Search results for "Life Cycle Assessment"
showing 10 items of 172 documents
The Role of re-design for Additive Manufacturing on the Process Environmental Performance
2018
Abstract At present, economic and technological design criteria for products and processes should be matched with the minimization of environmental impact objectives. Manufacturing, material production, and product design are strictly connected stages. The choice of a production system over another could result in significant material and energy/resource savings, particularly if the component has been properly designed for manufacturing. In this scenario, Additive Manufacturing, which has been identified as a potential disruptive technology, gained an increasing interest for the creation of complex metal parts. The paper focuses on the tools, based on the holistic modelling of additive and …
Evaluation of the Economic and Environmental Performance of Low-Temperature Heat to Power Conversion using a Reverse Electrodialysis – Multi-Effect D…
2019
In the examined heat engine, reverse electrodialysis (RED) is used to generate electricity from the salinity difference between two artificial solutions. The salinity gradient is restored through a multi-effect distillation system (MED) powered by low-temperature waste heat at 100 °C. The current work presents the first comprehensive economic and environmental analysis of this advanced concept, when varying the number of MED effects, the system sizing, the salt of the solutions, and other key parameters. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) has been calculated, showing that competitive solutions can be reached only when the system is at least medium to large scale. The lowest LCOE, at a…
Energy and Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of asphalt pavements: A Scenario Analysis for Urban Roads
2018
This paper aims at calculating the life-cycle energy and the environmental impacts pertaining to roads management, including materials production, transportation, construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation. A life-cycle approach is applied to assess energy and environmental impacts of a typical Italian urban road, according to the ISO 14040 series. In more detail, the Authors assess the energy and environmental profile of different optimized scenarios of bituminous mixtures. The aim of scenario analysis is to identify the less impacting scenario from an energy and environmental point of view. For each analysed scenario, the contribution of each life-cycle step to the total impacts and th…
LCA of an Asphalt Mixture Produced in a Southern Italian Plant: Analysis and Perspectives
2021
In recent years, a growing attention on environmental issues affecting all fields and procedures of the productive sectors has raised, aiming to reduce energy and raw-material consumptions and pollution effects on environment. Due to the involved volumes and to the nature of the related materials and productive processes, the civil and road sectors have been strongly invested by this change of perspective. Therefore, a proper estimation of the environmental impacts for the entire life cycle of the asphalt mixtures for road construction and maintenance activities is extremely important. For performing similar investigations, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become one of the most reliable and…
Sustainability evaluation of Sicily's lemon and orange production: An energy, economic and environmental analysis
2013
The island of Sicily has a long standing tradition in citrus growing. We evaluated the sustainability of orange and lemon orchards, under organic and conventional farming, using an energy, environmental and economic analysis of the whole production cycle by using a life cycle assessment approach. These orchard systems differ only in terms of a few of the inputs used and the duration of the various agricultural operations. The quantity of energy consumption in the production cycle was calculated by multiplying the quantity of inputs used by the energy conversion factors drawn from the literature. The production costs were calculated considering all internal costs, including equipment, materi…
Embodied energy and environmental impacts of a biomass boiler: a life cycle approach
2015
The 2030 policy framework for climate and energy, proposed by the European Commission, aims towards the reduction of European greenhouse gas emissions by 40% in comparison to the 1990 level and to increase the share of renewable energy of at least the 27% of the European's energy consumption of 2030. The use of biomass as sustainable and renewable energy source may be a viable tool for achieving the above goals. However, renewable energy technologies are not totally clean because they cause energy and environmental impacts during their life cycle, and in particular they are responsible of air pollutant emissions. In this context, the paper assesses the energy and environmental impacts of a …
Forest operations in coppice: Environmental assessment of two different logging methods
2016
Wood is a renewable resource and it actively contributes to enhance energy production under a sustainable perspective. However, harvesting, transport and use of wood imply several consequences and impacts on environment. There are different ways for managing forests dedicated to wood production and a sustainable approach is fundamental to preserve the resource. In this context, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a useful tool for estimating the environmental impacts related to renewable resources. Traditional coppice is a common approach for forest management in several areas, including southern Europe and, specifically, Italy, Spain and the Balkans. Due to different terrain conditions, differe…
Towards more sustainable airfield pavements using life-cycle assessment of design alternatives
2020
Airports are critical infrastructures and their success is paramount to development through tourism, trade and connectivity. Within the airport, the runway pavement must always be in a pristine condition. Consequently, pavement design and maintenance decisions are vital. Authorities must make decisions concerning preferred materials for design and maintenance. Decisions should be balanced by both economic and environmental factors. This paper considers a case study at Falcone Borsellino Airport (PMO), Palermo, Italy, where air traffic has been steadily increasing. Different pavements are proposed: flexible Asphaltic concrete designs with both traditional Asphaltic concrete and using reclaim…
Life cycle assessment of a solar thermal collector: sensitivity analysis, energy and environmental balances
2005
Abstract Starting from the results of a life cycle assessment of solar thermal collector for sanitary warm water, an energy balance between the employed energy during the collector life cycle and the energy saved thanks to the collector use has been investigated. A sensitivity analysis for estimating the effects of the chosen methods and data on the outcome of the study was carried out. Uncertainties due to the eco-profile of input materials and the initial assumptions have been analysed. Since the study is concerned with a renewable energy system, attention has been focused on the energy indexes and in particular the “global energy consumption”. Following the principles of Kyoto Protocol, …
Life cycle assessment of a solar thermal collector
2005
Abstract The renewable energy sources are often presented as ‘clean’ sources, not considering the environmental impacts related to their manufacture. The production of the renewable plants, like every production process, entails a consumption of energy and raw materials as well as the release of pollutants. Furthermore, the impacts related to some life cycle phases (as maintenance or installation) are sometimes neglected or not adequately investigated. The energy and the environmental performances of one of the most common renewable technologies have been studied: the solar thermal collector for sanitary warm water demand. A life cycle assessment (LCA) has been performed following the inter…