Cleaner Environmental Systems最新文献

{"title":"Sustainability assessment of blood orange production in sicily through the application of the SAFA framework","authors":"Alessandro Scuderi,&nbsp;Gaetano Chinnici,&nbsp;Carla Zarbà,&nbsp;Mariarita Cammarata,&nbsp;Roberta Maria Gravagno","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Sicilian blood orange, a Protected Geographical Indication product, represents a significant production sector for the Sicilian territory. In this context, the objective of this paper was to conduct a sustainability assessment comparing the organic and the conventional production systems with the aim to identify their respective strengths and weaknesses. In order to achieve this objective, the <em>Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems</em> (SAFA), a framework developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2012 for the evaluation of sustainability across the agri-food value chain, was employed. No notable differences were identified between the organic and conventional production systems, although the organic farms demonstrated a better performance in the environmental dimension. This initial approach to the sustainability assessment of the Sicilian blood orange PGI (<em>Protected Geographical Indication</em>) represents a valuable foundation for promoting Sicilian blood oranges as a high-quality product, associated with the commitment to sustainable production. In evaluating the potential of the SAFA for sustainability assessment, this framework, with its holistic approach, offers a valuable tool for understanding the multifaceted aspects of sustainability. Indeed, this assessment enabled the formulation of recommendations for the enhancement of the overall sustainability performance of the citrus farms. However, the SAFA framework appears too complex to measure the sustainability performances of small and medium-sized farms, particularly with regard to the collection of quantitative data. Accordingly, certain adaptations were always required to more accurately assess this particular context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100293"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330305","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":"Evaluating sustainable building strategies: Life cycle comparison of demountable and conventional built-environment structures","authors":"Shoukat Alim Khan ,&nbsp;Hüseyin İlcan ,&nbsp;Oğuzhan Şahin ,&nbsp;Mohammad Jassim ,&nbsp;Ehsan Aminipour ,&nbsp;Şaban Akduman ,&nbsp;Alper Aldemir ,&nbsp;Muammer Koç ,&nbsp;Mustafa Şahmaran","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100292","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100292","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigated the environmental sustainability performance and implications of two different types of building structures: Lego-like demountable and conventional building structures and this assessment encompassed both novel geopolymer-based concrete and ordinary Portland cement-based concrete materials. In the scope of this study, the environmental impact of novel construction and demolition waste (CDW)-based materials and demountable structures was quantified. Environmental implications of novel CDW-based material were unveiled through a comparison between the novel CDW-based geopolymer concrete and traditional cement-based concrete. A comparative analysis was also conducted between demountable and conventional construction systems to identify the hot spot of the developed demountable system process. The study involved modelling and analyzing the production and manufacturing processes through the utilization of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool. The results indicated that the demountable structure using cement-based concrete had more significant environmental implications compared to its counterpart using an equivalent volume of geopolymer concrete. The environmental impact of the building constructed using the fully demountable system was higher than that of the building constructed using the conventional system. However, cyclic use led to undeniable reductions in the overall environmental impact of demountable system. The steel necessary for the fully demountable systems emerged as a significant hotspot, contributing to substantial environmental impacts in all scenarios, primarily due to its energy-intensive production process.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100292"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144330304","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 clinker and cement production in Spain. Environmental assessment of decarbonisation measures","authors":"Ana María Santos-Montes ,&nbsp;Yolanda González-Arechavala ,&nbsp;Carlos Martin-Sastre ,&nbsp;Léonard Lefranc ,&nbsp;José Ignacio Linares","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100290","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100290","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the environmental impacts of clinker and cement production in Spain, focusing on the effects of current practices and future decarbonisation strategies through a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA). Three scenarios were analysed: the baseline scenario, which uses global statistical data on the production and consumption of raw materials and energy in Spain in 2021, and two future scenarios for 2030 and 2050. The impact of implementing various decarbonisation measures proposed in the Spanish cement sector roadmap was evaluated and analysed in the future scenarios. These measures primarily include substituting fossil fuels with biomass- and waste-derived fuels, improving thermal efficiency, and reducing the clinker-to-cement ratio. The results showed that, in six out of the eleven environmental impact categories assessed, impacts were reduced, while increases were observed in the remaining five categories. Global Warming Potential stands out among the categories with reduced impacts, with reductions of 18 % and 36 % projected for cement production in 2030 and 2050, respectively. On the other hand, the categories that showed increased impacts are mainly associated with the greater use of biomass-derived fuels, suggesting the convenience of further exploring their potential implications on the sector's overall environmental performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100290"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144306982","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":"Mind the method! A systematic literature review of the methodological choices used to assess the environmental impacts of diets","authors":"Yanne Goossens,&nbsp;Thomas G. Schmidt","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100289","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100289","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Our food system is a major driver of environmental impacts, and a large proportion of these impacts are due to animal-based foods and food loss and waste. In recent years, many studies have been published looking at the environmental impact of our diets, often in the context of a shift towards a Planetary Health Diet or other environmentally friendly diets. Each study hereby relies on a number of methodological decisions that affect the calculations. We systematically reviewed the methodological decisions made for assessing the environmental performance of diets in literature. We searched the Web of Science database and identified 301 relevant studies published between 1992 and 2022. The aim was to analyse the comparability of methodological approaches, not to evaluate results of individual studies. The review highlights methodological challenges, as many different methodological choices can be made, not all of which can be correct and can often lead to over- or underestimation of the calculated impacts. For example, half of the studies considered only one environmental concern, mostly climate change, and only a third of the assessments considered all life cycle stages. We also found a lack of transparency, particularly when it comes to how food loss and waste are taken into account. Unless we get our methodologies right and aligned, we risk not measuring the right things and masking trade-offs between impacts in impact categories or life cycle stages. We therefore call for greater transparency and a more standardised and holistic assessment of the environmental performance of diets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100289"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144231901","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":"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":"Implications of technological improvement and circular agriculture on environmental sustainability of sugarcane production","authors":"Aakriti Deuja ,&nbsp;Min Hein Khant ,&nbsp;Thapat Silalertruksa ,&nbsp;Shabbir H. Gheewala ,&nbsp;Trakarn Prapaspongsa","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100285","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100285","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The spatially differentiated environmental impacts and associated costs of technological improvement and circular agricultural practices in sugarcane production were assessed. Analysis of the cause-effect relationship between the key processes and substances each helped develop alternative scenarios for impact reduction. PM_2.5 emissions contributed to 92 % of the total human health impacts from open burning of field residues. Freshwater ecotoxicity, mainly due to ametryn emissions from pesticide application, contributed to 47 % of the total damage to the ecosystem. The environmental costs were 116 % higher than the value of sugarcane production, signifying the critical importance of adopting alternative pathways that provide economic benefits from environmental cost reduction compared to the production value. Scenarios considering green cane harvesting and waste management approaches demonstrated high potential for total impact reduction of 99 % and 97 %, respectively, and economic gains of 202 and 225 billion THB, respectively (5.76 and 6.42 billion USD, respectively). The economic benefits of waste utilization were 137 % higher than the value of sugarcane production, demonstrating the potential benefits of product substitution to help mitigate impacts. The core findings highlight the significance of the PM_2.5 impact-related external costs and underscore the benefits of adopting green cane harvesting in conjunction with on-field waste utilization to mitigate the impact of open burning and produce value-added products. Technological improvement and circular agricultural practices coupled with valuation of spatially differentiated impacts can provide useful and more accurate information to policymakers, to prioritize the implementation of mitigation strategies for enhancing the environmental sustainability of sugarcane production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"18 ","pages":"Article 100285"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167101","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}