Search results for "Life cycle"

Life Cycle Assessment Performance Comparison of Small Solar Thermal Cooling Systems with Conventional Plants Assisted with Photovoltaics

2012

Abstract Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) allows for the consideration of energy consumption and environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life, from the cradle to the grave . Starting from the results obtained in the IEA SHC Task 38 framework for the LCA of small solar assisted heat driven chillers, the application of such methodology has been extended to systems with a conventional compression chiller assisted by a photovoltaic plant. This study aims to provide a more comprehensive investigation through a comparison of these two families of solar assisted cooling systems (with solar thermal or PV), which is an important topic for studies concerning the research of eff…

Energy balance and life cycle assessment of small size residential solar heating and cooling systems equipped with adsorption chillers

2017

Abstract Solar heating and cooling systems for space heating and cooling are experiencing a growing trend and interest. However, the actual energy and environmental performance of small/medium size installations is not clearly foreseeable. In this paper, an analysis of such systems using adsorption chillers in different European climates is presented. Solar systems have been simulated in TRNSYS and compared to a conventional system employing a vapour compression unit. The results have been used for a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, determining the potential impact during the whole life of the system, from raw materials supply to its end-of-life. The LCA has been carried out by using the …

Life cycle performance assessment of small solar thermal cooling systems and conventional plants assisted with photovoltaics

2014

Starting from the results of a Life Cycle Assessment of small solar assisted heat driven chillers, the application of such methodology has been extended to systems with a conventional compression chiller assisted by a photovoltaic plant (PV). This study aims to provide a comprehensive compared investigation of these two families of solar assisted cooling systems (with solar thermal or PV). Results indicate that, in many cases, the systems with the PV grid connected plant performed best. In addition, two more configurations were investigated to further define the PV assisted systems, which minimise their interaction with the grid through the use of electricity storages. These systems performed…

Comparison of the greenhouse gas emissions of a high-rise residential building assessed with different national LCA approaches– IEA EBC Annex 72

2020

Introduction: The international research project IEA EBC Annex 72 investigates the life cycle related environmental impacts caused by buildings. The project aims inter alia to harmonise LCA approaches on buildings. Methods: To identify major commonalities and discrepancies among national LCA approaches, reference buildings were defined to present and compare the national approaches. A residential high-rise building located in Tianjin, China, was selected as one of the reference buildings. The main construction elements are reinforced concrete shear walls, beams and floor slabs. The building has an energy reference area of 4566 m2 and an operational heating energy demand of 250 MJ/m2a. An ex…

ECO-design of solar driven systems: A performance comparison between the Italian and the Brazilian context

2013

The paper shows a comparative analysis of the performances of two typologies of solar assisted cooling systems for building applications. In particular, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to assess the energy and environmental impacts of solar-assisted, heat-driven chillers and conventional compression chillers driven by grid-connected and stand-alone photovoltaic configurations. LCA is applied in compliance with the international standards of ISO 14040. System boundaries are defined following a “cradle to grave” approach, taking into account all the life-cycle phases including the raw materials supply, the production of the components of the plant, the operation and mainten…

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF ITALIAN CITRUS BASED PRODUCTS. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS AND IMPROVMENT SCENARIOS

2010

Though many studies concern the agro-food sector in the EU and Italy, and its environmental impacts, literature is quite lacking in works regarding LCA application on citrus products. This paper represents one of the first studies on the environmental impacts of citrus products in order to suggest feasible strategies and actions to improve their environmental performance. In particular, it is part of a research aimed to estimate environmental burdens associated with the production of the following citrus-based products: essential oil, natural juice and concentrated juice from oranges and lemons. The life cycle assessment of these products, published in a previous paper, had highlighted sign…

Inequalities in Consumption Patterns over the Life Cycle and during the Great Recession

2015

The aim of the study is to analyse the relationship between recession, population structure and consumption behaviour over the life cycle. To this aim, we consider three clusters of non-durable expenditures such as food at home, work-related and core expenditures. The analysis has been performed on micro data on the Household Budgets for the period 1997-2013. Based on life cycle theory, two statistical models has been estimated, viz. a pre-crisis (1997-2007) and a great recession period (2008-2013) model. The study shows that the recession has entailed a reduction of the average expenditure for each category of consumption, and the intensity of the reduction is different among households an…

SyRAF - Synthesised Results and Applicable Findings of CEDR Call 2017 New Materials

2022

IT-Enabled Effective and Efficient International Technology Transfer for SMEs

1999

This study describes the introduction of a new international technology transfer paradigm. The essence of this new paradigm is based on IT-enabled ITT process. The modern business environment is overwhelmed by increased competition and uncertainty, rapid changes in technology, a diminished technology life cycle, and the advent of more powerful, cheaper and easier to use ITs. These factors reinforce the need for the investigation of globalization possibilities of western SMEs via the utilization of high potential ITs in ITT. The ITT process has become more efficient as new ITs are integrated with SMEs’ existing information systems. This type of integration also eliminates many barriers of di…

Optimal design of flax fiber reinforced polymer composite as a lightweight component for automobiles from a life cycle assessment perspective

2019

The present study combines the generalized rule-of-mixture (ROM) model and the Ashby material selection method for the life cycle assessment (LCA) of flax fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) and glass FRPs (GFRPs). The ROM model allows life cycle environmental impact predictions according to specific parameters of flax FRPs such as fiber format, volume fraction, manufacturing technique, and load-bearing capacity. The comparisons applied in this study are constructed on two common composite structures: mat panels and injection molded struts with equal stiffness and strength as the design criteria. On the one hand, the parametric LCA predicts that the equal strength design criterion for flax FRP…