scholarly journals Knowledge Mapping of Carbon Footprint Research in a LCA Perspective: A Visual Analysis Using CiteSpace

Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 818
Author(s):  
Shihu Zhong ◽  
Rong Chen ◽  
Fei Song ◽  
Yanmin Xu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Dairy Industry ◽  
Knowledge Map ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Citespace Analysis

Carbon emissions are inevitably linked to lifestyle and consumption behaviours, and the concept of “carbon footprinting” is now well-recognised beyond academia. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the primary tools for assessing carbon footprints. The aim of this paper is to present a systematic review of literatures focusing on carbon footprint calculated with life cycle assessment. We used CiteSpace software to draw the knowledge map of related research to identify and trace the knowledge base and frontier terminology. It was found that the LCA application in respects of carbon footprint studies was completed mainly for the following aspect: beef production and dairy industry, seafood and fishery, nutrition, urban structure and energy use. The CiteSpace analysis showed the development path of the above aspects, for example, beef production and dairy industry has been a long-term topic in this kind of research, while the topic of nutrition appeared in recent years. There was also a cluster of literature discussing footprint evaluation tools, such as comparing LCA with input–output analysis. The CiteSpace analysis indicated that earlier methodological literature still plays an important role in recent research. Moreover, through the analysis of burst keywords, it was found that agriculture productions (dairy, meat, fish, crop) as well as global climate issues (greenhouse gases emission, global warming potential) have always been the areas of concern, which matches the result of co-citation analysis. Building materials (low-carbon building, natural buildings, sustainable buildings) and soil issues (soil carbon sequestration, soil organic carbon) are the topics of recent concern, which could arouse the attention of follower-up researchers.

scholarly journals Sustainable Reuse of Military Facilities with a Carbon Inventory: Kinmen, Taiwan

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1810
Author(s):  
Hua-Yueh Liu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Cell System ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
Military Facilities ◽  
Construction Operation

Military government was lifted from Kinmen in 1992. The opening-up of cross-strait relations transformed the island into a tourist destination. This transformation led to electricity and water shortages in Kinmen. With the reduction in the number of troops, military facilities fell into disuse and are now being released for local government use. The aim of this project was to monitor the carbon footprint of a reused military facility during renovation of the facility. The LCBA-Neuma system, a local carbon survey software developed by the Low Carbon Building Alliance (LCBA) and National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, was used in this project. The system analyzes the carbon footprint of the various phases of the building life cycle (LC) during renovation and carbon compensation strategies were employed to achieve the low carbon target. This project has pioneered the transformation of a disused military facility using this approach. The carbon footprint of energy uses during post-construction operation (CFeu) accounted for the majority of carbon emissions among all stages, at 1,088,632.19 kgCO2e/60y, while the carbon footprint of the new building materials (CFm) was the second highest, at 214,983.66 kgCO2e/60y. Installation of a solar cell system of 25.2 kWp on the rooftop as a carbon offset measure compensated for an estimated 66.1% of the total life-cycle carbon emissions. The findings of this study show that the process of reusing old military facilities can achieve the ultimate goal of zero carbon construction and sustainable development.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment of New High Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) Modules and Multi-Junction Cells

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2916
Author(s):  
Jérôme Payet ◽  
Titouan Greffe
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Active Material ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
High Concentration

Worldwide electricity consumption increases by 2.6% each year. Greenhouse gas emissions due to electricity production raise by 2.1% per year on average. The development of efficient low-carbon-footprint renewable energy systems is urgently needed. CPVMatch investigates the feasibility of mirror or lens-based High Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV) systems. Thanks to innovative four junction solar cells, new glass coatings, Position Sensitive Detectors (PSD), and DC/DC converters, it is possible to reach concentration levels higher than 800× and a module efficiency between 36.7% and 41.6%. From a circular economy’s standpoint, the use of concentration technologies lowers the need in active material, increases recyclability, and reduces the risk of material contamination. By using the Life Cycle Assessment method, it is demonstrated that HCPV presents a carbon footprint ranking between 16.4 and 18.4 g CO2-eq/kWh. A comparison with other energy means for 16 impact categories including primary energy demand and particle emissions points out that the environmental footprint of HCPV is typically 50 to 100 times lower than fossil fuels footprint. HCPV’s footprint is also three times lower than that of crystalline photovoltaic solutions and is close to the environmental performance of wind power and hydropower.

scholarly journals Digital Twin Aided Sustainability and Vulnerability Audit for Subway Stations

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 7873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sakdirat Kaewunruen ◽  
Shijie Peng ◽  
Olisa Phil-Ebosie
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Information Model ◽  
Subway Station ◽  
Digital Twin ◽  
Subway Stations ◽  
The Cost

Digital twin (DT) or so-called ‘building information model (BIM)’ has brought great revolution to the current building industry. Its applications to life cycle management of buildings and infrastructures can further increase the social and economic benefits. As a complete information model, a digital twin integrates the information of a project from different stages of the life cycle into a model, in order to facilitate better asset management and communicate through data visualizations with participants. This paper unprecedently introduces a digital-twin aided life cycle assessment to evaluate a subway station. Dadongmen subway station in Hefei was used as a case study. This new study benchmarks the cost estimation and carbon emission at each life cycle stage of the project. The cost in the construction stage of the project is the highest, accounting for 78% of the total cost. However, the amount of carbon emissions in the operation and maintenance is higher than the amount during the production of building materials, accounting for 67%. Among them, concrete only accounts for 43.66% of the carbon emissions of building materials, even though concrete was mainly used for constructing the metro station. Steel bar and aluminum alloy have carbon emissions of 29.73% and 17.64%, respectively. In addition, emerging risks of the subway stations can be identified. The digital twin has been used to illustrate vulnerability and potential solutions to emerging risks, and to assess the suitability through life cycle cost and carbon footprint. This initiative is relatively new to the industry. The new insight into life cycle assessment or LCA (especially carbon footprint over the life cycle) integrated with digital twin applications will enable sustainable development that will enhance resilience of metro railway systems globally.

scholarly journals Environmental impact of primary beef production chain in Colombia: Carbon footprint, non-renewable energy and land use using Life Cycle Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 773 ◽  
pp. 145573
Author(s):  
Ricardo González-Quintero ◽  
Diana María Bolívar-Vergara ◽  
Ngonidzashe Chirinda ◽  
Jacobo Arango ◽  
Heiber Pantevez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Production Chain

scholarly journals Study on Low Carbon Transition for Hazardous Chemical Packaging Based on Life Cycle Assessment and Grey Model

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhijie Feng ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
Shuai Wang ◽  
Qian Hou
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Grey Model ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Hazardous Chemicals ◽  
Low Carbon Economy ◽  
Hazardous Chemical

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the development trend of hazardous chemical packaging towards low carbon economy from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Four types of relatively small volume packaging with volume/weight less than 450L/400kg, respectively, and three intermediate bulk containers (IBCs), which are widely used for hazardous chemicals were studied to calculate the carbon footprint (CF) from cradle to grave using life cycle assessment (LCA) method and to predict the future carbon emission of hazardous chemical packaging in the next five years (2016-2020), based on the export data of Tianjin Port in China. Grey model (GM) was adopted in the prediction. The results showed that majority of IBCs have lower carbon footprint than other types when the packaging contained same amount of same hazardous chemical. With the development of international trading, the demand of hazardous chemicals will increase as well. As the result, carbon emission generated by hazardous chemical packaging will increase accordingly. However, based on GM simulation result, increasing the amount of IBC use will effectively reduce the relative amount of carbon emission.

scholarly journals Comparative Study on Life-Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint of Hybrid, Concrete and Timber Apartment Buildings in Finland

2022 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 774
Author(s):  
Roni Rinne ◽  
Hüseyin Emre Ilgın ◽  
Markku Karjalainen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Building Life Cycle

To date, in the literature, there has been no study on the comparison of hybrid (timber and concrete) buildings with counterparts made of timber and concrete as the most common construction materials, in terms of the life cycle assessment (LCA) and the carbon footprint. This paper examines the environmental impacts of a five-story hybrid apartment building compared to timber and reinforced concrete counterparts in whole-building life-cycle assessment using the software tool, One Click LCA, for the estimation of environmental impacts from building materials of assemblies, construction, and building end-of-life treatment of 50 years in Finland. Following EN 15978, stages of product and construction (A1–A5), use (B1–B6), end-of-life (C1–C4), and beyond the building life cycle (D) were assessed. The main findings highlighted are as following: (1) for A1–A3, the timber apartment had the smallest carbon footprint (28% less than the hybrid apartment); (2) in A4, the timber apartment had a much smaller carbon footprint (55% less than the hybrid apartment), and the hybrid apartment had a smaller carbon footprint (19%) than the concrete apartment; (3) for B1–B5, the carbon footprint of the timber apartment was larger (>20%); (4) in C1–C4, the carbon footprint of the concrete apartment had the lowest emissions (35,061 kg CO2-e), and the timber apartment had the highest (44,627 kg CO2-e), but in D, timber became the most advantageous material; (5) the share of life-cycle emissions from building services was very significant. Considering the environmental performance of hybrid construction as well as its other advantages over timber, wood-based hybrid solutions can lead to more rational use of wood, encouraging the development of more efficient buildings. In the long run, this will result in a higher proportion of wood in buildings, which will be beneficial for living conditions, the environment, and the society in general.

scholarly journals A sustainable wood biorefinery for low–carbon footprint chemicals production

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (6484) ◽  
pp. 1385-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhe Liao ◽  
Steven-Friso Koelewijn ◽  
Gil Van den Bossche ◽  
Joost Van Aelst ◽  
Sander Van den Bosch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Gas Phase ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Bioethanol Production ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Printing Ink ◽  
Lower Carbon

The profitability and sustainability of future biorefineries are dependent on efficient feedstock use. Therefore, it is essential to valorize lignin when using wood. We have developed an integrated biorefinery that converts 78 weight % (wt %) of birch into xylochemicals. Reductive catalytic fractionation of the wood produces a carbohydrate pulp amenable to bioethanol production and a lignin oil. After extraction of the lignin oil, the crude, unseparated mixture of phenolic monomers is catalytically funneled into 20 wt % of phenol and 9 wt % of propylene (on the basis of lignin weight) by gas-phase hydroprocessing and dealkylation; the residual phenolic oligomers (30 wt %) are used in printing ink as replacements for controversial para-nonylphenol. A techno-economic analysis predicts an economically competitive production process, and a life-cycle assessment estimates a lower carbon dioxide footprint relative to that of fossil-based production.

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