In North America, the operation of buildings accounts for approximately one third of the total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions annually. Office buildings are responsible for roughly 35% of the total commercial/institutional secondary energy use in Canada, followed by retail buildings at 17% (NRCan, OEE, 2010). In recent years, a number of researchers from around the world have conducted life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies to investigate the impacts of buildings on the environment. Most studies have focused on three types of buildings: office buildings, single residential dwellings, and multi-unit residential apartments. There have been almost no comprehensive LCA studies of retail buildings, specifically single-storey retail buildings. This is a problem, since compared to office buildings, single residential dwellings, and multi-unit residential apartments, retail buildings consume approximately 1.2, 2.0, and 2.3 times more energy per floor area respectively (NRCan, OEE, 2010). In addition, retail buildings usually undergo major resource intensive renovations far sooner than other building types. Therefore, the primary goal of this study was to conduct a comprehensive LCA for the components of a single-storey retail building located in Toronto, Canada, to determine which building components contribute the most towards the total life-cycle energy use and global warming potential (GWP) after 50 years. Using the latest LCA techniques, the total life-cycle energy use and GWP was calculated for 220 different building components including: exterior infill walls, roofs, structural systems, floors, windows, doors, foundations, and interior partition walls. Also, a comprehensive LCA study was conducted for five single-storey retail buildings (including a pre-engineered steel building system which is lacking in the literature), in order to determine which components of a single-storey retail building are responsible for the most environmental damage. For a typical single-storey retail building located in Toronto, Canada, the operating energy (and GWP) accounts for about 91% (88%) and the total embodied energy (and GWP) accounts for about 9% (12%) of the total energy (and GWP) after 50 years. The roof alone is responsible for nearly half of the total embodied energy and GWP of the entire building. The LCA study also found that after 50 years, the total energy (and GWP) of the five case study buildings only differed at most by 6% (7%), regardless of the choice of structural system, or whether the building was made predominately of steel or wood building components. This thesis concludes with a prioritized list of recommendations for reducing the total life-cycle energy use and GWP of a single-storey retail building in Canada.

In North America, the operation of buildings accounts for approximately one third of the total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions annually. Office buildings are responsible for roughly 35% of the total commercial/institutional secondary energy use in Canada, followed by retail buildings at 17% (NRCan, OEE, 2010). In recent years, a number of researchers from around the world have conducted life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies to investigate the impacts of buildings on the environment. Most studies have focused on three types of buildings: office buildings, single residential dwellings, and multi-unit residential apartments. There have been almost no comprehensive LCA studies of retail buildings, specifically single-storey retail buildings. This is a problem, since compared to office buildings, single residential dwellings, and multi-unit residential apartments, retail buildings consume approximately 1.2, 2.0, and 2.3 times more energy per floor area respectively (NRCan, OEE, 2010). In addition, retail buildings usually undergo major resource intensive renovations far sooner than other building types. Therefore, the primary goal of this study was to conduct a comprehensive LCA for the components of a single-storey retail building located in Toronto, Canada, to determine which building components contribute the most towards the total life-cycle energy use and global warming potential (GWP) after 50 years. Using the latest LCA techniques, the total life-cycle energy use and GWP was calculated for 220 different building components including: exterior infill walls, roofs, structural systems, floors, windows, doors, foundations, and interior partition walls. Also, a comprehensive LCA study was conducted for five single-storey retail buildings (including a pre-engineered steel building system which is lacking in the literature), in order to determine which components of a single-storey retail building are responsible for the most environmental damage. For a typical single-storey retail building located in Toronto, Canada, the operating energy (and GWP) accounts for about 91% (88%) and the total embodied energy (and GWP) accounts for about 9% (12%) of the total energy (and GWP) after 50 years. The roof alone is responsible for nearly half of the total embodied energy and GWP of the entire building. The LCA study also found that after 50 years, the total energy (and GWP) of the five case study buildings only differed at most by 6% (7%), regardless of the choice of structural system, or whether the building was made predominately of steel or wood building components. This thesis concludes with a prioritized list of recommendations for reducing the total life-cycle energy use and GWP of a single-storey retail building in Canada.

This work focuses on effective utilization of municipal solid waste in heat and power systems. The effectivity in this work is evaluated from an economic as well as an environmental viewpoint. In the introductory part a review of legislation and state-of-the art in the fields of energetics and waste management of European Union is presented. Next an optimization tool NERUDA, created on the author’s workplace, is introduced. NERUDA consists of basic modules on which creation has the author been participating. The thesis is divided into two main parts that describe two NERUDA’s modules. First deals with a techno-economic model of waste-to-energy plants and is called Flexi model. The main output is a dependency of gate fee on capacity. Second part is devoted to the implementation of new module into the NERUDA system. This module is an environmental criterion for evaluation of the effectivity of waste utilization in the waste management and energetics.

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

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att genom en litteraturgranskning ta reda på vilket material av trä eller betong för byggnader i Sverige som resulterar i minst utsläpp av koldioxidekvivalenter. Bygg-och fastighetssektorn bidrar till 10-30% av Sveriges totala miljöpåverkan och enligt Boverket så har denna verksamhet dessutom ökat andelen koldioxidutsläpp under de senaste åren. Denna studie har utförts som en så kallad rapid review med en tillhörande kvalitetsbedömning av aktuella artiklar. Vid litteratursökningen har databaserna Web Of Science och Scopus nyttjas och totalt nio stycken artiklar inkluderades i den slutliga resultatsyntesen.    Denna undersökning visar att träbyggnader uppförda i Sverige bidrar till mindre utsläpp av koldioxidekvivalenter jämfört med betongbyggnader. De största anledningarna till detta är på grund av betongens användning av cement, som under produktionsskedet släpper ut stora mängder koldioxid, samt träprodukters kapacitet att fungera som kolsänkor och förmåga att ersätta fossila bränslen i större utsträckning än vad betongbyggnader kan. Avfallshanteringen för träprodukter visar sig däremot vara en viktig faktor att ta i beaktning för att erhålla bästa möjliga scenario. Deponering utan tillvaratagande av biogas resulterar i likvärdigt koldioxidavtryck som betongbyggnader. Däremot visar resultatet att för scenarion där de träprodukter som är i godkänt skick återanvänds och den andel som är obrukbara används som energi har en positivt miljöpåverkan och släpper ut nästan fyra gånger mindre koldioxidekvivalenter än betongbyggnader. Vidare visar arbetet betydelsen av användning av olika fossila bränslen och ersättning av dessa.

To meet the national and international climate goals every potential GHG mitigating effort needs to be addressed. The aim of this thesis is to investigate if the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), Ekebyhov, can reduce its GHG emissions by making changes inthe treatmentprocess. The main GHGs emitted from WWT areN2O, CH4and CO2. To begin with, Ekebyhov’scurrent carbon footprintwas calculated in a base line scenario, using a calculation tool (ECT). The results showed that the total footprintamounted to 522 tons CO2eqper year, with the majority of the emissions (83 %) from the activated sludge process. Five GHG-mitigating measures were identified and potential GHG emission reduction (PGER) was calculated from 1) optimized WWT, 2) urea treated sludge, 3) change of chemicals, 4) green transports and 5) added anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The largest PGER came from added AD, followed by optimized WWT. Finally, the PGER for all measures was calculated and resulted in net negative emissions of -95 tons CO2eq per year. The thesis shows that it is possible to reduce the carbon footprint of Ekebyhov WWTP, even to a net negative result. It is, however important to address other impact categories in a full LCA to be able to make fully informed decisions.

Denna studie undersökte vad den höjda skatten på plastbärkassar som infördes den 1.a maj 2020 hade för inverkan på konsumenter i livsmedelsbutiker i Stockholm. Syftet var att undersöka hur konsumenters val av bärmedel förändrades, samt vilken påverkan på global uppvärmningspotential som denna förändring utgjorde. För att samla in information angående val av bärmedel från livsmedelsbutiker gjordes fyra observationer innan lagändringen, samt fyra observationer efter. De kategorier av bärkassar som i denna studie hade påverkan på global uppvärmningspotential var Plast-, tyg, pappers- och flergångsbärkassar. För att få fram ett underlag om de olika bärkassarnas påverkan på global uppvärmningspotential användes livscykelanalyser från två studier. Värdena från livscykelanalyserna fick sedan gå igenom en i denna studie framtagen balanseringsfaktor som tog hänsyn att bärkassarna återanvändes för transport av livsmedel,  i ett spann från 1-50 återanvändningar.  Resultatet från observationerna visade att plastbärkassarna efter lagändringen minskade sin representation med 50%, från att ha varit den mest använda kategorin till att bli den tredje mest förekommande. De bärkassar som istället ökade var flergångs- och pappersbärkassar. Efter lagändringen minskade även antalet bärmedel per köptillfälle från 2,1 till 1,7. Den totala påverkan på global uppvärmningspotential från konsumenters val av bärkassar minskade för ett enskilt köptillfälle med 36,9%. / This study investigates what impact the increased tax on plastic carrier bags that was introduced on 1 may 2020 had on consumers' choice of carrier bags in grocery stores in Stockholm. The focus was on examining how the choice of carrier bags changed, as well as the impact on the global warming potential that was caused because of this change. In order to collect data from grocery stores, four observations were made before the law was changed, and four observations after. The categories of carrier bags that had an impact on global warming potential, in this study, were plastic, fabric, paper and multi-purpose carrier bags. To obtain data that represented the various carrier bags' impact on global warming potential, two different life cycle analyses from two different studies were used. The data from the life cycle analyses were then processed through a self-made balancing factor which took into account that carrier bags can be re-used for transportation of food, in a range from 1-50 reuses. The result from the observations showed that, after the law changed, the representation of plastic bags decreased by 50%, from being the most frequently used category of carrier bag to become the third. The carrier bags that instead increased in usage were multi-purpose and paper bags. After the legislative change, the number of carrier bags per purchase also decreased from 2.1 to 1.7.  The total impact on global warming potential from carrier bags used for transport of food decreased by 36.9% for a single purchase occasion.

The manufacturing industry has exerted a tremendous impact on the natural environment. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the consequences of shift from linear manufacturing system to circular manufacturing system in order to decouple the environmental burden of production and consumption process in relation to quantity of carbon footprint, cumulative energy demand, natural resource consumption, waste generated and recovered presently. In response to this, life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to quantify and compare the associated environmental impact of the current manufacturing system of both Linear manufacturing system and the circular manufacturing system. The thesis therefore asserts that circular manufacturing system (CMS) is more sustainable compared to linear manufacturing system (LMS) in relation to its reduction capacity of the prevailing environmental indicators most especially global threat of natural resources depletion and climate change confronting biodiversity. The result shown that CMS seems more sustainable compared to LMS in relation to the studied environmental indicators. Further to this, the emerging circular manufacturing system, its transitional shift, challenges, and its relationships with other manufacturing dynamics for consideration are also highlighted and discussed. It was concluded that these prominent challenges are caused by organizational management in relation to leadership and communication (OLC), has the highest impact value. Similarly, the consequential effect was seen on the level of implementation of government policy (GPI) and deployment of state of the art design, knowledge and technology (DTK) for the paradigm shift. So, it is suggested that OLC should be given due consideration.

Seaweed production systems are necessary to fill a product demand in multiple sectors whilst contributing to the bioeconomy. The multiple seaweed qualities drive the research for sustainable seaweed production worldwide. The main studies of seaweed production consist of life cycle assessments, where cradle-to-gate analyses have been calculated. However, these assessments have had incomparable results because of the various methods used. Therefore, this thesis utilized the life cycle inventories of six previously made life cycle assessments of brown seaweed and recalculated these concerning three key environmental impact categories – Global warming potential, Freshwater Eutrophication, and Marine Eutrophication. This was done by collecting and recalculating the six different inventories to the same functional unit and then assessing the environmental impacts of the recalculated inventories. The results showed that the life cycle impact assessments of brown seaweed production varied, yet the most impacts could be seen during the cultivation stage of the life cycle, mainly due to the plastics used within the system. The variations in the results are a consequence of the various data resources used, the design and location of the production systems, and the goal and scope of the reports. This thesis also demonstrated that a replication of life cycle assessments includes several obstacles, questioning the scientific method of LCA, for example, lack of transparency and deficiency in reporting methods and data. / Globalt sett minskar tillgänglig landareal för odling, samtidigt som efterfrågan för ekologisk och hållbart producerade produkter ökar. Det här har lett till att fler sektorer söker sig till det som kallas Blue growth. Blue Growth är användandet och utnyttjandet av marina miljöer för produktion, inom olika sektorer, som gynnar både det marina ekosystemet och bioekonomin. Algodling är ett exempel på en produktion som gynnar bioekonomin. Alger är en alltmer efterfrågad produkt, som redan används i flertal sektorer, så som läkemedels-, textil- och livsmedelsindustrin. Det är främst algernas egenskaper som gör att de är attraktiva att kultivera, tillsammans med strävandet av en hållbar produktion.  Den här masteruppsatsens syfte är att jämföra tidigare livscykelanalyser som har gjorts på produktionen av brunalger. Livscykelanalyser är ett verktyg inom industriell ekologi som mäter en produkts påverkan genom alla livscykler. Resultatet ges i ett numerärt värde, och är summan av produktens påverkan inom den specifika kategorin. Det denna rapport har gjort är att räkna om livscykelanalyser som tidigare har gjorts på brunalger, för att få jämförbara resultat. Syftet med rapporten är därför att granska och utvärdera publicerade livscykelanalyser av odlade brunalger. Tre delmål sattes upp vilka var:  Bedöma skillnader och likheter i de olika livscykelinventeringarna. Studera och utvärdera skillnaderna mellan den beräknade livscykelanalysen av brunalger till samma parametrar. Utvärdera processen för att räkna om redan gjorda livscykelanalyser.  Fem rapporter valdes ut, varav sex stycken livscykelinventeringar sammanställdes, eftersom en rapport innehöll två olika livscykelanalyser. Studien började med, att sammanställa all tillgänglig data, samt att räkna om kvantiteterna i inventeringarna. Därefter räknades alla sex livscykelanalyser om, med samma förutsättningar och metod. Detta innebar att resultatet som fanns i de slutgiltiga summorna kunde jämföras och diskuteras. De tre kategorierna som livscykelanalyserna mättes mot var: potentiell global uppvärmning (kg koldioxidekvivalenter), övergödning i sötvatten (kg fosfor) och marinövergödning (kg kväve).  Det som jämförelsen visade var att alla omräknade livscykelanalyser hade olika totalbelopp i de tre kategorierna. Likväl kunde kultiveringssteget anses vara det livscykelstadie som har störst påverkan på brunalgodling, främst på grund av plastanvändningen.  På grund av de olika påverkningsgraderna som rapporterna hade, fanns det många faktorer som diskuterades kring likheterna och skillnaderna. Först och främst kan datainhämtningen ha en stor påverkan på tilliten och förtroendet på resultaten. För det andra skildrades inventeringarna på olika sätt, varav både kvantiteter och materialvalet skildes åt. Dessa skillnader kan bero på den geografiska placeringen av produktionen, men även på hur utformningen av produktionen såg ut.  Det som studien även visade var att en omberäkning på livscykelanalyser var svår att utforma utan att flertalet antaganden gjordes på grund av avsaknad av data. Processen att räkna om redan gjorda livscykelanalyser kan därför anses problematisk, vilket gör att livscykelanalys som vetenskapligt verktyg kan ifrågasättas om inte replikering av resultat kan göras med stor säkerhet.

Trucks are used to transport goods and services using road transportation. Emissions from the transportation industry are rising with every passing year. The Swedish government said in a report in 2009 that they are working to reduce 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to build a pathway for sustainable transportation (Allerup, 2019). New technologies in the field of transportation are coming to the market every year. It is important to evaluate the impacts from these technologies to support the 2030 agenda of Swedish government. Life cycle analysis of trucks can give valuable insight into the hotspots from different life cycle stages. To provide a comprehensive overview of the emissions from different types of heavy duty trucks namely Internal combustion engine trucks (Manual and driverless) and electric trucks (manual and driverless) a life cycle assessment is carried out.  From the comprehensive evaluation of results, following questions are answered. [1] Global warming potential from different types of heavy duty trucks; [2] Impacts from the new automation technology on climate change; [3] Environmental hotspots evaluation of the different truck types; and [4] Impacts of using different fuel types on the Global warming potential. Overall, the life cycle assessment can help the decision makers for taking decisions in order to fulfill the agenda 2030 of the Swedish government but still further research is needed to be done to exactly find out the emissions level of new automation technologies. / Lastbilar används för att transportera varor och tjänster med vägtransport. Utsläppen från transportbranschen ökar för varje år som går. Den svenska regeringen sa i en rapport 2009 att de arbetar för att minska 70% av växthusgasutsläppen till 2030 för att bygga en väg för hållbara transporter. Ny teknik inom transportområdet kommer till marknaden varje år. Det är viktigt att utvärdera effekterna av denna teknik för att stödja 2030-agendan för den svenska regeringen. Livscykelanalys av lastbilar kan ge värdefull inblick i hotspots från olika livscykelsteg. För att ge en omfattande översikt över utsläppen från olika typer av tunga lastbilar, nämligen IC-motor bilar (manuella och förarlösa) och elektriska lastbilar (manuella och förarlösa) genomförs en livscykelbedömning.  Från den omfattande utvärderingen av resultaten besvaras följande frågor. [1] Global uppvärmningspotential från olika typer av tunga lastbilar; [2] Effekter från den nya automatiseringstekniker på klimatförändringar. [3] Miljö Hotspots utvärdering av olika lastbilstyper; och [4] Effekter av användning av olika bränsletyper på den globala uppvärmning potentialen. Sammantaget kan livscykelbedömningen hjälpa beslutsfattarna att fatta beslut för att uppfylla den svenska regeringens dagordning 2030, men ytterligare forskning behövs för att exakt ta reda på utsläppsnivån för ny automatiseringsteknik.  Resultaten av studien visar att elbilen har lägre GWP-utsläpp än IC-motor bilarna. Den förarlösa automatiseringstekniker har 1,37% av de totala GWP-utsläppen när det gäller IC-motor bilar. Medan för elektriska lastbilar bidrar förarlös automatiseringsteknik upp till 12% av de totala utsläppen av elbil.