Reuse is a measure for resource-saving materials and energy use, which is stressed in the concept of kretsloppsanpassning, or societal industrial ecology (SIE), as it will be termed in this thesis. Reuse is here used as a general term for any kind of reuse and divided into recirculation, upgrading and cascading, according to the degradation of the inner material structure. Reuse of construction materials in society is mainly done with the belief that any kind of reuse is environmentally beneficial. However, this assumption is seldom critically assessed. The aim of this thesis was to examine under which conditions reuse of construction materials in the Swedish building and transportation sectors is beneficial to the environment. In order to identify critical conditions, the environmental performance of actual building projects that to a large extent utilised reused building materials was assessed (Papers V-VI). To better understand the practice of SIE and how it was implemented, the transportation sector was studied (Paper I). In order to address the issue of assessing the environmental performance of construction material reuse, method development became an important part of this thesis. Methods and tools employed in this thesis were required to be able to simultaneously address different system boundaries and also involve simplification. Studying the implementation of SIE revealed the lack of a holistic approach in environmental management, though it is present in the overall objectives of the SIE concept (Paper I). This was concluded by studying the energy and material stocks and flows in a life-cycle perspective in the environmental management of the Swedish National Rail and Road administrations. The study showed that the SIE-related measures implemented were outflow oriented, while the material inflows were generally quantified. Overall, the management and use phases were addressed, while the construction and deconstruction phases were poorly considered. Studying environmental assessment methods showed that an important characteristic is the system boundaries, which to a large extent decide which issues could be addressed and what actually could be studied (Paper II). Environmental assessment methods applied to reuse of construction materials were organised in an assessment framework of four system levels: the material level, the local environment level, the narrow life-cycle level and the industrial system level. It was concluded that mainstream environmental assessment of construction material reuse that is performed in the process of development consent and also in research, mainly addresses the narrow scope of the material level. In order to apply a holistic approach to environmental assessments of reuse of construction materials, the system boundaries needed to be widened. When selecting system boundaries, methods and indicators, researchers indirectly decide on which environmental pressures we consider the most important (cf. Papers II - III). There are trade-offs between making broad or deep environmental assessments. To accomplish an environmental assessment wide in its scope requires abundant resources and is complicated to carry through. Simplifications of the complex reality are always needed. However, to counteract the risk of problem shifting, the simplified methods and indicators need to be balanced for environmental relevance and used with knowledge of what they reflect and what is left out (Paper III). One example of such method simultaneously environmentally relevant and capable to cope with wide system boundaries is the study of primary energy use in a life cycle perspective, applied to a material an energy use context (see Papers IV-VI). In searching for a tool to prioritise building materials in building research and environmental management of the building sector, the total amount of building materials present in the Swedish building material stock was multiplied by their embodied energy coefficients (Paper IV). This product was normalized for the building materials’ service life. The accounting resulted in an ordering of building material categories according to their energy intensity. These are, in decreasing order: wood materials, bricks and other ceramics, concrete and steel. After calculating energy use in a life-cycle perspective for the recirculation, upgrading and cascading of larger building reuse projects of concrete and clay bricks, it is not self-evident that reuse is beneficial for the environment (Paper V, VI). It mainly depends on the use of auxiliary materials and their embodied energy, but also the primary energy use for the reuse processes, such as transportation distance and mode between the deconstruction and construction sites. In order to improve the environmental benefits of reuse, primarily the auxiliary materials used in current reuse projects should be minimised. Otherwise, there is a risk that the energy use for these materials turns reuse into an unfavourable process for the environment. Furthermore, reuse should preferably be environmentally assessed with a wide scope before implementation. What is included in such environmental assessment is significant for the outcome and the pictured environmental performance. / On the day of the public defence of the doctoral thesis the status of article III was: Accepted.

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Title from PDF title page; viewed on December 17, 2009. Major professor: Reza Pouraghabagher, Ph.D. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Industrial Engineering." "September 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-42). Also available on microfiche.

For half a century, urban metabolism has been used to provide insights to support transitions to sustainable urban development (SUD). Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) has recently been recognized as a potential technology enabler to advance this transition. This thesis explored the potential for an ICT-enabled urban metabolism framework aimed at improving resource efficiency in urban areas by supporting decision-making processes. Three research objectives were identified: i) investigation of how the urban metabolism framework, aided by ICT, could be utilized to support decision-making processes; ii) development of an ICT platform that manages real-time, high spatial and temporal resolution urban metabolism data and evaluation of its implementation; and iii) identification of the potential for efficiency improvements through the use of resulting high spatial and temporal resolution urban metabolism data. The work to achieve these objectives was based on literature reviews, single-case study research in Stockholm, software engineering research, and big data analytics of resulting data. The evolved framework, Smart Urban Metabolism (SUM), enabled by the emerging context of smart cities, operates at higher temporal (up to real-time), and spatial (up to household/individual) data resolution. A key finding was that the new framework overcomes some of the barriers identified for the conventional urban metabolism framework. The results confirm that there are hidden urban patterns that may be uncovered by analyzing structured big urban data. Some of those patterns may lead to the identification of appropriate intervention measures for SUD. / <p>QC 20151120</p> / Smart City SRS

One of the first commercial oil wells in the world was drilled in southwest Trinidad, and the century of hydrocarbon production that followed has shaped the region's social and physical landscape. The Shell Oil Company built the town of Point Fortin to be its oilfield headquarters in this territory, and through the first half of the 1900s the company was a pervasive employer, sponsor and overseer in the town. In recent decades, Point Fortin's oil refinery has closed down and the Atlantic Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Corporation began operating its facility on a nearby site. Corresponding with Trinidad and Tobago's structural adjustment period, this transition ushered in a new labor regime and community relations model that have reconfigured the relationship among Point Fortin residents, major petroleum companies, and the state. This dissertation utilizes an ethnohistorical approach to illuminate how livelihoods, sense of place, and expectations for the future have changed through the town's dynamic 100-year encounter with petro-industrialization. It explores the distinct features of oil and natural gas, tracing the particular ways they animate and constrain the social, political and industrial networks of which they are part. These two fossil fuels behave very differently, from the communities where they are produced and processed, to the global market. Attending to the materiality of the resources themselves yields insights into the assemblage of machines, bodies, logics, and institutions that constitutes the industrial ecology of Trinidad and Tobago.

Thesis (doctoral)--Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 1996. / "July 1996." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2010. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed July 15, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-152).

Overall goal: “The overarching aim of the Programme is to promote a sense of dignity in the public real, targeting the poorest and most disadvantaged parts of the city, by providing each local area with a place where individual circumstances of poverty are not starkly visible, where people can meet and gather or just sit in a place that is as attractive and comfortable as any other well-made, positive place in the city.” [Southworth, 2003:125] Problem identification: The form and structure of the city is driven by the urban legend that almost all users will move through the city by car, bus or taxi. This produced a low-density, disorganized expansion which forces users to commute between spread out facilities. Public space in the city has largely been neglected, with green areas fenced of [e.g. the Union buildings green space] and existing squares and arcades taken over by commercial interests. The perception is created that these vital areas are extravagant squander of money both to create and maintain. This resulted in neglected and derelict spaces scattered around the city, often only used as parking. The focus of designers has largely been on individual buildings only, neglecting their impact on their neighbours, the street and their interaction on public space. Project aims and objectives: Explore and analyse the interconnected systems inherent in the city. In order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of some of the systems and processes that are active in the city, analysis needs to be done on several levels.Regional scale: The city systems as part of the larger Tswane Megacity. City scale: Explore the interaction of these processes within the CBD. Local scale: Placing the study area within the north-eastern quarter of the CBD to create a master program for the area. Create a master program for the north-eastern quarter of the city incorporating these systems and processes. Study the workings of the north-eastern quarter to develop guidelines for its improvement. Place an urban catalyst within the study area to promote regeneration on social, economic and urban levels. Design an architectural response to the new urban catalyst. Approach: The creation of a public space, linking isolated city blocks. To use buildings to fill gaps in the existing street edges, as well as defining the new public space. This will lead to economic and social regeneration of the area. Develop guidelines for function selection of building linked to the street and public space. Design an architectural response to the new public space. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Architecture / unrestricted

<p dir="ltr">The race to comply with the Paris Climate Accords fueled by the desire to combat climate change and a greater appreciation of balance of ecological systems requires reducing reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning to using clean energy. This transition is expected to be cleaner but be also material intensive. These materials, such as neodymium or graphite, have been deemed critical by the United States, due to their importance to future of the country. Therefore, efforts are being made to diversify their production (by discovering new manufacturing methods) or improve the material efficiency of their applications.</p><p dir="ltr">It is important that these new applications are analyzed for their environmental impact. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely accepted methodology for conducting environmental assessment on products and processes. Traditional LCA has 4 steps – goal, scope definition, life cycle inventory, and life cycle impact analysis. Applying traditional LCA techniques on these emerging technologies has challenges, as they are still emerging and have demonstrated their potential at various scales – theoretical, lab scale, pilot scale, or small-scale industrial level. Often, the new processes or products are compared against existing conventional manufacturing methods. Therefore, to appropriately assess the impact of these new emerging technologies against current ones, the scope must be extended to include the product or manufacturing system (which is the economic system under which these technologies will operate and compete against). This methodology is applied to 3 technologies at various stages of their development.</p><p dir="ltr">In the first case study, for magnets, by including the importance of energy product to the product system within the LCA, we see that the higher energy product of additively manufactured magnets directly translates to its environmental benefits relative to injection molded magnets. The next case study looked at a novel process to create battery grade graphite, demonstrated at lab scale. This process was scaled to an industrial level and assessed against conventional methods of manufacturing graphite. The scaleup allowed the LCA to identify the molten salt and the graphite anode to be a potential hotspot. Lastly, the potential green marketability of aluminum cerium alloys is investigated. The product system is extended to include the effect of this new application on cerium compound prices and therefore the economic allocation for the LCA. A Nash equilibrium is found based on market dynamics for aluminum cerium alloys to help resolve this issue.</p><p dir="ltr">The case studies show that allowing the product systems to inform the LCA can result in richer results, which help identify hotspots or opportunities for these technologies as they mature and compete against the conventional products or processes.</p>

The purpose of this research is to show how business and enterprise can align sustainability and sustainable development to create strategic sustainability (SS) procedures, which can be used for planning towards sustainability in an island context. Even with the 3Ps depiction of sustainable development (SD), the idea continues to be difficult to make operational (Azar, Holmberg and Lindgren 1996) and has failed in many of its applications (Baumgartner and Korhonen 2010). Moreover, businesses wishing to operate in perpetuity are challenged by the socio-ecological system that constitutes sustainability. But all businesses have materials, energy and waste flows, (MEWFs) and a more strategic approach to managing these flows can assist businesses with the sustainability challenge. Firstly however, sustainability described as a successful socio-ecological system must be understood. Secondly the process of reducing the MEWFs within the business, referred to as sustainable development actions must be seen as separate but congruent to sustainability. By adapting the framework for strategic sustainable development and using a mixed methods approach, the necessary strategy content for the SS procedures are researched in the tourist accommodation sector-Grenada. It is shown that in an island context, defined as an isolated system with scarce resources, (Deschenes and Chertow 2004) the challenges of sustainability, especially for businesses such as the tourist accommodation sector, are exacerbated. The research concludes with three important groups of steps for the SS procedures: 1) visioning and vision linking; 2) developing sector strategic actions and 3) monitoring and evaluation. A tourism symbiosis was proposed as a critical action for reducing MEWFs. Considerations for implementing aspects of a proposed green economy roadmap using the SS procedures are addressed. The research can assist both policy makers and business leaders to operationalise sustainable development and to do so with some degree of certainty of achieving sustainability in an island context.

The UK National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) is the first industrial symbiosis (IS) network in the world to have been established at national level. Many studies have recently investigated the UK NISP, but much work remains to be done in understanding the context that enabled the development and management of a large scale IS network. This research aims to explore and understand: (1) the place of the UK NISP within the UK government’s ‘green’ market strategy; and, (2) the management and organisational design employed by the UK NISP in developing and managing a nation-wide IS network. Based on a qualitative inquiry, a case study approach was adopted to conduct this research. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to gather information from twenty-eight policy officers, government advisors, as well as representatives of the UK NISP and its partner organisations. The research findings showed that the government’s decision-making mechanism, in each of the UK countries, was significantly different. Whilst it was found that the UK government is focused on embedding ecological modernisation components in the policy process, there is also a need for extended and consistent decentralisation across the UK and a structural framework that enables non-state stakeholders to effectively influence the policy process. The outcomes of this research indicate a relationship between EM theory and the IS concept. By adopting the ecological modernisation agenda, the UK government can play a significant role in promoting the use of the IS concept by: (1) devising policies that are directly aimed at supporting the development of IS networks; and, (2) aligning the funding for technological innovation with the needs of potential IS projects. Nevertheless, the study found that the future of the UK NISP is entirely dependent on UK government funding and, therefore, it is recommended that the UK NISP should identify ways to raise income from the private sector as well for the UK NISP’s long term survival. The findings also highlighted the effectiveness of the organisational design employed by the UK NISP (including leadership at national level, regional delivery strategy and regional partnership strategy) for a large scale IS network and the suitability of the UK NISP’s organisational design to the dynamic nature of the IS network development. The regional partnership strategy was found to promote sectoral focus in IS networks, which did not adhere to the ‘innovation’ and ‘diversity’ principles of IS. This would result in limited innovation and raise the potential for an IS network to become unstable, for example, if a member decides to leave the network, the lack of diversity in the IS network would make it difficult to replace that member. So it is important that the UK NISP staff and contractors are provided with extensive training to ensure a better understanding of the IS concept principles. In a society facing economic and environmental challenges, this study specifically contributes to the understanding of the context that enabled the development of a large scale IS network that would help integrate environmental protection and economic growth.