Jeans is a clothing segment that has had a lasting popularity over many years. The intenseproduction of jeans has led to a discussion on the environmental effects that the jeanscontribute to. Cotton, which is the main material used to make jeans, is a water and chemicalintensive crop which today is involved in discussions on whether there are other moresustainable alternatives to conventional cotton. Organically grown cotton does not usesynthetic fertilizers, pesticides or growth regulators, which has made many people andcompanies believe it is a more sustainable alternative to conventionally grown cotton. J.Lindeberg is a Swedish fashion company which produce jeans made from bothconventional and organic cotton today, however, they have a goal to increase the use oforganic cotton to decrease the negative environmental effects from the jeans. Therefore, thismaster thesis aims to determine if jeans made from conventional or organic cotton has ahigher environmental performance. This is done by taking environmental effects through theentire life cycle into account by making a life cycle assessment of two pairs of jeans made byJ.Lindeberg, Jay Devout made from conventional cotton and Jay Solid Stretch made fromorganic cotton. To reach the aim, three research questions are formulated: Which style of jeans, Jay Devout or Jay Solid Stretch, has the highest potential lifecycle environmental performance? Will the change from conventional cotton to organic cotton in the jeans align with thesustainability goals set by J.Lindeberg? Are there any possible risks or trade-offs associated with the shift from conventionalto organic cotton? The LCA was performed with data from four supplying companies of J.Lindeberg and theresults show that Jay Devout, made from conventional cotton, have a higher environmentalperformance when including the entire life cycle. However, the impacts from the productionis not dependent on the cotton being conventional or organic and therefore, to conclude ifJ.Lindeberg is making the right choice by changing from conventional to organic cotton, thecomparison should only include the cotton cultivation phase. When comparing the cottoncultivation phase of the conventional and organic systems, the results show that the organiccotton has a higher environmental performance. This suggests that the change fromconventional cotton to organic cotton will in fact contribute to lower negative environmentalimpacts. Furthermore, the change from conventional to organic cotton aligns with most of thesustainability goals set by J.Lindeberg. Jay Devout, made from conventional cotton, had a higher negative impact on most of theimpact categories connected to toxicity, which supports the choice of changing to organiccotton, since J.Lindeberg has a goal to reduce the chemicals in their products. Overall, thetwo jeans performed differently on different impact categories, however a similarity is thatthe production phase is a hotspot for both jeans. There is a risk of trade-offs regarding theimpact categories water consumption, global warming and fossil resource scarcity whenincluding all phases of the life cycle, and to avoid this, increased transparency andtraceability is required in the supply chain to enable thorough sustainability work. Arecommendation is to demand the use of renewable sources for electricity production in allsteps of the life cycle, since this decrease the environmental impacts, especially from theproduction phase. / Jeans är det mest sålda klädesplagget i världen, och har haft en ihållande popularitet undermånga år. Den intensiva produktionen har väckt diskussioner om vilken miljöpåverkan somjeans bidrar till. Bomull är det material som främst används i jeans och odlingen av bomullkräver generellt stora mängder vatten och kemikalier. Detta har lett till sökandet av ett merhållbart alternativ till den konventionella bomullsodlingen. Ekologiskt odlad bomull odlasutan tillsatser av konstgjorda gödningsmedel och insektsmedel vilket gör att det blivit kändsom ett mer hållbart alternativ till konventionell bomull. J.Lindeberg är ett svenskt modeföretag som säljer jeans gjorda av både konventionell ochekologisk bomull idag. De har ett mål att öka användningen av ekologisk bomull i sina jeansför att minska de negativa effekterna på miljön. Målet med denna masteruppsats är därför attta reda på om jeans gjorda på konventionell eller ekologisk bomull har bättre miljöprestanda.En jämförelse av två par jeans från J.Lindeberg, Jay Devout gjorda av konventionell bomulloch Jay Solid Stretch gjorda av ekologisk bomull är gjord med hjälp av verktygetlivscykelanalys, LCA. En LCA är gjord för att inkludera alla miljöeffekter som jeansen bidrartill genom hela dess livscykel. Tre forskningsfrågor är formulerade för att uppfylla målet meddenna masteruppsats: Vilken av jeansen Jay Devout och Jay Solid Stretch har den högsta potentiellamiljöprestandan? Kommer bytet från konventionell bomull till ekologisk bomull stämma överens medde hållbarhetsmål som J.Lindeberg har satt upp? Finns det risk för högre miljöpåverkan på någon miljökategori vid bytet avkonventionell till ekologisk bomull? Data från fyra leverantörer till J.Lindeberg har använts för att genomföra denna LCA ochresultatet visar att Jay Devout, som är tillverkad av konventionell bomull, har högremiljöprestanda då hela livs cykeln är inkluderad. Eftersom att bomullsodlingen är den endafasen som beror på om bomullen är ekologisk eller konventionell, kan endast påverkan fråndenna fas avgöra vilken typ av bomull som har högst miljöprestanda. När de två jeansenjämförs med avseende på endast bomullsodlingen, visar resultatet att den ekologiskabomullen har högst miljöprestanda. Detta gör att slutsatsen kan dras att bytet frånkonventionell bomull till ekologisk bomull kommer bidra till en lägre negativ miljöpåverkanfrån jeansen. Jay Devout, tillverkad av konventionell bomull, har större negativ påverkan på de flesta avkategorierna som är kopplade till toxicitet, vilket talar för beslutet att byta till ekologiskbomull då J.Lindeberg har ett mål att minska användningen av kemikalier i sina produkter.Sett till hela livscykeln så påverkar jeansen de 17 miljöpåverkanskategorierna olika men enlikhet är att produktionen generellt har den största påverkan. Implementeringen av ekologiskbomull stämmer till viss del överens med de hållbarhetsmål som J.Lindeberg har satt upp,men inte alla. Det finns en risk för att global uppvärmning, fossil resursanvändning ochvattenanvändning påverkas mer av bytet från konventionell till ekologisk bomull, sett till helalivscykeln, och för att undvika detta krävs transparens och spårbarhet i distributionskedjan föratt heltäckande hållbarhetsarbete kan utföras. En rekommendation är att användaförnyelsebara energikällor genom hela livscykeln för att minska miljöpåverkan, vilket harsärskilt stor påverkan i produktionen.

The responsibility of the building sector to diminish the harmful environmental impacts, locally and globally, has been extensively considered. Thus, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in building and construction practices has been widely implemented. Among several available EIA methods, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the only standardized method which provides a holistic overview of environmental impacts to support the decision-making process. However, there are several barriers that hinder the process of implementing the LCA-based tools in the building sector. Specifically, the demand for a simplified LCA-based tool adapted to the early stage of the building design is rather high. Recently, the Construction Sector's Environmental Calculation Tool (Byggsektorns Miljöberäkningsverktyg BM v1.0) is developed to assist non-experts without knowledge of LCA. Architects, as one of the main target groups of the BM tool, have limited knowledge about the LCA approach due to its complexities; further, the architects have their own requirements for applying an LCA-based tool towards leveraging in the early design process. Hence, it leads to scepticism whether the BM tool has been so far successful to entice the architects' attention towards employing the BM tool in that process. This master thesis aimed to investigate if the newly-developed LCA-based tool, namely the BM tool, is a desirable choice for architects to evaluate the environmental impacts of their design at the early stage of building design. To be able to perceive more deeply the BM tool, as an environmental assessment and a decision support tool for architects, two main procedures, i.e., quantitatively and qualitatively, were employed to cover different technical and functional angles of the tool: (i) an LCA-based carbon footprint assessment for two reference buildings along with comparing the achieved results with the simplified Environmental Load Profile (ELP-s) tool, plus (ii) using a framework included various criteria for LCA- based tools in the early stage of building design. The findings from the quantitative analysis were consistent so that the concrete frame building produces a greater amount of carbon footprint during the stages A1 to A4 compared to the wooden frame building. The considerable deviation was related to the carbon footprint of aluminium profile in the material production stage. This could be due to the fact that in the BM database it is not specified whether aluminium profile was recycled or not. Regarding the carbon footprint in material transport stage, the inconsistent results were mostly linked to the default values in the BM database in which values for two of the main parameters (distance and mode of transport) differed. Particularly, the absence of boat as a transport mode and an error related to an unneeded distance value for concrete transport were identified in the BM database. The framework, used to evaluate the desirability of the BM tool for architects, suggests several criteria required for an LCA-based tool implementation in the early design. The outcome indicated that the majority of criteria, not satisfied by the BM tool, were related to the geometry parameter and associated 3D model. Thus, in order to make the decision-making process, desirable for architects in the early stage of building design, the two parameters, i.e., material and geometry, should be utilized in parallel. On the one hand, the LCA methodology in the BM tool is simplified in a way that makes the process comprehensible and easy to learn for non-LCA-experts. Since the tool is under the development, minor amendments would make the carbon footprint evaluation robust for the early stage of design. On the other hand, from the requirements of the architects' point of view, the fundamental modifications are needed in the structure of the tool. If architects intend to work with such an LCA-based tool, they have to make an extra effort to translate the resulted information from the environmental assessment tool to the inputs of the modelling tool and vice versa. This leads to an undesirable and inefficient design process for architects.

Sustainability within automotive industry has been an important topic that is covered in several studies. Due to the multi-aspect nature of sustainability and the variety of the factors need to be taken in consideration when choosing a material, the decision-making process could be challenging. This study focuses on lubricants within the automotive industry and proposes a framework consisted of three milestones that aspire to assist automotive manufacturers in sustainable lubricant selection. The study uses LCA as an environmental assessment tool for fully formulated lubricants and multicriteria decision matrix to include other criteria indicators in the decision-making process quantitively. The study also contributes to the literature by performing LCA for fully formulated lubricants. The framework was applied on well-established case company within the automotive industry (Volvo Cars Corporation) in Sweden. The results showthe importance and significant impacts of the inclusion of the additives in LCA studies done on lubricants using CV joint grease as a case study. It also shows the effect of the organisational preferences on the final results of the framework.

<p>  </p> <p>The transportation sector has emerged as one of the largest contributors to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions within the U.S. economy. As a consequence, transportation sustainability faces great challenges in automobile traffic congestion alleviation, air pollution reduction, and climate change adaptation. Emerging technologies bring new chances to resolve these issues. However, existing literature focusing on the sustainability assessment of emerging technologies often relies on the analysis of isolated systems using historical data. These studies neglected the complex interactions across different systems and failed to consider the potential impacts of future technology adoption. The sustainability performance of emerging transportation technologies is heavily dependent on competing and complementary relationships with existing transportation systems. Furthermore, the dynamics of system interactions can change with the diffusion of future technologies, as user behavior becomes more heterogeneous. Consequently, the future adoption of emerging technologies may lead to an uncertain urban sustainability outlook. Therefore, sustainability assessment and prospective system planning for emerging technologies necessitate a comprehensive examination of their interactions with urban transportation systems and the evolving landscape. </p> <p>The primary objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate the necessity and benefits of incorporating system interactions into sustainability assessments. To achieve this goal, this dissertation conducts four case studies, using various models inspired by machine learning, statistics, econometrics, and agent-based approaches, and applies them to two emerging technologies: shared mobility (including bike-sharing, shared e-scooters, and ride-hailing) and e-commerce. First, the interaction classification analysis shows that the current shared mobility primarily competes with public transit rather than complementing it, resulting in a significant bus ridership decline. Second, to enhance sustainability, it is crucial for shared mobility to substitute private car trips and integrate effectively with public transit. Understanding why current users do not sustainably use the system is the key. Results from the traveler mode choice behavior show that the travel cost and out-of-vehicle travel time (e.g., time spent on walking connection, waiting) of shared mobility are the major barriers for travelers to substitute car trips and use multimodal systems. Third, future system planning should improve the pricing mechanisms and fleet management to encourage travelers to use shared mobility in a sustainable way. Optimal pricing and fleet management strategies are sought through an agent-based simulation. Transit-oriented-development is proven to be the best fleet siting strategy and an optimal combination of fleet size and pricing for each shared mobility system is also solved for minimizing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) from urban transportation. Fourth, the penetration of e-commerce also reshapes urban mobility from personal travel demand changes, mode choice shifts, and goods delivery inclusion. We integrated the market segmentation and penetration of e-commerce into transportation simulation to comprehensively estimate its impact on urban mobility and transportation sustainability. </p> <p>Case studies from this dissertation demonstrate that the existing adoption of emerging technologies requires further actions in system design, user guidance, and operation management to obtain sustainability benefits. Knowledge from this dissertation supports decision-makers in their efforts to design and plan future emerging technologies toward a sustainable pathway. The findings and insights presented in the dissertation offer valuable guidance for policymakers, urban planners, and stakeholders involved in shaping the trajectory of these technologies.</p>

The construction industry is one of the most resource-intensive industries in the world, therefore, scientists, the industry and governments are pushing  for a transition to a Circular Economy (CE) within the industry to address this issue. This study explores the barriers to CE transition within the construction industry, examining how these barriers are perceived by practitioners and contrasting them with academic perspectives in the literature. The barriers identified in the literature were categorized via industrial transition theory based on the regime actors of the Multi-level perspective on transition framework by Geels &amp; Schot (2007) and then aggregated via subcategories based on similarities in barrier definition presented in the literature. By interviewing 8 respondents, 28 barriers to CE transition were found within the categories and subcategories of data coding. The findings revealed that the industry is cautious about CE, which is impeding the drive for transition and affecting further perception and awareness of the concept. Furthermore, it is crucial to investigate barriers individually and how they are interconnected to others, as they collectively contribute to the low and slow progress of industrial transition toward CE in the construction industry.

The global construction industry accounts for more than 30% of the energy consumption and 40% of the carbon dioxide emissions, and roughly 60% of raw material extraction. A cross laminated timber building system is one solution to reduce the construction industry's environmental impact, particularly carbon footprint. Evaluating the potentials to reduce the environmental impacts of such a building system is the aim of this study. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive method to evaluate the environmental impact of buildings and is applied in the thesis. The environmental impacts analyzed in this thesis comprise global warming potential, acidification, ozone layer depletion, eutrophication, formation potential of tropospheric, and abiotic depletion potential. Firstly, the environmental impacts of the reference building are calculated based on environmental product declaration (EPD) through production and construction phases (A1-A5 module) of LCA; next, the transportation phase (A4) modified, and finally, the environmental impacts are analyzed based on the lowest available global warming potential figures. Reference building results show that global-warming potential, eutrophication, and abiotic depletion potential accounted for 182kgCO2-eqv / m2, 0.169 PO4 3-eqv / m2, and 0.003 kg Sb-eqv / m2, respectively, and figures decreased on an average of 40% for improved building. According to the outcomes, decision-makers should regulate material selection based on the lowest possible carbon footprint and energy consumption for the construction permission of the buildings that will be built in the future. / no

No description available.

The construction and real estate industry is one of Sweden's largest consumers of energy andraw materials. According to figures from Boverket, the building industry was responsible for21% of Sweden's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. If Sweden is to fulfil its commitmentsunder the Paris Agreement and at the same time achieve the climate goals for the 2030 Agenda,resourceefficient measures are required immediately. The transition to circular economy can bea vital step in this necessary change. In circular economy, it is crucial to eliminate waste andpollutants which can be achieved by increasing efficiency and maintaining products andmaterials in a circular cycle. The aim of this study is to examine which strategies can be applied to implementing circulareconomy in the construction industry and what opportunities and obstacles they entail. I havealso investigated whether life-cycle assessment can be an effective tool for this implementation.To answer these questions, interviews have been carried through with researchers and businessrepresentatives who have extensive knowledge of sustainable construction and who arecommitted to finding solutions to combat climate change in the construction industry. Anextensive literature study has also been performed. The results indicate that there are several opportunities and sought-after measures with thecircular economy concept, of which the most significant one is its potential to increase resourceefficiency and thereby generate climate benefits. Strategies for the implementation of CEinclude methods such as circular procurement, design for deconstruction, material passports,upcycling and reversible building design. New smart business models can also generate newrevenues and create more employment opportunities. Challenges highlighted in the study are above all lack of financial incentives. For instance, inmost cases, it is at present more profitable to buy virgin than secondary materials. The lack ofspace for intermediate storage of materials to be reused is also a challenge. There is often a lackof knowledge with suppliers and customers. In addition, there are several legal issues regardingthe division of responsibilities and finally the need of more efficient policy instruments.

The paper at hand presents the environmental impact analysis of a photovoltaic (PV) power station sited in Stockholm, Sweden, using life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA considers the primary energy return on investment and global warming potential of the PV-station, including; resource extraction, manufacturing, transportation, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning. Other environmental impact indicators are also presented, such as; the eutrophication, acidification, human toxicity, and ozone depletion potentials. The results show that the most critical phase of the lifecycle is the upgrade from metallurgical to solar grade silicon due to the high consumption of energy. The emissions results are compared to the emissions factors used for calculations in Sweden in accordance with the Swedish Energy agency and the European Commission’s directive for emissions calculations. The results for the other environmental indicators showed inconsistencies compared to existing studies, something that is according to the IEA’s guideline for PV-systems LCA caused by data scarcity and the indicators lacking consensus within the PV LCA-community. The studied PV-station is expected to reach energy neutrality after 2,4 years and offset annual GHG emissions of up to18 ton of CO 2 equivalents. / Studien tillhands presenterar miljöutvärderingen av en fotovoltaisk solcellsanläggning i Stockholm. Detta utfördes med hjälp av livscykelanalysverktyget. Analysen använder energiåterbetalningstiden och den globala uppvärmningspotentialen som indikatorer på anläggningens miljöinverkan. Både återbetalningstiden och den globala uppvärmningspotentialen beräknas för gruvarbetet, transporten, drift och underhåll samt avveckling och bortskaffning av anläggningen. Överföringsförluster beräknas också över anläggningens livscykel. Andra indikatorer som beräknas i denna studie är potentialen för försurning, övergödning, ozonnedbrytning och humantoxicitet. Dessa beräknas endast för modulens tillverkningskedja. Studiens resultat visar att den mest kritiska processen under solcellsanläggningens livscykel är kiselmetallens omvandling till solkisel, detta med avseende på energiförbrukningen och utsläpp av växthusgaser. Anläggningens globala uppvärmningspotential uttrycks i växthusgasutsläpp och jämförs med den nordiska elmixens utsläppsfaktor. Jämförelsen görs enligt dem gällande EU-direktiven. Resultaten för dem andraindikatorerna har visat på väsentliga avvikelser jämfört med tidigare studier. Detta beror enligt det internationella energirådet på databrist och på att dessa indikatorer saknar stöd inomLCA samfundet. Solcellsanläggningen beräknas bli energineutral efter 2,4 år samt eutralisera utsläpp på upp till 18 ton koldioxidekvivalenta per år.

Changing the western dietary pattern toward a healthier diet with reduced intake of animal foods is a commonly recognized strategy in the ongoing effort for global sustainability. Since animal foods tend to have a high environmental impact, vegetarian diets are often suggested as an ecological alternative to the typical Western diet. The low sum of environmental impacts, however, does not on its own necessarily translate to a sustainable diet. Sustainability encompasses many other aspects, such as nutritional adequacy, affordability, and cultural acceptability. As regards the elimination of animal foods in particular, health-related aspects ought to be considered since some nutrients are supplied primarily via animal products which may lead to nutritional deficiencies and potential negative health effects in the long term. Furthermore, since the main function of diets is the supply of (adequate) nutrition, the environmental impacts of diets ought to be compared in light of their nutritional quality. In this project the environmental impact on climate change, land use, blue water footprint, and biodiversity damage potential of four diets is assessed, along with their nutritional adequacy and financial cost. The four assessed diets are: an average Swedish diet, New Nordic diet, vegetarian diet, and vegan diet. The environmental impacts are normalized with a nutritient-rich diet score (NRD) to compare the impacts of diets in relation to their nutritional quality. The vegan diet, followed by the vegetarian diet, resulted in the lowest overall impact with the exception of blue water footprint, however, the normalization with NRD score lessened the relative differences between the New Nordic, vegetarian, and vegan diet. Furthermore, the nutritional assessment showed a potentially unsustainable intake of vitamin D in vegetarians and vit. D and B12 in vegans, which is not properly reflected in the nutritional quality score. Nevertheless, the use of the nutritional score is fairly simple and provides opportunity for linking the health-related aspect of diets to their environmental impact. Joined with indicators on other sustainability aspects, such as the economic, this method can offer a more holistic picture of the sustainability of diets. / Att ändra det västerländska kostmönstret mot en hälsosammare diet med minskat intag av animaliska livsmedel är en allmänt erkänd strategi i den pågående ansträngningen för global hållbarhet. Eftersom djurfoder tenderar att ha stor miljöpåverkan, är vegetariska dieter ofta föreslagna som ett ekologiskt alternativ till den typiska västerländska kosten. Den låga summan av miljöpåverkan innebär emellertid inte nödvändigtvis att det är en hållbar diet. Hållbarhet omfattar många andra aspekter, såsom näringskrav, överkomlighet och kulturell acceptans. När det gäller avskaffandet av animaliska livsmedel bör i synnerhet hälsorelaterade aspekter beaktas eftersom vissa näringsämnen levereras primärt via animaliska produkter vilket kan leda till näringsbrist och potentiellt negativa hälsoeffekter på lång sikt. Eftersom dietens huvudsakliga funktion är tillförseln av (tillräcklig) näring, borde miljöpåverkan av dieter jämföras med hänsyn till deras näringskvalitet. I detta projekt bedöms miljöpåverkan med avseende på klimatförändringar, markanvändning, blått blåvattenavtryck och biologisk mångfaldskador för fyra dieter tillsammans med deras näringsbehov och ekonomiska kostnader. De fyra bedömda kostvanorna är: en genomsnittlig svensk diet, ny nordisk kost, vegetarisk kost och vegansk kost. Miljöpåverkan normaliseras med ett näringsrikt diettvärde (NRD) för att jämföra effekterna av dieter i förhållande till deras näringskvalitet. Vegansk diet, följt av vegetarisk kost, resulterade i den lägsta övergripande effekten, med undantag för blå vattenavtryck, men normaliseringen med NRD-poäng minskade de relativa skillnaderna mellan den nya nordiska, vegetariska och veganska dieterna. Vidare visade näringsvärderingen ett potentiellt ohållbart intag av vitamin D för vegetarianer och vit. D och B12 för veganer, vilket inte korrekt återspeglas I det näringsmässiga kvalitetsresultatet. Ändå är användningen av näringsvärdet ganska enkelt och ger möjlighet att koppla den hälsorelaterade aspekten av dieter till deras miljöpåverkan. Genom att kombinera indikatorer för andra hållbarhetsaspekter, såsom den ekonomiska, kan denna metod erbjuda en mer holistisk bild av dieters hållbarhet.