Cleaner Environmental Systems最新文献

{"title":"Footprint cohesion and prevalence of environmental impact categories in blue mussel aquaculture life cycle assessments","authors":"Andreas Langdal ,&nbsp;Edel O. Elvevoll ,&nbsp;Ida-Johanne Jensen","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100286","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100286","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Aquaculture is promoted as a solution for strengthening food security. Non-fed organisms like blue mussels have gained interest as feed is a frequent hotspot in aquaculture. In this literature review, all published studies on environmental footprint evaluations with life cycle assessments (LCA) on blue mussel aquaculture, was assessed. Through harmonisation, the studies were enabled numerical comparison of the environmental footprints. It was found that blue mussel aquaculture LCA most frequently study some impact categories, resulting in an average global warming potential of 263 ± 179 (range 9.52–627) kg CO₂ eq.; eutrophication potential of 0.13 ± 0.33 (range −0.89 – 0.44) kg PO₄ eq.; and acidification potential of 2.072 ± 1.641 (range 0.71–6.5) kg SO₂ eq. per ton whole mussel. Consequently, significant gaps exist in several other impact categories, with some impact estimates varying by factor of thousand between the highest and lowest. Some aspects were found to deviate between the studies like how to handle carbon sequestration in the shell and bioremediation of nitrogen and phosphorous. The most analysed production method was variations of longlines; the most used life cycle impact assessment method was CML; and the most evaluated species was <em>M. galloprovincialis</em>. Many footprints were higher than previously assumed, but is still lower than many alternative food products. Future research should focus on establishing category rules or sector-wide agreements to address specific challenges, such as remediation of nutrients and carbon. Additionally, expanding the range of impact categories evaluated will help distinguish differences across case studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100286"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing environmental impacts of active fire protection and egress systems using environmental product declarations: A review","authors":"Mansoure Dormohamadi ,&nbsp;Kai Kanafani ,&nbsp;Harpa Birgisdottir ,&nbsp;Anders Dragsted ,&nbsp;Endrit Hoxha","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100280","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100280","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Integrating fire-safety measures in buildings are widely recognized as essential for minimizing fire risks and the associated environmental impacts. Comprehensive environmental impact assessments of buildings must extend system boundaries to include technical installations, encompassing fire-safety protection systems. However, designers and stakeholders currently lack consistent, comparable data for these systems, making it difficult to assess their environmental performance during the early design stages. With an increasing number of countries mandating life-cycle assessments (LCAs) for buildings, there will be a growing need for accessible data on fire-safety measures derived from Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). This study investigates data availability and the quality of environmental data for Active Fire Protection (AFP) and Egress (ME) systems using EPDs, which are often the most accessible and standardized sources of such data. Significant variation exists in the reporting and outcomes of EPDs. To ensure comparability across EPDs, this research employs data harmonization, aligning classification criteria and normalizing environmental data based on the functional performance of AFP and ME products. The analysis covers 157 third-party verified EN 15804 EPDs, representing 393 products, primarily from European manufacturers. Significant data gaps exist across 24 out of 32 categories of AFP and ME. Emergency lighting systems (52 %) and fire dampers (31 %) are the most frequently represented systems in the EPDs, while these two systems together with fire curtains exhibit the highest data dispersion across impact categories, complicating comparisons. Life-cycle stages A1–A3 were found to contribute most to the overall environmental impact across all systems. This underscores the value of integrating fire-safety EPDs into early-stage design decisions, where material and system choices have the greatest influence. Further research is required to improve the consistency and comparability of EPDs and to refine the impact calculations based on product specificity and functional performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100280"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144070981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) of formal and informal waste collectors in decentralized waste to compost facility","authors":"Azad Ibn Ashraf ,&nbsp;Eugene Mohareb ,&nbsp;Maria Vahdati ,&nbsp;Amith Khandakar","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100284","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100284","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The global generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) is expected to increase by 70 % by 2050, reaching 3.4 billion metric tons. Despite the need for proper waste management, less than 20 % of waste is recycled, and waste continues to end up in landfills. Waste management is a significant problem in Bangladesh and other rapidly urbanizing nations, exacerbated by densely populated housing coupled with inadequate infrastructure. The utilization of informal waste collectors arises from the government's frequent inability to offer sufficient waste collection and disposal services. A large number of Dhaka's informal sector workers depend on collecting waste for a living. In this study, the social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is applied to analyze the social implications of formal and informal waste collectors on the waste management process in Uttara, Dhaka. Working conditions, human rights, health and safety, and socio-economic repercussions are the four primary areas of focus for the S-LCA. For the assessment, an indicator score ranging from 2 (best performance) to −2 (poor performance) was used. The data revealed that informal workers scored 0 for fair salaries, but formal workers received 1, showing that formal workers adhere to higher standards. Both groups obtained an average score of −2 in the social security subcategory, which is much lower than anticipated. Formal workers scored −2 on health and safety, while informal workers scored −1, indicating serious inadequacies in both categories. These findings highlight the need for stronger legislation and support systems to enhance waste collectors' working conditions in Dhaka and other similar cities throughout the world, as well as the considerable socioeconomic challenges they confront.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100284"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143948626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental life cycle assessment of a commercial aquaponic system","authors":"Elisabet Freyja Henriksson ,&nbsp;Mugahid Elnour ,&nbsp;Michael Martin","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100282","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100282","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aimed to analyse the environmental performance of a commercial aquaponic system in Sweden. The system produces rainbow trout and 40+ varieties of leafy greens, edible flowers and herbs, about 50 % of which is lettuce, in total about 1200 kgs of plants was sold in 2022. Attributional life cycle assessment was employed to assess the environmental impacts of producing rainbow trout and leafy greens, with functional unit of 1 kg of leafy greens, employing system expansion for replaced conventionally produced trout. Results show a climate change impact of 3.94 kg CO₂eq/kg plant. The results suggest that energy, infrastructure, and consumables were the main contributors to most environmental impact categories of the modelled system. Electricity contributed to 52 % of climate change impacts. Specifically, electricity used for artificial lighting represents 45 % of the electricity use. Reduced photoperiod was found to lead to reduced impact in all impact categories assessed. Another scenario explored the use of an insect-based feed using insects produced in Sweden as a possible pathway for increased circularity of the system. For the insect-based feed results depended on modelling choices (e.g. burden or no burden) for the food waste used for insect farming. Furthermore, the results were sensitive to the choice of electricity mix employed. This study advances the LCA literature in aquaponics by providing an actual case study with empirical evidence of aquaponics' sustainability and improvement pathways. The evidence shows results that existing and future aquaponics systems can use to optimise their performance and address potential trade-offs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100282"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143929181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrating environmental costs when calculating the energy efficiency potential","authors":"Sonja Arnold-Keifer,&nbsp;Jasper Müller,&nbsp;Tim Mandel","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100281","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100281","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental pollution results in high costs for society in terms of transformation measures and adaptation to climate change. One way to directly measure and evaluate the impact of products, technologies and services on the environment is to introduce environmental costs. These costs can also be considered as avoided costs when it comes to savings opportunities. Integrating environmental costs in energy efficiency potential calculations allows stakeholders and decision-makers to compare the outcomes of different opportunities and can help to allocate the occurring damage directly to the consumer in order to create incentives. This paper incorporates environmental costs for greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions into the energy cost curve (CSC) by adding environmental damage costs of electricity generation to the energy price. Specifically, an environmental damage cost of electricity generation of 2.67 EUR-ct₂₀₂₂/kWh, with variations explored in a sensitivity analysis. Accounting for these environmental costs reduces the specific costs of conserved energy (SCCE), demonstrating a positive effect on the economic viability and cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency measures, and providing a more accurate assessment of the true impact of environmental pollution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100281"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143917771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Attributional life cycle assessment of recycling and disposal strategies for construction and demolition waste","authors":"Qudsia Kanwal ,&nbsp;Guochang Xu ,&nbsp;Ziad Gari ,&nbsp;Ream S. Alhusainan ,&nbsp;Sami G. Al-Ghamdi","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100283","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100283","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The management of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) poses significant environmental challenges in Saudi Arabia, exacerbated by rapid urbanization and the Giga Projects under Vision 2030. This study presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of CDW management practices across seventeen municipalities, providing the first region-specific evaluation of environmental impacts using comprehensive data. By integrating primary and secondary data from local sources, Ecoinvent 3.91, and GaBi Sphera, the study evaluates key CDW disposal methods: sanitary landfilling, incineration, and recycling. The findings reveal that advanced recycling infrastructure (e.g., compactor trucks, recycling facilities) significantly reduces non-renewable energy use, Global Warming Potential (GWP), and downstream emissions, particularly in high CDW-generating regions like Riyadh and Jeddah. Notably, recycling achieves a GWP reduction of up to 75 million kg CO₂-eq annually for key materials like mixed soil and concrete. Furthermore, the study contributes to global CDW management literature by presenting a replicable LCA framework that can be applied to other rapidly urbanizing economies facing similar waste management challenges. This framework offers valuable insights for policymakers, urban planners, and researchers seeking to develop sustainable CDW management strategies aligned with circular economy principles and international sustainability goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100283"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144134955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A systems approach to circular economy transition: Creating causal loop diagrams for the Icelandic building industry","authors":"Agusta Thora Jonsdottir ,&nbsp;Lara Johannsdottir ,&nbsp;Brynhildur Davidsdottir","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100276","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100276","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The circular economy is high on the political agenda as a solution to minimize raw material use and carbon footprints across socio-economic systems. Each country must follow its path to achieving circularity, and businesses must seek new types of sustainable and circular business models. This study aims to analyze the Icelandic building industry as a case study from a systems perspective to identify the systemic forces influencing the adoption of circular business models. The study formulates dynamic hypotheses regarding implementing circular strategies, represented as causal loop diagrams (CLDs). Following qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews and group model building. The dynamic hypotheses proposed to explain the system's internal behavior that drives its dynamic around four critical problems: 1) Lack of the snowballing effect. 2) Lack of regulatory policies for improving environmental performance. 3) Lack of public demand for implementing circular strategies. And 4) A conservative culture within the industry. The study identifies a gap in the literature by highlighting the need to examine the dynamics between barriers in implementing circular strategies during the transition toward a circular economy rather than analyzing them in isolation. Its theoretical contribution lies in advancing the understanding of complex dynamics, enriching transition theory as it applies to circular economy transition. This approach also reinforces the business case for sustainability while aligning with stakeholder theory, offering a more holistic perspective on enabling systemic change. The study provides business leaders and policymakers with an analysis identifying actionable recommendations for regulatory reforms, supporting the transition toward a circular economy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100276"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143917770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Embedding sustainability in higher education institutions: A review of practices and challenges","authors":"Samhita Ankareddy ,&nbsp;Gregor Dorfleitner ,&nbsp;Lin Zhang ,&nbsp;Yong Sik Ok","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100279","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100279","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Higher education institutions (HEIs) contribute to society and the planet by producing future implementers of sustainability, addressing the climate crisis, and promoting nature-positive actions through research. Despite their positive contributions, given the total number of HEIs globally, and the scale at which they operate, their environmental footprint negatively impacts the environment. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alone were insufficient to integrate sustainability in HEIs without initiatives by universities and non-profits. An analysis of the past and current state of sustainability integration in HEIs reveals a disparity in sustainability reporting and rankings between the Global North and Global South. Furthermore, the number of universities participating in sustainability reporting and rankings is significantly low. Sustainability in HEIs must extend beyond curriculum and research, requiring standardized reporting frameworks, adequate budgets for enforcing sustainability, better impact assessment metrics, and support for the Global South.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100279"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144067942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Always to neglect? About the contribution of tooling to product carbon footprints – Conclusions from literature, industry survey, and case studies","authors":"Kai Rüdele ,&nbsp;Barbara Linke ,&nbsp;Matthias Wolf","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100277","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100277","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The product carbon footprint (PCF) is a fundamental tool that offers a comprehensive analysis of emissions on the product level to re-think product designs and industrial processes to launch new climate benign products. Methodical issues associated with the determination of PCFs have been discussed for a long time. This article aims to assess the up to now unexplored inclusion of manufacturing tools as contributor to industrial process emissions. Based on literature and results of a previous survey, it can be concluded that the production and use of tools is barely considered in PCF studies and viewed as less significant than other inputs. However, supplementary case studies conducted in the automotive supply industry show that in individual cases greenhouse gas emissions related to tool use can have a considerable effect on the PCF, depending on the process and production volume. Based on these findings, we developed a guide to support the decision on whether to incorporate or exclude tool consumption in PCF studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100277"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143904235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Life cycle assessment of a semi-industrial infant milk formula powder and of a low-heat alternative process involving membrane filtration","authors":"Michèle Gaillard,&nbsp;Emma Saint-Preux,&nbsp;Amélie Deglaire,&nbsp;Emeline Goussé,&nbsp;Gaelle Tanguy,&nbsp;Nadine Leconte,&nbsp;Geneviève Gésan-Guiziou,&nbsp;Fanny Guyomarc'h,&nbsp;Juliane Floury","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100278","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100278","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Infant formulas provide the necessary nutrients to infants aged 0–6 months whenever breastfeeding is restrained. Their production must balance nutritional quality, environmental sustainability and economic profitability in the manufacturing process. Traditional heat treatment processes, such as pasteurization, ensure microbiological safety but lead to protein denaturation and Maillard reaction, thereby diminishing the nutritional quality of the product. New processes involve low-heat sanitation using membrane microfiltration to also maintain protein quality. Life Cycle Assessment was used to compare the potential environmental impacts of the production of infant formula powder via the classic route (using pasteurization) or the alternative route (using microfiltration) at a semi-industrial scale. No matter the sanitation procedure, the production of milk and oil ingredients exhibited the largest contribution to impacts, followed by evaporation and spray-drying, i.e. unit operations with energy-consuming water evaporation. Closer insight on sanitation operations revealed that while pasteurization and microfiltration are comparable across various impact categories, microfiltration demands significant water and detergent for cleaning, whereas pasteurization is energy-intensive during its steady-state phase. Although energy consumption is reduced, 1 kg of infant formula produced through the alternative route emits 11.1 kg of CO₂ equivalent, against 10.4 for the classic route. The higher impact of the alternative route on climate change, as well as on other agriculture-related impact categories, is primarily attributed to the increased demand for skim milk to implement microfiltration. Sensitivity analyses revealed strategies to reduce infant formula's environmental impacts, such as using liquid ingredients to avoid drying or increasing pre-evaporation dry matter to save energy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"17 ","pages":"Article 100278"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143898934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}