| 1. |
- Schade, Jutta, et al.
(författare)
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Greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability of green roofs and stormwater systems at a district level – comparisons with a life cycle perspective
- 2022
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Ingår i: Proceedings of LCM 2021: 10<sup>th</sup> International Conference on Life Cycle Management. - : EDP Sciences.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- To reach future climate targets, it is important to verify that materials and technologies used for construction are sustainable and have a minimal environmental impact. The goal of this project was to add a broad life cycle perspective for quantifying energy and greenhouse gas emission, from the upstream flow of the construction process and the operational phase by including buildings and stormwater systems at a district level. The hypothesis was that green roofs might have a higher impact on greenhouse gas emissions as more material is needed compared to a standard roof. In return, green roofs reduce and retain stormwater, which may reduce the risk of hydraulic overloading in connected stormwater systems. This may lead to reduced CO2 emission if an upgrade of existing systems is not necessary. To evaluate this complex issue, a framework was developed combining construction modelling, energy simulation, stormwater system modelling, and life cycle assessment. The result of this theoretical study indicates that green roofs reduce and retain stormwater but are in most cases not sufficient to reduce the risk of hydraulic overloading in connected stormwater systems. The results demonstrated that green roofs should be not solely implemented to reduce and retain stormwater in the Nordic climate.
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| 2. |
- Brunklaus, Birgit, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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The future of Swedish food waste : An environmental assessment of existing and prospective valorization techniques
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 202, s. 1-10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Sweden, the current dominant valorization of food waste is the production of biogas. However, as current production has low profitability, other options are sought to find more valuable uses of food waste, e.g. as the feedstock for bio-based chemicals. One example is the use of food waste in the production of bio-based succinic acid. In this paper, a LCA study is presented in order to highlight whether biogas production or the production of succinic acid has the lowest environmental impact as valorization option for mixed food waste, and if mixed food waste could be an environmentally preferable feedstock to succinic acid production. The LCA study shows that the environmental results depend on the perspective. From a valorization perspective, food waste has the lowest environmental impact the biogas production. From a feedstock perspective, mixed food waste is an environmentally preferable feedstock to succinic acid production. Although many uncertainties exist because production processes are still being developed, it can be concluded that mixed food waste seems to be a promising feedstock for bio-based chemicals from an environmental point of view, and is of interest to be included in future assessments of bio-based chemicals for the emerging bio-economy. © 2018
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| 3. |
- Lanau, Maud, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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The Industrial Ecology of the Göteborg City Region — a first appraisal
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Society for Industrial Ecology 2015.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- An infrastructure system – here, the industrial ecology of Gothenburg — is more important for society than we usually credit it for (cf. Technology is society made durable, Latour 1990) and is taken for granted by most inhabitants. Gothenburg is an unusually well-developed and interconnected infrastructure system. The first district heating facility was put in operation in 1952. Soon enough, waste was re-used and recycled into energy, into both electricity and heat. With time, more varied materials and sources became integrated into the system to also produce biogas and compost. The project makes a historiographic description of how the industrial ecology of the Gothenburg city region developed since the Gothenburg technical environmental flow system is unique in size, age, diversity of flows and functions. The study describes environmental flows and their actors in a networked organization. The focus on interconnectivity of the different actors, flows and sectors of Gothenburg requires the combination of several theoretical fields. Such theoretical fields include Networked Learning, which takes a relational stance in which learning takes place both in relation to others, and in relation to learning resources (Dirckinck-Homfeld et al., 2009); STS (Science Technology and Society), which study how technical innovation are affected by social, political and cultural values, and how these innovation affect, in turn, political, social and cultural values; (Joerges & Novotny, 2003); and Urban Metabolism, which uses models to facilitate the description and analysis of the flows of the energy and materials within cities, such as Material Flow Analysis of a city, and provides a metaphorical framework to study the interactions of natural and human systems in specific regions. Preliminary findings will be presented.
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| 4. |
- Baumann, Henrikke, 1964, et al.
(författare)
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The Usefulness of an Actor’s Perspective in LCA
- 2011
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Ingår i: Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Management. - Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands. - 9789400718982 ; , s. 73-83
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper is an argumentation for adding an actor’s perspective to lifecycleassessment (LCA). The need for this perspective stems from a criticismabout the usefulness of LCA interpretation methods comparing the relativecontribution of life-cycle phases of a product. Our argumentation is based on fourpreviously published studies providing practical examples of how value chainactors’ influence may be considered in an LCA and the benefit of doing so.Manufacturing sector examples show how one company's influence can beillustrated in results and how it may relate all relevant emissions to its ownprocesses. The food sector study shows how to assess several value chain actors’individual improvement potential. The final example, taken from building sector,explore how to consider the fact that actors in one part of the value chain caninfluence other actors to improve.
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| 5. |
- Brunklaus, Birgit, 1970
(författare)
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Actor’s behavior matter – organising green product chains.
- 2011
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Ingår i: International Society of Ecology ISIE conference 2011.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The industry in general and products are facing some major challenges in the coming years, such as consumer demands and scale of industrial systems, reduction of waste and climate change. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has emerged as a key method for environmental assessment of products, processes and technologies, and all material flows through society. The project includes the development of an Actor Based LCA methodology with focus on actors and their behaviour. Here recent results from a literature study and case studies from the building chain and the food chain are presented. Previous results show that environmental improvements can only be reached by changes of the chain as a whole e.g. changes in storage, transport or waste behaviour. Results also show that relationships between the actors of the life cycle may enable, or hinder, environmental improvement towards green chains as a whole. Future studies in the food industry will include questions on environmental organising of product chains: What is environmentally better - small scale or large scale chains, efficient supply chain or efficient chain as a whole?
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Brunklaus, Birgit, 1970
(författare)
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Ekologisk produktion – utveckling av en ny LCA-metodik för livsmedelsindustrin
- 2011
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Ingår i: Miljöforskning – Formastidning för ett hållbart samhälle.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Dr. Birgit Brunklaus och Dr. Johanna Berlin forskar i livscykelanalys på Chalmers respektive SIK. De har fått medel för att utveckla en ny LCA-metodik för livsmedels industrin.De kommer att utföra miljöbedömningar av ekologiska livsmedel från produktion till matavfall.Den tvärvetenskapliga metodiken ska belysa relationerna mellan aktörer i livsmedelsindstruin och hur de kan främja eller motverka en grönare väg. Tre fallstudier jämför ekologiska och konventionella livsmedelssystem: små och storskaliga kedjor av ekologiska livsmedel, hantering av ekologiska och konventionella produkter i livsmedelskedjan, samt effektiv produktion genom green lean-principer i ett LCA-perspektiv.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Brunklaus, Birgit, 1970, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental improvement potential of existing residential buildings - managers role and scope of action
- 2004
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Ingår i: Annual meeting. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC Europe) ; 14 (Prague) : 2004.04.18-22.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Swedish building sector is sometimes called the 40% sector, because of its large amount of material- and energy use. Most of the energy use occurs during the buildings use phase, more than 80 percent. Even though the use phase has such an important environmental impact, actions to reduce it are slowly taken. Technology to reduce the environmental burden are known, but not always used. Buildings are under control of management and their action is lacking. The way management can influence the environmental performance is through e.g. timing and technical standard of refurbishment, maintenance and organising of services. The aim of this project is to identify different types of management regarding strategies and ways of organising and their possible correlations with environment impacts. By comparing similar existing residential buildings, looking at different types of management and buildings energy and water consumption, such correlations have been established. In a time scale of 10 years preliminary results show that there is a significant difference in buildings consumption data that can be explained by management strategies and ways of organising. Consumption data do not reflect the full consequences of actions done by housing managers, however LCA based foreground and background information is needed. With this information housing managers will be able to identify their direct and indirect environmental impact.
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