Textil- och klädindustrin är identifierad som en av dem största bidragande faktorerna som frigör växthusgaser över hela världen. Produktionen har en lång och komplex försörjningskedja vilket redan från råvaruutvinning släpper ut enorma mängder växthusgaser. Den här kandidatuppsatsen går igenom hela försörjningskedjan för hemtextilsektorn vad gäller olika processer från fiber till färdiga produkter och deras miljöpåverkan. Den undersöker miljöpåverkan från olika stadier i textilprodukters livscykel från vaggan till graven. Uppsatsen belyser också konceptet och principerna för mätning av koldioxidavtryck, vatten och energianvändning för hemtextilprodukter, metoder för att mäta det och dess tillämpning i textilförsörjningskedjan. I produktens livscykelanalys beräknas avtrycket från resursutvinning (vagga) till fabriksporten (grind), i de faserna inkluderas försörjning av fiber, trim och förpackning, textilbearbetning, transporter i produktion, lagring och förpackning, samt distribution. Syftet med arbetet är att beräkna koldioxidavtryck, vatten- och energianvändning och jämföra mellan två påslakanset i 100% bomull tillverkade i två olika länder. Studien ämnar ge en bättre förståelse kring koldioxidutsläppen och miljöpåverkan som dessa produkter frigör under produktion. För att senare kunna jämföras, analyseras och föreslå eventuella förbättringar för att minska produktionens utsläpp. / The textile and clothing industry has been identified as one of the biggest contributing factors to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Production has a long and complex supply chain, which already emits enormous amounts of greenhouse gases from raw material extraction. This bachelor's thesis goes through the entire supply chain for the home textile sector in terms of various processes from fiber to finished products and their environmental impact. It examines the environmental impact from different stages in the life cycle of textile products from the cradle to the grave. The thesis also highlights the concept and principles for measuring carbon footprint, water and energy use for home textile products, methods for measuring it and its application in the textile supply chain. The product life cycle analysis calculates the footprint from resource extraction (cradle) to the factory gate (gate), in which phases supply of fiber, trim and packaging, textile processing, transport in production, storage and packaging, and distribution are included. The purpose of the work is to calculate the carbon footprint, water and energy use and compare between two duvet cover sets in 100% cotton made in two different countries. The study aims to provide a better understanding of the carbon dioxide emissions and environmental impact that these products release during production. In order to later be able to compare, analyze and suggest possible improvements to reduce production emissions.

Der demografische Wandel in Sachsen stellt Unternehmen der Siedlungsentwässerung vor neue Herausforderungen und innovative Lösungsansätze. Eine Abnahme der Siedlungsdichte infolge rückgängiger Bevölkerungszahlen bringt neue Anforderungen an das Ver- und Entsorgungsnetz für Wasser mit sich. In den nächsten Jahren werden sich im Bereich der Siedlungsentwässerung des Freistaates aufgrund der Wasserrahmenrichtlinie, nach der bis 2015 alle sächsischen Grundstücke an eine Abwasserentsorgungsanlage angeschlossen werden müssen, weitreichende Veränderungen ereignen. Die Lebensdauer verschiedener Bestandteile des Abwassersystems variiert zwischen wenigen Jahren und mehreren Jahrzehnten. Neben hohen Investitionskosten fallen daher bei einem Teil der Anlagen auch signifikante Kosten für Betrieb, Wartung, Sanierung und Deinstallation an. Daher ist es sinnvoll in der Projektplanung einer solchen Anlage nicht nur die Kosten der reinen Anschaffung zu betrachten, sondern die Kosten des gesamten Lebenszyklus in die Berechnung zu integrieren. In dieser Arbeit soll die Methodik der Lebenszykluskostenrechnung in der Siedlungsentwässerung angewendet werden. Im Rahmen des vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, dem Freistaat Sachsen und der Emschergenossenschaft finanzierten Projektes Auswirkungen des demografischen Wandels auf die Siedlungsentwässerung sind weitere Veröffentlichungen mit den Schwerpunktthemen Szenarioanalyse (Teil 1) und Ökologische Bewertung (Teil 3) in der Schriftenreihe „Dresdner Beiträge zur Lehre der Betrieblichen Umweltökonomie“ erhältlich.

Many specific methods and tools have been developed to deal with sustainability problems. However, without a unifying theory it is unclear how these relate to each other and how they can be used strategically. A Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is being developed to cover this need for clarity and structure. It includes backcasting from a principled definition of sustainability as a key feature. The aim of this thesis is to study how this framework can guide the use and improvement of detailed methods and tools, in particular to support sustainable product innovation (SPI). First, a new strategic life-cycle management approach is presented, in which the selection of aspects to be considered are not based on typical down-stream impact categories, but on identified major violations of sustainability principles. Ideas of how this approach can inform various specific methods and tools are also presented, as a basis for an integrated “toolbox” for SPI. As part of such, a new “template” approach for sustainable product development (TSPD) is developed through a sustainability assessment case study of TVs. That study indicates that this approach can create a quick and strategically relevant overview of critical sustainability aspects of a product, as well as facilitate communication between top management, product developers and external stakeholders. Based on such an assessment, it is sometimes necessary to go deeper into details, including the use of specific engineering methods and tools. To facilitate a coordinated assessment of sustainability aspects and technical aspects, an introductory procedure for sustainability-driven design optimization is suggested trough a water jet cutting case study. Equally important, to get a breakthrough for SPI, it is essential to integrate sustainability aspects into the overall decision-making process at different levels in companies. An approach to assessing sustainability integration in strategic decision systems is therefore also developed through a case study involving several companies. Finally, the integration between the FSSD and general systems modeling and simulation (SMS) is discussed and tested in another water jet cutting case study. It is shown feasible to start with the FSSD to create lists of critical flows and practices, ideas of long term solutions and visions, and a first rough idea about prioritized early investments. After that, SMS can be applied to study the interrelationships between the listed items, in order to create more robust and refined analyses of the problems at hand, possible solutions and investment paths, while constantly coupling back to the sustainability principles and guidelines of the FSSD. This research shows that the combination of the FSSD with detailed methods and tools cohesively provides decision-makers with both a robust overview and, when needed, a more coordinated and effective detailed support. To utilize its full potential, this approach should now be integrated into decision processes, software and manuals for SPI.

<p>U disertaciji je predložen opšti model za upravljanje uticajima na životnu sredinu u okviru proizvodnih procesa proizvodnje podnih obloga, zasnovan na metodi ocenjivanja životnog ciklusa proizvoda i procesa. Model je sistematično predstavljen kroz opis osnovnih delova - modela inventara životnog ciklusa i modela za ocenjivanje uticaja životnog ciklusa. Disertacija sadrži i detaljan opis podloga na kojima je model razvijen. Verifikacija razvijenog modela je sprovedena kroz tri studije slučaja.</p> / <p>The dissertation proposes a general model for managing environmental impacts within the manufacturing process of flooring coverings, based on the method of life cycle assessment of products and processes. The model is systematically present by describing the main parts - the life cycle inventory model and a model for the life cycle impact assessment. Dissertation contains a detailed description of the background bases on which the model is developed. Verification of the model is carried out through three case studies.</p>

The use of microalgae culture to convert CO2 from power plant flue gases into biomass that are readily converted into biofuels offers a new frame of opportunities to enhance, compliment or replace fossil-fuel-use. Apart from being renewable, microalgae also have the capacity to utilise materials from a variety of wastewater and the ability to yield both liquid and gaseous biofuels. However, the processes of cultivation, incorporation of a production system for power plant waste flue gas use, algae harvesting, and oil extraction from the biomass have many challenges. Using SimaPro software, Life cycle Assessment (LCA) of the challenges limiting the microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) biofuel production process was performed to study algae-based pathway for producing biofuels. Attention was paid to material use, energy consumed and the environmental burdens associated with the production processes. The goal was to determine the weak spots within the production system and identify changes in particular data-set that can lead to and lower material use, energy consumption and lower environmental impacts than the baseline microalgae biofuel production system. The analysis considered a hypothetical transesterification and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) transformation of algae-to- biofuel process. Life cycle Inventory (LCI) characterisation results of the baseline biodiesel (BD) transesterification scenario indicates that heating to get the biomass to 90% DWB accounts for 64% of the total input energy, while electrical energy and fertilizer obligations represents 19% and 16% respectively. Also, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) results of the baseline BD production scenario show high proportional contribution of electricity and heat energy obligations for most impact categories considered relative to other resources. This is attributed to the concentration/drying requirement of algae biomass in order to ease downstream processes of lipid extraction and subsequent transesterification of extracted lipids into BD. Thus, four prospective alternative production scenarios were successfully characterised to evaluate the extent of their impact scenarios on the production system with regards to lowering material use, lower energy consumption and lower environmental burdens than the standard algae biofuel production system. A 55.3% reduction in mineral use obligation was evaluated as the most significant impact reduction due to the integration of 100% recycling of production harvest water for the AD production system. Recycling also saw water demand reduced from 3726 kg (freshwater).kgBD- 1 to 591kg (freshwater).kgBD- 1 after accounting for evaporative losses/biomass drying for the BD transesterification production process. Also, the use of wastewater/sea water as alternative growth media for the BD production system, indicated potential savings of: 4.2 MJ (11.8%) in electricity/heat obligation, 10.7% reductions for climate change impact, and 87% offset in mineral use requirement relative to the baseline production system. Likewise, LCIA characterisation comparison results comparing the baseline production scenarios with that of a set-up with co-product economic allocation consideration show very interesting outcomes. Indicating -12 MJ surplus (-33%) reductions for fossil fuels resource use impact category, 52.7% impact reductions for mineral use impact and 56.6% reductions for land use impact categories relative to the baseline BD production process model. These results show the importance of allocation consideration to LCA as a decision support tool. Overall, process improvements that are needed to optimise economic viability also improve the life cycle environmental impacts or sustainability of the production systems. Results obtained have been observed to agree reasonably with Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis, with the production scenario proposing the exploitation of wastewater/sea water to culture algae biomass offering the best result outcome. This study may have implications for additional resources such as production facility and its construction process, feedstock processing logistics and transport infrastructure which are excluded. Future LCA study will require extensive consideration of these additional resources such as: facility size and its construction, better engineering data for water transfer, combined heat and power plant efficiency estimates and the fate of long-term emissions such as organic nitrogen in the AD digestate. Conclusions were drawn and suggestions proffered for further study.

社會可持續性已成為全球討論之議題，作為氣候變化之回應，特別是農業生產之可持續性，因為它仍然是社會基本需求之基本支柱。吾人透由測量運輸、包裝、加工、分銷與保存等過程反映真實可持續性。為此，本研究使用LCA(生命週期評估)作為系統評估整個生產週期之適當工具。本文考察2015年台灣農業生產置重點於糧食生產可持續性之三個方向：環境、經濟與社會方面，以及其影響，並確認渠等在週期內之相對關係。因此，利用LCA描繪台灣農業生產系統之整體情況，有助於瞭解整體農業情況。環境層面講述能源消耗、使用效率，及土壤、水汙染。經濟層面包含生產週期中之自給自足分析與價格分析。社會層面揭露食品安全問題，特別是暴露於農藥之健康風險。最後，將結果與實際意義綜合表現，並提出許多可後續繼續研究之議題。 / Sustainability of society became a globally discussed issue as a response to climate change, especially, the sustainability of agricultural production as it remains as a fundamental pillar of the society for fulfilling basic needs. It is time to move forward real sustainability through measuring the whole process between production and consumption embracing transportation, packaging, processing, distribution, and preservation among others. For this purpose, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used in this research as an appropriate tool for the systematic evaluation of the whole cycle of production. This paper examines agricultural production in Taiwan in 2015 focusing on sustainability of food production in three dimensions: environmental, economic, and social aspects, as well as its impacts and identifying the relative importance of each part in the cycle. Therefore, with drawing the whole picture of Taiwanese agricultural production system using LCA, it helps to understand circumstances behind the whole agriculture sector. The part concerning environmental dimension talks about energy consumption and efficiency of its usage; as well as, contamination of soil and water. Economic dimension consists of self-sufficiency analysis and price analysis of some components in the life cycle of production. Finally, the social dimension reveals certain problems in food safety, particularly, health risks of exposure to pesticides. And finally, a summary of results and practical implication of this research are presented. This research highlights many issues which could be further investigated.

Global warming is one of the biggest challenges of our society. The road transport sector is responsible for a big share of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, which are considered to be the dominant cause of global warming. Although most of those emissions are associated with traffic operation, road infrastructure should not be ignored, as it involves high consumption of energy and materials during a long lifetime. The aim of my research was to contribute to improved road infrastructure planning by developing methods and models to include a life cycle perspective. In order to reach the aim, GHG emissions and energy use at different life cycle stages of road infrastructure were assessed in three case studies using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). These case studies were also used for development of methodology for LCA of road infrastructure. I have also investigated the coupling of LCA with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the possibility to integrate LCA into Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The results of the first case study indicated that operation of the tunnel (mainly, lighting and ventilation) has the largest contribution in terms of energy use and GHG emissions throughout its life cycle. The second case study identified the main hotspots and compared two methods for asphalt recycling and asphalt reuse. The results of the third case study indicated that due to the dominant contribution of traffic to the total impact of the road transport system, the difference in road length plays a major role in choice of road alternatives during early planning of road infrastructure. However, infrastructure should not be neglected, especially in the case of similar lengths of road alternatives, for roads with low volumes of traffic or when they include bridges or tunnels. This thesis contributed in terms of foreground and background data collection for further LCA studies of road infrastructure. Preliminary Bill of Quantities (BOQ) was identified and used as a source for site-specific data collection. A new approach was developed and tested for using geological data in a GIS environment as a data source on earthworks for LCA. Moreover, this thesis demonstrated three possible ways for integrating LCA in early stages of road infrastructure planning. / <p>QC 20160329</p>

The presented doctoral thesis is focused on environmental impact assessment of basic engineering materials used in a production machine construction. Ecological profile of the machine itself develops already in the phase of its design. It is not only about the choice of future machine parameters and materials that it is built from, but also about technologies used for its manufacture and operation conditions of the finished machine (consumption of energy and service fluids). The thesis occupies in detail with environmental impact analysis of the production machine design from the viewpoint of material production that mentioned machine consists of. The output from the performed analysis is methodology for evaluating of machine design from the viewpoint of greenhouse gas emissions. Created methodology enables evaluating of machine ecological profile and its possible adjustments even during pre-production stage. In the first part of the thesis the analysis of current legislation in the field of fighting against climate changes, reducing of products energy consumption and increasing of production machines energy efficiency is presented. Also in this part of the thesis description of methods that were used to achieve thesis goals is stated. Furthermore analysis of production machine as a system of structural components that fulfil the certain functions and description of used basic engineering materials are presented. The second part of the thesis is devoted to environmental impact analysis of the production machine design process. There the design process and environmental impact of machine design are described. This is followed by description of production machine life cycle and detailed analysis of undesirable substances emissions emitted during pre-production phases of machine life cycle (i.e. during the raw materials extraction and materials production). From this analysis the particular constituents’ pre-production phases which are sources of undesirable substances emissions (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions) were derived. The thesis also includes analysis of these constituents’ life cycles and description of electric power generation as a basic constituent of any phase of product life cycle. In this part of the thesis calculations of particular fuel type’s amounts that is required to produce 1 MWh of electric power and carbon dioxide amount produced during electric power generation are presented. The third part of the thesis contains created models of manufacturing processes of basic engineering materials and calculations of related emissions of selected greenhouse gases. The practical output from this part of the thesis is methodology that enables environmental impact assessment of machine design from the viewpoint of engineering materials used in its construction.

The diploma paper themed "Application of environmental product declaration of moulded plastic parts" concentrates on the area of optional instruments within the environment. The subject of the search is a life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to a plastic product supplied to the automotive industry. This method evaluates the impact of various phases of products on the environment, focusing on the phases of production of granulate, transportation and moulding of the product. Information regarding energetic and material inputs and outputs during previously mentioned phases of the product life cycle is essential. The LCA constitutes basis for a further optional instrument of the environmental policy, mainly to the environmental product declaration. This certificated declaration features the marketing instrument for the company and simultaneously shows the impact of the product on the environment and possibilities of improvement its environmental profile.

Este trabalho apresenta uma análise de ecoeficiência de cinco cenários de reúso de água a partir do efluente de uma unidade petroquímica para atendimento parcial da demanda de uma torre de resfriamento, dentro da perspectiva de Descarga Zero de Líquidos. O processo-base foi constituído de membranas de osmose reversa, evaporador e cristalizador, e cada cenário foi modelado para um pré-tratamento diferente, abrangendo adição de anti-incrustante, dessupersaturação de íons de bário e coprecipitação de sais de baixa solubilidade para aumento de recuperação de água na osmose. A análise de ecoeficiência foi dividida em duas partes, sendo a primeira uma Avaliação de Ciclo de Vida atribucional com enfoque \'berço-ao-portão\' para avaliação do desempenho ambiental e energético de cada cenário, onde as categorias avaliadas foram: Aquecimento Global, Demanda de Energia Primária, Consumo de Água e Ecotoxicidade de Água Doce. A segunda parte correspondeu a uma análise econômica da instalação e operação da unidade de tratamento e reúso para um horizonte temporal de 9,5 anos. Por conta do pré-tratamento, foi possível aumentar a recuperação de água na osmose de 84% para mais de 94%. As simulações realizadas sobre o sistema de tratamento chegaram em uma recuperação de água de até 99,9% com o efluente do processo apresentando fração de sólidos de até 18,2%, isto é, em um regime muito próximo ao de Descarga Zero. A análise ambiental-energética apresentou forte influência da energia elétrica, consumida sobretudo nas etapas térmicas do tratamento. Além disso, os compostos derivados de cloro usados no pré-tratamento também acrescentaram cargas ambientais significativas. A análise econômica, por sua vez, mostrou que, para o tempo de vida da unidade, os custos de operação têm maior influência no custo total, sendo que a eletricidade consumida nos processos também é responsável pela maior parcela dos gastos. A água de reúso apresentou custo variando entre R$ 3,94/m3 e R$ 6,57/m3, valores estes considerados elevados para a condição brasileira. Na análise unificada de ecoeficiência, houve empate em dois cenários, um com melhor desempenho ambiental-energético e outro com menor custo, sendo que este último foi projetado tendo em vista a redução das cargas ambientais presentes nos demais cenários, mostrando que é possível obter ganhos de rendimento do processo levando-se em conta a variável ambiental. / This work presents an eco-efficiency analysis of five water reuse scenarios in which a petrochemical plant effluent is used to resupply partially the water demand of a cooling tower in a Zero Liquid Discharge perspective. The baseline process was consisted of reverse osmosis membranes, evaporator and crystallizer and each different scenario was modelled for a different pre-treatment, comprising anti-scalant, barium ions desupersaturation and coprecipitation of low-solubility salts for increase water recovery in reverse osmosis. The eco-efficiency analysis was divided in two parts. The first one was composed by an attributional \'cradle-to-gate\' Life Cycle Assessment for the evaluation of environmental and energy performance for Global Warming, Primary Energy Demand, Water Consumption and Freshwater Ecotoxicity impacts. The second part was an economic analysis of the investment and operation costs of the water reuse equipment during a 9.5-years timespan. Because of the pre-treatment, the water recovery in reverse osmosis raised from 84% up to 94%. According to the simulations, it would be possible to reach a water recovery rate of 99.9% and a process effluent with a maximum of 18.2% in solids, i.e., achieving a near Zero Liquid Discharge. The environmental-energy analysis showed strong influences of electric energy consumption, mainly in thermal processes. Furthermore, chemical products used in pre-treatment which are derived from chlorine added some significant environmental burdens. The economic analysis presented major influences of the operating costs on the total treatment plant costs, mostly influenced by energy consumption. The reuse water costs were estimated to be between R$ 3.94/m3 and R$ 6.57/m3, which are excessively high values for the Brazilian situation. The eco-efficiency unified analysis showed similar general results for two scenarios, one with better enviromental-energy performance and the other one with lower costs. This last scenario was projected regarding environmental burdens reduction observed in all other scenarios, from which it can be concluded that it is possible to obtain higher process yields if environmental issues are considered.