| 1. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Palm Oil
- 2011
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Ingår i: Palm Oil: Nutrition, Uses and Impacts. - : Nova Science Publishers, Inc.. - 9781612099217 ; , s. 159-186
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Palm oil is used for cooking in Southeast Asia and Africa and as a food additive in a number of processed foods world-wide. The production of palm oil is increasing, and it is of special interest from a nutritional point of view due to its high energy content and its significant content of micronutrients. In addition, palm oil is increasingly used to produce various biofuels. Due to large production volumes and diverse applications of palm oil, it is highly interesting and important to study the environmental impacts of its production. This chapter discusses how the environmental impacts of palm oil can be assessed, focusing on the life cycle environmental impacts of palm oil in comparison to similar products. A brief overview of life cycle assessment as a method is given, and results are presented together with suggestions for environmental improvements of palm oil cultivation and production. It is shown that the magnitude of the environmental impacts connected to palm oil in relation to other products is heavily affected by the choice of environmental indicators, which in LCA studies consist of both an environmental impact category and a so-called functional unit. Regarding impact categories, the global warming and acidification potentials of palm oil are lower than those of rapeseed oil per kg oil. The water footprint of palm oil and rapeseed oil are about the same on a mass basis, but for the two land use indicators soil erosion and heavy metal accumulation, rapeseed oil has a lower impact than palm oil. Specific interest is given to the life cycle energy use of palm oil in response to the unclear and diverse definitions of this impact category in different studies. It is concluded that there is a need to carefully define the energy use impact category when reporting on palm oil or similar products, and also to differentiate between different kinds of energy sources. If instead of mass the micronutrient content is applied as functional unit, palm oil still has lower global warming potential and acidification than rapeseed oil when compared on the basis of vitamin E content. However, if β-carotene content is used as functional unit, rapeseed oil is not relevant for comparison due to its negligible content of β-carotene. For that case, palm oil is therefore instead compared to tomatoes on a β-carotene basis, since tomatoes are rich in β-carotene. The tomatoes were shown to perform better then palm oil regarding global warming potential on a β-carotene basis. The effects of time and scale on the environmental impacts of palm oil, which includes changes in technical performance and electricity sources, are also discussed in this chapter. It is shown that combustion of the methane formed from the palm oil mill effluent can significantly reduce the global warming potential.
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| 2. |
- Morgan, Fröling, 1966-
(författare)
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Flourishing Societies within Planetary Boundaries
- 2016
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Ingår i: Society’s steering systems – a Friend book to Inga Carlman. - : Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden. - 9789188025975 ; , s. 123-130
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 3. |
- Skytt, Torbjörn, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Involvement of Advanced Level Students Using Ecological Modelling in Research About Regional Sustainability
- 2016. - 1
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Ingår i: Engaging Stakeholders in Education for Sustainable Development at University Level. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319267326 - 9783319267340 ; , s. 145-162
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to present a pilot educational project where ecological modelling has been used to integrate advanced level students into the research about regional sustainability. Addressing regional sustainability with an ecological systems model based on carbon and energy balances is a way to understand the basics of sustainability integrating detail and holistic views. Such model has been developed in a case study on the Danish island Samsø, and currently a similar model is now being developed for the Jämtland county. Even though Jämtland, located in mid Sweden, is a sparsely populated area with large forests, a lot of hydro power, and only one major city, it is still not obvious how to reach long term sustainability. For educational purposes ecological models are excellent tools, since complex interactions can be studied, analysed and discussed in a structured way. It can be expected future sustainable society development presupposes integration between research and education, thus building a long term strategy for the possibilities to change negative cultural patters of whatever kind these might be. To strengthen the authorisation of the education for sustainability, clarification of the university’s integrative role in society may well be used, to give students self-confidence for continuous development within the field.
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| 4. |
- Svanström, Magdalena, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Trade-offs in the district heat distribution system
- 2011
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Ingår i: What is Sustainable Technology?. - Sheffield, UK : Greenleaf Publishing Ltd. - 9781906093501 ; , s. 87-107
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- District heating has the potential to provide consumers with heat using resources that would otherwise be wasted (e.g. surplus heat from industry) or increase overall efficiency by generating both heat and electricity. However, the introduction and utilisation of district heating has to be performed in a responsible way in order to benefit all the different stakeholders involved. A positive outcome depends on local preconditions and the identification of trade-offs involving different environmental, social and economic considerations. In the history of district heating, several illustrative articulations of sustainability can be found, and situations in which different trade-offs have become clear. This chapter will discuss some articulations of sustainability and the environmental, social and economic trade-offs that can be identified for district heat distribution systems, to help achieve a deeper understanding of sustainability considerations and trade-offs for technical systems in general. Examples from research on district heating, carried out at Chalmers University of Technology from 1991 until today, will be used to illustrate real-world dilemmas.
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| 5. |
- Svanström, Magdalena, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Trade-offs in the district heat distribution system
- 2011
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Ingår i: What is sustainable technology? Perceptions, Paradoxes and Possibilities. - 9781906093501 ; , s. 87-105
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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