The prospect of reducing environmental impacts is a key driver for the research and development (R&D) of new forest products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is often used for assessing the environmental impact of such products, e.g. for the purpose of guiding R&D. The aim of this thesis is to improve the methods and practices of LCA work carried out in the R&D of forest products. Six research questions were formulated from research needs identified in LCA work in five technical inter-organisational R&D projects. These projects also provided contexts for the case studies that were used to address the research questions. The main contributions of the research are as follows: Regarding the planning of LCA work in inter-organisational R&D projects, the research identified four characteristics that appear to be important to consider when selecting the roles of LCAs in such projects: (i) the project’s potential influence on environmental impacts, (ii) the degrees of freedom available for the technical direction of the project, (iii) the project’s potential to provide required input to the LCA, and (iv) access to relevant audiences for the LCA results. Regarding the modelling of future forest product systems, it was found that (i) it is important to capture uncertainties related to the technologies of end-of-life processes, the location of processes and the occurrence of land use change; and (ii) the choice of method for handling multi-functionality can strongly influence results in LCAs of forest products, particularly in consequential studies and in studies of relatively small co-product flows. Regarding the assessment of environmental impacts of particular relevance for forest products, it was found that using established climate impact assessment practices can cause LCA practitioners to miss environmental hot-spots and make erroneous conclusions about the performance of forest products vis-à-vis non-forest alternatives, particularly in studies aimed at short-term impact mitigation. Also, a new approach for inventorying water cycle alterations was developed, which made it possible to capture catchment-scale effects of forestry never captured before. To connect the LCA results to global challenges, a procedure was proposed for translating the planetary boundaries into absolute product-scale targets for impact reduction, e.g. to be used for evaluating interventions for product improvements or for managing trade-offs between impact categories.

Syfte: För nybyggda hus står den inbyggda koldioxiden för en allt större andel av byggnadens klimatpåverkan under livscykeln. Detta på grund av bättre klimatskal och driftsystem. Forskningsrapporter visar att klimatpåverkan i form av inbyggd koldioxid kan minska om digitala analysverktyg används i projekteringen. Syftet med den här rapporten är att undersöka hur analyserna går till samt hur de kan bli enklare och mer noggranna. Metod: För att uppfylla syftet används en litteraturstudie och semistrukturerade intervjuer för att kartlägga användningen av LCA för att dra lärdomar och se förbättringsmöjligheter. En fallstudie görs på en betong- och stålstomme för att jämföra och dra slutsatser utav två LCA-verktyg; Anavitor och Bidcon. Resultat: Resultatet visar att intresset för LCA i byggbranschen är stigande och att de analyser som utförs i projekteringsskedet oftast baseras på generiska värden. Avseende olika programvaror måste omfattningen av programvaran vara tydligt definierad för att kunna få fram ett jämförbart resultat. För att ge ett resultat som speglar det verkliga utfallet måste man frångå den generiska data som tillhandahålls, och istället mata in materialspecifika värden som kommer direkt från tillverkare. Detta kan redan vid projekteringsskedet vara möjligt om BIM-objekt förses med EPD:er i kompatibla filformat. Konsekvenser: Byggnadens totala klimatpåverkan under livscykeln kan tydliggöras med hjälp av LCA-verktyg. För att det ska bli en naturlig del av projekteringen är det viktigt att LCA-verktyg är kompatibla med den information som finns i en eventuell modell. LCA-verktyg bör innehålla mer information än bara klimatpåverkan, även annan miljödata och eventuell ekonomisk information bör finnas för att ge ett bra beslutsunderlag för beställaren. För att öka användningen av LCA i byggbranschen krävs starkare incitament för att göra analyser till exempel att beställaren måste miljödeklarera byggnaden. I ett längre perspektiv borde krav ställas på en byggnads miljöpåverkan liknande de krav som finns i BBR angående energianvändning. Noggrannheten i programmet beror till största del på den data som användaren matar in. Det vill säga mängder, ofta hämtade från en modell. Det krävs att EPD:er görs tillgängliga i filformat som stöds av digitala programvaror för att enklare kunna nå deninformation som krävs. LCA-verktyg ska kunna användas tidigt i ett projekt för att eventuella val lättare ska kunna göras. Samtidigt så bör programanvändaren kunna använda produktspecifika EPD:er i ett tidigt skede för att kunna jämföra olika leverantörer och konstruktionslösningar. Begränsningar: Detta arbete är begränsat till de två programmen Bidcon och Anavitoroch hur de skiljer sig åt avseende beräkningsmetoder och funktioner. Det är ocksåavgränsat för att endast beröra byggnaders inbyggda material. Nyckelord: "Inbyggd koldioxid", "Inbyggd energi", "koldioxidavtryck", "LCA","Livscykelanalys", "Klimatpåverkan", "Klimatdata", "BIM", ”Anavitor”, ”Bidcon” / Purpose: For newly constructed buildings, embodied carbon dioxide stands for an increasing share of the buildings climate impact, seen from a life cycle perspective. This due to improved building envelopes alongside better building service systems. Research shows climate impact due to embodied carbon dioxide may decrease if digital tools for analysis are used during the design phase. The aim with this report is to examine how these analyses are made and see how they can be simplified as well as more accurate. Method: To fulfil the aim of this report a literature review is used alongside semistructured interviews to map the use of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) in order to gain knowledge and find opportunities for enhancement. A case study is performed on a building frame of concrete and steel to be able to compare and draw conclusions from two LCA-tools; Anavitor and Bidcon. Findings: The result shows increasing interest for LCA in the building industry and that LCA performed in the design phase often uses generic values. The terms and scope of a LCA needs to be determined distinctly regarding comparison of different software's in order to reach a result that is comparable. There is a need to depart from generic values and replace with climate data from manufactures to reach a result reflecting reality. This would be possible already in the design phase using objects in BIM supplemented with climate data from EPD:s in compatible formats. Implications: The buildings total climate impact during the life cycle are able to be displayed with LCA-tools. Using this as a natural part of the design phase, LCA-tools have to be compatible with the information contained in an eventual model. LCA-tools ought to include more information than just climate impact, other environmental data and economic information ought to be included to provide a better decision ground for the buyer. To increase the use of LCA in the building industry, a stronger incentive is needed. The buyer should be required to perform an environmental declaration of thebuilding. In a further step legislation regarding a building´s environmental impactsimilar to the rules found in the Swedish building code regarding specific energy usewould be fitting. The accuracy of the programs mostly depends on the input data,namely quantities, often retrieved from a model. Requires EPD:s accessible in formatsupported by digital software’s in order to reach that information more easily. LCA tools ought to be used early in a project, facilitate eventual choices. At the same time, the user should be able to use product specific EPD:s in an early stage to compare different manufacturers and solutions. Limitations: This paper is limited to the two software’s Bidcon and Anavitor, and how they differ regarding calculation methods and functions. It's also limited to only take the buildings' embedded materials into account. Keywords: "Embodied carbon dioxide", "Embodied energy", "carbon foot print","LCA", "Life Cycle assessment", "Climate impact", "Climate data", "BIM", “Anavitor,“Bidcon”

Répondre aux défis du développement durable exige la prise en considération des aspects économiques, sociétaux et environnementaux des projets. Dans le domaine des terrassements, les actions portent notamment sur l'optimisation de la valorisation des matériaux extraits grâce aux techniques de traitement des sols. Le projet s'est principalement porté sur les produits de traitement dérivant de la transformation de matières premières renouvelables : solutions « enzymatiques », lignosulfonates et solutions acides. Des données factuelles concernant les effets des traitements sur les caractéristiques hydromécaniques de quatre sols (un limon, un sol argileux et deux sables) ont été acquises mettant en évidence une augmentation de l'efficacité du compactage après traitement du limon au produit enzymatique et au lignosulfonate. La recherche des mécanismes d'action s'est fondée sur une étude de la microstructure par microscopie électronique à balayage et porosimétrie au mercure complétée par l'évaluation des effets d'un ajout de produits tensioactifs sur les propriétés des sols. L'objectif de l'étude dépasse cependant l'évaluation des modalités d'action des produits et vise également à prendre en compte les préoccupations environnementales. Ainsi, une étude d'analyse du cycle de vie a été menée pour chaque application ce qui a permis d'identifier les conditions optimales pour lesquelles les traitements combinent intérêts techniques et environnementaux. Ces conditions sont réunies lors du compactage des sols secs sous réserve que l'étape de production et de transport des produits ne soit pas excessivement pénalisante comme mis en évidence lors de l'étude de sensibilité / Sustainable development principles lead earthworks companies to use all natural materials and to reduce the environmental impact of their activities. In this context, the use of industrial organic products derived from the processing of renewable matter has been proposed. In this study, three non traditional products have been selected: an enzymatic solution, a lignosulfonate and an acid solution. In a first approach, hydromechanical properties of four treated soils (a silt, a clayey soil and two sands) were investigated. The experimental results showed interesting applications for the silt when its natural water content is low. Indeed, the compaction ability of the soil was increased after enzymatic and lignosulfonate treatments. Thus, savings of water and energy could be expected during the construction stage. To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of the treatment products, the microstructure of treated soil were investigated with scanning electron microscopy, mercury injection porosity and was completed by the study of a surfactant addition in soils. The global aim of the study was beyond the characterization of mechanical behavior of treated soils, therefore, environmental balance was also estimated for the different applications defined in accordance to the experimental results. For enzymatic and lignosulfonate treatments, a comparison of the global environmental impact was done thanks to a life cycle assessment methodology. This approach showed that technical and environmental interest are associated for the compaction of dry soils when the production and transport steps have limited environmental impact as demonstrated in the sensitivity analysis

La méthode de l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie (ACV) est devenue ces dernières années un outil d’aide à la décision « environnementale » pour évaluer l’impact des produits et des processus associés. La pratique de l’ACV est documentée comme un outil pour l’évaluation d’impacts, la comparaison et la prise de décisions « orientée produit ». L’exploitation d’une telle méthode pour les procédés de l’industrie bio-physico-chimique a gagné récemment en popularité. Il existe de nombreux faisceaux d’amélioration et d’expansion pour sa mise en oeuvre pour l’évaluation des procédés industriels. L’étude s’attache à la production de biocarburant à partir de la plante Jatropha curcas L. selon une approche « attributionelle ». Cette étude présente l’évaluation environnementale d’un agro-procédé et discute de l’opportunité de coupler les concepts, les méthodes et les outils de l’ACV et de l’IPAO (Ingénierie des Procédés Assistés par Ordinateur). Une première partie présente l’ACV appliquée à l’agrochimie. L’état de la littérature apporte des enseignements sur les diverses études qui mettent en évidence le rôle et l’importance de l’ACV pour les produits et les différents agro-procédés. La substitution des carburants classiques par les biocarburants est considérée comme une voie potentielle de substitution aux énergies fossiles. Leur processus se doit d’être évalué au regard de l’impact environnemental et du paradigme du développement durable, en complément des critères classiques, économiques et politiques. La deuxième partie aborde notre étude ACV de la production du biocarburant à partir de la plante Jatropha. Cette évaluation englobe la culture et la récolte en Afrique, l’extraction de l’huile et la phase de production de biocarburants, jusqu’à son utilisation par un moteur à explosion. À cet effet, les normes ISO 14040 et 14044 sont respectées. Basée sur une perspective « midpoint » avec les méthodes de calcul d’impacts, Impact 2002+ et CML, nous fournissons les premiers résultats de la phase d’interprétation (GES, appauvrissement des ressources, la couche d’ozone, l’eutrophisation et l’acidification). Cette étude démontre le potentiel de production de biocarburants de deuxième génération à réduire l’impact environnemental. Dans le même temps, elle révèle que l’unité de transesterification est le plus impactant. Nous identifions les limites de notre application selon une approche ACV « pure ». Dans la troisième partie, nous discutons des bénéfices attendus du couplage de l’ACV et des méthodes de modélisation et de simulation de l’ingénierie des procédés. Nous suggérons alors une amélioration de l’approche environnementale des systèmes de production. Nous fournissons un cadre de travail intégrant les différents points de vue, système, processus et procédé afin d’évaluer les performances environnementales du produit. Un outil logiciel, SimLCA, est développé sur la base de l’environnement Excel et est validé par l’utilisation de la solution ACV SimaPro et du simulateur de procédés Prosim Plus. SimLCA permet un couplage ACV-simulation pour l’évaluation environnementale du système complet de production de biocarburant. Cette intégration multi-niveaux permet une interaction dynamique des données, paramètres et résultats de simulation. Différentes configurations et scénarios sont discutés afin d’étudier l’influence de l’unité fonctionnelle et d’un paramètre de procédé. La quatrième partie établit la conclusion générale et trace les perspectives. / With the rise of global warming issues due to the increase of the greenhouse gas emission and more generally with growing importance granted to sustainable development, process system engineering (PSE) has turned to think more and more environmentally. Indeed, the chemical engineer has now taken into account not only the economic criteria of the process, but also its environmental and social performances. On the other hand LCA is a method used to evaluate the potential impacts on the environment of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle. The research here focused on coupling of PSE domain with the environmental analysis of agricultural and chemical activities and abatement strategies for agro-processes with the help of computer aided tools and models. Among many approaches, the coupling of PSE and LCA is investigated here because it is viewed as a good instrument to evaluate the environmental performance of different unitary processes and whole process. The coupling can be of different nature depending on the focus of the study. The main objective is to define an innovative LCA based on approach for a deep integration of product, process and system perspectives. We selected a PSE embedded LCA and proposed a framework that would lead to an improved eco-analysis, eco-design and eco-decision of business processes and resulted products for researchers and engineers. In the first place we evaluate biodiesel for environmental analysis with the help of field data, background data and impact methodologies. Through this environmental evaluation, we identify the hotspot in the whole production system. To complement the experimental data this hotspot (i.e. transesterification) is selected for further modeling and simulation. For results validation, we also implement LCA in a dedicated tool (SimaPro) and simulation in a PSE simulation tool (Prosim Plus). Finally we develop a tool (SimLCA) dedicated to the LCA by using PSE tools and methodologies. This development of SimLCA framework can serve as a step forward for determination of sustainability and eco-efficient designing.

Neste trabalho foi realizada a Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida (ACV) da produção do painel MDP (medium density particleboard), feito de partículas de madeira e adesivo sintético, largamente empregado na indústria moveleira, sendo o painel de madeira mais produzido e consumido no mundo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o ciclo de vida produtivo (cradle to gate) do painel MDP no Brasil. A ACV é normalizada pelas séries ISO 14040 e 14044. Empresas produtoras do MDP no país foram visitadas para a coleta de dados, e na avaliação dos impactos ambientais os resultados foram comparados pelos métodos CML (2001), EDIP (1997) e USEtox (2008). Os resultados apontaram que os principais hotspots foram o óleo BPF (baixo ponto de fluidez) utilizado na planta de energia e a resina UF (ureia formaldeído), aplicada como aglomerante na produção dos painéis. A cadeia produtiva da madeira mostrou maior destaque para as categorias de eutrofização e ecotoxicidade, respectivamente, pelo uso de fertilizantes e do herbicida glifosato no solo. Também verificou-se que na produção de 1 m³ de painel MDP há um crédito de carbono médio de 969 kg de \'CO IND.2\'-eq. Perante os resultados, foram analisados diversos cenários com sugestões de melhorias ambientais, sendo propostas alterações quanto ao consumo das matérias primas: óleo BPF, resina UF e madeira. Para o óleo BPF, o cenário ambientalmente mais adequado foi a sua substituição total pelo uso de somente resíduos de madeira. Sobre a resina UF, verificou-se que os principais impactos estão relacionados às cadeias produtivas do metanol e da ureia, sendo assim sugerida a otimização no consumo destes recursos. Também, a resina UF foi comparada com a resina MUF (melamina ureia formaldeído), e percebeu-se que os impactos ambientais da segunda foram superiores. Porém, mais cenários analisando o emprego de resinas alternativas são requisitados, tendo em vista a busca por resinas análogas à UF, mas com menores impactos potenciais. E sobre a madeira, foi analisada sua substituição pela adição de resíduos de madeira na produção do MDP, tendo sido constatado que quanto maior a quantidade de resíduos adicionados, menores seriam os impactos ambientais. Todavia, os benefícios ambientais verificados com o uso dos resíduos dependem de variáveis, como: dos aspectos ambientais do ciclo de vida dos resíduos, da quantidade de resíduos aplicada na produção dos painéis, do critério de alocação adotado na ACV, e da distância no percurso de transporte dos resíduos até a fábrica de painéis. Portanto, deve-se analisar caso a caso para afirmar sobre a viabilidade ambiental no emprego de resíduos na produção de painéis de madeira. / In this project was carried out a study of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the MDP (medium density particleboard) production, made of wood particles and synthetic adhesive, widely used in furniture industry, being the most produced and consumed wood-based panel in the world. This study aimed to assess the productive life cycle (cradle to gate) of the MDP in Brazil. LCA technique is standardized by ISO 14040 and 14044 documents. The data collection phase in this study occurred realizing technical visits on the Brazilian MDP producers and for the environmental impact assessment, the results were compared considering the following methods: CML (2001), EDIP (1997) and USEtox (2008). The results showed that the main hotspots were the heavy fuel oil used on power plants and UF (urea formaldehyde) resin applied as binder to produce the panels. The wood consumption showed to be more relevant to eutrophication and ecotoxicity impact categories, respectively, by the use of fertilizers and the glyphosate herbicide in the soil. It was also observed that the production of 1m³ of MDP generates an average carbon credit of 969 kg of \'CO IND.2\'-eq. Given the results, several scenarios were analyzed including environmental suggestions of improvements, being proposed changes to the consumption of the raw materials: heavy fuel oil, UF resin and wood. The replacement of heavy fuel oil for wooden residue was the most suitable alternative, because the environmental impacts results were considerably reduced. For the UF resin, it was found that the main impacts are related to the production (cradle to gate) of methanol and urea, thus, we suggested optimizing the consumption of these resources. Also, UF resin was compared with the MUF (melamine urea formaldehyde) resin, and the second one showed more impacts than the first. However, more scenarios analyzing the use of alternatives resins are required, in order to find others options of similar resins to UF, but with lower potential impacts. Considering the wood consumption, it was examined its replacement by wooden residue like raw material to produce the MDP. The results pointed out the addition of residues can promote lower environmental impacts. On the other hand, the environmental benefits related depend of variables such as: the environmental aspects of the life cycle of waste generation, the quantity of waste applied to produce the panels, the allocation criteria adopted to the LCA study, and the distance to transport the waste to the panel industry. Therefore, one must examine each case to assert about the environmental sustainability in the use of waste to produce wood panels.

Le déploiement du développement durable passe par des enjeux de transition sociétale et technique auxquels cherche à répondre le Design for Sustainability (DfS). Dans le cadre de la conception des systèmes de production, et en particulier pour les produits manufacturés, les impacts environnementaux que ce soit en termes de consommation de ressources ou de rejets (déchets, émissions) doivent être intégrés comme des paramètres de conception. L’évaluation des impacts environnementaux (par exemple par l’Analyse de Cycle de Vie, ACV) doit donc s’articuler avec la gestion du cycle de vie des produits (PLM). L’inventaire de cycle de vie, ICV est un élément central du lien entre le système de production et son environnement, caractérisé par des informations géographiques et spatiales sur l’écosphère. Le travail de thèse proposé stipule que les impacts environnementaux des systèmes conçus dépendent de cette caractérisation géographique. Les approches d’écoconception et de DFS doivent donc intégrer ces informations géographiques ce qu’elles ne font que très peu, ces informations n’étant pas intégré dans les outils de conception. La thèse propose donc une approche de modélisation pour intégrer les informations relatives au produit et son système de production (via le PLM), l’évaluation de son potentiel d’impact environnemental (via l’ACV et en particulier l’ICV), et les informations géographiques en conception. Pour cela, les informations géographiques à associer sont identifiées et des cas d’études illustratifs sont construits pour montrer l’impact de ces informations sur la définition des produits / There are different approaches to implement sustainability and Design for Sustainability (DfS) is the one that give more accurate result by considering both global and regional scales. Integration of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is an example of tool integration to support sustainability. In LCA framework, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) is the quantified and classified list of input and output flow of the LCA model that is a model of the product system, linking the technological system to the ecosphere (Environment system). As each region has a unique environmental system, design characteristics and specifications of technological system should be modified and adopted based on these differences. Implementation of this approach will require geographical information of interacted environmental systems, which is a kind of new strategy in DfS. Therefore, we tested the interest of the integration of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) with PLM to support geographical considerations during product development activities. The main research question of this research work is then how to propose this PLM-GIS integration for DfS. Thus, we conducted that literature review on existing data models about product, environment, geography and their combination is a key to prove the link among them

<p>Access to potable water has been identified as a basic human right, yet it is estimated that 2.2 billion people worldwide do not have access to safely managed drinking water. Many of those without access live in regions of the world with abundant sunlight, which can be utilized both directly and indirectly to disinfect drinking water. Directly it can be used in solar water disinfection (SODIS) applications, and indirectly it can be collected by solar panels to power commercially available UV reactors. Herein, we study the potential for direct and indirect water disinfection technologies to be used and adopted in developing countries, with specific insight into their application in the Dominican Republic and Kenya.</p><p>The amount of available ambient solar UV was both measured and modelled to inform design and modelling of treatment systems, and to understand whether real-time monitoring of ambient UV is required for the operation of systems directly utilizing UV for disinfection. The model both over- and under-predicted measurements of ambient UV, and did so at inconsistent rates, most likely as a result of cloud cover. This indicates that real-time monitoring of ambient UV would most likely be needed for disinfection methods directly using solar UV for inactivation in order to ensure water was always dosed properly.</p><p>The amount of available ambient solar UV was input into a raytracing model (Photopia, LTI Optics) to simulate the amplification of solar spectral irradiance within a continuous-flow compound parabolic collector (CPC). This informed design improvements that allowed for an increase in flow rate through the system, which was supported by field testing of the reactor. Further, two commercial UV reactors, one utilizing a low-pressure (LP) lamp and the other utilizing an LED source, were tested in the lab to verify their ability to inactivate <i>S. typhimurium </i>LT2. The LP-based device outperformed the LED-based device, which was unable to achieve over 2-log₁₀ units of inactivation under any of the studied conditions.</p><p>A life cycle assessment was conducted to assess the environmental impact of the three studied UV reactors against traditional chlorination and water delivery methods. Chlorine had the lowest impact in every category under all of the studied conditions, but there have been many barriers reported on the lack of adoption of chlorine. So the next lowest impact technology was evaluated at the community scale, which was the LP reactor. Therefore, the LP reactor was installed in study communities in both the Dominican Republic and Kenya. In the Dominican Republic, the systems suffered from a lack of boots on the ground, and faced technical, social, and economic barriers to adoption. In Kenya, the project suffered from similar constraints, that did not allow for project assessment. This work not only addresses the barriers faced in both of these projects, but provides suggestions for improving similar projects in the future.</p>

Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Einsatz biogener Ersatzbrennstoffe bei der motorischen Verbrennung. Zum einen wurden die laminaren Brenngeschwindigkeiten von Ethanol und iso-Butanol sowie Gemischen mit iso-Oktan bestimmt. Es konnten Messwerte für die Validierung von numerischen Mechanismen sowie Parameter für die Abbildung der Temperatur- und Druckabhängigkeit der Brenngeschwindigkeit bestimmt werden. Der Vergleich der Messverfahren zeigt eine gute Übereinstimmung. Zum anderen wurden die Auswirkungen der Beimischung von Wasserstoff auf die Abgaszusammensetzung und den Wirkungsgrad an einem Verbrennungsmotor ermittelt. Die Erhöhung des Wasserstoffanteils führt zur Erhöhung des Wirkungsgrades. Die Abgasbestanteile Kohlenstoffmonoxid, Formaldehyd und Methan werden reduziert, während Stickoxide zunehmen. Mit den begleitenden Simulationen kann gezeigt werden, dass höhere Wasserstoffanteile die Oxidation durch einen erhöhten Anteil an OH-Radikalen begünstigen. Der Grund für das verstärkte Auftreten von Stickstoffmonoxid liegt in der Verlängerung der Verweilzeit der verbrannten Gase in der Oxidationszone.

River restoration projects are being installed worldwide to rehabilitate degraded river habitat. Many of these projects focus on stream habitat improvement (SHI), and an estimated 60%of the 37,000 projects listed in the National River Restoration Science Synthesis Program focus on SHI for salmon and trout species. These projects frequently lack a sufficient monitoring program or account for the environmental costs associated with SHI. The present study used life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques and topographic effectiveness monitoring to quantify environmental costs on the basis of geomorphic change. This methodology was a novel approach to assessing the cost-benefit relationship of SHI. To test this methodology, two phases of the Lower Scotts Creek Floodplain and Habitat Enhancement Project (LSCR) were used as a case study. The LSCR was a SHI project installed along the northern coast of Santa Cruz County, California, USA. A limited scope LCA was used to quantify the life cycle impacts of raw material production, materials transportation, and on-site construction. Once these baseline results were produced, a topographic monitoring program was used to quantify the topographic diversity index (TDI) in pre- and post-project conditions. The TDI percent change was used to scale the baseline LCA results, which quantified the environmental impacts based on geomorphic change. Phase II outperformed phase I. Phase I had greater cumulative environmental impacts and experienced a 7.7 % TDI increase from pre- to post-project conditions. Phase II had 43% less cumulative environmental impacts and experienced a 7.9% TDI increase from pre- to post-project conditions. The impacts in phase I were greater because of the amount of material excavated to create off-channel features, which were a key feature of the LSCR. A scenario analysis also was conducted within the LCA component of this study. The scenario analysis suggests that life cycle impacts could be reduced by 30%-65% by using the accelerated recruitment method in place of importing materials to build large wood complexes. The results of this study suggest that managers may improve the environmental performance of SHI projects by: (1) using the accelerated recruitment method to introduce larger key pieces to the channel, reducing the need to import materials; (2) using nursery grown plants as opposed to excavating plants for revegetation; (3) minimizing fuel combustion in heavy equipment and haul trucks by ensuring clear access to the channel and streambank, using small engine equipment to clear access corridors during site preparation, running more fuel-efficient machinery or bio-fuel powered machinery, and by attempting to minimize haul distances by sourcing materials locally; and (4) utilizing a “franken-log” design (a ballasted LWC configuration with a rootwad fastened to the downstream end of a log) in LWCs which led to favorable TDI change. This study concluded that LCA could be a valuable tool for monitoring SHI and river restoration projects and that further research of the TDI analysis is justified.

The thesis proposes a new approach to assess sustainability of waste management systems. In the first part current mixed municipal waste (MSW) management system of the Czech republic is reviewed and promising MSW treatment techniques are introduced. In the second part a summary of literature on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to assess sustainability of MSW systems is provided. A new sustainability assessment model is proposed by implementing LCA to a current tool called NERUDA used to optimize waste management costing. It is demonstrated how to connect these two concepts in order to aquire a powerful tool for sustainability assessment.