| 1. |
- Ahmadi, Leila, et al.
(författare)
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A cascaded life cycle: reuse of electric vehicle lithium-ion battery packs in energy storage systems
- 2017
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Ingår i: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0948-3349 .- 1614-7502. ; 22:1, s. 111-124
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeLithium-ion (Li-ion) battery packs recovered from end-of-life electric vehicles (EV) present potential technological, economic and environmental opportunities for improving energy systems and material efficiency. Battery packs can be reused in stationary applications as part of a “smart grid”, for example to provide energy storage systems (ESS) for load leveling, residential or commercial power. Previous work on EV battery reuse has demonstrated technical viability and shown energy efficiency benefits in energy storage systems modeled under commercial scenarios. The current analysis performs a life cycle assessment (LCA) study on a Li-ion battery pack used in an EV and then reused in a stationary ESS.MethodsA complex functional unit is used to combine energy delivered by the battery pack from the mobility function and the stationary ESS. Various scenarios of cascaded “EV mobility plus reuse in stationary clean electric power scenarios” are contrasted with “conventional system mobility with internal combustion engine vehicles plus natural gas peaking power.” Eight years are assumed for first use; with 10 years for reuse in the stationary application. Operational scenarios and environmental data are based on real time-of-day and time-of-year power use. Additional data from LCA databases are utilized. Ontario, Canada, is used as the geographic baseline; analysis includes sensitivity to the electricity mix and battery degradation. Seven environmental categories are assessed using ReCiPe.Results and discussionResults indicate that the manufacturing phase of the Li-ion battery will still dominate environmental impacts across the extended life cycle of the pack (first use in vehicle plus reuse in stationary application). For most impact categories, the cascaded use system appears significantly beneficial compared to the conventional system. By consuming clean energy sources for both use and reuse, global and local environmental stress reductions can be supported. Greenhouse gas advantages of vehicle electrification can be doubled by extending the life of the EV batteries, and enabling better use of off-peak low-cost clean electricity or intermittent renewable capacity. However, questions remain concerning implications of long-duration use of raw material resources employed before potential recycling.ConclusionsLi-ion battery packs present opportunities for powering both mobility and stationary applications in the necessary transition to cleaner energy. Battery state-of-health is a considerable determinant in the life cycle performance of a Li-ion battery pack. The use of a complex functional unit was demonstrated in studying a component system with multiple uses in a cascaded application.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Carbon and ecological footprints of a magazine : Print vs. tablet editions
- 2012
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Information and communication technology (ICT), in competition with traditional applications, is providingnew ways to access media content. Similar to print media, ICT-based media has environmental benefits andburdens alike. The overall goal of the present study is to assess the potential environmental impacts”’from a lifecycle perspective”’of a print magazine with its electronic version read on tablets. Important goals are to identifywhich activities give rise to the main impacts, in both print and tablet editions, and to identify the key factorsinfluencing the overall environmental impacts, in both editions. Moreover, data gaps and uncertainties areaddressed.The methodology used in the study is life cycle assessment (LCA). The environmental impacts assessedinclude climate change, cumulative energy/exergy demand, metal depletion, photochemical oxidant formation,particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater/marine eutrophication and fossil depletion.The results indicate that it is hard to compare print and tablet editions of a magazine due to difficulties indefining the function, and that different functional units indicate different preferences in terms of environmentalimpacts. Also, differences between emerging (low number of readers and low reading time per copy) andmature (high number of readers and higher reading time per copy) tablet versions leads to various results in thecomparison between print and tablet versions.The studied tablet version in its emerging stage gives rise to higher potential environmental impacts per readerthan the print version; however with an assumed mature tablet version the impacts are generally lower perreader. This illustrates clearly the importance of the number of readers to spread the environmental impactsover.
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| 4. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Climate Change Impact of Electronic Media Solutions: Case Study of the Tablet Edition of a Magazine
- 2013
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Ingår i: ICT4S 2013. - ETH, Zurich.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Shifts from print media to electronic media may be regarded as apossibility for promoting sustainability. However, the benefits ofelectronic media are not unquestioned. Previous studies on theenvironmental impacts of print and electronic media have shownthat there is no easy answer. Contributing to this field of research,the present study sought to assess the climate change impact ofthe tablet edition of a magazine using a life cycle perspective.Results showed that with few readers the emerging tablet versionhad a higher potential climate change impact per reader than themature tablet version, although the latter had a substantiallylonger reading time per copy. The contribution of contentproduction, electronic distribution, reading on tablet and wastetreatment of tablet to the impact was analysed. The sensitivityanalysis of electricity mix indicated that this was an importantfactor that clearly influenced the overall results.
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| 5. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad
(författare)
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Contextualization of Information Systems Studies for Developing Countries
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis project seeks to reconcile perspectives in universalism and localism such that developing countries might benefit from achievements of developed countries in the field of information systems studies while considering the institutional, socio-economic, and contextual configurations particular to their own societies. This project will explore the key concepts borrowed from sociology of science and technology and illustrate their possible uses in information systems studies.
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| 6. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Developing life-cycle phases for the DoDAF using ISO15704 Annex A (GERAM)
- 2011
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Ingår i: Computers in industry (Print). - : Elsevier BV. - 0166-3615 .- 1872-6194. ; 62:3, s. 253-259
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper presents a development of the US Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) based on life-cycle concept of the Generalized Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology (GERAM) framework/ISO 15704:2000 requirements. Previous research has identified areas of concern within DoDAF by analyzing and evaluating DoDAF against GERAM and potentially assisting in its future development. This paper aims to extend existing architecture description process and artifacts within DoDAF that match the scope of the GERAM life-cycle phases. For this development we use life-cycle aspect of three well-known reference architectures (including PERA, CIMOSA, and GRAI-GIM) that were the basis in formation of GERAM.
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| 7. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad
(författare)
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Environmental Impacts of Electronic Media : A Comparison of a Magazine’s Tablet and Print Editions
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to assess potential environmental impacts of electronic media distribution and consumption—from a life cycle perspective—as compared to those of print media.The thesis consists of a cover essay and two papers appended at the end of the thesis. The cover essay summarizes the papers and puts them in context. The main objectives of the thesis are twofold: to assess potential environmental impacts of production and consumption of tablet editions of magazines from a life cycle perspective (Paper I), and to compare potential environmental impacts of a magazine’s print edition with that of its tablet edition (Paper II).The thesis examines the following specific research questions: (1) What are the main environmental impacts of print and tablet editions? (2) Which activities are giving rise to the main environmental impacts of the print and tablet editions? (3) What are the key factors influencing these impacts? (4) What are major data gaps and uncertainties?Based on the present assessment, it is clear that for the print magazine, pulp and paper production is the principal cause of most of the potential environmental impacts. For this reason, the use of recycled paper, rather than virgin fiber, in newsprint production may considerably offset environmental impacts.For the tablet edition, the content production dominates the potential environmental impacts when readers are few. This appears to be the case in an emerging state of the magazine, but with distribution of more media products to smaller groups of people, this may persist for “mature” products as well. As the number of tablet readers grows, more of the environmental impact of the is due to manufacturing of the device and electronic distribution. However, content production may still be a major factor, depending on the specific environmental impacts studied.
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| 8. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, 1981-
(författare)
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Exploring the Effects of ICT on Environmental Sustainability: From Life Cycle Assessment to Complex Systems Modeling
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The production and consumption of information and communication technology (ICT) products and services continue to grow worldwide. This trend is accompanied by a corresponding increase in electricity use by ICT, as well as direct environmental impacts of the technology. Yet a more complicated picture of ICT’s effects is emerging. Positive indirect effects on environmental sustainability can be seen in substitution and optimization (enabling effects), and negative indirect effects can be seen in additional demand due to efficiency improvements (rebound effects).A variety of methods can be employed to model and assess these direct and indirect effects of ICT on environmental sustainability. This doctoral thesis explores methods of modeling and assessing environmental effects of ICT, including electronic media. In a series of five studies, three methods were at times applied in case studies and at others analyzed theoretically. These methods include life cycle assessment (LCA) and complex systems modeling approaches, including System Dynamics (SD) and agent-based (AB) modeling.The first two studies employ the LCA approach in a case study of an ICT application, namely, the tablet edition of a Swedish design magazine. The use of tablets has skyrocketed in recent years, and this phenomenon has been little studied to date. Potential environmental impacts of the magazine’s tablet edition were assessed and compared with those of the print edition. The tablet edition’s emerging version (which is marked by a low number of readers and low reading time per copy) resulted in higher potential environmental impacts per reader than did the print edition. However, the mature tablet edition (with a higher number of readers and greater reading time per copy) yielded lower impacts per reader in half the ten impact categories assessed.While previous studies of electronic media have reported that the main life-cycle contributor to environmental impacts is the use phase (which includes operational electricity use as well as the manufacture of the electronic device), the present study did not support those findings in all scenarios studied in this thesis. Rather, this study found that the number of readers played an important role in determining which life-cycle phase had the greatest impacts. For the emerging version, with few readers, content production was the leading driver of environmental impacts. For the mature version, with a higher number of readers, electronic storage and distribution were the major contributors to environmental impacts. Only when there were many readers but low overall use of the tablet device was the use phase the main contributor to environmental impacts of the tablet edition of the magazine.The third study goes beyond direct effects at product- and service-level LCAs, revisiting an SD simulation study originally conducted in 2002 to model indirect environmental effects of ICT in 15 European countries for the period 2000-2020. In the current study, three scenarios of the 2002 study were validated in light of new empirical data from the period 2000–2012. A new scenario was developed to revisit the quantitative and qualitative results of the original study. The results showed, inter alia, that ICT has a stimulating influence on total passenger transport, for it makes it more cost- and time-efficient (rebound effects).The modeling mechanism used to represent this rebound effect is further investigated in the fourth study, which discusses the feedback loops used to model two types of rebound effects in passenger transport (direct economic rebound and time rebound). Finally, the role of systems thinking and modeling in conceptualizing and communicating the dynamics of rebound effects is examined.The aim of the fifth study was to explore the power of systems modeling and simulation to represent nonlinearities of the complex and dynamic systems examined elsewhere in this thesis. That study reviews previous studies that have compared the SD and AB approaches and models, summarizing their purpose, methodology, and results, based on certain criteria for choosing between SD and AB approaches. The transformation procedure used to develop an AB model for purposes of comparison with an SD model is also explored.In conclusion, first-order or direct environmental effects of ICT production, use, and disposal can be assessed employing an LCA method. This method can also be used to assess second-order or enabling effects by comparing ICT applications with conventional alternatives. However, the assessment of enabling effects can benefit from systems modeling methods, which are able to formally describe the drivers of change, as well as the dynamics of complex social, technical, and environmental systems associated with ICT applications. Such systems methods can also be used to model third-order or rebound effects of efficiency improvements by ICT.
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| 9. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Life Cycle Assessment of a Magazine : Part I: Tablet Edition in Emerging and Mature States
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Industrial Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1088-1980 .- 1530-9290. ; 19:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Information and communication technology (ICT) is providing new ways to access media content. ICT has environmental benefits and burdens. The overall goal of the present study was to assess the environmental impacts of production and consumption of magazines read on tablets from a life cycle perspective. Important goals were to identify the activities giving rise to the main impacts and the key factors influencing the overall environmental impacts. Data gaps and uncertainties were also addressed. The results are compared against those for the print edition of the magazine in a separate article (part 2). The methodology used in the study was life cycle assessment. The environmental impacts assessed included climate change, cumulative energy/exergy demand, metal depletion, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater/marine eutrophication, fossil depletion, human toxicity, and ecotoxicity. The results indicate that content production can be the major contributor to environmental impacts if readers are few (as for the emerging version of the magazine studied). Assuming more readers (more mature version) or a larger file size for the tablet magazine, electronic storage and distribution may be the major contributor. Thus, in contrast to previous studies on electronic media, which reported a dominant impact of the use phase, this study found a higher impact for content production (emerging version) and electronic storage and distribution (mature version). However, with inefficient, low overall use of the tablet with a mature version of the tablet magazine, the greatest impact was shown to come from the reading activity (i.e., the use phase). In conclusion, the relative impacts of the tablet magazine would decrease considerably with high numbers of readers, their efficient use of the tablet (i.e., for many purposes over a long life of the device), and a smaller magazine file.
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| 10. |
- Ahmadi Achachlouei, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Life cycle assessment of a magazine : part 2: A comparison of print and tablet editions
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Industrial Ecology. - : Wiley. - 1088-1980 .- 1530-9290. ; 19:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rapid development of information and communications technology (ICT) is providing new ways to access media content. Electronic media are sometimes more advantageous from an environmental perspective than paper-based media solutions, but ICT-based media can also bring environmental burdens. This study compared the potential environmental impacts in a life cycle perspective of a print edition of a magazine and that of its electronic edition read on a tablet device. Important objectives were to identify activities giving rise to the main environmental impacts for both the print and tablet editions, determine the key factors influencing these impacts, and address data gaps and uncertainties. A detailed assessment of the tablet edition is provided in a previous article (part 1), whereas this article compares it with the print edition. The methodology used was life cycle assessment and the environmental impacts assessed included climate change, cumulative energy/exergy demand, metal depletion, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, and fossil depletion. Use of different functional units to compare the print and tablet editions of the magazine resulted in different relative environmental impacts. In addition, emerging (low number of readers and low reading time per copy) and mature (higher number of readers and higher reading time per copy) tablet editions yielded varying results. The emerging tablet edition resulted in higher potential environmental impacts per reader than the print edition, but the mature tablet edition yielded lower impacts per reader in half the impact categories assessed. This illustrates the importance of spreading the environmental impacts over a large number of readers. The electricity mix used in product system processes did not greatly affect the results of tablet/print comparisons, but overall number of readers for the tablet edition, number of readers per copy for the print edition, file size, and degree of use of the tablet device proved crucial for the comparison results.
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