Packaging has been on the environmental agenda for decades. It has been discussed and debated within the society mainly as an environmental problem. Production, distribution and consumption of food and drinks contribute significant to the environmental impact. However, consumers in the EU waste about 20% of the food they buy. The function of packaging in reducing the amount of food losses is an important but often neglected environmental issue. This thesis focuses on the functions of packaging that can be used to preserve resources efficiently and reduce the environmental impact of the food-packaging system. The service perspective is used to increase knowledge about consumer interaction with packages. Fifteen packaging attributes, for example, ‘easy to empty’, ‘hygienic’ and ‘contain the right quantity’, were identified as influencing the amount of food losses at the consumer. The result showed that there are potentials to both increase consumer satisfaction and decrease the environmental impact of the food-packaging system, when new packaging design reduces food losses. A model was developed that calculates the balance of environmental impact between reduction of food losses, and more packaging material. The result showed that it can be environmentally motivated to increase the environmental impact of packaging, if the amount of food losses is reduced. This is especially true for food items with high environmental impact, e.g. meat and dairy products, and for food items that have a high share of loss, e.g. bread. I have also explored to what extent packaging can influence food losses in households. The study showed that about 20% to 25% of household food waste was related to packaging. The households noted three packaging attributes as the main causes for food losses; ‘too big packaging’, ‘difficult to empty’ and ‘best-before-date’. Finally there is a discussion of packaging research in the context of sustainability principles, and suggestions for further research. / <p>Paper IV was still a manuscript at the time of the thesis defense.</p>

Ces dernières années, les législations dans le domaine du textile et de l’environnement se sont multipliées. Au niveau européen, les directive IPPC , REACH, ont obligé les industriels Européens à prendre en compte les aspects environnementaux de leurs produits et services. En France, suite au Grenelle de l’environnement, de nouvelles obligations apparaissent concernant les déchets textiles ou l’affichage environnemental (Grenelle environnement 2011). Parallèlement, une prise de conscience internationale de la nécessité de concevoir des produits limitant l’utilisation de ressources non renouvelables et diminuant leur impact environnemental, est apparue. L’éco conception implique la mise en oeuvre de nouvelles matières et de nouveaux procédés. L’ACV, analyse du cycle de vie est un outil qui permet l’évaluation des impacts environnementaux. Cette thèse a été lancée par Bureau Veritas CODDE et le laboratoire GEMTEX, suite à l’identification d’un besoin significatif de développement de données et méthodologies ACV pour le secteur du textile. En effet, les méthodologies et les outils existants ne sont pas adaptés à l’évaluation de l’impact environnemental des produits textiles car le secteur présente des caractéristiques spécifiques contraignantes. Ces outils doivent permettre autant aux concepteurs, qu’aux fabricants et distributeurs de réaliser des ACV à des niveaux de granulométrie différents. / In recent years, the European textile industry and textiles imports have had to comply with an increasing number of environmental policies. Emissions from industrial installations have been subject to EU-wide legislation for over 10 years: the IPPC Directive, the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)… Since 2007, European textile producers also have to comply with a substantial number of obligations under REACH. Furthermore, in France environmental labelling for certain convenience goods (including textile products) might become mandatory in 2020. In parallel, national awareness appeared on the necessity of designing consumer products with limited use of natural resources and decreased the environmental impacts. Eco-design involves the implementation of new materials and new processes. Life Cycle Assessment, LCA, is a tool that enables the assessment of environmental impacts. This thesis was initiated by Bureau Veritas CODDE Company and the GEMTEX laboratory, following on the identification of a significant need for the development of LCA data and methods in the textile sector. This is because the existing methods and tools are not suitable for the environmental impact assessment of textile products since the textile sector presents specific constraining characteristics. These tools should enable designers, manufacturers and retailers to perform LCA on their products.

This diploma thesis deals with assessment of environmental load by selected plastic molding technology. The first part is focused on the ecological legislation in the field of mechanical engineering, which also includes the production of plastics, and describes various methodologies for assessing the environmental load. Another chapter is an overview of polymers and their properties as well as the possibilities of plastics processing with description of individual types of production methods. The practical part of this work describes the composition of the produced piece and the injection molding process of plastic production. Its two methods (direct gating and hot sprue method) are analyzed and then the environmental load evaluation is performed using the LCA method – product life cycle assessment. The environmental load of both production methods is assessed.

Road infrastructure is essential in the development of human society, but has both negative and positive impacts. Large amounts of money and natural resources are spent each year on its construction, operation and maintenance. Obviously, there is potentially significantenvironmental impact associated with these activities. Thus the need for integration of life cycle environmental impacts of road infrastructure into transport planning is currently being widely recognised on international and national level. However certain issues, such as energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the construction, maintenance and operation of road infrastructure, are rarely considered during the current transport planning process in Sweden and most other countries.This thesis examined energy use and GHG emissions for the whole life cycle (construction, operation, maintenance and end-of-life) of road infrastructure, with the aim of improving transport planning on both strategic and project level. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to two selected case studies: LCA of a road tunnel and LCA of three methods for asphalt recycling and reuse: hot in-plant, hot in-place and reuse as unbound material. The impact categories selected for analysis were Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Global Warming Potential (GWP). Other methods used in the research included interviews and a literature review.The results of the first case study indicated that the operational phase of the tunnel contributed the highest share of CED and GWP throughout the tunnel’s life cycle. Construction of concrete tunnels had much higher CED and GWP per lane-metre than construction of rocktunnels. The results of the second case study showed that hot in-place recycling of asphalt gave slightly more net savings of GWP and CED than hot in-plant recycling. Asphalt reuse was less environmentally beneficial than either of these alternatives, resulting in no net savings of GWP and minor net savings of CED. Main sources of data uncertainty identified in the two case-studies included prediction of future electricity mix and inventory data for asphalt concrete.This thesis contributes to methodological development which will be useful to future infrastructure LCAs in terms of inventory data collection. It presents estimated amounts of energy use and GHG emissions associated with road infrastructure, on the example of roadtunnel and asphalt recycling. Operation of road infrastructure and production of construction materials are identified as the main priorities for decreasing GHG emissions and energy use during the life cycle of road infrastructure. It was concluded that the potential exists for significant decreases in GHG emissions and energy use associated with the road transport system if the entire life cycle of road infrastructure is taken into consideration from the very start of the policy-making process. / QC 20120229

Microgrid can provide stable, clean, and sustainable electricity supply for remote places since it can operate on renewable energy sources and work isolated from the utility grid. This thesis evaluates the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the microgrid system which is located at the ‘North-five Islands’ of Changshan archipelago in China. The existing electricity generation technologies of the microgrid system are wind turbine, PV system and diesel generators with the capacity of 2 MW, 300 kW and 2046 kW, respectively. The total demand of electricity (362.2 GWh) will be supplied by the wind turbine, PV system and diesel generators with 32.03%, 2.36% and 65.62%, respectively, if the microgrid system is required to supply the electricity demand for the ‘North-five Islands’ area alone under the islanded mode during 20 years lifespan. The thesis uses the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the life cycle GHG emissions of the microgrid system. The life cycle stages of this study include: raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation and operation. In order to assess the environmental benefits of the microgrid system, three electricity supply options – ‘microgrid electricity supply option’, ‘grid extension electricity supply option’, and ‘conventional fossil diesel generators electricity supply option’ are designed to evaluate the life cycle GHG emissions for supplying 20 years electricity demand (362.2 GWh) of the ‘Northfive Islands’. The results show that the life cycle GHG emissions of the ‘microgrid electricity supply option’ are 223.19 million kgCO2eq. Compared to the ‘grid extension electricity supply option’ and ‘conventional fossil diesel generators electricity supply option’, the net savings of the GHG emissions are 70.56 and 112.18 million kgCO2eq, respectively. It mainly results from the differences of the electricity supply methods of the three electricity supply options. For the ‘microgrid electricity supply option’ itself, the operation stage takes the most responsibility of the life cycle GHG emissions with 97.6%. The raw material extraction, manufacturing and transportation stages account for 1.93%, 0.44% and 0.026%, respectively. For the system components of the microgrid system, the wind turbine, PV system, diesel generators, energy storage system, and cables account for 0.34%, 0.18%, 97.75%, 0.60%, and 1.12%, respectively, of the microgrid system’s life cycle GHG emissions. The thesis conducts the sensitivity analysis of diesel burn rate efficiency (L/kWh) of the microgrid system’s diesel generators due to a large quantity (60.84 million L) of diesel consumption by the diesel generators during 20 years operation time. According to the results of the sensitivity analysis, the diesel burn rate efficiency can directly impact the diesel consumption of the diesel generators, and consequently has a significant impact on the life cycle GHG emissions of the ‘North-five Islands’ microgrid system. Since the diesel burn rate efficiency represents the amount of diesel consumption, this results highlight the significance of any factors that affect the diesel consumption (e.g. quantity of diesel, temperature, altitude, etc.), in affecting the life cycle GHG emissions of the ‘North-five Islands’ microgrid system. In addition, the thesis performers the sensitivity analysis of renewable energy (wind and solar energy in specific) fraction of the studied microgrid system because of the huge potential of available renewable energy (63.65 MW of wind turbines) nearby the microgrid system. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that the life cycle GHG emissions of the microgrid system decrease linearly with the increase of wind and solar energy fraction. Particularly, the life cycle GHG emissions of the microgrid system decrease 1.46% (3.26 million kgCO2eq) and 1.37% (3.05 million kgCO2eq) with an increase of 1% in wind and solar energy, respectively.

The building sector contributes significantly to carbon dioxide (CO2) due to the high energy use in building material production. One of the most critical concerns the World Summit on Sustainable Development must address is saving energy. In order to reduce CO2 emissions and their impact on the climate, strategies such as reducing energy demand, increasing efficiency, and using renewable resources instead of fossil fuels need to be implemented. This study was conducted through a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the possibility of lowering energy use and emissions in columns. The main purpose is to examine the potential environmental impact and energy use using a lifecycle assessment (LCA) approach. Steel production contributes significantly to climate change because it uses a lot of energy and produces many greenhouse gases. In Sweden, the steel industry uses coal as the main fuel, as shown from the data collected. Various studies explore the potential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving carbon sinks, such as taking measures in the building, energy supply, and forestry industries. This study concludes that buildings can be designed to be more energy-efficient, with better materials that are energy-efficient and lower carbon emissions. Material substitution can reduce energy use and carbon emissions. The replacement of steel with wood in construction can significantly reduce carbon emissions. The research findings indicate that an effective strategy to enhance the sustainability of buildings during the production phase is to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by incorporating wood as a primary building material.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are at the core of construction projects. LCA is one of the key elements of sustainability in the construction projects and an improved LCA process can be achieved through the adoption of BIM. Exploring the characteristics of a BIM-based LCA process from the different perspectives of interoperability and identifying the effects of adopting regionally different EPD databases are significant.  The LCA add-in tools, One Click LCA and Tally, have been selected to identify the differences in the LCA results caused by adopting regionally different Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) databases. To observe the differences in the LCA results, the LCA processes were run through the LCA add-in tools. The input data, the system boundaries and the LCA scope were kept the same for the LCA processes. The LCA results were produced through the integrated LCA add-in tools. The GWP values in manufacturing module, produced by One Click LCA, were embedded into the Solibri model of Akademiska Sjukhuset project. Value level of interoperability in the BIM-based LCA processes was detected and analyzed according to the interaction types that were obtained between the LCA add-in tools and the BIM software. Obstacles in increasing the value level of interoperability to a higher level in today’s BIM-based LCA processes were also focused. Furthermore, the benefits and drawbacks of the BIM-based LCA processes were identified. At last, the differences between BIM-based LCA and traditional LCA process were identified along with future possibilities. It was observed that adopting regionally different EPD databases has significant effects on the LCA results. The semantic detail level of the BIM model and the data extraction quality came to the forefront in identifying the benefits and drawbacks. The interaction types in the studied BIM-based LCA processes were identified as “Collaboration” interaction type. Accordingly, the value level of interoperability in both BIM-based LCA processes was obtained as the high level of value innovation along with efficiency and differentiation. Moreover, the convenience of use, time and resource efficiency and improved accuracy obtained through the BIM-based LCA processes were concluded as some of the major differences from the traditional LCA processes. / BIM (Building Information Modelling) och LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) ligger i kärnan av byggprojekt. LCA är ett nyckelverktyg för hållbarhetsarbete i byggbranschen och en förbättrad LCA-process kan uppnås i och med att tillämpa BIM-verktyg. BIM bjuder på många nyttor däremot detta arbete fokuserar på nyttan som BIM kan ge till LCA-processen. Därmed är forskning på grunden till Bim-baserad LCA-process och datas integrations- och konverteringsförmågan ytterst viktiga för detta arbete. LCA-verktyg One Click LCA och Tally och dess tillägg till CAD-mjukvaror har utvalts för att jämföra resultat vars indata är baserat på olika EPD-databaser (Environmental Product Declaration). För att iaktta skillnader i LCA-resultat, har LCA-processen gjorts med dessa LCA-verkytg. Indata, systemgränser och LCA-definitionsområde var samma för båda LCA-processer. LCA-resultat producerat av båda LCA-verktyg har jämförts utifrån klimatavtrycksperspektiv (Global Warming Potential) för materialframtagandesskede. One Click LCAs GWP-värden har importerats i en Solibri-modell för projektet. Slutligen har LCA-resultat av en Bim-baserad process jämförts med resultat av en klassisk LCA process. Påverkan av geografiskt anpassade EPD-databaser är avgörande för LCA-resultat. Materialframtagandesskede har störst miljöpåverkan i förhållande till andra livsskede. Semantisk detaljnivå av Solibri-modellen är avgörande för identifiering av för- och nackdelar av datas integrations- och konverteringsförmågan. Datainteraktionstyper studerade i BIM-baserade LCA-processer klassas som kollaborativ interaktionstyp. Integrations- och konverteringsförmåga av både BIM-baserade LCA-processer utvärderades på en hög nivå gällande förbättrade resultat, effektivitet och resultatkännslighet. Utöver dessa har BIM-baserade LCA-processer en förbättrad användbarhet och är mer tid- och resurseffektiva, vilka är huvudskillnader från en LCA-process utfört på klassiskt sätt.

ICT is developing rapidly and is playing an increasingly important role in society. High expectations are placed on ICT in relation to sustainable development. In order to provide basis for decision-making and ensure that ICT is used in the best possible way for enabling sustainable development, the sustainability impacts of ICT need to be studied. This thesis aims to provide new knowledge on the environmental impacts related to ICT, to explore the potential of ICT to contribute to sustainability, and discuss ways of assessing environmental impacts of ICT. In order to fulfill the aim a literature review of existing LCA studies of ICT was done, an LCA case study of printed and online media was performed, a methodological framework for sustainability assessment of scenarios was developed and then applied for environmental assessment of future ICT societies. The results show that manufacturing and use phase are the life cycle stages contributing the most to the ICT environmental impacts. For online newspapers online distribution and content production may give significant contribution to the overall impact. User behavior was observed to be crucial for the results of comparisons of ICT solutions with their traditional counterparts. The following key issues were concluded to influence the environmental risks and opportunities in future ICT societies: energy mix, economic conditions, life styles, technology, and environmental ambitions, incentives and regulation. The potential of ICT for sustainability is affected by these key issues. A new methodological framework (SAFS) was developed for the assessment of future scenarios (societal level). Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used for assessment on a product level. Application of both methods, their benefits, drawbacks, and challenges of assessment were discussed. Both types of assessments were concluded to be important to support decision-making. / Utveckligen inom informations- och kommunikationsteknologi (IKT) sker snabbt och IKT spelar en allt viktigare roll i samhället. Samtidigt finns stora samhällsutmaningar inom hållbarhetsområdet, och ganska höga förväntningar ställs på IKT att kunna bidra till en hållbar utveckling. Vissa studier hävdar att IKT kan spela en avgörande roll för att stödja olika hållbarhetsstrategier och att IKT kan möjliggöra övergången till en mindre resursintensiv ekonomi. För att ge underlag för beslutsfattande och stödja att IKT används på bästa sätt för att möjliggöra hållbar utveckling, behöver hållbarhetseffekter av IKT studeras. När det gäller miljöpåverkan måste både negativa och positiva, direkta och indirekta effekter beaktas. Det är viktigt att förstå miljöpåverkan genom hela livscykeln för specifika enskilda IKT-lösningar men också att studera IKTs sammanvägda effekter i en mer övergripande kontext, för att identifiera potentiella risker och möjligheter ur miljösynpunkt.  Dessutom behöver IKTs roll när det gäller att stödja möjligheter till miljöförbättringar och motverka risker identifieras. Denna avhandling syftar till att ge ny kunskap om IKTs miljöpåverkan, att undersöka IKTs potential för att bidra till en hållbar utveckling, och diskutera metoder för bedömning av miljökonsekvenser av IKT samt utmaningar relaterade till den typen av bedömningar. Avhandlingen omfattar en litteraturstudie av tidigare livscykelanalyser (LCA) av IKT, en LCA-studie av traditionella och online tidningar, utveckling av ett ramverk för hållbarhetsbedömning av scenarier samt användningen av det ramverket för en miljöbedömning av framtida IKT-samhällen. Resultaten visar att andra typer av miljöpåverkan än klimatpåverkan och energi inte är tillräckligt belysta i miljöbedömningar av IKT, vilket skapar en risk för suboptimering och att miljöproblem flyttas från en typ av påverkan till en annan. Tillverknings- och användningsfasen ger upphov till störst miljöpåverkan i IKT-produkters livscykel. För nättidningar visade det sig att distribution och innehållsproduktion kan ge betydande bidrag till den totala miljöpåverkan, beroende på tidningarnas egenskaper och läsarnas beteende. Generellt har användarnas beteenden visat sig vara avgörande för resultaten vid jämförelser mellan IKT-lösningar och deras mer traditionella motsvarigheter. Ett antal nyckelområden som påverkar uppkomsten av risker och möjligheter när det gäller miljöeffekter i framtida IKT-samhällen har identifierats. De är energimix, ekonomiska förhållanden, livsstilar, teknik, samt miljöambitioner, -incitament och -lagstiftning. Potentialen för IKT att bidra till hållbar utveckling påverkas av dessa nyckelområden, och potentialen skulle troligen inte realiseras helt utan incitament eller miljölagstiftning. Båda typerna av miljöbedömningar - på produkt och samhällsnivå - är viktiga för att stödja beslutsfattande. En ny metod utvecklades för bedömning av framtidsscenarier (på samhällsnivå) – Sustainability assessment framework for scenarios (SAFS). För miljöbedömning av produkter användes livscykelanalys (LCA). Tillämpningen av båda metoderna, deras fördelar och nackdelar, och utmaningar vid användning av metoderna diskuteras. Resultat från avhandlingen kan ge underlag rörande möjliga miljöeffekter av IKT idag och i framtiden för diskussion inom IKT-sektorn och bland politiker och beslutsfattare. På så sätt kan diskussioner om hur IKT kan bidra till hållbarhet underlättas. Metodutveckling och diskussion i denna avhandling kan vara av intresse för forskare och praktiker. / <p>QC 20160613</p>

Vehicle manufactures have adopted different strategies for improving the environmental performance of their fleet including lightweight design and alternative drivetrains such as EVs. Both strategies reduce energy during use but may result in a relative increase of the impact during other stages. To address this, a lifecycle approach is needed when vehicle design strategies are developed. The thesis explores the extent that such a lifecycle approach is adopted today and assesses the potential of these strategies to reduce the lifecycle impact of vehicles. Moreover it aims to contribute to method development for lifecycle considerations during product development and material selection. Current practices were explored in an empirical study with four vehicle manufacturers. The availability of tools for identifying, monitoring and assessing design strategies was explored in a literature review. The results of the empirical study showed that environmental considerations during product development often lack a lifecycle perspective. Regarding the use of tools a limited number of such tools were utilized systematically by the studied companies despite the numerous tools available in literature. The influence of new design strategies on the lifecycle environmental performance of vehicles was assessed in three case studies; two looking into lightweight design and one at EVs. Both strategies resulted in energy and GHG emissions savings though the impact during manufacturing increases due to the advanced materials used. Assumptions relating to the operating conditions of the vehicle e.g. lifetime distance or for EVs the carbon intensity of the energy mix, influence the level of this tradeoff. Despite its low share in terms of environmental impact EOL is important in the overall performance of vehicles. The thesis contributed to method development by suggesting a systematic approach for material selection. The approach combines material and environmental analysis tools thus increases the possibilities for lifecycle improvements while minimizing risk for sub-optimizations. / <p>QC 20160920</p>

L’analyse de cycle de vie (ACV), telle qu’elle est pratiquée aujourd’hui, peut conduire à des résultats biaisés. L’utilisation de cet outil s’avère particulièrement sensible dans des cadres réglementaires. En effet, au lieu d’inciter les entreprises à réduire leurs impacts sur l’environnement, les certifications obtenues à partir des ACV risquent de produire un effet contraire : comme elles tendent à récompenser des moyennes industrielles plutôt que les résultats propres aux entreprises, elles peuvent détruire toute incitation pour ces dernières à agir correctement sur le plan environnemental. Dans cette thèse nous proposons des éléments de réflexion en matière de gestion pouvant être utiles à l’évolution de l’ACV à partir d’une étude de cas sur l’évaluation de la soutenabilité d’une filière biodiesel issu d’huile de palme brésilienne dans le cadre de la Directive EnR. Trois principaux résultats émergent de ce travail doctoral. Le premier se rapporte à la réflexion que nous menons sur l’évaluation de la durabilité imposée par la Directive EnR. Le deuxième renvoie aux réponses concrètes sur l’évaluation de la filière biodiesel évaluée à l’égard de la Directive, notamment par rapport aux émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Le troisième résultat concerne l’identification des besoins latents en matière d’évaluation de qualité des données d’ACV / Life cycle analysis (LCA), as it is currently applied, can lead to biased results. The use of LCA information is particularly sensitive when taken in the context of government regulatory frameworks. Indeed, instead of encouraging companies to reduce their impact on the environment, certifications obtained through LCA studies may produce the opposite effect: as they tend to reward industry averages rather than enterprise-specific results they can destroy all incentive for companies to reduce their environmental impacts. In this thesis we propose an in-depth analysis of management aspects in LCA and discuss how they could contribute to produce good quality LCA studies. For this, a case study was conducted on the sustainability evaluation of a biodiesel produced from Brazilian palm oil within the framework of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). Three main findings emerge from this doctoral work. The first refers to the analysis of the sustainability evaluation required by RED with a particular emphasis on its application to the Brazilian context of palm oil production. The second refers to the concrete answers produced from the biodiesel evaluated, particularly with respect to greenhouse gas emissions. The third result concerns the identification of latent needs in terms of LCA data quality assessment