| 1. |
- Aid, Graham, 1980-
(författare)
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Operationalizing Industrial Ecology in the Waste Sector : Roles and tactics for circular value innovation
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The take-make-waste approach to resource management in human production and consumption systems is contributing to a variety of environmental and social problems worldwide. Additionally, as the world’s population and affluence increase, so do the negative impacts of poor resource management. Lifting the waste management (WM) sector into a new phase of development, which takes its lead from the ideals of Industrial Ecology and circular economy, is seen by many scholars and practitioners as one potential to assist in alleviating these impacts. While there are many studies on how more efficient inter-organizational resource management is (or could be) constructed, there are relatively few business development studies which have explored novel approaches (from roles to tactics) that WM organizations might operationalize toward more efficient resource management.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of knowledge and understanding of how the waste management sector can operationalize more effective and efficient resource management. In approaching this aim, two research questions guided the exploration of: 1) novel roles for WM and 2) support tactics for such roles. Grounded in the broader context of Industrial Ecology (IE) and Business Development, five studies were performed. Two studies, focused on the novel roles of inter-organizational resource management and high value secondary resource extraction, were performed through literature review and interviews, and market driver analysis respectively. In exploring support tactics, two design and proof of concept studies were carried out to investigate data analysis tools for inter-organizational resource management, and one long-term action research engagement project was coordinated to study hands-on inter-organizational collaboration tactics.The studies highlighted that the Swedish WM sector holds some key capacities for operationalizing (and in some cases, is already developing) the novel resource management roles identified: industrial symbiosis facilitator, eco-industrial park manager, holistic facility management, and high value resource extractor. However, depending on the portfolio of services to be performed in such roles, several capacities may need to be developed or strengthened. Main opportunities seen for these roles were – staying ahead of market developments, and aligning activities with organizational goals. The main general risk related to these roles was insufficient returns on investment. Looking forward, the main enablers identified were policy leadership for more balanced market mechanisms, increasing use of external knowledge, developing long term partnerships, lobbying, stockpiling resources, and carefully crafting new business models.The tools developed for strategically applying external information toward the identification of opportunities within new roles showed tactical potential. However, their implementation in broader development processes has yet to be fully validated. The hands-on exploration of change oriented collaboration, highlighted collective system framing and goal setting and face-to-face interaction as key activities for inter-organizational approaches within roles such as industrial symbiosis facilitator.Throughout the studies, several novel roles were investigated. Each of these roles will need to be individually evaluated by directing bodies of WM organizations, and evaluated from the organization’s vision and strategy. If certain roles are chosen to be explored in more detail, they will need to be developed within full business models - addressing issues such as income structure, internal processes and capacities to be developed, and key customers. Through applying IE and business development concepts and findings, WM organizations have possibilities to translate ambitious visions into novel offerings.
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| 2. |
- Arushanyan, Yevgeniya
(författare)
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Environmental Impacts of ICT: Present and Future
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- ICT is developing rapidly and is playing an increasingly important role in society. High expectations are placed on ICT in relation to sustainable development. In order to provide basis for decision-making and ensure that ICT is used in the best possible way for enabling sustainable development, the sustainability impacts of ICT need to be studied.This thesis aims to provide new knowledge on the environmental impacts related to ICT, to explore the potential of ICT to contribute to sustainability, and discuss ways of assessing environmental impacts of ICT. In order to fulfill the aim a literature review of existing LCA studies of ICT was done, an LCA case study of printed and online media was performed, a methodological framework for sustainability assessment of scenarios was developed and then applied for environmental assessment of future ICT societies.The results show that manufacturing and use phase are the life cycle stages contributing the most to the ICT environmental impacts. For online newspapers online distribution and content production may give significant contribution to the overall impact. User behavior was observed to be crucial for the results of comparisons of ICT solutions with their traditional counterparts.The following key issues were concluded to influence the environmental risks and opportunities in future ICT societies: energy mix, economic conditions, life styles, technology, and environmental ambitions, incentives and regulation. The potential of ICT for sustainability is affected by these key issues.A new methodological framework (SAFS) was developed for the assessment of future scenarios (societal level). Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used for assessment on a product level. Application of both methods, their benefits, drawbacks, and challenges of assessment were discussed. Both types of assessments were concluded to be important to support decision-making.
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| 3. |
- Arushanyan, Yevgeniya, 1984-
(författare)
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LCA of ICT solutions: environmental impacts and challenges of assessment
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Information and communication technology (ICT) is playing an important role in modern society, contributing to economic growth and affecting society and people’s lifestyles. There are high expectations on ICT to contribute to sustainable development, e.g. through greenhouse gas emissions reductions. ICT solutions (ICT products and services) are often perceived as having low or no environmental impacts compared with conventional alternatives. In order to determine the potential of ICT to reduce environmental impacts, environmental assessments of ICT solutions compared with other alternatives are needed. A number of studies have already assessed the environmental impacts of individual ICT solutions and the ICT sector. However, more research is needed, covering different types of impacts (primary, secondary, rebound, etc.) in a variety of impact categories (e.g. climate change, ozone depletion, eutrophication, human and ecotoxicity, etc.). The findings then need to be systematised in order to identify hot-spots and draw generic conclusions. As the area is rather new and fast-developing, assessment methods need to be critically appraised in order to identify challenges and developments necessary for high quality assessments.This thesis aims to contribute to the knowledge on the direct life cycle environmental impacts of ICT solutions and to investigate and analyse the challenges of applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool for environmental assessment of ICT solutions. Two research questions: “What life cycle environmental impacts and their causes can be identified for ICT solutions?” and “What are the methodological challenges of assessing the ICT solutions using LCA?” were analysed by reviewing published LCAs on ICT solutions and conducting a case study of online and printed newspapers. The literature review helped identify hotspots in the life cycle of ICT solutions, draw generic conclusions concerning environmental impacts and their causes, and identify major challenges to LCA application. The case study assessed the environmental impacts of traditional and new media solutions and provided information on methodological challenges.The results show that impacts other than climate change potential and energy use are not well-studied in the ICT sector, creating a risk of possible sub-optimisation and problem shifting. Manufacturing and the use phase are concluded to be the most environmentally intense life cycle stages of ICT products in many studies. However, transportation and end-of-life treatment should not be omitted in the assessments, although their impacts appear lower, as uncertainty and lack of data might be a reason for underestimations.As ICT is under constant and rapid development, environmental assessment of ICT solutions faces challenges regarding e.g. data quality and availability; choice of data type; methodological choices (e.g. choice of functional unit, scope definition and allocation); and assumptions on user behaviour. These affect the final results and thus need to be carefully considered by LCA practitioners.The outcomes of this thesis can benefit practitioners and decision-makers, improving knowledge on the environmental impacts of ICT solutions and challenges in applying LCA for assessment of ICT solutions, and providing improved grounds for more informed decision-making. Areas for further research regarding methodology development and filling knowledge gaps are also identified.
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| 4. |
- Joyce, Peter James
(författare)
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Environmental Considerations in the Zero-waste Valorisation of Bauxite Residue : A Life Cycle Perspective
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Bauxite residue, also known as red mud, is produced in large quantities as a result of alumina refining (the first stage in aluminium production), and is one of the world’s most abundant and important industrial wastes. As demand for aluminium continues to increase and space to store this residue diminishes, the potential to utilise bauxite residue as a secondary resource is increasingly being considered by the alumina industry. Bauxite residue can be used as a source of iron, aluminium, titanium oxide, scandium and rare earth oxides, or utilised for its bulk properties to create cement clinkers or inorganic polymers. Achieving any of these uses however requires a series of complex valorisation processes, which in turn require inputs of energy and materials. Some bauxite residues also contain trace amounts of naturally occurring radionuclides.The EU Horizon 2020 MSCA-ETN REDMUD project was set up to investigate the valorisation of bauxite residue in an integrated manner. The ultimate aim of the REDMUD project is to develop environmentally-friendly, zero-waste, integrated processes for extracting valuable materials from bauxite residue and/or utilising it at high volume. This thesis presents the environmental perspective on this aim, taking a life cycle view; that is, taking into account the upstream and downstream impacts, in addition to the direct impacts, which may result from diverting bauxite residue from landfill to the proposed valorisation processes. This involves using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches to understand the environmental balance between the impact avoided through landfill diversion and the substitution of conventional materials, and the impacts incurred by the use of materials and energy in the valorisation processes themselves. Importantly, the potential ionising radiation impact from naturally occurring radionuclides is also considered from a life cycle perspective for the first time.A new life cycle impact assessment method for assessing the impacts of naturally occurring radionuclides was developed. In addition, two pieces of research software, designed to overcome the current shortcomings in LCA software with respect to streamlined and prospective LCA studies of emerging technologies are presented as part of this thesis.The potential hotspots of environmental impact in a single step valorisation process, the production of high bauxite residue content inorganic polymers, were identified. The results identify the high temperature processing of bauxite residue, in order to transform it into a reactive precursor capable of forming solid inorganic polymers, as a hotspot of environmental impact across a range of environmental impact measures. The production of alkaline activating solutions (the other reagent in the polymerisation reaction) also represented a hotspot of environmental impact. These hotspots were used to identify possible future research directions for this process, which have the potential to reduce the environmental impact of this valorisation process.Finally it was shown that even in the absence of a detailed and quantified system description, qualitative approaches based on life cycle thinking can be usefully applied to identify important aspects on both sides of the environmental balance between the impacts avoided and the impacts incurred in waste valorisation. Chemical reaction products, chemical synthesis, thermal and mechanical energy are highlighted as potential sources of environmental impact. A case study, looking at the combined extraction of iron and production of inorganic polymers from bauxite residue was used to demonstrate the validity of these qualitative approaches. This study also demonstrated that combining the extraction of iron and inorganic polymers is vital in order to yield a net environmental benefit in terms of climate change.This thesis provides an initial step on the road towards the environmentally sustainable valorisation of bauxite residue, as well as the analytical tools and additional impact assessment measures required to ensure that this journey can be continued, both within the REDMUD project and beyond.
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| 5. |
- Kullberg, Kerstin, 1953-
(författare)
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Food in older men with somatic diseases : Eating habits and approaches to food-related activities
- 2009
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim was to improve the knowledge and understanding of eating habits of older men with somatic diseases, and the men's perceptions about managing food-related habits, such as grocery shopping and cooking. A total of 67 men between 64 and 89 years of age were visited in their homes on two occasions with 1-2 weeks in between. The participants were diagnosed with one of the three diseases Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, or stroke. A food survey, with repeated 24-h recall, was used to assess food intake and meal patterns. Interviews with 18 participants were conducted with open-ended questions. The interviews were further analysed with a thematic framework approach.The findings showed that eating events were distributed over a 24-h period.Further, co-living men had a significantly larger number of eating events over the day (p=0.001). No differences in daily energy intake were observed between co-living and single-living men. Co-living men’s hot eating events were compared with those of single-living men more often cooked from fresh ingredients (p=0.001), including a greater mix of vegetables/roots (p=0.003).Thematic analysis revealed three different approaches to food-related activities(FRA), namely ‘Cooking as a pleasure’, describing joy in cooking; ‘Cooking as a need’, indicating no habits or skills in cooking; and ‘Food is served’, that is, being served meals by a partner. The men's approaches to FRA were affected in particular by gender-related roles, but also by changed life circumstances, activity limitations, personal interests, and a wish to maintain continuity and independence. Further adaptive strategies were used among the men in attempts to maintain continuity and independence in FRA. In conclusion, single-living older men, especially those with activity limitations, were identified as being a vulnerable group from a nutritional perspective. Further, health care efforts in promoting FRA should preferably be individualised with respect to the older man’s approach to these activities.
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| 6. |
- Miliutenko, Sofiia, 1984-
(författare)
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Life Cycle Impacts of Road Infrastructure : Assessment of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions
- 2012
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Road infrastructure is essential in the development of human society, but has both negative and positive impacts. Large amounts of money and natural resources are spent each year on its construction, operation and maintenance. Obviously, there is potentially significantenvironmental impact associated with these activities. Thus the need for integration of life cycle environmental impacts of road infrastructure into transport planning is currently being widely recognised on international and national level. However certain issues, such as energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the construction, maintenance and operation of road infrastructure, are rarely considered during the current transport planning process in Sweden and most other countries.This thesis examined energy use and GHG emissions for the whole life cycle (construction, operation, maintenance and end-of-life) of road infrastructure, with the aim of improving transport planning on both strategic and project level. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to two selected case studies: LCA of a road tunnel and LCA of three methods for asphalt recycling and reuse: hot in-plant, hot in-place and reuse as unbound material. The impact categories selected for analysis were Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Global Warming Potential (GWP). Other methods used in the research included interviews and a literature review.The results of the first case study indicated that the operational phase of the tunnel contributed the highest share of CED and GWP throughout the tunnel’s life cycle. Construction of concrete tunnels had much higher CED and GWP per lane-metre than construction of rocktunnels. The results of the second case study showed that hot in-place recycling of asphalt gave slightly more net savings of GWP and CED than hot in-plant recycling. Asphalt reuse was less environmentally beneficial than either of these alternatives, resulting in no net savings of GWP and minor net savings of CED. Main sources of data uncertainty identified in the two case-studies included prediction of future electricity mix and inventory data for asphalt concrete.This thesis contributes to methodological development which will be useful to future infrastructure LCAs in terms of inventory data collection. It presents estimated amounts of energy use and GHG emissions associated with road infrastructure, on the example of roadtunnel and asphalt recycling. Operation of road infrastructure and production of construction materials are identified as the main priorities for decreasing GHG emissions and energy use during the life cycle of road infrastructure. It was concluded that the potential exists for significant decreases in GHG emissions and energy use associated with the road transport system if the entire life cycle of road infrastructure is taken into consideration from the very start of the policy-making process.
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| 7. |
- Poulikidou, Sofia
(författare)
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Integration of Design for Environment in the vehicle manufacturing industry in Sweden : Focus on practices and tools
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Design for Environment (DfE) promotes the systematic consideration of environmental aspects during product design and development. Despite the maturity of concepts and tools in literature, efficient implementation in industries is reported to be low. A need to bridge this gap is identified with studies that look on DfE practices as well as the use and potential of DfE tools.This thesis is part of a research project that investigates DfE practices and the use of tools during vehicle design and development. The aim is to investigate the ways that environmental constraints can be efficiently integrated into product development processes thus assist in improving the environmental performance of products from a life cycle perspective. The scope of the study includes four vehicle manufacturing companies in Sweden. The development and utilization of tools has been also investigated aiming to increase the opportunities for effective use within this product category. Case study methodology, research interviews and literature reviews constitute the research strategy followed in this work.The empirical results presented in this thesis indicated that vehicle manufacturing companies in Sweden are continually working to improve the environmental performance of their products and meet legal and costumer demands. Despite similarities regarding the type of environmental requirements considered, the companies studied have adopted different ways to identify and integrate environmental requirements into their product development process and use DfE tools to different extents. Such variations reflect differences in the success and maturity levels of the DfE practices adopted.A need for increased and more systematic use of tools is identified for all studied companies and especially for analytical tools. Results from the literature review showed that a variety of tools are available that have the potential to support vehicle design processes. However, only a few cover a broad set of aspects identified to be relevant from a vehicle design perspective. For DfE tools to become effective and be used during product development, they need to cover aspects that are relevant for the company and product designers. A need towards the development of tools that assist vehicle or product designers in general, to make informed and comprehensive choices based on a variety of requirements associated to the product, is identified.
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| 8. |
- Rosvall, Camilla, et al.
(författare)
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Skrivstöttning i teori och praktik med exempel från Finland och Sverige
- 2023
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Ingår i: Ämnesdidaktiska perspektiv på språk och litteratur. Åttonde nordiska konferensen för modersmålsdidaktisk forskning (NNMF8), Uppsala universitet, 24-25 november 2021. - Uppsala : Uppsala universitet. - 9789198695045 - 9789198695052 ; , s. 225-243
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- En allt större mångfald, både kulturellt och språkligt, olika skrivkulturer och olika socialapraktiker i ett allt mer skrivande samhälle kräver förändringar även i skolans skrivpraktik.Syftet med artikeln är att undersöka begreppet stöttning i skrivande och öka kunskapen omstöttning utifrån hur begreppet idag förstås bland skrivdidaktiska forskare och exemplifieraanvändningen av stöttning i skolpraktik. Vi presenterar först en översikt av centrala bidragtill förståelsen och utvecklingen av teoribildningen kring begreppet stöttning i skrivdidaktiskforskning. Sedan analyserar vi deskriptivt hur stöttning realiseras i två olika klassrumssituationer, den ena i årskurs fyra i en svensk skola i Sverige och den andra i årskurs sju i ensvensk skola i Finland. Analysen uppmärksammar olika perspektiv på stöttning i skrivandesåsom grader av planerad (stöttning på makronivå) och spontan stöttning (stöttning påmikronivå), stöd och stöttning (materiell stöttning med artefakter och interaktionell stöttningi form av mellanmänsklig interaktion) samt cirkulationen av olika lager av texter som in- ochut-texter. Resultaten av analysen visar att begreppet stöttning fortsättningsvis är starktförankrat i ett sociokulturellt perspektiv parallellt med att begreppet som sådant allt meraktualiseras i ett skrivande samhälle och således blir allt mer komplext. Begreppets komplexitet riskerar att fjärma teoribildningen från skrivpraktiken och kräver en explicit kunskapom skrivstöttning av lärarna. De två exemplifieringarna av hur stöttning kan se ut i två olikaklassrumssituationer visar dessutom att praktiken innehåller många olika element som bördokumenteras för att teorierna kring stöttning ska kunna vidareutvecklas.
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| 9. |
- Umair, Shakila, 1979-
(författare)
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Informal Electronic Waste Recycling in Pakistan
- 2015
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis was to study governance aspects of informal electronic waste recycling and to provide better knowledge of the business in terms of structure, stakeholders, governance aspects and social impacts.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 objective of Paper I is to study the business of informal electronic waste recycling in Pakistan and highlight its governance issues. Paper II assesses the social impacts of this business using UNEP-SETAC Guidelines.The thesis examines these specific questions: Q1) What is the current situation of informal e-waste recycling in Pakistan? Q2) Who are the important stakeholders and what are their roles in this business? Q3) What are the governance issues enabling this informal business? Q4) What are the social impacts for individuals and society arising from this business?Paper I presents the international and local e-waste flows, business structure, the stakeholders involved and the existing governance issues of the business. It shows weak enforcement of legislation, the complexities emerging with numerous stakeholders, the profitability of informal recycling, little concern for the health damaging exposure for workers from poorest and most vulnerable people in society, and the lack of awareness of the hazards involved results in several governance issues. The paper also highlights how this business lacks characteristics of good governance, which makes it a challenge to control this business.Paper II assesses the social impacts of informal e-waste recycling in Pakistan using UNEP/SETAC guidelines for conducting a Social Lifecycle Analysis (SLCA). It showed that this business has positive impacts relating to societal issues and individual/family economics, and in the economic development of Pakistan but otherwise most impacts were negative. The findings of Paper II fill an important data gap and can be integrated with data on other stages of ICT product lifecycle to produce a full SLCA of such products.
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