In the past few decades, globalization has led to a world economy with unbounded consumption. In addition to the consequential impoverishment of natural resources, this large consumption produces copious amounts of waste and requires high energy use. Proper end-of-life strategies can help to reduce the global impact of these inefficiencies. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate, through life-cycles analyses of an automotive transfer case and a gear, the positive environmental impact of remanufacturing strategies compared to recycling and disposal end-of-life strategies. In this study, the energy consumption, the air emissions and the wastes resulting from the entire supply chain s engineering processes will be quantitatively evaluated through calculations and also industrial or governmental data. In disposal end-of-life strategies, the analysis will begin with the ore mining phase, will go through material refining and processing; and eventually end with the final parts machining. In recycling scenarios and remanufacturing scenarios, the analysis will begin with the used material collection, will go through material s reprocessing or refurbishing and will finally end with the new or renewed parts machining. This study will show the significant impact of high energy consumption processes such as electrolysis of aluminum and metal melting. It will also show how shipping and collection phases can dramatically change or annihilate the advantage of sustainable reuse scenarios depending on the sorting strategies adopted in the supply chain. To conclude, the goal of this research is to demonstrate how remanufacturing strategies can reduce the energy consumption, air emissions and waste. This thesis will also show how inappropriate supply chain management can negate the impact of these savings.

High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes were recently proposed for I-85 in Atlanta as a way to relieve congestion and provide a reliable commute time for single occupant drivers that are willing to pay a toll. It is important to evaluate the air quality impacts of such a proposal to meet environmental regulations, such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Transportation Conformity Regulations. The goal of this study is to understand how vehicle mass emissions change as a result of implementing HOT lanes on I-85 in Atlanta . This is done by considering a number of factors affect mass vehicle emissions, such as vehicle activity, vehicle speeds, vehicle age distributions, and vehicle class distributions. These factors are incorporated into a base scenario, which models the current condition on I-85 with HOV lanes, and a future scenario, which models the implementation of HOT lanes on this corridor. The base scenario mainly uses data from a data collection effort by Georgia Tech during the summer of 2007 on the I-85 corridor, while the future scenario makes alterations to these data using information from other cities that have already implemented HOT lanes. The MOBILE-Matrix modeling tool, which was recently developed by Georgia Tech [16], was used to run the emissions analysis using the input factors from these data sources. This tool calculated mass emissions for five pollutants: HC, NOx, CO, PM2.5, and PM10. The results show very small increases in mass emissions for NOx, CO, PM2.5, and PM10, and very small decreases in mass emissions for HC. Therefore, the implementation of HOT lanes on I-85 in Atlanta is unlikely to violate the Transportation Conformity Rule. For NEPA purposes, this analysis could be used to make the case that air quality impacts are not significant, and therefore further detailed analyses are not required.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-120). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xii, 120 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Includes bibliographical references (leaves [268]-285) / xiv, 285, [85] leaves : ill. (some folded), maps (col., folded) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geographical and Environmental Studies, 2002

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2005. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.