Assessment Of Economic Sustainability Research Articles

Safety and sustainability by design: An explorative survey on concepts’ knowledge and application

The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) concept integrates safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials, throughout their entire life cycle and minimizes their environmental footprint. The European Commission (EC) in 2022 developed a framework to practically apply SSbD. This study investigated the knowledge on SSbD and the operationalization of such framework among the partners of the Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) program. Forty-one responses from 32 PARC Institutions were collected through a 21 item-online survey. Seventy-three % of the respondents had knowledge of SSbD, although only 49 % reported to have been directly engaged into SSbD projects. The EC-SSbD framework was applied by the 26 % of participants and in 47 % of cases it included a (re)design phase. With respect to the safety and sustainability, the assessment of the hazard, the human health and safety aspects in the production and processing, and the human health and environmental aspects in the final application of the chemical/material was addressed by the 74 %, 52 % and 65 % of the respondents. Lower percentages of positive responses regarded the environmental, social and economic sustainability assessment: 35 %, 20 % and 13 %, respectively. Overall, while the framework provided the necessary building blocks and opportunities for SSbD, concerted and iterative Research, Industry, and Academia efforts are necessary to develop/improve assessment methods, models and tools to make SSbD as an approach to chemical risk assessment and management to protect human health and the environment, and ensure to operate within the planetary boundaries.

Quantitative sustainability assessment for in-situ electrical resistance heating coupled with steam enhanced extraction: An effective approach for the development of green remediation technologies

There is a lack of quantitative methodology for the sustainability assessment based on field data in the process of innovative technology development for groundwater remediation. This study developed a quantitative assessment framework, a model based on the life cycle assessment integrated with best management practices (LCA-BMPs), to evaluate the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of in-situ electrical resistance heating coupled with steam enhanced extraction (ERH-SEE), an innovative technology being demonstrated in the field. The results indicated that ERH-SEE offered better environmental sustainability performance compared to ERH only, with a reduction in carbon emissions by 52.6 %. ERH-SEE also significantly reduces human toxicity, resource consumption, and ecosystem impacts under the same remediation scenarios. The further assessment indicated that if taking the renewable energy share in energy structure in different countries into consideration, higher shares of renewable energy used in energy supplies can substantially reduce the environmental footprint of the studied scenarios. The economic sustainability assessment results showed that ERH-SEE was more sustainable than ERH only, as it reduces direct economic costs by 35.7 % and provides higher levels of worker employment. Regarding the social sustainability, ERH-SEE involved more complex operational procedures and presented more health risk exposure scenarios compared to ERH only, resulting in slightly more pronounced worker safety issues. Based on the final normalized results, the overall sustainability results of ERH-SEE and ERH only were 78.4 and 61.5, respectively, demonstrating that the sustainability performance of ERH-SEE was better than ERH only. It can be concluded that the application of ERH-SEE in groundwater remediation where significant heterogeneities occur in subsurface can increase the sustainability in developing countries, due to the lower percentage in renewable electricity in the energy supply. This study provided new insights into the technology development for the remediation of soil and groundwater contamination.

An integrated life cycle emergy analysis for environmental–economic sustainability assessment

AbstractEmergy analysis (EmA) is the quantitative sustainability method that analyses materials, energy resources, goods, or services under a common unit of solar emergy (seJ). Meanwhile, life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the popular tools to evaluate environmental impacts. Both methods have been widely used in various applications, hence, the idea of co‐jointing these two methods has been increasing to optimize the assessment's inclusivity. However, the existing integrated LCA–EmA methods are applied segmentally with minimal data integration, which has limited the potential of co‐benefits in sustainability accounting. This research proposes a more comprehensive integration between LCA and EmA, known as life cycle emergy analysis (LCEmA). The process data is fully integrated, and the detailed methodological approach is presented to demonstrate the assessment process. Diaper manufacturing is selected as a case study to validate the functionality of the proposed LCEmA approach. The inclusion of foreground and background data offered in LCEmA approach considers backend processes such as electricity generation for manufacturing activities. This has shifted the sustainability hotspot from raw material extraction to the manufacturing process. This research demonstrates that the LCEmA approach can perform comprehensive analysis as a promising alternative to the existing integrated LCA–EmA methods.

Pyrolytic urban mining of waste printed circuit boards: an enviro-economic analysis.

E-waste, a global environmental concern resulting from supply chain inefficiency, also offers the opportunity to recover valuable materials, including general and rare earth metals. Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) are integral components of e-waste that contains substantial amounts of precious metals, making them a valuable waste category. Pyrolysis has emerged as a promising method for material recovery from WPCBs. Hence, pyrolytic urban mining of WPCBs offers an excellent avenue for resource recovery, redirecting valuable materials back into the supply chain. Under the current study, experimental investigation has been conducted to explore the recovery of materials from WPCBs through pyrolysis followed by process simulation, economic analysis, and life cycle assessment (LCA). An Aspen Plus simulation was conducted to model the pyrolysis of WPCBs and subsequent product recovery using a non-equilibrium kinetic model, which represents a unique approach in this study. Another distinct aspect is the comprehensive assessment of environmental and economic sustainability. The economic analysis has been carried out using Aspen economic analyzer whereas the LCA of WPCB pyrolysis has been conducted using the SimaPro software. The experimental investigation reveals yield of solid residues are about 75-84 wt.%, liquid yields of 6-13 wt.%, and gas yields of 4-21 wt.%, which is in well agreement with the Aspen Plus simulation results. The economic analysis for an e-waste pyrolysis plant with an annual feed rate of 2000 t reveals that the total capital cost of a pyrolysis plant is nearly $51.3 million, whereas the total equipment cost is nearly $2.7 million and the total operating cost is nearly $25.6 million. The desired rate of return is 20% per year and the payback period is 6years with a profitability index of 1.25. From the LCA, the major impact categories are global warming, fossil resource scarcity, ozone formation in human health, ozone formation in terrestrial ecosystems, fine particulate matter formation, and water consumption. The findings of this study can serve as a guideline for e-waste recyclers, researchers, and decision-makers in establishing circular economy.

Technical, Economic, and Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Reclaimed Asphalt and Waste Polyethylene Terephthalate Pavements

In the era of the global drive for sustainability in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), sustainability measures are encouraged to be taken at all levels. This study explores a novel mix design integrating Reclaimed Asphalt (RAP) with waste Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) to enhance pavement performance and sustainability. It adopts a holistic approach by investigating the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of the proposed mix to assess its sustainability. Industry experts emphasize the necessity of mitigating the resource intensiveness of pavement construction to foster sustainable infrastructure. RAP enables resource-efficient pavement construction by promoting asphalt recycling. However, increasing RAP quantity in the mix compromises asphalt structural stability, making it more susceptible to moisture damage and rutting. In this study, PET-modified Bitumen (PMB) is incorporated in higher RAP quantities in the asphaltic mix without compromising asphalt’s structural performance and durability. Various PMB amounts (2% to 10% by mass of mixture) were tested with 40% RAP (by mass of mixture), evaluating performance in terms of moisture damage, Marshall stability, rutting, etc. Optimal results were achieved with 6% PET and 40% RAP, showing a 7%, 57%, and 23% improvement in moisture resistance, rutting resistance, and Marshall stability, respectively, compared to unmodified asphalt (technical aspects). The novel asphalt mix demonstrated a 17% reduction in material cost (economic aspect) and a 53% decrease in CO2 emissions (environmental aspect) using Building Information Modeling (BIM). This study devises a prospective solution for the construction of resilient, resource-efficient, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and sustainable pavements in line with UN SDGs and circular economy goals.

Environmental and economic sustainability assessment of the production and consumption of different types of coffee in the UK

The need for more sustainable production and consumption of coffee has received global attention, as coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. In an effort to help address this need, this study uses life cycle assessment, life cycle costing and multi-criteria decision analysis to evaluate its environmental and economic sustainability and identify the most sustainable coffee drink(s). Nine coffee drinks are evaluated: espresso, latte, cappuccino, Americano, drip-filter, coffee pod, spray- and freeze-dried instant, and instant coffee mix. To determine the sustainability of coffee from different consumption perspectives, three functional units are considered: one serving of coffee, 1 L of coffee, and 100 mg of caffeine. The system boundaries are from cradle to grave, comprising cultivation of green coffee beans, coffee production, transportation, consumption of coffee, and end-of-life waste management. The results show that the sustainability ranking of different coffee drinks changes depending on the functional unit considered. Instant coffee has the lowest environmental impacts and costs for the functional unit of one serving and 1 L of coffee, while coffee pods are the best option for the functional unit of 100 mg of caffeine. Espresso is the worst alternative for 1 L of coffee and latte is the least sustainable for the functional unit of one serving and 100 mg of caffeine. For all types of coffee and all functional units considered, cultivation of green coffee beans and milk production are the main hotspots for all impacts and costs, contributing 48–99.7 %. These findings will be of interest to the coffee industry, consumers, policy makers and other stakeholders interested in sustainable production and consumption of coffee.

Assessment of Economic, Environmental, and Technological Sustainability of Rural Sanitation and Toilet Infrastructure and Decision Support Model for Improvement

Sanitation and toilets are important infrastructure for public health and societal stability. However, the adoption of adequate treatment technologies and techniques is a major challenge for both developing and underdeveloped areas. Answering the question of how to improve sanitation and toilet infrastructure in rural areas, for poverty alleviation, inequality mitigation, and good health and well-being under the Sustainable Development Goals, is more challenging compared with urban areas. Decision support models (DSMs) are important for selecting rural sanitation and toilet technologies. However, previous models have not fully respected local standards, needs, and operational environments, and are mainly limited to technological sustainability performance. To overcome such research gaps, this study developed a rural sanitation and toilet technology decision support model (DSM) assessing economic, environmental, and technological sustainability. Both technology and village weighting methods based on 217 general experts and seven local residents, respectively, were adopted to fully tailor indicator weights to rural contexts. The results showed an economic sustainability weight of 0.205, an environmental sustainability weight of 0.466, and a technological sustainability weight of 0.329. The sanitation and toilet technologies were divided into wastewater treatment technologies and toilet technologies, with the former subdivided into primary, secondary, and tertiary wastewater treatment technologies. This study confirmed that the PSO-GWO algorithm outperformed in accuracy and effectiveness. Accordingly, the PSO-GWO algorithm was adopted to demonstrate the optimization of sanitation and toilet technologies in four villages in plateau, mountain, plain, and basin areas. The study can assist local governments in selecting appropriate rural sanitation and toilet technologies during the planning phase. This can enhance the living standards of rural residents and promote sustainable rural development.

Sustainability assessment of the agriculture sector using best worst method: Case study of Baltic states

AbstractSustainable agriculture development holds significant global and regional importance, particularly within the Baltic countries. On a global scale, it is a critical strategy for meeting the escalating demand for food while simultaneously mitigating the adverse environmental and social consequences associated with agricultural practices. In the context of the Baltic nations, where agriculture constitutes a substantial portion of the economy, the adoption of sustainable farming practices is imperative for ensuring the sector's long‐term viability, safeguarding the integrity of the region's distinct ecosystems, and guaranteeing food security for their populations. A comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing Baltic agriculture is impeded by a notable research deficiency concerning the intricate and distinct problems facing these nations. The use of indicators to assess economic sustainable agriculture indicators plays a pivotal role in guiding agricultural practices. By taking social and environmental variables into account, these metrics quantify the economic viability of farming. Consequently, these indicators empower policymakers and farmers alike to make well‐informed decisions, striking a balance between profitability and resource conservation, thereby contributing to the enduring sustainability of agriculture in the Baltic countries and beyond. Notably, a comprehensive assessment of economic sustainability in agriculture identified 31 indicators, which were refined to 9 through expert consensus using the Delphi method. Subsequently, the best worst method was applied to rank these indicators. The results indicate that investment intensity, diversification of income, agricultural labor productivity, and market access emerge as the most crucial indicators for ensuring economic sustainability in agriculture.

Evaluating the Economic Sustainability of Two Selected Urban Centers—A Focus on Amherst and Braintree, MA, USA

While the topic of sustainable development has been extensively explored, there is a lack of quantitative assessment of economic sustainability in the scientific literature; moreover, the term is often interpreted with excessive attention to the environment but not socio-economic inequality. In addition, university cities are often considered the most sustainable, although the higher education system in the United States is often criticized for the inequality of access to it among different racial and other groups of the population. This paper adds to the debate about how the concepts of sustainability and economic development relate. Many researchers have noted that they come into conflict with each other because their ultimate goals are fundamentally different: a voluntary limitation of production and consumption in the interests of future generations and, conversely, the pursuit of well-being during our lives. We would like to explore the issue of economic sustainability, which, at first glance, may become a compromise between the two approaches outlined above. So, our study is devoted to exploring the ambiguous concept of economic sustainability, which can add some new knowledge to the understanding of how social, economic, and ecological factors relate to each other in the broader framework of sustainability. For this objective, we analyzed the economic sustainability of the town of Amherst, MA. The city’s top employer and core enterprise is the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with over 32,000 students and almost 2000 staff members. Based on a literature review, a hypothesis was put forward that a university city should have a high level of economic sustainability. To assess economic sustainability, the original methodology based on the US Cities Economic Sustainability Index (USCESI) was developed. It evaluates sustainability in three groups of parameters: society, economy, and ecology. The first group includes the level of racial diversity, the level of education of the population, and the access to medical services. The second group consists of the Gini coefficient by income level, the median cost of housing, and the unemployment rate. The environmental situation is assessed according to the Air Quality Index developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. For comparison, the town of Braintree, MA, was chosen. As a result of the study, the USCESI was calculated for both locations. The analysis showed that both Amherst and Braintree have a high degree of economic sustainability. However, it was revealed that proximity to a significant economic center has a more powerful positive impact on economic sustainability than the location of a large university. In our paper, we proposed a new methodology for measuring economic sustainability with a special focus on inequality as a major problem in American society. The findings provide new knowledge about university cities and debunk the myth that they represent an exception to the general logic of urban development in the United States. A similar approach, with clarification of statistical indicators and a different emphasis, can be applied to other countries where inequality may be the main threat to economic sustainability, not in terms of access to higher education but in other areas.

Global Solar Energy availability model and use in relationship to Ecological Human imprint: Economic Sustainability Impact and Assessment

The present study is to assess the solar-energy extraction from the global Earth land, the continuation demands and the availability use in relation to human population growth in the world through the modeling of different scenarios. For the last few years, global energy becomes the most important commodity for the continuation the life on this Earth. This is due to the decreasing the non-renewable resources such as oil. According to our model, the human population growth in the world will be between 9.5 to 11.00 billion people living on this earth by year 2050 at the current trend of human population growth rate, and we may be facing with shortening of availability of energy. It is important to stress that the energy should be replenished through non-tradition energy supply, but we have to concentrate on the renewable energy, which we can develop to the extent of harvesting this energy in efficient ways. An example for the needs of energy from the land is to calculate how much the Earth can be supporting the human beings. For this regard, if each human being is required to live daily is in need for 2000 calories/per day on an average from the food. This means that the global Earth size has to produce about 15000 billion calories/day and 5475000 billion calories per year as the current estimate of human population of the earth (i.e. 7.5 billion people in year 2017). The question is the Earth can produce these calories to support 7.5 billion people, and we need more calories when the human population grows to be more than 9.5 billion people in the year 2050 in this Earth. This is only for the food that we are consuming and what about another required energy necessity for our continuation of life for production of other commodities that we are in need such as energy for fulling our cars, trucks and other factories. Therefore, solar engineering harvesting from the Earth should be important, and we have to think how we accomplish it. Additionally, we need to sustain our environment by conserving our water resources, and keeping our global climate https://doi.org/10.24084/repqj17.363 environmentally in best condition to sustain the land economic and social standards. Further, in this paper, we are discussing the impacts of changing different parameters that affect global energy in this Earth, and what are the useful lessons that we can learn from it. Furthermore, we assess the availability of solar- energy and how to harvest and economic aspects of it. This will lead to sustainability of non-renewable resources such as oil.

Cost benefit analysis of integrated constructed wetland microbial fuel cell system for sustainable and economic domestic wastewater treatment

Wastewater treatment with integrated constructed wetland–microbial fuel cell technology has attracted serious attention from researchers. The economic sustainability of any potential technology is the key to its commercialization from laboratory to field application, which is fulfilled through an exhaustive assessment of the related costs and benefits. This article presents a comparative cost-benefit analysis of three reactors: constructed wetland (R1), integrated CW-MFC (R2), and unplanted CW-MFC (R3) for domestic wastewater treatment and economic sustainability assessment. The study was conducted with 36 h and 24 h hydraulic retention times of the reactors and the respective cost-benefit ratio was determined. Results revealed that R2 was the most sustainable option with maximum economic benefits during Phase 1 and Phase 2 without effluent disinfection. With effluent disinfection in place, R1 emerged with the best cost-benefit ratio due to less investment cost and low revenue from electricity production in R2 and R3. Sensitivity analysis with net investment cost, power density, electrode area, effective reactor volume, and hydraulic retention time; showed power density was the most influential parameter affecting the cost-benefit ratio. Revenue from wastewater treatment was found essential for economic sustainability which shows the importance of producing high-quality effluent and greater power density to make CW-MFC technology economically attractive.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECSS): Life cycle environmental and economic assessment of electricity generated from palm oil wastes

Rapid deployment of negative emissions technologies (NETs) will be needed to help mitigate climate change. Among various NETs, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is seen as an option with multiple environmental benefits, including increasing the share of renewable energy while capturing carbon and providing an effective solution for waste management if waste biomass is utilised. This research presents the first environmental and economic sustainability assessments of BECCS utilising palm oil waste abundant in palm oil producing countries, such as Malaysia. The following five types of waste are considered: fronds, trunks, empty fruit bunches (EFBs), shells and fibres. Process simulation, techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) are combined to determine the life cycle impacts and costs of BECCS from cradle to grave. Two units of analysis are considered for both the impacts and costs: ‘generation of 1 MWh of electricity’ and ‘capture of 1 tonne of CO2’. The global warming potential (GWP) is net-negative for both functional units, ranging from −1270 to −1410 kg CO2 eq./MWh and −840 to −1729 kg CO2 eq./t CO2 removed, the latter depending on the credits for electricity generation. However, all other 17 impacts increase by 13–217% with the addition of CCS. The systems without CCS have net-positive GWP of 59–126 kg CO2 eq./MWh. Per MWh electricity, the system with fibres has the lowest and palm fronds the highest impacts for most of the categories considered; per tonne of CO2 removed, there is no clear feedstock preference. The levelised costs of electricity (LCOE) of BECSS plants are US$98–119/MWh, with fibres being the best and fronds the worst feedstock. Compared to the systems without CCS, the LCOE of BECCS are 3.6–4.1 times higher. The costs of BECSS per tonne of CO2 removed are US$66–74, with CCS contributing US$50–53/t CO2. Based on the current availability of palm oil wastes in Malaysia, the system could generate 7730 GWh/yr, boosting the national share of bioenergy by 7.6 times, while removing 12 Mt CO2/yr, equivalent to 10% of annual emissions from the electricity sector.

Economic Sustainability Assessment of a Beekeeping Farm in Hungary

In Hungary, beekeeping is a relatively small-scale sector within the livestock sector, but it is essential for maintaining biodiversity and rural employment. In order to provide ecosystem services such as pollination by honey bees, apiaries need to be economically sustainable, and it is therefore of strategic importance that beekeepers can continue their activities. Based on this, this article’s main objective is the economic analysis of Hungarian honey production, which enables the evaluation of the cost–benefit relationships, production volume and the efficiency of the operation. The authors’ analysis is based on a Hungarian apiary with 300 bee colonies, which also engages in migration and produces a significant amount of acacia honey. The model farm produces several types of honey due to migratory beekeeping, and its average yield reaches 60 kg/bee colony/year, which the authors calculated based on the average purchase prices in 2021. Based on the farm model, the analysis showed that 71 bee colonies and 4253 kg of honey production reached the profitability threshold.

Assessment of Economic Sustainability of Cropping Systems in the Salt–Affected Coastal Zone of West Bengal, India

Identifying productive, profitable, and less risky cropping systems is pivotal for ensuring sustainable farm–based livelihoods in the context of climatic uncertainties and market volatility, particularly in many developing nations. Conventional field crop research often identifies the best or optimal solutions based on treatment replicates at a specific point in time without considering the influence of market volatility and climatic uncertainties. To address this gap, we conducted an assessment of productivity profitability and climate– and market–uncertainty-driven risk for eleven different rice-based cropping systems (eight existing and three potential systems) in the coastal region of Gosaba Block, West Bengal, India. Farmers’ observations of the best, typical, and worst seasonal yields and price data for the selected cropping systems over the last five to seven years were collected from fifty farm households. Irrespective of the scenarios, the rice–lathyrus systems, followed by rice–onion and rice–lentil systems, recorded the lowest rice equivalent yields and system yields. However, the highest rice equivalent yields and system yields were recorded for rice–chilli systems, followed by rice–tomato and rice–potato–green-gram systems. Per hectare, total paid–out cost (TPC) of rice–tomato systems was higher, followed by rice–chilli, rice–potato–green–gram, and rice–potato systems. However, irrespective of seasonal conditions (best, normal, and worst), rice–chilli systems gave a higher net return followed by rice–tomato and rice–potato–green–gram systems. The rice–fallow system recorded the lowest value for both parameters. Under the worst seasonal conditions, the rice–onion system gave a negative net return. Under all the scenarios, the rice–chilli system gave the highest benefit over cost, followed by the rice–tomato, rice–potato–green-gram, and rice–potato systems. The cumulative probability distribution (CDF) of per ha net income of the rice–tomato system showed first–degree stochastic dominance over other systems, implying that the system is economically the most profitable and less risky. Additionally, the CDF of net income per ha of the rice–chilli system showed second–degree stochastic dominance over the rest of the systems, indicating that the system is economically more profitable and less risky than other rice/non–rice cropping systems except for the rice–tomato system. Furthermore, the risk analysis results suggest that the likelihood of obtaining negative net income was nil for the selected cropping systems, except the rice–onion system had a slight chance (<1%) of providing a negative net return. Considering the productivity and economic viability (e.g., profitability and risk) of different rice–based systems, it is recommended to promote the adoption of the rice–vegetable systems, especially rice–tomato and rice–chilli from among the existing systems and rice–potato–green-gram systems from among the potential systems, for achieving sustainable intensification in these coastal saline tracts of the region.

Environmental, economic, and social sustainability assessment: A case of using contaminated tailings stabilized by waste-based geopolymer as road base

Contaminated tailings, e.g., iron tailings, could be stabilized by low-carbon geopolymers for recycling as road base, but the sustainability has yet to be evaluated comprehensively. This study developed a sustainable framework from the life cycle perspective, consisting of quantitative indicators in environment, society, and economy, to assess five stabilization cases (i.e., M1, M2, C1, C2, and cement). Moreover, a modified AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process)-CRITIC (CRiteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation)-TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) model was applied to select the most sustainable stabilization method. The sustainability scores of four cases using geopolymers were higher than that of the cement case (0.22), with C2 (0.75), C1 (0.64), M1 (0.56), and M2 (0.54), respectively. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that the assessment results were relatively stable, especially when the subjective weight of the economy was not the highest (the cement counterpart had economic advantages). This study constituted a novel approach to complement the selection of sustainable stabilization cases, bridging the gap of focusing exclusively on green stabilization performance.

An environmental and economic sustainability assessment of coffee production in the UK

With around two billion cups consumed daily worldwide, the coffee industry faces pressures to improve its sustainability. Focusing on the UK as the fifth largest coffee consumer in Europe, this paper presents for the first time a life cycle environmental and economic sustainability assessment of coffee production at the product and sectoral levels. Both gate-to-gate and cradle-to-gate system boundaries are considered to identify opportunities for improvements in the manufacturing process and along the supply chain. Process design and simulation are combined with life cycle assessment and life cycle costing to evaluate the sustainability of the production of ground and instant coffee roasted to different levels. Based on the functional unit of 1 tonne of coffee produced, instant coffee has higher impacts and costs than ground coffee for both system boundaries because it requires double the amount of green coffee beans and 7–11 times more energy. For gate-to-gate, roasting and packaging are the main contributors to the impacts and costs; for cradle-to-gate, cultivation of coffee beans and packaging are the hotspots. Light roasts generally have lower impacts and costs due to lower material losses and energy requirements. At the sectoral level, the coffee industry emits 863–894 kt CO2 eq. annually, contributing 1.3% to the GHG emissions from the UK food and drinks sector. Key opportunities for improvements include switching to lighter roast and pouch packaging, as well as using air recirculation roasters and silverskin as fuel. These results will be of interest to the coffee industry, policy makers and consumers.

Relevance of Environmental Factors in the Steel Life Cycle for a Transition toward Circular Sustainable Production and Consumption Systems: A Joint Bibliometric and Bibliographic Analysis

The design of steel structures has evolved thanks to the increased ability to model the behavior of more complex structures. However, further constraints arise from the need for a transition toward more sustainable production and consumption systems. In particular, the assessment of the economic benefits and efficiency of existing production systems should be integrated with assessment of environmental, economic and social sustainability. In the case of steel, and limited to the environmental dimension, the literature covers various study areas, ranging from the analysis of resource flows to the assessment of steel’s environmental impacts. However, an integrated view of existing peer-reviewed studies is currently missing. The purpose of this work is to overcome this shortcoming with a review that considers and integrates research on the steel life cycle from various perspectives: analysis of material flows; quantification of emissions; environmental monitoring and indicators; and circular economy aspects, including reuse and recycling. This study is based on a deep bibliometric and bibliographical analysis of the above-cited aspects, including the key topics, authors and journals, to single out some potential research directions that have previously been neglected. The results of the analyses indicate that, even though discussed in the literature, the redesign of products is still lacking adequate consideration. The same gap was also evidenced when it came to studies on the management of waste materials and recommissioning. There is also still a lack of knowledge on the possible meaningful indicators of environmental sustainability in the case of steel. Moreover, while digital technologies that enable sustainability are being intensely developed and widely implemented, the design, testing and application of sensors for the environmental monitoring of steel production is under-studied and the interaction of environmental factors with steel structures is poorly addressed. Finally, this work evidenced poor attention with respect to water and soil pollution generated in different phases of the steel life cycle. All these aspects should be considered in future research, which would also have a beneficial effect in the implementation of informed policies for a transition toward a circular and sustainable steel life cycle.

Economic and Environmental Sustainability Assessment of an Innovative Organic Broccoli Production Pattern

Organic farming nowadays is held up as a model of sustainability; however, this is not always an economic advantage for farmers due to the reduced yields compared to the conventional regime. The aim of the study is therefore to provide an environmental and economic analysis of the innovative organic model proposed by the Bresov project to assess its sustainability. The study is therefore based on a Life Cycle Assessment methodology and the economic evaluation, through the calculation of the gross income of innovative organic and conventional broccoli cultivation in Sicily. The impact categories analysed reported a 60–100% reduction in impact in the case of innovative organic compared to conventional. From an economic point of view, although there is a minimal reduction in yield in organic compared to conventional, there is an increase in production costs that translates into a reduction in the gross income of approximately 61%. These gaps are filled when the organic product is granted a premium price and thanks to aid from the Common Agricultural Policy. The innovative organic approach, characterised by new products and soil management methods, confirms it as an alternative to conventional. This approach contrasts with the mere substitution of synthetic products.

A REVIEW ON LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS OF BUILDINGS BASED ON BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING

Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) plays an essential role in the economic sustainability assessment of buildings, and building information modeling (BIM) offers a potentially valuable approach to fulfilling its requirement. However, the state of LCCA based on BIM is unclear despite previously published works. Therefore, this paper aims to address this gap by reviewing 45 relevant peer-reviewed articles through a systematic literature search, selection, and assessment. The results show that three data exchange methods integrate BIM and LCCA through data input, calculation, and output. Precision management, optimization measures, and parameter analysis through BIM significantly improve the value of buildings. Also, a methodological framework is summarized that combines LCC with other indicators based on BIM to consider economic, environmental, and social impacts, which can be monetized to assess life cycle sustainability costs. These findings provide insights for scholars and practitioners.

The Social Sustainability of the Infrastructures: A Case Study in the Liguria Region

One of the indicators that measures the economic development of a territory is its infrastructural endowment (road, rail, etc.). The presence of roads, railways, and airports are essential elements in creating the optimal conditions for the establishment or development of productive activities and economic growth; and also to generate benefits. However, the presence of infrastructure can have strong impacts on the environment and the living conditions of the population and infrastructure can be subject to actions related to contrast and opposition. Therefore, in parallel with the economic and environmental sustainability assessment, it is essential to decide whether or not to build new infrastructure. In addition, social sustainability is also pursued on the basis of an assessment that takes into account various aspects that relate the work to the population, also in order to identify the most satisfactory design solution. Alongside the adopted methodology, the assessment must be identified suitable criteria which are capable of taking into account the various impacts generated by the infrastructure, not only of an economic and environmental type, but also social and attributed relative importance (or weight) that is congruous with the correct balance of the three aspects of sustainability. This contribution deals with the identification of criteria for assessing the social sustainability of infrastructure projects, by taking as reference the 24 infrastructure projects in the planning and construction phase in the Liguria Region that make use of the Regional Law n. 39/2007 on the “Regional Strategic Intervention Programs—P.R.I.S.” (Regional Strategic Intervention Programs); which guarantees citizens affected by the infrastructure. In this research work, the selection is performed through the involvement of local stakeholders as well as the subjects and institutions that operate within the decision-making process of a work (designers, technicians from public administrations). The selected criteria are then weighted through the pairwise comparison method used in the multi-criteria technique of ThomasSaaty—Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The goal is to identify the useful criteria for assessing social sustainability and the weights attributed by the various parties involved in the decision-making process by citizens directly or indirectly affected by the infrastructure.