As a result of harmful textile production, sustainability has become the movement by which the apparel industry explores solutions to improve procedures in fashion design to maintain a healthy environment. However, the issue is consumers trust the sustainability claims and marketing materials of apparel products at face value without knowing its environmental impact. The overall purpose of this research was to compare the environmental implications of widely produced and owned apparel products through a life cycle assessment approach. This life cycle assessment study examines key environmental impact categories of the materials and production phase (cradle to gate) of a pair of jeans and a cotton t-shirt. The specific purpose of this study was to identify if the production processes make a sustainable product at the point of purchase. Furthermore, this research study compares the environmental impacts of a denim jean and dyed cotton t-shirt utilizing the ReCipe 2008 LCA tool.

My research is focused upon what industrial designers can contribute in order to mitigate environmental problems often caused by their designs. The intent is to propose a procedure to integrate eco-effectiveness at the beginning of the design process, to consider it at each stage of the product’s lifecycle, and to measure that product’s environmental performance in order to make informed design decisions. At each stage the designer can follow this flexible process, which is intended to work in conjunction with individual creative methods while prioritizing the need for eco-effectiveness. The goal is to develop a procedure that is simple enough for designers to use every day and that could also provide means of verification, rather than relying on assumptions and good intentions. I acknowledge that efforts from a single discipline are not enough. In order to address the environmental challenges we face today, collaboration among disciplines will be necessary, as well as a change of behavior and attitudes towards consumption. This is my contribution. / text

Over seventy percent of the 2.5 billion people who still lack access to basic sanitation worldwide live in rural areas (WHO/UNICEF, 2012). Despite concerns of water scarcity, resource depletion, and climate change little research has been conducted on the environmental sustainability of household sanitation technologies common in rural areas of developing countries or the potential of resource recovery to mitigate the environmental impacts of these systems. The environmental sustainability, in terms of embodied energy and carbon footprint, was analyzed for four household sanitation systems: (1) Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine, (2) pour-flush latrine, (3) composting latrine, and (4) biodigester latrine. Variations in design and construction materials used change the embodied energy of the systems. It was found that systems that used clay brick in the construction of the superstructure had an average cumulative energy demand 4,307 MJ and a global warming potential 362 kilograms of greenhouse gas equivalent (kgCO2 eq) higher than systems that used adobe brick in the construction of the superstructure. It was also found that systems that incorporate resource recovery, such as a composting or biodigester latrine, can become net energy producers over their service life, recovering between 29,333 and 253,190 MJ over a 20-year period, compared to the 11,275 to 19,990 MJ required for their construction and maintenance. Recovering the resources from the waste also significantly lowered the global warming potential of these systems from 2,079-49,655 kgCO2 eq to 616-1,882 kgCO2 eq; significantly less than the global warming potential of VIP latrine or pour-flush latrines (8,642-15,789 kgCO2 eq). In addition, two community wastewater treatment systems that serve 420-1,039 individuals considered in a similar study had a higher cumulative energy demand per household (44,869 MJ and 38,403 MJ) than the household sanitation systems (11,275-19,990 MJ). The community wastewater treatment systems had a lower global warming potential (2019-2,092 kgCO2 eq) than household systems that did not recover resources (8,642-15,789 kg CO2 eq), but higher than household systems that incorporate resource recovery (616-1,882 kgCO2 eq). The goal of this study is to provide insight to policy makers in the development field to promote decision making based on environmental sustainability in the implementation of improved sanitation coverage in rural areas of developing countries.

Οι καταναλωτές τα τελευταία χρόνια ενδιαφέρονται ολοένα και περισσότερο για την προέλευση και την ποιότητα των τροφίμων, συμπεριλαμβανομένης και της προέλευσης των Ά υλών. Η ασφάλεια, η θρεπτική αξία και πιο πρόσφατα οι περιβαλλοντικές επιπτώσεις των συστημάτων παραγωγής και διανομής των τροφίμων επίσης αντιμετωπίζονται με ανάλογο ενδιαφέρον. Το αλεύρι είναι το κύριο συστατικό του ψωμιού που θεωρείται ως η βάση της υγιούς διατροφής παγκοσμίως, των προϊόντων ζαχαροπλαστικής και άλλων αρτοσκευασμάτων. Επιπλέον στις μεσογειακές χώρες τα προϊόντα αυτά βρίσκουν μεγάλη αποδοχή από τους καταναλωτές. Στην Ελλάδα το αλεύρι καλλιεργείται σε σημαντικές ποσότητες και οι αλευροβιομηχανίες εφοδιάζουν τις βιομηχανίες τροφίμων και τους φούρνους αρτοποιίας με πολλούς τύπους αλεύρου. Οι ανάγκες της χώρας για τα διάφορα προϊόντα αλεύρου παρουσιάζουν ένα μέσο ετήσιο ρυθμό αύξησης περίπου 1,5% για τη διετία 1999-2000, ενώ οι ανάγκες για το έτος 2000 ήταν 753.000 τόνοι. Για το ίδιο έτος η εθνική παραγωγή ανέρχεται σε 825.000 τόνους. Η Ανάλυση Κύκλου Ζωής (ΑΚΖ) είναι ένα σχετικά νέο περιβαλλοντικό εργαλείο λήψης αποφάσεων που πρόσφατα τυποποιήθηκε από το Διεθνή Οργανισμό Προτύπων (International Standardisation Organisation (ISO)). Η ΑΚΖ είναι ένα εξαιρετικό εργαλείο για την περιβαλλοντική διαχείριση, καθώς παρέχει σημαντικές πληροφορίες για τους περιβαλλοντικούς κινδύνους που σχετίζονται με ένα προϊόν, μια διαδικασία ή οποιαδήποτε ανθρώπινη δραστηριότητα γενικότερα. Σε αυτή τη μελέτη μια απλουστευμένη ΑΚΖ εφαρμόζεται με μια προσέγγιση «από τη γέννηση ως την πύλη» (“cradle-to-gate”) για να αναγνωρισθούν τα κρίσιμα σημεία της διαδικασίας παραγωγής του αλεύρου στην Ελλάδα. Το λογισμικό SimaPro χρησιμοποιήθηκε για την ανάλυση των δεδομένων της απογραφής και της εκτίμησης των επιπτώσεων του συστήματος συνολικά (από τους σπόρους σιταριού ως την παραγωγή του αλεύρου). Το σύστημα που αναλύθηκε περιλαμβάνει την καλλιέργεια μαλακού σιταριού, τη μεταφορά, τη βιομηχανική άλεση και τη συσκευασία του αλεύρου. Η χρήση ενέργειας και υλικών, καθώς και οι εκπομπές στο περιβάλλον υπολογίσθηκαν και εκτιμήθηκαν τα κύρια δυναμικά των περιβαλλοντικών επιπτώσεων. Η εφαρμογή των λιπασμάτων, η μεταφορά και η χρήση ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας βρέθηκαν να είναι τα πιο σημαντικά σημεία για τις περισσότερες, όχι όμως για όλες, τις κατηγορίες επιπτώσεων και συγκεκριμένες ενέργειες προτάθηκαν με στόχο τη βελτίωση του περιβαλλοντικού προφίλ του τελικού προϊόντος. / Consumers have become increasingly interested in the origin and the quality of their food, including the source of food’s raw materials, its safety and nutritional value and most recently the environmental impacts of the production systems adopted in producing and delivering the food. Flour is the main ingredient of bread, cakes, pastries and other bakery products which are considered as the base of modern healthy diet worldwide. Moreover, in Mediterranean countries these products have an outstanding acceptance by consumers. In Greece, wheat is cultivated in significant quantities and a number of milling industries supply the food industries and small bakeries with many different types of flour. The national demand for various products of flour-producing industries presented a mean annual increase rate of about 1.5% for the years 1999-2000, while the demand for the year 2000 was 753.000 tons. For the same year the national production ranged up to 825.000 tons. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a relatively new, cutting edge environmental decision support tool recently standardised by the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO). LCA is an excellent tool for environmental management, as it provides important information about the environmental burdens associated to a product, a process or any human activity. In this study, a simplified LCA following the “cradle-to-gate” approach has been applied to identify the critical points of the flour production in Greece. The SimaPro software was used for analyzing the main inventory data and estimating the environmental impacts of the overall system (from wheat grain to flour production). The system investigated includes agricultural production of soft wheat, transportation, industrial milling and packaging of the flour. Energy use, material use and emissions were quantified and the main potential environmental effects were assessed. The application of fertilizers, transportation and electrical energy consumption were found to be the ‘hot spots’ for many, but not all, of the impact categories investigated and specific actions were proposed in the aim to improve the environmental profile of the final product.

Achieving environmental s¬ustainability in human organization is the defining challenge of the modern era. In light of the inability of the existing economic paradigm to provide for sustainability objectives, novel approaches to understanding and managing economic activities are required. Towards this end, the emergent field of ecological economics provides an alternative paradigm that expressly prioritizes the development of the theory and tools necessary to operationalize environmental sustainability in economic activity, which is viewed as prerequisite to sustainability in any other sphere. Here, I advance an internally consistent framework for understanding and implementing the core ecological economic sustainability criteria: appropriate scale relative to biocapacity; distributive justice; and efficient allocation. This framework includes: (1) an ecological communitarian conception of distributive justice which recognizes environmental sustainability as the first principle of distributive justice; (2) the rationale for biophysically-consistent ecological economic modeling of human activities as a basis for environmentally-enlightened policy and management; and (3) an appeal for scale-oriented environmental governance as could potentially be operationalized by a strong, centralized World Environment Organization. I further apply this framework to evaluating the current and future status of livestock production systems at regional and global scales with respect to efficiency considerations as well as their relationships to sustainability boundary conditions for human activities as a whole. It is suggested that the current and projected scale of the livestock sector is fundamentally unsustainable, and that all leverage points must be exploited to rein in this sector in the interest of preventing irreversible ecological change. This must include, but cannot be limited to, strong eco-efficiency measures and changes in production technologies, species substitutions, and consumption patterns and volumes. Outcomes are interpreted in terms of their implications for environmental policy and governance oriented towards the sustainability objective.

Agricultural production and post-harvest supply systems are major causes of resource and energy consumption throughout the world, with associated emissions contributing to global scale environmental burdens. Focusing on apple systems in Nova Scotia, Canada, this project used life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental performance of conventional and organic orchards, as well as post-production systems of storage and transportation. Results indicate that on-orchard hotspots include fuel use, fertilizers, and inputs to pest and disease management on both conventional and organic orchards. Extending system boundaries to cradle-to-retail locations revealed that electricity required for storage caused substantial burdens, highlighting the problem of coal-based electricity generation in Nova Scotia. Findings also illustrate that the relative impact of transportation changes according to distance travelled and mode of delivery. Consuming locally produced apples when in season was found to be environmentally preferable than those requiring year round storage, while transport by freight ship is more favourable than long distance transport truck delivery.

No description available.

This thesis presents a new metric-based Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) method for assessing the sustainability performance of metallic automotive components. The unique feature of this research work include the development and use of a metrics-based product sustainability index (ProdSI) methodology by considering the total life-cycle approach and the triple bottom line (TBL) with the 6R methodology. It has been shown that the manufactured product’s sustainability performance can be comprehensively assessed using this new methodology. The major focus of this research is the integration of the 6R activities (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Redesign and Remanufacture). Four life-cycle stages of the product, with various end-of-life (EOL) product scenarios, are modeled and analyzed. These scenarios include: reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling the products at EOL. Furthermore, a new mathematical model is developed and presented to determine the optimum percentage mix for various product EOL strategic options. By using the 6R methodology, the overall product sustainability was significantly improved. This improvement was quantitatively assessed by computing the ProdSI score. Ultimately, this research shows that a closed-loop material flow can be achieved.

The goal of this master thesis project was to develop computer models of some plausiblepretreatment techniques and to assess the potential benefits/costs of using pretreatment andanaerobic digestion for waste management of organic waste from a system perspective. Forthis purpose a computer program called ORWARE has been used. ORWARE (organic wasteresearch) is a program for making life cycle assessments of waste management. As the mainpart of the project work the ORWARE system has been provided with three new models ofpretreatment techniques. The additions consist of: One model of pretreatment with ultrasound,one model of thermal hydrolysis and one model of a screw press. All three technologies hadthe potential to deal with technical hindrances of treating certain waste types with anaerobicdigestion.With ORWARE, life cycle assessment was made by simulations of various wastemanagement scenarios. A total of nine scenarios were simulated for the waste management ofthree different types of wastes: Bio sludge, fibre sludge and food waste, with three scenariosfor each waste type. Bio sludge is microbial sludge from biological waste water treatment.Fibre sludge is lignocellulosic sludge mainly from the pulp and paper industries. Food wasteis generally considered to be the unwanted part of food from households, restaurants and foodindustry.Three primary waste management scenarios, one scenario for each waste type, which includedpretreatment and anaerobic digestion, were simulated. There was a “bio sludge scenario” withultrasonication pretreatment, a “fibre sludge scenario” with thermal hydrolysis pretreatment(THP) and a “food waste scenario” with screw press pretreatment. The rest of the ninescenarios were assessed as comparative references to the three primary ones. These scenariosrepresented conventional methods of waste management or variations of the primaryscenarios.The resulting life cycle assessments show that anaerobic digestion of some organicwastes produces about the same amount of greenhouse gases, acidifying pollutants andeutrophying pollutants as incineration does (where the heat from incineration is made useful).The biggest downside of the anaerobic digestion waste management process is the electricityuse needed for pretreatment and for heating the anaerobic digestion. An electricity cost that inthis case is assumed to be provided through coal power, which is a common assumption whenassessing the impact of margin power utilization in life cycle assessment. If that assumptioncould instead be that the electricity is provided by a less polluting power source, the anaerobicdigestion alternative could lessen the overall pollution since the methane is commonly used asa renewable substitute for fossil fuels.In this master thesis project the ecological and economical benefits and costs of managingorganic waste through pretreatment and anaerobic digestion were assessed. These benefits andcosts were compared to conventional waste management in Sweden. The comparison showsthat anaerobic digestion of organic waste is beneficial for reduction of global warming butlikely has a greater economical cost than the conventional methods, e.g. incineration. / Syftet med det här examensarbetet var att utveckla datormodeller av några sannoliktimplementerbara förbehandlingstekniker och att uppskatta de potentiella vinsterna med atthantera organiskt avfall genom förbehandling och rötning ur ett systemperspektiv. Förändamålet har ett datorprogram som heter ORWARE använts. ORWARE (organic wasteresearch) är ett dator/beräkningsprogram för livscykelanalys av avfallshantering. I sambandmed det här arbetet har ORWARE kompletterats med tre nya modeller avförbehandlingstekniker: ultraljud, termisk hydrolys och skruvpress. Alla dessa tre tekniker harpotentialen att åtgärda tekniska hinder för att röta vissa typer av organiskt material.Med ORWARE gjordes därefter livscykelanalyser på olika avfallshanteringsscenarier. Totaltnio scenarier simulerades för hanteringen av tre typer av organiskt avfall: bioslam, fiberslamoch matavfall. Bioslam benämns ofta överskottslam och är mikrobiellt slam från biologiskvattenrening. Fiberslam kan definieras som slam från massaindustrin med en hög halt avlignocellulosa. Med matavfall menas allmänt de oönskade delarna av maten från hushåll,storkök och matindustrier.Tre primära avfallshanteringsscenarier, ett scenario för varje typ av avfall, som inkluderadeförbehandling och rötning simulerades varav ett var ”bioslamscenario” medultraljudsförbehandling, ett ”fiberslamsscenario” med förbehandling med termisk hydrolysoch ett ”matavfallsscenario” med förbehandling med skruvpress. Övriga sex scenarieruppskattades för att fungera som referenser att jämföra de tre primära scenarierna mot.De resulterande livscykelanalyserna visade att rötning av vissa organiska avfall leder tillnästan likvärdiga utsläpp av växthusgaser, försurande ämnen och gödande ämnen somförbränning av avfallet (där värmen tillvaratas). Den stora nackdelen med rötningsprocessen,är den elanvändning som krävs för förbehandling och rötning. En elanvändning som i det härfallet har antagits försedd från kolkraft, ett vanligt förekommande marginalantagande isamband med livscykelanalyser. Om rötnings- och förbehandlingsprocesserna kan drivas påmindre utsläppsintensiv elkraft är det möjligt att på det hela taget göra miljövinster eftersommetangasen från rötning med fördel ersätter fossila drivmedel.I det här projektet uppskattades miljömässig påverkan och energivinster/förluster av atthantera organiskt avfall med förbehandling och rötning. Dessa vinster och kostnader jämföresmed konventionell avfallshantering i Sverige d.v.s. förbränning av slam och sortering ochrötning efter sortering av matavfall.

The entire comparative estimation comprises four sections: 1. Embodied environmental implications of different structural systems of wooden buildings; 2. Embodied ecological efficiency of diverse constructions composed of various materials; 3. LCA of building models comprising equivalent thermal performance; 4. LCA of building models exhibiting similar seismic behaviour. First, the LCA results for thirty realised buildings are analysed based on the inventory of each project. This evaluation is intended to quantify and compare the embodied environmental burdens caused by different structural systems of timber houses. The second section is a comparative evaluation of the embodied ecological impacts caused by different materials, when used in the same construction. This study aims to investigate the ecological efficiency of various materials in the form of whole structures. With regard to making a compatible and reasonable LCA comparison, however, the appraisal needs a more scientific framework. In order to address this insufficiency, the third and fourth LCA studies are carried out. The third section involves various buildings made of different materials but providing equivalent thermal performance. Within this estimation, the thermal performance of a building is simply represented by the thermal inertia of its outer walls. Constructions composed of alternative envelopes are established and LCA based on the inventories of these structures are carried out. The fourth section examines three structures composed of three building materials but exhibiting similar seismic behaviour. In this study, the horizontal stiffness of the entire building against earthquakes indicates its seismic performance. The simulation develops alternative multi-storey buildings according to the seismic performance. The environmental impacts of the three buildings are quantified and compared. Both the third and fourth sections take the recycling scenarios into account. The impact of disposal after the end-of-life and the contribution from reuse and recovery are integrated into the overall impact assessment. Defining the system boundary and scope is essential for LCA studies. Normally, LCA framework refers to a ‘from-cradle-to-grave’ scenario, including the manufacturing, utilisation and dismantling phases. In the studies here, however, the estimation is focused on the production and recycling stages, without the results for utilisation and maintenance. This appraisal is the so-called ‘from-cradle-to-gate’ plus ‘from-gate-to-grave’ system. Compared to former research, this dissertation raises a couple of innovative contributions to the sustainability appraisals of constructions: 1. The scopes are focused on the structural part of buildings, considering the congruent system boundary for LCA. 2. A series of LCAs compare various building materials in the form of construction, integrating diverse aspects about buildings like thermal and seismic performance. 3. These LCAs are based on consistent prerequisites and make it possible to compare the results comprehensively. 4. In addition to embodied implications, these LCA quantify the contribution from material recycling. 5. This study divides the timber buildings according to their structural systems and estimates them individually. / Die vergleichende Bewertung der Umweltleistung mehrgeschossiger Wohnbauten umfasst vier Abschnitte: 1. Ökologische Auswirkungen der Bereitstellung und Bearbeitung von Holz für verschiedene Tragsysteme; 2. Material- und herstellungsinduzierte (graue) Umwelteffizienz von verschiedenen Materialien und Bauweisen; 3. Ökobilanzierung von Gebäuden mit gleichen thermischen Eigenschaften; 4. Ökobilanzierung von Gebäuden mit ähnlichem seismischen Verhalten. Zunächst werden die Ergebnisse der Ökobilanz für dreißig realisierte Bauten auf der Grundlage der Sachbilanzen analysiert. Diese Auswertung vergleicht und quantifiziert die materialbezogene Umweltbelastung für verschiedene Tragsysteme mehrgeschossiger Wohnbauten aus Holz. Der zweite Abschnitt vergleicht die ökologischen Auswirkungen verschiedener Baustoffe, wobei jeweils der gleiche Konstruktionstyp zugrunde gelegt wird. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist die Untersuchung der Umwelteffizienz unterschiedlicher Materialien auf der Ebene der Gebäudeteile. In Hinblick auf die Kompatibilität und Plausibilität der Ökobilanz wird mit der dritten und vierten LCA ein einheitlicher Bewertungsansatz geschaffen. Der dritte Abschnitt handelt von verschiedenen Gebäudetypen mit gleichem Wärmestandard aber unterschiedlichen Baustoffen, wobei die Wärmeeffizienz vereinfachend durch den Wärmedurchgangswiderstand der Außenwände erfasst wird. Es werden Baukonstruktionen mit alternativen Gebäudehüllen entwickelt und auf der Grundlage der Sachbilanzen ökologisch bewertet. Der vierte Abschnitt untersucht drei Strukturen aus verschiedenen Baustoffen mit ähnlichem seismischen Verhalten. Diese Studie verwendet die horizontale Steifigkeit des Gebäudes gegen Erdbebenerschütterungen als Indikator für die seismische Leistungsfähigkeit. Auf der Basis dieses Indikators werden konstruktive Alternativen für mehrgeschossige Gebäuden entwickelt und deren Umweltwirkungen quantitativ ermittelt. Sowohl im dritten als auch im vierten Abschnitt werden unterschiedliche Recyclingszenarien berücksichtigt. Die Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt, die nach der Nutzungsdauer infolge der Abfallbeseitigung, des Materialrecycling oder die Wiederverwendung entstehen, werden in die gesamte Umweltwirkungsabschätzung integriert. Die Festlegung der Systemgrenzen und der Umfang der Betrachtung ist für die Ökobilanz unerlässlich. Normalerweise betrachten diese alle Lebenszyklusphasen eines Produkts, einschließlich Herstellung, Nutzung und Recyclings („from-cradle-to-grave“). Die hier betrachteten Untersuchungen beschränken sich jedoch auf die Phasen der Produktion und des Recyclings. Umweltauswirkungen infolge der Nutzung und Wartung des Gebäudes werden nicht berücksichtigt ( „from-cradle-to-gate“ und „from-gate-to-grave“). Im Vergleich mit früheren Forschungsergebnissen arbeitet diese Dissertation innovative Beiträge zur Umweltbewertung von Baukonstruktionen heraus: 1. Der Rahmen der Untersuchung erstreckt sich auf die Bauteile der Gebäudestruktur, was zu einer einheitlichen Systemgrenze für die Ökobilanzen führt. 2. Die Datenreihen der Ökobilanzen vergleichen verschiedenartige Baumaterialien auf der Ebene von Gebäudeteilen unter verschiedenen Aspekten. 3. Diesen Ökobilanzen liegen einheitliche Voraussetzungen zugrunde. Dadurch ist es möglich, die Ergebnisse umfassend zu vergleichen. 4. Neben den material- und herstellungsinduzierten Umweltauswirkungen quantifizieren diese Ökobilanzen direkt den Beitrag des Materialrecyclings. 5. Die Arbeit klassifiziert die mehrgeschossigen Holzbauten nach Tragsystemen und bewertet diese individuell.