Promote Resource Efficiency Research Articles

Toward eco-efficient production of natural nanofibers from industrial residue: Eco-design and quality assessment

Conversion of bio-based industrial residues into high value-added products such as natural nanofibers is advantageous from an environmental and economic perspective, promoting resource efficiency along with the utilization of renewable materials. However, in order to employ the benefits of the raw material; its eco-efficient production should further be developed. Within this context, eco-design optimization through life cycle assessment (LCA) combined with life cycle costing (LCC) were applied to target eco-efficient production of natural nanofibers from carrot residue, along with quality assessment. The initial production steps included pretreatment combined mechanical nanofibrillation via ultrafine grinding, where the largest contributors to the environmental impact were identified as chemicals and energy. These were targeted by omitting the alkali pretreatment step and instead applying direct bleaching prior to nanofibrillation. After eco-design optimization, the yield increased while the energy, chemical, and water use significantly decreased. Therefore, a reduced environmental impact of more than 75% each for carbon footprint, freshwater ecotoxicity, and human toxicity was shown, along with a cost reduction of more than 50%. The use of carrot residue displayed an efficient conversion into natural nanofibers that was further promoted with the use of eco-design, yet with sustained functionality and nanoscaled dimensions, thus promoting resource-efficiency and natural nanofiber implementation in a wide range of promising bio-based applications.

Exploring the relationship between lean construction and environmental sustainability: A review of existing literature to decipher broader dimensions

Abstract Lean construction and sustainable construction are perceived to be two individual philosophies that possess distinct goals. Lean construction is oriented towards the process-related parameters of construction associated with improving flow, enhancing productivity, eliminating waste and reducing delays. Meanwhile, sustainable construction aims at reducing the harmful impacts on the environment due to construction activities along with due attention to the economic and social aspects of the project. However, both these paradigms are found to hold certain common objectives in the form of promoting resource efficiency and minimizing waste. This paper reviews the studies published in the domain of lean construction and environmental sustainability by categorizing the links between them within various dimensions of the lean philosophy such as lean principles, lean wastes, lean tools, and other associated lean tenets. The review deciphers the influence of these individual realms of lean construction on some environmental parameters such as resource use, emissions, pollution, and energy use. The review provides insights into important and distinct linkages between lean and the environment and further motivates the expansion of the boundaries of lean construction philosophy into the operation phase of a project’s life-cycle where its influence is found to be sparse. Hence, the study briefly examines the potential of considering energy waste under the ambit of lean construction philosophy and the prospects of research in this domain. The knowledge synthesized in this paper will motivate the implementation of lean construction, seeking broader benefits in terms of environmental sustainability.

Using spatially explicit commodity flow and truck activity data to map urban material flows

AbstractTo analyze and promote resource efficiency in urban areas, it is important to characterize urban metabolism and particularly, material flows. Material flow analysis (MFA) offers a means to capture the dynamism of cities and their activities. Urban‐scale MFAs have been conducted in many cities, usually employing variants of the Eurostat methodology. However, current methodologies generally reduce the study area into a “black box,” masking details of the complex processes within the city's metabolism. Therefore, besides the aggregated stocks and flows of materials, the movement of materials—often embedded in goods or commodities—should also be highlighted. Understanding the movement and dispersion of goods and commodities can allow for more detailed analysis of material flows. We highlight the potential benefits of using high‐resolution urban commodity flows in the context of understanding material resource use and opportunities for conservation. Through the use of geographic information systems and visualizations, we analyze two spatially explicit datasets: (1) commodity flow data in the United States, and (2) Global Positioning System‐based commercial vehicle (truck) driver activity data in Singapore. In the age of “big data,” we bring advancements in freight data collection to the field of urban metabolism, uncovering the secondary sourcing of materials that would otherwise have been masked in typical MFA studies. This brings us closer to a consumption‐based, finer‐resolution approach to MFA, which more effectively captures human activities and its impact on urban environments.

Towards Ranking the Water–Energy–Food–Land Use–Climate Nexus Interlinkages for Building a Nexus Conceptual Model with a Heuristic Algorithm

The concept of the Water–Energy–Food nexus (WEF), as documented by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), suggests that the three resources are thoroughly interrelated, shaping a complicated web of interlinkages. Perceiving the three commodities as an interdependent variable system, rather than isolated subsystems is a step towards a more holistic approach, and thus a prerequisite to introducing a sustainable scheme for better managing resources. In this work, the well-documented WEF nexus is broadened to a five-dimensional nexus, also involving land use and climate. A methodology for drawing the interrelations among the five dimensions and unreeling the complicated system of direct and indirect interlinkages is given. The intensity of interlinkages among nexus components is initially assessed through a three-point typology with interlinkage scoring corresponding to resource use in Greece. The typology is used and is further expanded to quantify successfully all interlinkages among nexus components with a proposed heuristic algorithm. Results are used to create the cross-interlinkage matrix that identifies food as the most influencing resource and water as the resource mostly influenced by other nexus elements. Results show that indirect interlinkages of multiple resources can be very significant and should not be ignored when planning nexus-coherent policy initiatives and investments in different sectors, in order to promote resource efficiency.

Cost competitiveness of palm oil biodiesel production in Indonesia

This study investigates opportunities to improve the cost competitiveness of the palm oil biodiesel industry in Indonesia. It compares costs and revenues of standalone conventional palm oil and biodiesel production with an integrated system that includes utilisation of biomass residues. Economic metrics, viz. net income, NPV, IRR, payback period and biodiesel breakeven price are evaluated. Sensitivity analyses are carried out to verify how parameter changes affect net income. The results show that the integrated concept with upgraded CPO and biodiesel processing plant (Biorefinery), which simultaneously produces biodiesel, electricity, heat and biofertiliser, can obtain an additional income of 14 USD/t-FFB compared to the Conventional System. The biorefinery system helps to reduce dependency on government subsidy for biodiesel production, and lowers the industry vulnerability to fluctuation of fossil diesel prices. The shift to modern facilities with value chain integration provides a pathway to enhance the share of renewable energy in Indonesia through increased biodiesel production and electricity generation from palm biomass residues. It may also promote resource efficiency and climate change mitigation through reduced emissions from untreated residues and fossil energy carriers. The analysis enhances understanding about potential gains and consequences of more stringent policy implementation in the country.

Life cycle assessment of a Danish office building designed for disassembly

ABSTRACT The building industry is responsible for a large proportion of anthropogenic environmental impacts. Circular economy (CE) is a restorative and regenerative industrial economic approach that promotes resource efficiency to reduce waste and environmental burdens. Transitioning from a linear approach to a CE within the building industry will be a significant challenge. However, an insufficient number of quantitative studies exist to confirm the potential (positive) environmental effects of CE within the built environment as well as a consistent method for characterizing these effects. This paper considers key methodological issues for quantifying the environmental implications of CE principles and proposes a life cycle assessment (LCA) allocation method to address these issues. The proposed method is applied to a case study of a Danish office building where the concrete structure is designed for disassembly (DfD) for subsequent reuse. The potential environmental impact savings vary between the different impact categories. The savings are significantly influenced by the building’s material composition, particularly the number of component-use cycles as well as the service life of the building and its components. The substitution of other material choices (e.g. glass and wood) for the concrete structure exhibited a potential increase in impact savings.

Resource Efficiency Optimization Engine in Smart Production Networks via Intelligent Cloud Manufacturing Platforms

The aim of this paper is to develop an optimization engine to be implemented in a cloud manufacturing platform to promote resource efficiency in sharing of manufacturing services related to sheet metal cutting. The optimization engine allows to properly select the manufacturing service requests collected through the cloud platform, analyse the possible pairings with the supplier ongoing production orders and dynamically choose the best production strategy (e.g. incorporate, queue, prioritize or reject) considering the surface utilization rate of the metal sheets as key performance index. A simulation of different possible scenarios in terms of customer and supplier orders is reported to exemplify the diverse decision-making scheduling strategies proposed by the platform and the related quantification of resource efficiency improvement.

Towards EU 2020: An Outlook of SECA Regulations Implementation in the BSR

AbstractThe clean shipping concept emerged in a bid to make maritime transportation green and environmentally friendly. This mandate is being accomplished through improved conducts, actions and technology in the maritime industry. One of such measures was the creation of the Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECA) in 2005 and 2012 to reduce the rate of sulphur emissions from shipping. Sustainable growth—an EU 2020 priority—is strategically linked to the SECA regulation in that it promotes resource efficiency, greener environment and a competitive economy.Thus, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and, as adopted by the European Parliament (EP), SECA regulation stipulated that from 2015 all ships in SECA are under the obligation to use low sulphur marine fuel that must not exceed 0.1% (IMO, 2011). This regulation has incited rigorous arguments on the economic disadvantage it would subject affected maritime stakeholders who are made to comply with stringent regulation their counterparts in non-SECA are not subjected to.Two years of 0.1% sulphur regulations have witnessed many changes in the maritime industry and most of the first responses were realised with vessels that ply along the Baltic Sea. This work presents an account of European maritime industry’s approaches towards SECA regulations and the stakeholders’ thoughts on the economic impact of SECA. This contribution brings a clearer picture to the status quo as well as highlighting a needed future focus.

Optimization Methodology for Complete Use of Bio-resources

Every type of bio-resource has its specific and multi-tier applications. To promote resource efficiency and complete use of bio–resources the simplistic and environmentally less valuable options must be replaced with technological solutions that contribute to the development of high added value products, while ensuring environmental sustainability. This paper proposes a methodology for evaluation of the added value of various bio-resource applications in order to optimize the use of bio-resources. The optimization target function is determination of net present value depending on product price and its growth, economic feasibility, product sustainability, specific water and energy consumption, operation and maintenance parameters. The methodology incorporates a system of equations that describe the product value and the required investments at each level of applications. Simultaneously, the impact of bio-resource application and the developed product on climate change is evaluated. The developed methodology is approbated for identification of technological opportunities of Japanese quince (Chaenomeles Japonica) by-product valorization. Comparison of four alternative scenarios proves the applicability of the optimization method and determines that the highest net present value and the lowest CO2 emissions would be for a case of Japanese quince seed oil extraction at the facility of existing food processing company.

Initiating resource partnerships for industrial symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis is a strategy to limit carbon emissions whilst promoting resource efficiency and business development. This study interprets industrial symbiosis as waste-to-resource innovation. Understanding how these innovations are actually realized, and hence how they can be promoted by public and private partners, is still limited. Particularly, initiating resource partnerships for waste-to-resource innovations in the absence of a government-funded facilitator, such as previously the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK, has remained underexplored. This paper explores how companies identify potential resource partners in terms of network and geographical distances. Based on case studies of waste-to-resource innovation in the Humber region of the UK, the paper concludes that (1) companies can identify resource partners among/through their direct contacts that are involved in resource production/management themselves; and (2) that about 73% of these connections are located within a 75 miles’ radius. Furthermore, various new ‘facilitators’ were identified, demonstrating the need for a refined government approach to facilitate industrial symbiosis as part of the wider transition towards the circular economy.

Evaluating resource efficiency at major copper mines

Resource efficiency is both, a scientific concept in sustainability assessment and a policy concept that aims to achieve maximum extraction of resource materials from a mineral deposit at minimum waste production. Presently, established proxies for resource efficiency use weight-based measures of a system’s materials consumption However, such proxies are not directly applicable to mining operations. This study introduces a new method and associated techniques for the evaluation and quantification of resource efficiency in mining operations. This approach considers intensities in land, water, energy and mineral deposit consumption (i.e. specific resource consumption to produce one unit of output). Applying this new methodology, resource intensities have been assessed and quantified for 22 major copper mines. Results have allowed relative ranking of these mines in terms of resource efficiency. This work also demonstrates that deposit properties and its geographic location impact on resource efficiency. Consequently, political measures, needed to promote resource efficiency in mining, should focus on region-specific aspects and the properties of the mined ore deposit.

Challenges of Promoting Resource Efficiency and 3Rs from the Perspective of Implementin the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals

Challenges of Promoting Resource Efficiency and 3Rs from the Perspective of Implementin the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals

Cultural Passive Defense from the Perspective of Islamic Values with the Entrepreneurial Approach

Today, Passive Defense as a necessity and broad area in all aspects of economic, cultural, political, technological and social approach of prevention and deterrence, plays a vital role in preserving Islamic values, preserve the honor of Iran, to reduce vulnerability in key parts of the country as well as promoting resource efficiency and power management in different areas.In addition to defending the land, passive defense is to defend beliefs and values against the dangers that threaten the country, with increased resistance, maintaining morale and cohesion of the people against the threats, through attention to cultural and religious infrastructure. This research utilizes library studies, content analysis and interviews with experts in the field of Islamic culture, passive defense and entrepreneurship to study and analyze the promotion of passive defense culture from the perspective of Islamic values and the role of the custodian organizations of the cultural and educational sphere in the country in the context of entrepreneurial and innovative actions.

Beyond the throwaway society: A life cycle-based assessment of the environmental benefit of reuse.

In the context of a circular economy, sustainable consumption is often seen as the antithesis of current consumption patterns, which have led to the definition of the so-called throwaway society. Reuse may provide a preferred alternative to other waste management options, because it promotes resource efficiency and may significantly reduce environmental impacts. To appraise the environmental benefits related to reuse of goods, a methodology adopting life cycle assessment (LCA) has been developed. A standardized procedure has been developed, identifying reference products within product category subject to reuse, and collecting reliable inventory data as a basis for calculating environmental impact through LCA. A case study on a second-hand shop is presented, and the avoided impacts are quantified. Inventory data were taken both from the literature and directly from sales and surveys submitted to customers. The results are presented, highlighting: 1) for each product category, the average avoided impacts for 1 unit of reused product considered; and 2) for the overall activities of the second-hand shop, the cumulative avoided impacts in 1 yr. In the case study, the higher contribution to avoided impacts comes from the apparel sector, due to the high amount of items sold, followed by the furniture sector, because of the high amount of environmental impacts avoided by the reuse of each single item.

Introduction of material flow cost accounting (MFCA) to the supply chain: a questionnaire study on the challenges of constructing a low-carbon supply chain to promote resource efficiency

The purpose of the present article is to identify the requirements and challenges of promoting a low-carbon supply chain caused by the introduction of material flow cost accounting (MFCA). To this end, the role of an MFCA leader company within the low-carbon supply chain was examined. Next, the results of a questionnaire study that was carried out in 2012 were shown in the second part of the paper. The questionnaire was sent to the listed industrial enterprises (1,561 enterprises) in Japan, and the response rate was 22.8% (356 questionnaires received). The status quo of information sharing between the buyers and suppliers along the supply chain, preconditions, and requirements for introducing MFCA was considered. The study showed that setting environmental indicators as performance evaluation criteria of a company's purchasing department, as well as explaining the performance of MFCA to the purchasing department on the one hand, and promoting inter-organizational information sharing between buyers and suppliers on the other, are important steps in order to effectively introduce MFCA in the supply chain.

Recycling of electronic displays: Analysis of pre-processing and potential ecodesign improvements

This article analyses the current and future end-of-life management of electronic displays (flat screen televisions and monitors), and identifies and discusses possible ecodesign recommendations to improve it. Based on an investigation of the treatment of displays in two typical European recycling plants, key aspects and criticalities of the recycling methods (sorting, dismantling and pre-processing) are identified. Disaggregated data concerning on-site measurements of the time needed to manually dismantle different displays are presented. The article also discusses the potential evolution of end-of-life scenarios for electronic displays and suggests possible recommendations for recyclers, producers and policy-makers to promote resource efficiency in the recycling of such waste products. Data on time for dismantling the displays can be used to build measurers for voluntary and mandatory policies, to stimulate design innovations for products improvement, and to assess possible alternative treatments of the waste during the pre-processing at the recycling plants. Some quantitative product measures (based on the time thresholds for dismantling some key components) are also discussed, including an assessment of their economic viability. These measures can potentially be enforced through mandatory and voluntary European product policies, and could also be extended to other product groups.

How does flexible design promote resource efficiency for housing? A study of Khulna, Bangladesh

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance and significance of design strategies to enhance flexibility as an in-built design concept of residential building in developing countries. The study considers potential directions of building design in developing countries to ensure maximum benefits of resource utilization. Design/methodology/approach – The study approaches using the qualitative data collection method, mostly based on interviews of local residents. Layouts of residential buildings that have been renovated for several reasons, such as the changes in family size over the last 30 years, have been studied. The concept of zone and margin, based on the theoretical framework developed by Dutch architect, John Habraken, is compared and tested in residential buildings in the city of Khulna. Findings – This paper shows that people change floor layouts of their buildings over time for different reasons; for example, 29 percent of people change plans in order to accommodate more peop...

Environmental Aspects of Project Management

The primary challenge in project management is to achieve all of the defined project goals and objectives while adhering to typical constraints which are usually scope, quality, time, and budget. Often, the basic flaw in project planning and design is the complete neglect or minimal consideration of environmental and social costs and dependence only on economic analysis for project preparation and investment. A failure to understand and internalize adverse or negative impacts on environment during project preparation could lead to several undesirable consequences, which may ultimately jeopardize the very objectives of growth and development for which the project was proposed. In this paper, the author stresses upon the need for environmental management for successful project completion and discusses the challenges of addressing the key environmental issues. Environmental management is not just about the ‘trees and bees’ but also about health, safety, profits, quality assurance, reduced risks to reputation, and increased global competitiveness, states the author. Overall, it is about efficiency and reducing environmental and legal liabilities. It is argued that sound environment management reduces the unforeseen obstacles and bottlenecks that may otherwise hamper the delivery of project objectives while helping to improve the environmental performance of project operations. The key environmental issues resulting from agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and urban operations include: severe degradation of air quality due to industrial and vehicular pollution contamination of land and water resources due to pesticides, fertilizers, and dumping of hazardous wastes depletion of raw material reserves contamination of surface and ground water sources due to discharge of sewage and industrial effluents deforestation. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) study is suggested as a tool for formulating an environment management plan. EIA should, however, not be treated just as a tool for regulatory compliance but as an instrument for improving project management per se with proper expertise, time, and budget allocations made for the purpose. In environmental management, the moot question is: How to get started? The author's advice is to start small and simple and gradually turn them into action plans for a worksite and subsequently up-scale them for the entire company. It is ultimately the actions taken at personal or community level or as a project manager that matters the most when it comes to environmental sustainability. Policies and plans merely show the way. It is becoming increasingly important to make environmental management an economic driver that would serve to minimize environmental damages and promote resource efficiency and cost savings to businesses.