Inventory (National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, NCSC, 2005) were widely applied to estimate GHG emissions from sewage-sludge treatment. However, IPCC does not consider CO2 emissions from sewage treatment, and NCSC does not consider CO2 emissions from the sewage treatment and N2O emissions from sludge treatment. Therefore, the following have been conducted in this study: (1) A GHG estimation model basing on Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) was constructed, and the research objects were CH4, N2O, and CO2 that were produced by the sewage-sludge treatment system. The estimation model of CO2 and N2O, which were ignored in the IPCC report, were analyzed and discussed. The models of the GHG emission estimation were summarized and improved in the urban sewage-sludge treatment system under the different sewage-sludge treatment process scenarios. (2) The GHG emission load of major urban sewage-sludge treatment processes was analyzed, and the level and key links of environmental impacts generated by different processes were identified. This helps to understand and compare the environmental impacts of different treatment processes and provides suggestions for the sustainable development of wastewater treatment processes. (3) The GHG emission characteristics of nine scenarios of different sewage-sludge treatment processes were analyzed, and the environmental impacts caused by energy consumption and chemicals consumption were studied. Consequently, the sewage-sludge treatment process under low carbonization and low environment impact were proposed.

Commercial‐scale liquid‐biofuel production utilizing forest‐based biomass would require feedstock supply from a large geographical area. Feedstock composition, supply chains' arrangements, and the resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are location dependent, and case‐specific assessments are needed if one is to guarantee the fulfillment of GHG reduction requirements by a specific biofuel product. This work assessed GHG emissions derived from the feedstock supply and transportation chain to three possible commercial‐scale biodiesel plant locations in Finland (Rauma, Porvoo, and Kemi) at site‐specific level. The supply of 7.2 PJ yr−1 (approximately 1 million m3solid) of forest biomass (harvesting residues, stumps, and small‐diameter energy wood) was assessed for each location, including four distinct scenarios for truck and railway transportation and two scenarios for biomass availability. Biomass availability and transportation‐network assessments were conducted through utilization of geographical information system methods, and the GHG emissions were assessed by means of life‐cycle assessment. The results showed that the GHG emissions of the supply chains can be effectively reduced through use of railway transportation from distant supply areas. Furthermore, even though the supply‐chain GHG emissions differed by up to 30% between the case‐study locations, the GHG emissions of the feedstock supply chain, from roadside stores of uncomminuted biomass to comminuted biomass delivered to the plants, were relatively low (2–4%) when compared with the GHG emissions of fossil diesel.

Major US electric utility climate pledges have the potential to collectively reduce power sector emissions by one-third

The aim of this study is to evaluate energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Vietnam’s road transport service through establishing scenarios in 2015-2050. Four scenarios are firstly developed toward improving energy efficiency, floating automotive industry strategy and then energy demands, GHG emissions for road transport in these scenarios are estimated. Transport demand, technology penetrative rate, fuel type, fuel economy, emission standard and influence of other factors on emissions are bases of the selected input data. Calculator 2050 is used as a support tool of interface and calculation. The results are shown as following: Energy consumption and GHG emissions of road transport service will reach 11.28 Mtoe and 32.07 MtCO2e in 2030 as well as 36.95 Mtoe and 105.04 MtCO2e in 2050 in basic scenario, respectively, with annual average growth rate reach 6.4%. The contribution to increasing the energy consumption and GHG emissions of freight transport service is higher than that of passenger transport service. In the best case, energy consumption and GHG emissions are reduced by 27.4%, 30.3% in 2030 and 37.8%, 50.7% in 2050 compared to the basic scenario. This reduction is mainly due to the use of alternative fuels/vehicles in these activities.

Investment planning and strategic management of sustainable systems for clean power generation: An ε-constraint based multi objective modelling approach

Health Care and Climate Change: Challenges and Pathways to Sustainable Health Care.

The distribution losses in the electrical system demonstrate the reliability and efficacy of the network in providing electricity to the customers. The PLN Statistical Report 2022 stated that 20,236 GWh of electricity became losses at PLN’s distribution network across Indonesia. Not only causing the financial disadvantage, but these losses are also believed to have an adverse effect on the environment since they raise the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because energy losses need to be compensated. Thus, various initiatives are conducted to improve the performance of distribution network system, including in Bali. In attempt to minimize losses, PLN Bali Distribution Unit has gradually implemented Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) technology throughout 2023. This research is supposed to examine the impact of the AMI installation on the value of losses and GHG emissions. Our findings suggest that AMI technology has a positive impact on non-technical losses but an insignificant impact on total losses, defying the widely held belief that it can notably reduce losses. The environmental impact then can be quantified by converting the losses value to GHG emissions.

Energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions associated with tea and rubber manufacturing processes in Sri Lanka

PROTOCOL: The effects of road infrastructure, and transport and logistics services interventions on women's participation in informal and formal labour markets in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.