| 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. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Energy use indicators in energy and life cycle assessments of biofuels: review and recommendations
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 31, s. 54-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study we investigate how indicators for energy use are applied in a set of life cycle assessment (LCA) and energy analysis case studies of biofuels. We found five inherently different types of indicators to describe energy use: (1) fossil energy, (2) secondary energy, (3) cumulative energy demand, (4) net energy balance, and (5) total extracted energy. It was also found that the examined reports and articles, the choice of energy use indicator was seldom motivated or discussed in relation to other energy use indicators. In order to investigate the differences between these indicators, they were applied to a case. The life cycle energy use of palm oil methyl ester was calculated and reported using these five different indicators for energy use, giving considerably different output results. This is in itself not unexpected, but indicates the importance of clearly identifying, describing and motivating the choice of energy use indicator. The indicators can all be useful in specific situations, depending on the goal and scope of the individual study, but the choice of indicators need to be better reported and motivated than what is generally done today.
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| 3. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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How do we know the energy use when producing biomaterials or biofuels?
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings of ECO-TECH 2012.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How much fossil energy that is used in the production of biomaterials or biofuels (e.g. fuel used in harvesting) is a parameter of obvious interest when optimizing the production systems. To use more fossil fuels in the production of a biofuel than what will be available as the biofuel product is obviously a bad idea. With increasing interest in biomaterials and biofuels, a shift from a sole focus on fossil energy will be necessary. Optimized use of energy over the whole life cycle is one important parameter to ensure sustainability. However, to report and interpret values on life cycle energy use is not as straight forward as what might immediately be perceived. The impact category ‘energy use’ is frequently used but is generally not applied in a transparent and consistent way between different studies. Considering the increased focus on biofuels, it is important to inform companies and policy-makers about the energy use of biofuels in relevant and transparent ways with well-defined indicators. The present situation in how energy use indicators are applied was studied in a set of LCA studies of biofuels. It was found that the choice of indicator was seldom motivated or discussed in the examined reports and articles, and five inherently different energy use indicators were observed: (1) fossil energy, (2) secondary energy, (3) cumulative energy demand (primary energy), (4) net energy balance, and (5) total extracted energy. As a test, we applied these five energy use indicators to the same cradle-to-gate production system and they give considerably different output numbers of energy use. This in itself is not unexpected, but indicates the importance of clearly identifying, describing and motivating the choice of energy use indicator. Direct comparisons between different energy use results could lead to misinformed policy decisions.
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| 4. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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How much energy is used when producing biofuels?
- 2012
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Ingår i: World Bioenergy 2012, Jönköping, Sweden.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Considering the increased focus on biofuels, it is important to inform companies and policy-makers about the energy use for production of biofuels in relevant and transparent ways, using well-defined indicators. The amount of fossil energy used in the production of a biofuel (e.g. diesel fuel used in harvesting) is a parameter of obvious interest when comparing different biofuels or when optimizing the production systems. With increasing worldwide production of different biofuels, a shift in focus from fossil energy to the entire energy use will also be necessary. In that context, not only reducing the use of fossil fuels in biofuel production, but also optimizing the use of all energy sources over the whole life cycle becomes an important to ensure the sustainability of biofuels. However, to report and interpret values on life cycle energy use is not straight forward due to methodological difficulties. The impact category ‘energy use’ is frequently used in life cycle assessment (LCA). But the term ‘energy use’ is generally not applied in a transparent and consistent way between different LCA studies of biofuels. It is often unclear whether the total energy use, or only fossil energy, has been considered, and whether primary or secondary energy has been considered. In addition, it is often difficult to tell if and how the energy content of the fuel or the biomass source was included in the energy use. This study presents and discusses the current situation in terms of energy use indicators are applied in LCA studies on biofuels. It was found that the choice of indicator was seldom motivated or discussed in the examined reports and articles, and five inherently different energy use indicators were observed: (1) fossil energy, (2) secondary energy, (3) cumulative energy demand (primary energy), (4) net energy balance, and (5) total extracted energy. As an illustration, we applied these five energy use indicators to the same cradle-to-gate production system (production of palm oil methyl ester), resulting in considerably different output numbers of energy use. This in itself is not unexpected, but indicates the importance of clearly identifying, describing and motivating the choice of energy use indicator. All five indicators can be useful in specific situations, depending on the goal and scope of the individual study, but the choice of indicator needs to be better reported and motivated than what is generally done today. Above all, it is important to avoid direct comparisons between different energy use results calculated using different indicators, since this could lead to misinformed policy decisions.
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| 5. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Towards transparent and relevant use of energy use indicators in LCA studies of biofuels
- 2012
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Ingår i: 6th SETAC World Congress / SETAC Europe 22nd Annual Meeting in Berlin.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The use of energy has led to resource crises during the history of mankind, such as the deforestation of the Mediterranean during antiquity, and of Great Britain before the 19th century, and the oil crisis in the 20th century and continuing. Considering this, the frequent use of the impact category ‘energy use’ in the environmental assessment tool life cycle assessment (LCA) is not surprising. However, in a previous study, some of the authors noted that the term ‘energy use’ was not applied in a transparent and consistent way in LCA studies of biofuels. In this work we investigate how energy use indicators are applied in a set of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of biofuels. In the examined reports and articles, the choice of indicator was seldom motivated or discussed and we observed five inherently different energy use indicators: (1) fossil energy, (2) secondary energy, (3) cumulative energy demand, (4) net energy balance, and (5) total extracted energy. These five energy use indicators were applied to the same cradle-to-gate production system of palm oil methyl ester (PME), giving considerably different output results. This is in itself not unexpected, but indicates the importance of clearly identifying, describing and motivating the choice of energy use indicator. All five indicators can all be useful in specific situations, depending on the goal and scope of the individual study, but the choice of indicators need to be better reported and motivated than what is generally done today. Authors of LCA studies should first define the purpose of their energy use indicator (fossil scarcity, energy scarcity, energy efficiency, cost/benefit comparison) and may then make a motivated choice of the energy use indicator.
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| 6. |
- Fransson, Kristin, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Attitudes to risk information among Swedish textile importers
- 2008
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Ingår i: Integrated Testing Strategies for REACH 1st SETAC Europe Special Science Symposium, 23-24 October 2008, Brussels, Belgium.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In modern textile industry, a big amount of different chemicals are used in the production process. Most of the chemicals are used in dyeing, washing and other wet treatment methods. Many of these chemicals are classified as hazardous, either to health or to the environment. Today, due to lower costs, most of the clothes and household linen purchased in Sweden are produced outside EU in countries like China, India and Turkey and imported to Sweden by several clothing and textile companies and wholesalers. In these countries, chemical substances that are prohibited in the EU can still be used. Lately, the presence of nonylphenol etoxylates in imported textiles has been given attention in Sweden and this has lead to an increased awareness among consumers concerning chemicals in textiles. It is therefore crucial for importing companies to be well informed of which chemicals have been used during production. It is also important for them to have control so that the producing companies fulfill their demands concerning the chemical usage. A number of the textile importers will also be obliged to register the chemical substances in the cloth according to article 7 in REACH. This makes it necessary for the importer to get information about the substances used in the production and the amount of chemicals that is left in the textile. The aim of this study is to get a picture of how Swedish textile importers perceive the risk related chemical information they get from the producers, if they get the requested information and how they verify the reliability of the information. Therefore the textile importers have been asked what they think about the risk-related chemical information in the supply-chain. The importers opinions have been related to each other and compared with the opinions from governmental representatives. It is essential to know how information about chemicals in the supply chain is formulated and distributed and how the receiver perceives the information. With better information, the importing companies can improve their demands on the suppliers and in the end reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in textile production.
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| 7. |
- Fransson, Kristin, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Chemical information in textile supply chains - the case of Swedish producers and importers
- 2009
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Ingår i: SETAC Europe 19th Annual Meeting. Protecting ecosystem health: facing the challenge of a globally changing environment, 31 May - 4 June 2009, Göteborg, Sweden.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In textile production, a large amount of chemicals is used, mostly in wet treatment processes like dying and washing. It is important that risk information about these chemicals is communicated all the way through the supply chain in order to avoid health and environmental effects on different actors and surroundings. For textile producers in the EU it is also important to make sure that the chemicals they use are registered for the actual usage according to the REACH legislation and for textile importers is it necessary to be aware if any of the substances listed in REACH Annex XIV are present in the products. Representatives for Swedish textile producing companies have been interviewed and asked what risk related chemical information they achieve from the chemical producers, how they handle the information and what information they communicate to their customers. Swedish textile importing companies have been interviewed about what chemical information they demand from their suppliers, the textile producing companies in for instance Asia. The study highlights the differences between flows of chemical information for textiles produced in Sweden compared to textiles produced outside EU and how legislation affects the information and the chemical usage. The results show that the textile producers achieve safety data sheets from the chemical producers. These sheets contain the prescribed information, but are often not that detailed and it is not unusual that the textile producers request further information. The Swedish textile importers do not achieve any risk related chemical information from their suppliers; instead they set up demands regarding the chemical content in the final product.
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| 8. |
- Fransson, Kristin, 1979
(författare)
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Chemical risk information in product chains: The cases of paint and textile
- 2012
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Chemicals are present in or have been used for production of a large number of products available for private consumers. There are many benefits and useful applications of chemicals, but risks and negative side-effects shall not be overlooked. Risks related to chemicals can occur during all steps of production and use of a product, and generally products are manufactured during a number of steps, with many different actors involved in production, use and waste management. In order to handle risks connected to chemicals in all steps of the product chain, chemical risk information is central. The aim of this thesis is to describe how chemical risk information is handled in product chains and which information that is communicated. A second purpose is to investigate how the handling of chemical risk information is affected by external factors, such as legislation. In order to do this, two examples of consumer products (textile and paint) affected by different legislation and with production processes taking place in different geographical context have been studied. The main method for data collection has been semi-structured interviews and content analysis has been used for analysis of the material.The results show both differences and similarities between the two studied industries. The most profound difference between the two cases was the communication of chemical risk information in the product chains. For the textile case, most information was communicated up-stream between companies, from the retailers to the direct suppliers in the form of a list of restricted substances while for paint, chemical risk information was central in many parts of the product chain, particularly in the manufacturing steps and mainly communicated down-stream between companies. This difference is strongly associated to the considerably different legislation between the two industries. Another important conclusion is that the geographical context matters, both in terms of possible misunderstandings of information due to translation and culture and in terms of local traditions and degree of development in producing countries. One similarity between the two studied industries is that communication with colleagues from other companies in the industry was considered important for interpretation of legislation and information exchange. An additional similarity between the cases was that the perceived interest from private consumers regarding chemicals in the products was low.
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| 9. |
- Fransson, Kristin, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Flows of Chemical Risk Information in the Consumer Paint Product Chain
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Industrial Ecology. - : Wiley. - 1530-9290 .- 1088-1980. ; 17:2, s. 310-320
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study the flows of chemical risk information for paint as a consumer product were investigated from a product chain perspective. The main method of research involved semi-structured interviews with Swedish manufacturers of paint and chemicals. In addition, retailers and consumers were interviewed. The flows of chemical risk information between actors within (e.g., manufacturers, retailers, and consumers) and outside (e.g., industry associations and regulators) the paint product chain are described. Because the European chemical legislation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of CHemicals) plays a large role in the management of chemical risk information at companies, some consequences of REACH on actors in the paint product chain are described. Examples of such consequences are that importing of chemicals from nonEuropean Union (EU) countries may be discouraged and that some low-volume chemicals may no longer be produced. However, manufacturers do not yet see these consequences as impediments to innovation. The results of this work show that chemical risk information is most comprehensive during the manufacturing steps of the product chain. This is due not only to tradition and industry initiatives, but also to REACH and other legislation. The results also illustrate the need for evaluation of how chemical risk information is used in different contexts and the importance of directing the right information at the right target group. Following legislative development, more specialized information is required in the safety data sheet (SDS), and because of this many manufacturers find it necessary to create simplified safety sheets that make the most pertinent safety and hazard information easily accessible to individuals that handle the chemicals in their factories. The study found that in creating the simplified safety sheets, the content and use of chemical risk information is evaluated and adjusted for presentation to this particular target group. It is evident that the Swedish Paint and Printing Ink Makers Association plays an important role in the interpretation of legal requirements and even in agreements for providing information that exceeds legal requirements.
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| 10. |
- Fransson, Kristin, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Handling chemical risk information in international textile supply chains
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1360-0559 .- 0964-0568. ; 56:3, s. 345-361
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the textile industry, a large number of potentially harmful chemicals are used during production. This raises the importance of communication about chemical risks between different actors in the supply chain and therefore this study aims at describing the flows of chemical risk information up- and downstream in an international textile supply chain. The outcomes show that the main communication between retailers and suppliers is through a list of restricted substances. Information most often only reaches the next tier up- or downstream in the supply chain. However, different approaches exist, of which one is described in further detail.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Fransson, Kristin, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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The construction and handling of chemical risk information in a paint supply chain
- 2011
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Ingår i: 6th International Conference on Industrial Ecology, Berkley, California, June 7-10, 2011.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Due to environmental and health concerns, the composition of paint has changed during the last 20 years, going from organic solvent-based to mainly water-based paints. Following this development, the number of chemical substances used for paint production has increased dramatically. The large number of substances emphasizes the importance of information about potential risks connected to the chemicals for all actors involved in the supply chain of paints. Requirements for handling and construction of chemical risk information that affects both chemical producers and paint producers are included in REACH, the European chemical legislation that came into force 2007. Knowledge about how chemical information in the supply chain is formulated and distributed and how the information is perceived is important, since better information and information handling can support chemicals management and facilitate minimizing the chemical exposure of humans and environment. Knowledge of supply chain information processes can also inform companies and governments policy-making when striving to reduce chemical risks.The aim of this study has been to investigate how chemical risk information is constructed and communicated up- and down-stream in a paint supply chain in order to give a generalized picture of the information flows. Several actors in the supply chain have been covered, such as chemical producers, paint producers, paint distributors and users, and also waste handlers. Which chemical properties and information that is requested from different actors in the supply chain has been investigated as well as how the implementation of REACH has affected the handling, construction and content of chemical risk information. Another important aspect that has been analyzed is whether the information differs depending on the intended use of the paint, i.e. private or industrial.
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| 13. |
- Hedberg, Jonas, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Improving the life cycle impact assessment of metal ecotoxicity : Importance of chromium speciation, water chemistry, and metal release
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 11:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Investigations of metal ecotoxicity in life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) are becoming important tools for evaluating the environmental impact of a product or process. There is, however, improvement needed for LCIA of metal ecotoxicity in order to make this assessment more relevant and robust. In this work, three issues within the LCIA of metal ecotoxicity are investigated, mainly focusing on topics related to stainless steel manufacturing. The first issue is the importance of considering regional water chemistry when constructing the characterization factor (CF). A model freshwater of relevance for stainless steel manufacturing in a region of Sweden was created with chemistry different from available options. The second issue is related to the lack of consideration on changes in speciation of Cr(VI) in freshwater for a given emission, as Cr(VI) to some extent will be reduced to Cr(III). Two new options are suggested based on relationships between the Cr(VI)-total Cr ratio as a way to improve the relevancy of LCIA for Cr(VI) in freshwater. The last issue is how to treat metal release from slags in LCIA. Metal release from slags was shown to vary significantly between different ways of modelling slag emissions (differences in total metal content, slag leaching tests, estimated emissions to groundwater). © 2019 by the authors.
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| 14. |
- Kurdve, Martin, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Availability and Need for Climate Footprint and Resilience Data from Suppliers in Automotive Supply Chains
- 2024
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Ingår i: Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering. - : IOS Press BV. - 2352-751X .- 2352-7528. ; 52, s. 589-600
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of managing supply chain data for environmental sustainability and resilience in the automotive and vehicle manufacturing industry. It presents empirics from measuring and improving the climate footprint, based on data from interviews and workshops with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers, and compares concepts of resilience of supply chains. The paper focuses on the early phases of supply chain interaction, such as supplier selection and request for quota, when specific product data is often unavailable or estimated. It discusses the trade-offs and conflicts between the needs and availability of climate footprint and related supplier data, such as localization, energy supply, material supply and transportation. It also highlights the importance of data regarding recycled contents, materials, and energy in the supply chain. The paper is connected to projects funded by the EU and Vinnova that aim to enhance the competitive sustainability and resilience of the industry.
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| 15. |
- Molander, Sverker, 1957, et al.
(författare)
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Calculating the Swedish economy‐wide emissions of additives from plastic materials
- 2012
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Ingår i: 33rd Annual Meeting SETAC North America.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- "Plastics" are very diverse, multipurpose and ubiquitous materials found in very many types of products like shoes, cars, bags and containers. Plastic materials have these many uses due to the possibility of modifying the polymer matrices constituting the bulk material in very many ways with a large number of additives; compounds that are more or less permanently attached in the matrix. Some of these additives have properties with high importance for the final functionality of the product. Flame retardants is a well know example of an additive making otherwise combustible plastic materials (often textile fibres) much less apt for taking fire. There are however a very large number of substances which have got less attention.Our modeling approach aims at a quantification of emissions from a large set of materials occuring in a typical developed country - Sweden. The approach is "bottom-up" in the sense that it is not based on a back-calculation of measured emitted substances. It is rather a combination of a diffusive mass-transfer emission model with models providing information on aggregated product surface areas and material composition of these areas. This combination of the physico-chemical modeling of substance release from a surface under a specific set of environmental conditions, which also rely on substance and material characteristics, and the substance and material flow models, based on trade statistics, longevity data and product properties, is a unique emission model giving the possibility to feed in results to environmental fate modelling and environmental analysis.Results show that textiles, and the huge number of substances occuring in them, are of particular interest due to the fact that this product category constitutes the largest surface area. Due to wear and washing textiles are also fragmented, giving very small fibers and fragments contributing to a further increased surface area that increase the emission rate from the fibre materials in textiles. The result indicate that a number of substances, beside known environmental pollutant, are emitted from textiles.
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Svanström, Magdalena, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Who needs to know what about energy use? The palm oil biofuel case
- 2013
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Ingår i: 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In life cycle assessments and energy analyses of palm oil biofuel, the choice of energy use indicators has been found to be arbitrary, poorly motivated and poorly described. This paper discusses the system boundaries represented by different energy use indicators and their appropriateness in terms of different environmental concerns. The paper also discusses the need of different energy use information for different actors in the product life cycle and the resulting need to tailor-make assessments and presentations of assessment results to different audiences.
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