This research aims to explore and propose a more effective management of rail and road infrastructure and the possibility of a more resource-efficient road and rail infrastructure by applying business models based on performance and a life-cycle perspective. There is a lack of efficiency in the Swedish rail and road infrastructure industries - at the same time as the availability of the rail tracks and roads is essential. Rail and road infrastructure have long lifetimes, around 40-60 years, and during these decades regular maintenance and reconstruction are needed to ensure proper function. Large amounts of resources are required to construct the infrastructure, and the overall environmental pressure depends substantially on this. This research is largely based on interviews conducted with the buyer, contractors and design consultants for rail and road infrastructure in Sweden. Literature reviews have been conducted to develop the framework needed to analyze the empirical findings. This research contributes by building on theory in areas such as Integrated Product Service Offerings (IPSOs) and eco-design, and this abstract presents a brief summary of the overall conclusions. Several challenges for rail and road infrastructure in Sweden have been identified, such as the lack of information and knowledge transfer between different projects and actors. This is due to e.g. the use of traditional short-term contracts and conservative cooperate cultures, creating sub-optimizations in management. Increased collaboration, through e.g. partnering, seems to be a promising way to increase the information and knowledge transfer between actors by increasing trust and interaction. In this way, management would be more effective, and by involving contractors in the design phase, more efficient technical solutions could be developed and used. Additionally, increased involvement by the design consultants and an iterative information loop between design, construction and maintenance could also be beneficial. The research indicates that increased cooperation increases trust. In this way, there is a possibility to remove the detailed requirements that prevent new ways of working. Rail and road infrastructure have characteristics, such as the resources used and the importance of availability, that are well-suited for IPSOs. This performance-based business model with a life-cycle perspective provides incentives to optimize the use of resources and provide a holistic view for management that is lacking today for rail and road infrastructure. However, a long-term contract such as an IPSO creates uncertainties. The actors are risk-averse, which is an obstacle in the development of new business models and contract forms. Most of the risks and uncertainties identified are due to lack of experience. This implies that an implementation of IPSOs will have a steep learning curve. Additionally, risk allocation between the actors is important for effective management: too much risk for the suppliers will make them reluctant in developing new solutions, and they will use a risk premium to cover up for the risk.

Understanding the environmental implications of consumption and production depends on appropriate monitoring tools. Material flow accounting (MFA) is a method to monitor natural resource use by countries and has been widely used in research and policy. However, the increasing globalization requires the consideration of "embodied" material use of traded products. The indicator raw material consumption (RMC) represents the material use - no matter where in the world it occurs - associated with domestic final demand. It provides a consumption-based perspective complementary to the MFA indicators that have a territorial focus. Several studies on RMC have been presented recently but with diverging results; hence, a better understanding of the underlying differences is needed. This article presents a comparison of Austrian RMC for the year 2007 calculated by six different approaches (3 multi-regional input-output (MRIO) and 3 hybrid life-cycle analysis-IO approaches). Five approaches result in an RMC higher than the domestic material consumption (DMC). One hybrid LCA-IO approach calculates RMC to be lower than DMC. For specific material categories, results diverge by 50% or more. Due to the policy relevance of the RMC and DMC indicators it is paramount that their robustness is enhanced, which needs both data and method harmonization.

This research examined how public policy addresses long-term societal challenges. The case study focused on policy narratives and frames of resource efficiency in the ‘Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe’ of the European Commission (EC). The study followed an interpretive constructionist perspective on public policy and assumed a research strategy based on a single critical case study. The literature review examined perspectives on policy narratives, frames, knowledge and social learning in the interpretive policy analysis and organisation studies literature. Foresight and futures literature also provided insights on the use and nature of knowledge and policy learning in the process of deliberation of future visions. The empirical enquiry was based on a series of in-depth interviews with policy stakeholders, formal EU policy documents and speeches as well as participation in targeted policy events. The thesis makes contributions in three areas. First, the study developed and applied a new conceptual and methodological approach – a policy narrative framework analysis(POLFRAME) – to examine different discursive and narrative layers of policy narratives of the resource efficiency agenda. The framework can lend itself to interrogate any policy narrative, notably ones with explicit or implicit future scenarios and vision. Second, the policy case study contributed to knowledge on the evolving EU policy area of resource efficiency, addressing challenges of the sustainable use of natural resources. The research provided insights into how a complex societal, economic and environmental challenge of resource efficiency was understood by different stakeholders and intentionally framed in the official policy narrative. The emerging EU agenda on resource efficiency was intentionally reframed to advance a broader approach to environmental policy that moves beyond a traditional goal of environmental protection towards a systemic transition of economic system to achieve decoupling of economic growth from environmental impacts. While the study found evidence of a significant shift in scoping the challenge, their framing has not led to radical changes in underlying normative assumptions on the relation between nature and society or on the central role of economic growth in transition. Third, the research discussed theoretical implications of introducing a long-term challenge-driven perspective to public policy narratives. Introducing a future vision to policy narrative added a stronger normative orientation to policy argumentation. The case study demonstrated that an inclusion of a long-term societal challenge to the resource efficiency agenda influenced the selection, interpretation and use of evidence in policy narratives. The design of challenge-driven long-term policies bears a family resemblance to the perspective of post-normal science. Finally, the thesis puts forward messages and recommendations for policy makers and practitioners interested in the process of radical policy reframing. It also suggests further research encompassing a comparative dimension and longer periods of enquiry of policy frames, which would allow for better understanding the effects of the reframing of policy on various phases of policy cycles.

How can we explain the paradoxical outcomes of resource efficiency? As a key pillar of worldwide sustainable development policies, the concept of resource efficiency has become increasingly important to scrutinize. The overreliance on efficiency coupled with the intention of conserving scarce resources can sometimes backfire. Understanding the intermediate process that leads to the negative, paradoxical outcome is imperative for a sustainable future, especially for societies that risks resource degradation. This study takes the explanatory route and aims to problematize the usage of efficient technology in a resource scarce developing country, namely, Morocco. It is argued that the causal mechanism which links the independent variable (drip irrigation technology) to the observed outcome (total increased resource consumption) has to do with production and consumption processes, which is theorized to be spurred by efficiency. These mechanisms have been derived from the theory of Jevons Paradox and juxtaposed with empirical findings from the Guerdane irrigation scheme, a scheme which sought to increase productivity and simultaneously reduce water scarcity. The study makes use of the case-study approach and the process-tracing method. The chosen method provides a means for establishing a timeline of events, alternative explanations, as well as providing grounds for a primary explanation for the observed outcome. The findings point to reduced labour costs and initial water savings as the empirically derived causal mechanisms. These mechanisms, spurred by the implementation of drip irrigation technology, consequently gave rise to the expansion of irrigated land which in turn increased water withdrawals and eventually resulted in a paradoxical, negative outcome where the total consumption of water resources increased. Taken together, these results deepen our understanding of the problematic usage of efficient technology when different types of social processes are not accounted for.

Resource efficiency has become an important topic due to dramatic increase of world-population and globalization. A company that is not able to efficiently utilize its resources is less sustainable. It produces at higher cost as well as with higher environmental impact. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises are mostly not able to deal with these kinds of issues in addition to their daily business. Their characteristics differentiate them from large companies and require approaches that respond to their specific needs. Not only technological aspects but also organizational problems as well as lack of methodology are reasons for low resource efficiency in small companies. This thesis therefore focuses on developing a tool which facilitates the increase of resource efficiency particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.To start with, this thesis investigates the meaning of resource efficiency and the basics of performance measures as well as special characteristics of small and medium-sized enter-prises. Afterwards, measures are designed in order to quantify resource efficiency. A case study is carried out as well to investigate how to ensure applicability of a supporting tool in small and medium-sized enterprises from different industries. In the final part, a computer-based tool is developed which facilitates the assessment of resource efficiency potentials using 12 resource efficiency measures, a consistent approach and a ranking method.Keywords: Resource efficiency, performance measures, small and medium-sized enterprises / <p>QC 20121101</p>

The building industry accounts for around one third of the total energy use and GHG emissions in Sweden. Despite the implementation of energy efficiency measures focusing on new buildings, embodied impacts from material extraction, manufacturing, construction and maintenance have grown in significant proportions. While cities like Stockholm are currently experiencing a strong demographic growth and a high pressure on the supply of new spaces and facilities for new residents, national environmental goals aim to reduce energy use and GHG emissions in the coming decades. For instance, the new Climate Act in Sweden expects the country to become carbon neutral by 2045 and the European Commission urges the decarbonisation of national building stocks by 2050. The dual pressure of growth and environmental targets urges the exploration of alternatives for the supply and use of space. In fact, some sources indicate that many spaces remain unused during several hours a day/week and estimations show that most of the buildings that will be in use in 2050 have already been built today. This study explores the potential for a resource-efficient use of space in the existing building stock in Stockholm, leading to a positive impact on the reduction of energy consumption and GHG emissions. The inquiry is conducted with a mixed methods approach in three sequential steps: the identification of relevant stakeholders, instruments and initiatives; the analysis of use of space in a sample of commercial spaces at the street level; and the formulation of strategies allowing an increase in their temporal and spatial capacity. The study suggests that one way to optimise the use of space in existing buildings is to create new property rights. Specifically, it illustrates how merging commercial spaces on the street level through the constitution of 3D properties can increase the capacity to accommodate activities in space and time. Together with digitalisation and the development of new services based on sharing solutions, this opens up new possibilities for decreasing new construction and to absorb new demands for heated floor area.

Under de senaste århundradena har samhället tillämpat ett linjärt synsätt på ekonomin där varor produceras, säljs, används och sedan blir till avfall utan någon högre grad av återvinning. Det linjära synsättet har stor inverkan på vår planet med minskade ändliga resurser och ökat klimathot. Fler och fler har fått upp ögonen för att vårt nuvarande synsätt inte är hållbart och som en respons på den ökade medvetenheten har begreppet cirkulär ekonomi växt fram. Cirkulär ekonomi, i motsats till linjär, bygger på att sluta kretsloppen, både biologiskt och tekniskt. Begreppet innebär att minimera råvaruuttaget genom ökad återvinning och återbruk samt minimera avfallet genom att nyttja det som råvara någon annanstans. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka åtgärder som skulle möjliggöra ett fastighetsföretags omställning från en linjär till en cirkulär affärsmodell. Det innefattar att belysa vilka områden som bör beaktas när cirkulär ekonomi inkorporeras i verksamheten och hur eventuella hinder kan övervinnas. Arbetet har genomförts genom en litteraturstudie där cirkulär ekonomi har undersökts både på generell nivå samt specifikt inom fastighetsbranschen. En intervjustudie har genomförts med fastighetsföretag och andra marknadsaktörer där resultatet visar på tydliga strukturella problem som måste övervinnas för att övergången mot en cirkulär ekonomi ska kunna äga rum. Avsaknaden av en marknadsplats för återbrukade material och produkter är central. Fastighetsbranschen visar på en medvetenhet kring miljöfrågor, kunskapen om hur cirkulär ekonomi ska kunna inkorporeras i verksamheten är dock mindre. Vidare framgår att digitaliseringen kommer vara en drivande faktor där nya digitala tjänster och plattformar möjliggör inte minst för nya delandetjänster och funktioner. Att cirkulär ekonomi måste kunna kopplas till affärsnytta är tydligt och ur övergången mot cirkulär ekonomi uppstår nya affärsmodeller som på sikt kan öka lönsamheten givet att fastighetsägaren i högre grad kan arbeta cirkulärt. / In the last few centuries, society has applied a linear approach to the economy where goods are produced, sold, used and then become waste without a higher degree of recycling. The linear approach has a great impact on our planet with reduced finite resources and increased climate threat. More and more people have become aware that our current approach is not sustainable and as a response to the increased awareness, the concept of circular economy has emerged. Circular economy, in contrast to linear, is based on ending the cycles, both biological and technical. This implies minimizing raw material consumption through increased recycling and reuse and minimize waste by utilizing it as raw material elsewhere. The purpose of this study is to investigate which measures would enable a real estate company to switch from a linear to a circular business model. This includes highlighting which areas should be considered when circular finances are incorporated into the business and how any obstacles can be overcome. A literature study has been conducted in which circular economy has been examined both at the general level and specifically in the real estate industry. Later, an interview study has been conducted with real estate companies and other market participants where the result shows clear structural problems that must be overcome for the transition to a circular economy to take place. The lack of a marketplace for recycled materials and products is central. The real estate industry shows an awareness of environmental issues, however there is less knowledge about how circular economy is to be incorporated into the business. Furthermore, it appears that digitization will be a driving factor where new digital services and platforms are vital enablers, not least for new sharing services and functions. Circular economy must be linked to business benefits and from the transition to circular economy new business models will emerge, which in the future can increase profitability, given that the property owner can work more circularly to a greater extent.

Logistik är den del av ett företag som påverkar företagets resultat på ett mycket betydande sätt. Kunden ställer krav på att få sin produkt levererad på en viss tidpunkt och om produkten då inte levereras på utsatt datum kan detta leda till en förlorad kund och därmed förlorade framtida inkomster. För att lyckas leverera till kund på utsatt tid krävs det att många processer fungerar väl ihop och att ett välplanerat system är implementerat. Denna rapport är skriven på ICA Sverige ABs centrallager i Kungälv och handlar om effektivisering. Mer specifik effektivisering av användningen av truckar. Genom att förkorta körsträckor och eliminera icke-värdeskapande körsträckor kan man få ett mer effektivt lager. Jag har samlat in relevant data så som genomsnittlig sträcka per order samt information om vilka lagergångar som är mest trafikerade för att veta vart i lagret som problemet finns och varför det uppstått. Zon-indelning är en metod som är känd för att minska körsträckor på ett lager. En implementering av metoden underlättas också av att ICA i dagsläget har sorterat artiklarna på ett sådant sätt att de första tio lagergångarna är fyllda med SRS-backar. Det är en metod som inte bara förkortar körsträckor utan och effektiviserar materialhantering. Teoridelen av arbetet görs för att får en större insikt i ämnen logistik samt för att hitta och benämna de metoder som påverkar logistiken i ett företag. Olika typer av materialhanteringsmetoder, lagringsmetoder, artikelplaceringsmetoder är exempel på vad som beskrivs djupare. Analysen har gjort för att analysera och koppla samman de teorier som använts till de problem som behandlas i rapporten men även reflektioner och tankar kring varför teorierna har använts. Rapporten har skrivits på ICA Sverige ABs centrallager i Kungälv och har koncentrerats till färskvaruavdelningen där problemet med långa körsträckor har uppkommit. / Logistics is that part of a company that affects the company’s efficiency in a considerable way. The customer has demands on the product to have it delivered on a specific date and if the product isn’t delivered on that date the consequences may result in a loss of a customer and therefore a loss of income. To be able to deliver the product on the specific date to the customer there’s a couple of processes that need to work flawlessly together and that a well worked out system is implemented. This report is written at ICA Sverige AB’s central warehouse is Kungälv, Sweden. It surrounds the subject of efficiency in warehousing and usage of lift trucks. Thru minimizing the driving distance of the lift trucks and eliminating not-value processes you can create a more efficient warehouse. I’ve gathered information regarding average distance per completed order and information regarding which of the warehouse aisles is the busiest to get an insight in where the problem is and why it has occurred. Zone-picking is a method that is known to minimize lift truck distances in a warehouse. An implementation of this method at ICA is facilitated by the fact that the articles already are sorted in a way that the first ten aisles are filled with plastic crates. It’s a method that not only minimizes the lift truck distances but also make the material handling more efficient. The theory part of the report is done to get a bigger insight in the subject of logistics but also to find and mention methods that affect the logistics in a company. Different types of material handling methods, storage methods and article placement methods are examples of methods describe. The analyzing part of the report has been done to connect mentioned theories to main problems that the report is surrounding but also includes reflections and thoughts about why the theories have been used. The report has been written at ICA Sverige AB’s central warehouse in Kungälv and has been focused on the fresh food compartment of the warehouse where problems with long distances for the lift trucks has occurred.

Using wood produced under forest management in the Amazon has been proposed as a way of preserving the ecosystem, generating jobs and to aid in climate change mitigation by using wood products as carbon stock and through CO2 uptake from the atmosphere during forest regrowth. However, the scarcity of research based on primary data of Amazonian lumber incorporated into construction can unknowingly lead to incorrect forest management and consequently forest destruction. Besides, it is necessary to verify the real environmental impacts. Two approaches were applied in this research to evaluate the wood product chain: material flow analysis and CO2 footprint calculation of managed Amazonian lumber. The research quantified the resource efficiency and CO2 footprint based on residue generation during the raw extraction in 5 forest plots in State of Pará, followed by the lumber production and the end-of-life phases, giving the CO2 balance between the emissions from residue decomposition and the CO2 uptake during forest regrowth, disregarding the energy consumption. Results indicated that the large quantities of logging residues are the main source of CO2 emissions in the material flow from selective logging, ranging from 9% to 36% of the initial forest biomass, while timber logs represented between 4% and 11%. Logging residues ranged from 2.9 t t-1 to 3.1 t t-1 per tonne of log. Combined with an average sawmill lumber yield of 54%, wastage rate values increased to between 5.7 t t-1 and 6.6 t t-1, resulting in a CO2 footprint of managed Amazonian lumber ranging between -6.6 tCO2 t-1 for reduced impact logging as carbon stock, to emissions of 6.1 tCO2 t-1 from cradle-to-gate for conventional logging. From cradle-to-grave the total CO2 footprint of lumber is estimated to range from neutral to 7.5 tCO2 t-1. Resource efficiency ranged from 13% to 15%. In this study, only the forest under reduced impact logging was able to fully recover its initial aboveground biomass, showing that in most cases regulations in the New Forest Code for Amazon forest management may not ensure sustainable logging, leading to forest destruction. Policies need to be improved and integrated with results from empirical research based on primary data to achieve sustainable exploitation of the Amazon forest. / O processo seletivo de utilização da madeira de manejo florestal na Amazônia tem sido proposto como forma de conservação e preservação do ecossistema, associada a geração de empregos e à mitigação de mudanças climáticas, pelo estoque de carbono dada a absorção de CO2 da atmosfera durante o crescimento da floresta. No entanto, a limitação de pesquisas baseadas em dados primários sobre madeiras amazônicas incorporadas na construção civil pode levar, inconscientemente, ao manejo florestal incorreto e, consequentemente, à destruição da floresta no contexto original e de reais impactos ambientais provocadas por ações inadequadas. Duas abordagens foram aplicadas nesta pesquisa para avaliar a cadeia de produtos de madeira: análise de fluxo de material e cálculo da pegada de CO2 da madeira manejada na Amazônia. A pesquisa analisou a eficiência dos recursos e a pegada de CO2 com base na geração de resíduos durante a extração em 5 florestas no Estado do Pará, produção madeireira e o fim de vida, proporcionando o balanço de CO2 entre as emissões da decomposição de resíduos e a absorção do CO2 durante a recomposição florestal, desconsiderando a energia consumida. Os resultados indicaram que o expressivo volume de resíduos florestais é a principal fonte de emissões de CO2 no fluxo de material proveniente da extração seletiva, variando de 9% a 36% da biomassa florestal inicial, enquanto os troncos de madeira representam entre 4% e 11%. Os resíduos de exploração florestal variaram de 2,9 a 3,1 t de resíduos por tonelada de tora. Combinado com um rendimento médio de madeira de serraria de 54%, os valores da taxa de desperdício aumentaram para entre 5,7 t e 6,6 t de resíduos por tonelada de tora e madeira serrada, resultando em uma pegada de CO2 variando entre -6,6 tCO2 t-1 (exploração de impacto reduzido) considerado estoque de carbono e as emissões de 6,1 tCO2 t-1 do berço à porta. No final da vida útil, estima-se que a pegada total de CO2 da madeira entre o berço e o túmulo é de neutra (exploração de impacto reduzido) a 7,5 tCO2 t-1, com uma eficiência de recursos variando de 13% a 15%. Neste estudo, apenas a floresta sob prática de extração de impacto reduzido foi capaz de recuperar totalmente sua biomassa inicial acima do solo, mostrando que as regulamentações do Novo Código Florestal para o manejo da florestal amazônica pode não garantir a sustentabilidade de uso do recurso florestal para aquela exploração que não esteja alicerçada dentro desse contexto de conservação da floresta original. As políticas precisam ser melhoradas, integradas e dinâmicas com base em resultados derivados de pesquisas empíricas baseadas em dados primários garantindo a exploração sustentável na Amazônia.

To achieve agreed targets for reducing global carbon emissions, industry must become more resource-efficient. To this end, two viable strategies exist: energy efficiency and material efficiency. Despite their inherent interdependence, industry continues to treat these two strategies as isolated pursuits, providing in the process only a partial insight into the potential of resource efficiency. To resolve this disconnect, this thesis attempts to develop and apply tools that help integrate industrial energy and material efficiency analyses. Three areas of research are explored. The first is concerned with a fundamental component of industrial performance: efficiency benchmarks. No agreed-upon metric exists to measure the efficiency with which the sector trans- forms both energy and materials - that is, how resource-efficient they are. This thesis applies exergy - a well-established method to consolidate energy and materials into a single metric - to a case study of the global steel industry in 2010. Results show that this exergy-based metric provides a suitable proxy to capture the interactions between energy and materials. By comparing energy and material efficiency options on an equal footing, this metric encourages the recovery of material by-products - an intervention excluded from traditional energy efficiency metrics. To realise resource efficiency opportunities, individual industry firms must be able to identify them at actionable time-frames and scopes. Doing this hinges on understanding resources flows through entire systems, the most detailed knowledge of which resides in control data. No academic study was found to exploit control data to construct an integrated picture of resources that is representative of real operations. In the second research area, control data is extracted to track the resource flows and efficiency of a basic oxygen steel-making plant from TataSteel. This second case study highlights the plant's material efficiency options during operations. It does so by building close-to-real-time Sankey diagrams of resource flows (measured in units of exergy) for the entire plant and its constituent processes. Without the support of effective policies the new exergy approach is unlikely to be widely adopted in industry. By collating evidence from interviews and policy documents, the third area explores why the European Union's industrial energy and emissions policies do not incentivise material efficiency. Results suggest several contributing factors, including: the inadequacy of monitored indicators; an imposed policy lock-in; and the lack of a designated industry lobby and high-level political buy-in. Policy interventions are then proposed to help integrate material efficiency into energy and climate agendas. The European Union's limited agency stresses the need for Member States and industry to drive the move to a low-carbon industry in the short-term.