Footprint Assessment Research Articles

Assessing the carbon footprint of drinking water supply system in Indonesia: A case study of the Rebana Metropolitan Area

The development of the Rebana Metropolitan Area in the northern region of West Java aims to improve the economy in the area with improved infrastructure, including safe drinking water provision through a sustainable drinking water supply system (SPAM) that aligns with low-carbon development in Indonesia. This study presents a comprehensive assessment of the carbon footprint associated with SPAM. A dynamic system modeling approach was employed to calculate SPAM’s carbon footprint, considering key activities such as drinking water supply through piped networks and wells, bottled water distribution, potable water provision through refillable drinking water depots, and drinking water boiling. The model was calibrated and validated using data from Indramayu Regency, demonstrating its accuracy with an RMSPE value of 0.03% for the population and 4.89% for water treatment plant production capacity. By utilizing data from industrial zones (KPI) Patrol and Losarang, the model simulations revealed that under business as usual (BAU) conditions, the projected carbon footprint of SPAM in 2040 was 332,194 tCO2eq. To explore effective intervention strategies, three scenarios (I, II, and III) were simulated, incorporating different rates of wastewater recycling—10%, 20%, and 30% by 2030, respectively. The results demonstrated that implementing these scenarios would lead to reduced SPAM’s carbon footprints in 2040, with projected values of 283,275 tCO2eq, 246,586 tCO2eq, and 225,184 tCO2eq for scenarios I, II, and III, respectively. Bottled water exhibited the highest carbon footprint per unit volume of 28.847 kgCO2eq/m3.

Analysis of Carbon Footprint Assessment and Accounting System of Photovoltaic Industry under Dual-Carbon Background

With the intensification of global climate change and the growing demand for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), dual-carbon policies are on the rise globally, bringing new challenges and opportunities to the energy industry. Focusing on the photovoltaic (PV) industry, this study carries out a carbon footprint analysis in the context of dual-carbon to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current status of PV modules in terms of carbon emissions and emission reduction measures. This paper firstly summarizes the development of the PV industry, and deeply analyzes the relevant theories and methods of carbon footprint assessment and accounting system. Then, it systematically evaluates the carbon emissions of crystalline silicon PV modules throughout their life cycle, and based on this, it puts forward suggestions on strategies to reduce the carbon footprint. Finally, the opportunities and challenges that the PV industry may encounter in the process of moving towards a low-carbon future are discussed to provide a reference for decision-making and practice in this field.

Carbon footprint and oxygen footprint assessment of hemp yarn

Carbon footprint and oxygen footprint assessment of hemp yarn

ГРАНТИ ПРОГРАМИ STAGE ДЛЯ ПІДТРИМКИ УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ПРОМИСЛОВИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

The article examines the grant opportunities of the STAGE Program, which is financed by the European Union. Emphasis is placed on the fact that this is an initiative implemented to support Ukrainian industrial companies in their pursuit of sustainable development. The main goal of the Program is outlined - to provide targeted support to business companies to become competitive and sustainable leaders of the European industrial community. The article states that along with training and consulting support, Ukrainian industrial enterprises have the opportunity to take advantage of a financial grant of up to 50,000 euros for the development of an investment project plan for the transformation of sustainable development and the implementation of measures for its implementation. A list of additional services for the preparation of an investment plan, which can be financed by a grant, is outlined, such as: feasibility study; technological audit; due diligence analysis; data collection and analysis for carbon footprint assessment; prototyping; pilot tests; pilot demonstration; adaptation of business processes; support for the use of testing tools; purchase of other specialized consulting and coaching services related to the preparation of an investment plan. It has been demonstrated that SMEs from all 14 European industrial ecosystems defined by the EU can apply for STAGE Program grant funding: textiles; electronics; mobility, transport, automobile industry; energy industries; renewable energy; Agri-Food; health; digital industry; construction; Retail; social economy; tourism; creative and cultural industries; aerospace industry and defense. It was concluded that grant funding of the STAGE Program is an effective and efficient financial incentive for companies to access professional services and develop investment project plans, which in the future will contribute to the sustainable growth of Ukrainian industrial enterprises; and in the long term, grant funding of the STAGE program will contribute to meeting the needs of sustainable development of European industrial enterprises.

Retracted: Environmental Impact and Carbon Footprint Assessment of Sustainable Buildings: An Experimental Investigation

Retracted: Environmental Impact and Carbon Footprint Assessment of Sustainable Buildings: An Experimental Investigation

Carbon footprint and oxygen footprint assessment of hemp yarn

Carbon footprint and oxygen footprint assessment of hemp yarn

The application of carbon footprint assessment under intelligent computing in green consumption decision-making

Abstract Reducing carbon emissions is a basic policy long insisted on by the Chinese government, and the calculation of carbon footprint is of great application significance for reducing carbon emissions and realizing green consumption. Based on the multi-objective planning model this paper establishes a carbon footprint assessment model based on multi-objective planning from the economic, environmental, and social benefits of carbon footprint. It optimizes the particle swarm algorithm to solve the objective function of the carbon footprint multi-objective assessment model. The designed model is utilized in green consumption decision-making to forecast the carbon footprint and structure of green energy consumption in the future. The comparison shows that after the optimization of the carbon footprint assessment model based on multi-objective planning designed in this paper, the proportion of coal and oil consumption in the carbon footprint of energy consumption decreases by 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively, and the energy intensity can be optimized. The per capita carbon footprint of energy consumption of residents in eastern, central, and western China grows by 11.3%, 15.2%, and 2.7%, respectively, from 2024 to 2026. The carbon footprint of per capita energy consumption in the three regions is quite different. The results of the two projections show that the carbon footprint assessment model based on multi-objective planning designed in this paper is important for improving the energy consumption structure in different regions and realizing green consumption decisions.

Ultrafiltration Harvesting of Microalgae Culture Cultivated in a WRRF: Long-Term Performance and Techno-Economic and Carbon Footprint Assessment

A cross-flow ultrafiltration harvesting system for a pre-concentrated microalgae culture was tested in an innovative anaerobic-based WRRF. The microalgae culture was cultivated in a membrane photobioreactor fed with effluent from an anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating sewage. These harvested microalgae biomasses were then anaerobically co-digested with primary and secondary sludge from the water line. Depending on the needs of this anaerobic co-digestion, the filtration harvesting process was evaluated intermittently over a period of 212 days for different operating conditions, mainly the total amount of microalgae biomass harvested and the desired final total solids concentration (up to 15.9 g·L−1 with an average of 9.7 g·L−1). Concentration ratios of 15–27 were obtained with average transmembrane fluxes ranging from 5 to 28 L·m−2·h−1. Regarding membrane cleaning, both backflushing and chemical cleaning resulted in transmembrane flux recoveries that were, on average, 21% higher than those achieved with backflushing alone. The carbon footprint assessment shows promising results, as the GHG emissions associated with the cross-flow ultrafiltration harvesting process could be less than the emissions savings associated with the energy recovered from biogas production from the anaerobic valorisation of the harvested microalgae.

Assessment of the Ecological Footprint of Industrial Processes: An Integrated Approach to Life Cycle Analysis

The ecological footprint is crucial in assessing industrial processes and is essential for understanding their impact. The integrated approach to life cycle assessment is essential for studying these footprints. The scientific paper describes a comprehensive approach to assessing the environmental footprint of industrial operations using life cycle analysis. The study's goal is to examine the environmental implications of various stages in the life cycle of industrial products or processes. A life cycle analysis framework is provided, which encompasses all processes from raw material extraction to product manufacture and consumption, as well as waste and recycling possibilities. Each phase is evaluated in terms of energy use, material consumption, and environmental impact. Concrete steps for implementing an integrated approach to life cycle analysis in industrial environments are presented, as are examples of the methodology's implementation in various areas of production. The article emphasises the need for incorporating environmental considerations into decision-making processes and assists organisations in identifying opportunities for optimising and reducing their environmental footprint.

Materials Science Toolkit for Carbon Footprint Assessment: A Case Study for Endoscopic Accessories of Common Use.

Ironically, healthcare systems are key agents in respiratory-related diseases and estimated deaths because of the high impact of their greenhouse gas emissions, along with industry, transportation, and housing. Based on safety requirements, hospitals and related services use an extensive number of consumables, most of which end up incinerated at the end of their life cycle. A thorough assessment of the carbon footprint of such devices typically requires knowing precise information about the manufacturing process, which is rarely available in detail because of the many materials, pieces, and steps involved during the fabrication. Yet, the tools most often used for determining the environmental impact of consumer goods require a bunch of parameters, mainly based on the material composition of the device. Here, we report a basic set of analytical methods that provide the information required by the software OpenLCA to calculate the main outcome related to environmental impact, greenhouse gas emissions. Through thermogravimetry, calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analysis, we proved that obtaining relevant data for the calculator in the exemplifying case of endoscopy tooling or accessories is possible. This routine procedure opens the door to a broader, more accurate analysis of the environmental impact of everyday work at hospital services, offering potential alternatives to minimize it.

Carbon Footprint Assessment Based on Life Cycle Assessment of Biomass Power Plant

This research aims to study the carbon footprint based on the life cycle assessment of biomass power plants. Covering the acquisition of raw materials to the end of the production process in biomass power plants (cradle to grave: C2G). The study proposes constructive ways to reduce the carbon footprint of biomass power plants. Conducted research consisting of 3 phases: phase 1, the rubber plantation process; phase 2, the rubber wood processing plant; and phase 3, the biomass power plant. Assessment of carbon footprint: following the principle of life cycle assessment, the results of the carbon footprint assessment found that in Phase 1, the process of growing rubber trees throughout the life cycle calculated the carbon footprint of the sample group as average greenhouse gas emissions from fresh rubber wood and combined with the average greenhouse gas emissions from rubber wood timbers of 1.1186 kgCO2eq per day. In phase 2, rubber wood processing plants throughout the life cycle have average greenhouse gas emissions of 15,319.11 kgCO2eq per day. In phase 3, biomass power plants electricity capacity is 9.9 MW per day, and their greenhouse gas emissions are 44,753.60 kg CO2eq per day. The result found that greenhouse gas emissions from biomass power plants per 1 kWh accounted for a carbon dioxide equivalent of 4.52 kgCO2eq. Calculate the predictor factors affecting the amount of greenhouse gases in biomass power plants in raw score form as Y = 373.516 +.082 (raw material quantity), where Y is the greenhouse gas emission (kgCO2eq), using the forecast equation in standard score form. With Z =.983raw material quantity3, It was found that the quantity of raw materials had a positive correlation with the quantity of greenhouse gases at a statistical significance of .01 with a correlation coefficient of .983, which could explain the variability of the variables of the quantity of greenhouse gases with 96.70 percent accuracy.

Analysis of modern trends in vehicle life cycle assessment

Introduction (problem statement and relevance). Currently, there are new vehicle power units actively evolving and being more and more extensively applied that are primarily based on electric and hydrogen technologies ensuring reduction of greenhouse gas emissions when in operation. However, to comprehensively evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the new technologies they require integrated assessment within the life cycle. The global community, minding the importance of this problem, has come to the need of development of a harmonized methodology for assessment of a vehicle carbon footprint within the life cycle.The purpose of the study is to review the modern trends when assessing the vehicle carbon footprint within the life cycle based on the analysis of activities of the Automotive – Life Cycle Assessment (A-LCA) Informal Working Group within the official Working Party on Pollution and Energy (GRPE) within the operation of the UN World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29).Methodology and research methods. The method of analysis of published documents and reports presented at the sessions of the Automotive – Life Cycle Assessment (A-LCA) Informal Working Group has been used. Scientific novelty and results. The paper contains the results of analysis of modern approaches and trends in vehicle life cycle assessment. Practical significance. The analysis results will help understanding the key issues in vehicle life cycle assessment and improving methodologies applied in the Russian Federation.

Gasification potential of municipal solid waste in Iran: Application of life cycle assessment, risk analysis, and machine learning

This paper focuses on a comprehensive solution for dry municipal solid waste (MSW) management with describes the scenario of the gasification process. For this purpose, the potential of implementing the MSW gasification process in Southeast Asia (Iran) with three agents of air, steam, and air-steam is investigated. In order to manage the MSW gasification process as accurately as possible in the study area, a thermodynamic, exergy, economic, environmental, carbon footprint, water footprint, ecological emergy, and risk assessment for the three mentioned gasification agents were carried out in the most populated cities of Iran. In the capital of Iran (Tehran) with the largest population and as a result of largest MSW production, the potential of the gasification process has been investigated at different times (10 consecutive years and 12 months of a year). Finally, by combining artificial neural networks and genetic programming, comprehensive relationships have been established to predict the thermodynamic conditions of gasification with an air-steam agent. The general results of the survey indicate that gasification with air agents has good potential for most regions. The use of the steam agent has created worse economic, environmental, and risk conditions than the other two agents. Investigating the potential of the gasification process in Tehran shows that this city has a good potential to implement this process compared to other cities in Iran, and the most suitable location for establishing the gasification process is the 4th region of this city.

Overestimated environmental benefits of short-term changes in mobility behaviour: The case of Berlin during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic changed urban mobility patterns in unprecedented ways with movement decreasing, few public transport customers, and empty streets turning into pop-up bike lanes. Accordingly, a decrease in local air pollution was reported at the start of the pandemic and models suggested a lower carbon footprint of urban mobility. Here, we offer a critical discussion of the indirect environmental impacts that can be inferred from short-lived mobility behaviour. Examining Berlin, we analyse to what extent transport volume and modal split influenced direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions throughout the pandemic (2020–2022). The analysis combines traffic counts and survey data with process-specific life cycle assessment factors. The results show that reductions in the carbon footprint of mobility during the pandemic stem largely from a short-term decline in car use, while the modal split became more carbon intensive. Emission reductions from lower use of public transport were not realised, nor a reduction of indirect emissions from vehicle production due to slowly responding upstream demand and public transport planning. This highlights the need to revise the current assumption of perfectly responding markets in environmental footprint assessment of short-term behavioural change during crises, urban experimentation, and transitions.

A novel lightweight CF decision-making approach for highway reconstruction and operation

Road infrastructure is a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs), contributing significantly to the overall carbon emissions of many countries. Due to their importance in the life-cycle carbon footprint (CF) assessment of highway projects, highway reconstruction, rehabilitation, and operation have garnered increased attention. Existing highway CF studies have relied heavily on on-site data. They were often limited by a handful of operation or reconstruction scenarios. Most existing highway CF studies focused solely on mitigating the infrastructure CF and ignored the potential savings of highway traffic CF resulting from different traffic behaviour and technology options. A comprehensive CF saving potential comparison between the highway infrastructure and traffic for the city- or nation-wide policy decision-making is needed. Moreover, the loss of design and operation information for many existing highway projects with long operational periods necessitates a new approach to assess and manage the CF of highway reconstruction, rehabilitation, and operation. As a result, this study has proposed a new lightweight CF decision-making approach to help highway reconstruction, rehabilitation, and traffic operation management with informative stage-based highway decision-making supporting framework and digital platform that enable the comparison between highway infrastructure and traffic CF's potential savings. With the help of the developed framework and platform, the project decision-maker and government policymaker can leverage better information support and dynamically compare CF decision-making scenarios regarding different highway infrastructure and traffic options. This study contributes to knowledge in three ways: (1) evaluating and validating an informative highway CF decision-making framework for highway infrastructure and traffic assessment and management, (2) proving the applicability of using a lightweight data collection and model building method for highway infrastructure CF assessment and management practice, and (3) providing an applicable way of building a highway CF digital twins (DT) platform for visualisation, decision-making, and management of the highway infrastructure and traffic.

Climate footprint assessment of plastic waste pyrolysis and impacts on the Danish waste management system

Increased plastic recycling is necessary to reduce environmental impacts related to manufacturing and end-of-life of plastic products, however, mechanical recycling (MR) – currently the most widespread recycling option for plastic waste – is limited by quality requirements for inputs and reduced quality of outputs. In this study, pyrolysis of plastic waste is assessed against MR, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) and fuel substitution through climate footprint assessment (CFA) based on primary data from pyrolysis of plastic waste sourced from Danish waste producers. Results of the CFA are scaled to the Danish plastic waste resource in an impact assessment of current Danish plastic waste management, and scenarios are constructed to assess reductions through utilization of pyrolysis. Results of the CFA show highest benefits utilizing pyrolysis for monomer recovery (−1400 and −4800 kg CO2e per ton polystyrene (PS) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), respectively) and MR for single polymer polyolefins (−1000 kg CO2e per ton PE). The two management options perform similarly with mixed plastic waste (200 kg CO2e per ton plastic waste). MSWI has the highest impact (1600–2200 kg CO2e per ton plastic waste) and should be avoided when alternatives are available. Scaling the results of the CFA to the full Danish plastic waste resource reveals an impact of 0.79 Mt CO2e in year 2020 of current plastic waste management. Utilizing pyrolysis to manage MR residues reduces the system impact by 15%. Greater reductions are possible through increased separation of plastic from residual waste. The best performance is achieved through a combination of MR and pyrolysis.

RETRACTED: A Study on Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Seawater Desalination Systems: Seawater Reverse Osmosis Integrated with Bipolar-Membrane-Enhanced Electro-Dialysis Process

A lot of research has been carried out to improve the sustainability of seawater desalination. Despite progress, relatively few studies have analyzed the sustainability of seawater desalination processes integrated on two fronts, i.e., (i) process integration and (ii) energy integration. In addition, life cycle assessment studies on multi-stage flash (MSF) desalination often neglect the impact of the disposed brine by assuming that dilution of the discharged brine impacts on ecological systems less. The present study contributes to these omissions by exploring the environmental sustainability of seawater desalination systems using life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). More specifically, the LCIA of Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) integrated with (i) an Electro-Dialysis (EDBMED) process and (ii) solar photovoltaics (PV) is investigated. Life cycle analysis was used to identify pertinent indicators of the LCIA and their implications in SWRO. The comparative analysis reveals that the advantage of SWRO as compared to other technologies such as MSF is energy efficiency, at estimated levels of 75.0%. The study concludes that despite the technological challenges associated with sustainable desalination and sustainable brine management, integrating renewable energy into seawater desalination can contribute to the sustainability improvements of seawater desalination systems. The findings of this paper provide an initial assessment of the ecological footprints of seawater desalination systems.

Parametric Assessment to Evaluate and Compare the Carbon Footprint of Diverse Manufacturing Processes for Building Complex Surfaces

At present, building design is faced with a need to properly manage complex geometries and surfaces. This fact is not only driven by the increased demand for visually stunning spaces but also stems from the rise of new design paradigms, such as “user-centred design”, that include bespoke optimization approaches. Nevertheless, the escalating adoption of customized components and one-off solutions raises valid concerns regarding the optimal use of energy and resources in this production paradigm. This study focuses on the Life Cycle Assessment of a novel Cement–Textile Composite (CTC) patented material. It combines a synthetic reinforcing textile with a customized concrete matrix, to generate rigid elements that are able to statically preserve complex spatial arrangements, particularly double-curvature surfaces. Moreover, the CTC offers a low-volume cost-effective alternative for custom-made cladding applications. The study performed a comparative carbon footprint assessment of the CTC production process in contrast to other technologies, such as CNC milling and 3D printing. To facilitate meaningful comparisons among diverse construction alternatives and to derive generalized data capable of characterizing their overall capacity, independent of specific production configurations, the present study implemented a generalized parametric shape of reference defined as a bounding box (BBOX), which encloses the volume of the target shape. Comparing different production technologies of the same shape with the same BBOX results in a significant carbon saving, up to 9/10th of the carbon footprint, when the CTC technology is adopted. The study therefore highlights the potential environmental advantages of CTC in the fields of architectural design and building engineering.

Life cycle energy-carbon-water footprint assessment of an existing coal power plant retrofitted with calcium looping (CaL) based CCS system

The current study uses a detailed process based LCA model to evaluate the life cycle energy, carbon and water footprint of an existing 660 MWe supercritical coal powerplant in India retrofitted with the calcium looping based CCS system. LCA of the base case is followed by a sensitivity analysis to analyze effect of variation of different input parameters on the output performance metrics such as life cycle energy input, EROI, life cycle GHG emissions and life cycle blue water consumption. Further, the performance of calcium looping is compared with other mature CCS technologies such as MEA and oxycombustion, which are also retrofitted to the same existing coal power plant. Results show that, as compared to the base power plant, the life cycle energy input and life cycle blue water consumption of the integrated system using calcium looping increases by around 31 and 36% respectively, whereas EROI and life cycle GHG emissions decrease by 33–45% and 79–83% respectively. Sensitivity analysis results show that EROI has the largest variation range and change in rail transportation distance of coal leads to maximum variation in life cycle energy input, EROI and life cycle GHG emissions. Comparison of the three CCS technologies clearly shows that the integrated system using calcium looping has the lowest increase in life cycle energy input and life cycle blue water consumption and the lowest decrease in EROI. Thus, in addition to efficiently reducing CO2 emissions and enhancing power generation capacity of existing coal powerplants, use of calcium looping is also favourable from a life cycle sustainability perspective.

The potential of carbon storage in bio-based solutions to mitigate the climate impact of social housing development in Brazil

The increasing demand of housing in the Global South requires effective solutions to cover the corresponding deficit in the next decades. In Latin America, Brazil is the most populated Nation, which accounts for one-third of the total population and is the main contributor to carbon emissions. This study estimates how bio-based construction solutions, implemented in the Brazilian housing stock as alternative to conventional systems, can contribute to limiting the carbon emissions. Five different construction archetypes were considered, and a Material Flow Analysis model developed to estimate the demand of construction materials by 2050 under multiple scenarios. A carbon footprint assessment, which considers the dynamic effect of biogenic carbon sequestration and uptake, was finally performed to estimate the net Global Warming Potential. The results indicate that, if fast implemented, bio-concrete solutions with short-rotation vegetal species as bamboo, coupled with the lowest material intensity scenario, can reduce the cumulative carbon emissions by 65%, equal to 118 Mt of cumulative CO2-eq savings. Considering bamboo's widespread availability in Brazil's different climate zones, and in the Global South in general, such material presents a significant impact to mitigate the climate impact of social housing. However, the carbon saving intensity is largely affected by uncertainties on population growth and the type of biomass used in the concrete mixture. Therefore, further development of standards for the safe use of bio-concrete in construction is urgently needed, as well as the implementation of environmental policies to facilitate the market penetration of bio-based solutions in emerging economies.