Poster Session 2 (12:00 - 13:05 UTC)
Session Chairs - Joan Munoz & Eugene Mohareb
| Presentation Start Time | Poster title | Student's name (corresponding author) |
| 12:00:00 | Shifting diets in Brazil: Reducing trade-offs in the environment-nutrition nexus | Junwen Jia (Pan He) |
| 12:05:00 | Mitigating Environmental Impacts of Chicken Production – The Role of Co-product Valorisation | Yiming Sui |
| 12:10:00 | Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Heating Systems for a Housing Retrofit in the UK | Nao Shibata |
| 12:15:00 | Comparing the environmental impact of treatments for knee osteoarthritis: screening sources of uncertainty | Rebeka Anspach |
| 12:20:00 | LCA and circular systems evaluation: is LCA really capable of doing it? | Hazem |
| 12:25:00 | Developing a Stock-Flow Model for Circular Plastic Value Chains: Insights from Case Studies in Flanders | Sofie Férauge |
| 12:30:00 | Integrating urban metabolism with urban form, An example for buildings in Trondheim | Jiajia Li |
| 12:35:00 | Miscanthus and Biochar in Horticulture: An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Sustainable and Cascading Substrate Solutions | Johanna Ruett |
| 12:40:00 | Climate Change and Healthcare Settings (Cleaner NHS) | Asma Amamou |
| 12:45:00 | Current global wood harvest is sufficient for climate-friendly transition to timber cities | Alperen Yayla |
| 12:50:00 | Balancing Resource Use and Economic Growth: India, China and the Challenge of Ecological Unequal Exchange in Asia | Sangram Umesh Mane |
| 12:55:00 | Crushing it...? A first look at the Norwegian construction aggregates cycle through the lens of MFA | Jonna Ljunge |
| 13:05:00 | Modelling realistic UK building lifespans through GIS and dMFA | Kristopher Price |
POSTER ABSTRACTS
Shifting Diets in Brazil: Reducing Trade-offs in the Environment-Nutrition Nexus
Junwen Jia (Pan He)
Dietary patterns have been changing drastically in the past decades in Global South countries, resulting in increasing environmental impacts and changes in nutritional quality. However, the temporal changes in such interconnected outcomes and their socio-economic drivers remain relatively unexplored. This study investigated changes in the greenhouse gas emissions, acidifying emissions, eutrophying emissions, land use, and freshwater withdrawals of individual dietary patterns as well as their nutritional quality in Brazil between 2008-09 and 2017-18. The environment-nutrition nexus in Brazil has been substantially changed due to healthier diets leading to much lower environmental impacts in 2017-18 than 2008-09, primarily attributed to the reduction in the consumption of animal protein foods. This significant change indicates the trade-off between improving nutrition quality and reducing environmental impacts was reducing in Brazil.
Mitigating Environmental Impacts of Chicken Production – The Role of Co-product Valorisation
Yiming Sui
Chicken co-products are often valorised rather than consumed. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies commonly apply economic allocation method, resulting in lower burden for chicken co-products due to their lower price. This study conducts an LCA on one tonne of chicken co-products in the UK to evaluate the environmental burdens of different scenarios and analyse the impact of different allocation methods, comparing the current treatment with four scenarios: sending to pet food, rendering, incineration, or anaerobic digestion, using system expansion to assess the influence of avoided products. Global warming under economic allocation is 1953 kg CO2 eq/tonne lower than mass allocation. Sending to pet food is the most environmentally friendly option, while incineration generates the largest impacts. System expansion scenarios highlight that the choice of displaced products significantly influences LCA outcomes. However, the absolute reduction isn’t obvious in pet food scenario, suggesting alternative methods for chicken co-products to achieve substantial reductions.
Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Heating Systems for a Housing Retrofit in the UK
Nao Shibata
This study evaluates electric heating system retrofits in UK housing using Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) to identify the optimal option for sustainable retrofitting. A case study on a semi-detached house in Bristol assessed gas boilers (baseline), electric boilers, air source heat pumps (ASHP), and combinations with Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR). The environmental dimension, evaluated through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), focuses on upfront and operational CO2 emissions. The economic dimension, assessed using Life Cycle Costing (LCC), considers upfront installation and operational costs. The social dimension, analyzed by Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), examines thermal comfort, indoor air quality, and visual comfort from the occupant’s point of view. Results showed that ASHP provided the largest reduction in energy consumption and operational CO2 emissions, despite higher initial costs, offering valuable insights for homeowners considering sustainable retrofits.
Comparing the Environmental Impact of Treatments for Knee Osteoarthritis: Screening Sources of Uncertainty
Rebeka Anspach
Reflecting variability in life-cycle assessment (LCA) results is important for making reliable comparisons between product alternatives. To facilitate uncertainty analysis, LCA databases provide pre-characterised background inventories for uncertainty. This gives the possibility for modellers to include uncertainty in upstream production and supply processes, which, unlike the foreground model, are unmanageable to self-characterise. The aim of this study is to develop a screening tool which enables understanding the impact of these background uncertainties on output variance in comparison with other types of uncertainties which are characterised by the modeller (foreground process characteristics, material, and production location scenarios). The analysis is based on a case study which evaluates the effect of additive manufacturing on the environmental impact of treating knee osteoarthritis. The impact of including background uncertainties along with foreground uncertainties and scenarios on comparative LCAs conclusions are discussed.
LCA and Circular Systems Evaluation: Is LCA Really Capable of Doing It?
Hazem
Circular economy realization via circular strategies has been sought by societies, institutions, and governments, but if an ultimate goal is environmental sustainability, do circular strategies always lead to this or may actually go against this? LCA can perhaps answer this question at least on a system (micro) scale, however, is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a method ready to do so? In this ongoing research, we intend to discuss and provide a tutorial to address the most (claimed) methodological issues related to LCA that may prevent it from playing this role in evaluating circular strategies.
Developing a Stock-Flow Model for Circular Plastic Value Chains: Insights from Case Studies in Flanders
Sofie Férauge
This research develops a stock-flow and system dynamics-based framework to assess material stocks and flows in circular plastic value chains. Work Package 1 focuses on mapping current circular practices in Flanders through two case studies regarding industrial packaging. Material flow analysis (MFA) is used to quantify material lifetimes and stocks, offering insights into circularity strategies. Building on WP1, WP2 proposes a generic framework for stock-flow models applicable to the circular economy. This systematic approach aims to standardize the modeling of circularity strategies across product value chains, with a focus on plastics. The framework is developed iteratively and validated with case studies to guide decision-makers in assessing the impact of various circular strategies. Together, these work packages provide essential tools for evaluating resource efficiency and sustainability within circular economy systems, supporting informed decision-making for CE policy development.
Integrating Urban Metabolism with Urban Form: An Example for Buildings in Trondheim
Jiajia Li
Vehicles and roads are significant sources of emissions, and reducing transportation stocks through urban form can help mitigate climate change. We studied how urban form—including the spatial arrangement of buildings and characteristics like construction year and floor area—relates to vehicle ownership and road networks in different neighborhoods of Trondheim, Norway. Our findings show that private cars per person and vehicle road surface area per person negatively correlate with floor numbers and building coverage ratio. Conversely, these transportation stock metrics positively associate with the ratio of single-family houses to residential buildings, construction year, and garage floor area per person. Significant differences were also observed between the city center and rural areas. Our results can assist urban planners in developing strategies to reduce vehicle ownership and road infrastructure, thereby decreasing emissions associated with the transportation sector.
Miscanthus and Biochar in Horticulture: An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Sustainable and Cascading Substrate Solutions
Johanna Ruett
Conventional substrates like peat, stone wool, and coconut coir contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions in horticulture. Miscanthus and biochar offer sustainable alternatives, but their carbon footprint and economic impacts on crop yields still need to be studied. This study combines life cycle carbon footprint assessment and costing to analyze the Global Warming Potential and value chain costs of substrates in tomato cultivation in North-Rhine Westphalia. We compare conventional substrates with miscanthus-based substrates, both single-use and cascading, with and without 1-2% biochar. The results show that miscanthus-based substrates, especially when combined with biochar and cascading methods, reduce emissions and are cost-effective. Miscanthus-based substrates show significant emission savings, and adding biochar can enhance this reduction further. With carbon pricing and removal certificates, these alternatives could become more economically viable, contributing to a sustainable bioeconomy.
Climate Change and Healthcare Settings (Cleaner NHS)
Asma Amamou
The National Health Service (NHS), considered the world’s largest healthcare provider and Europe’s biggest employer, emits 6% of the UK’s total emissions. It has established a target to achieve net zero for the emissions it controls by 2040, setting out a pathway for incorporating net-zero commitments into the legislative framework through the Health and Care Act 2022. However, multiple impediments to the NHS net-zero goal attainment lie in the huge building stock with diverse styles and ages, immaturity of governing standards, and the absence of precise implementation in aligning actions with the stringent timelines mandated for the net-zero goal achievement. Additionally, adaptation strategies to climate change have been less explored. Hence, the purpose of this project is to investigate the decarbonisation process undertaken by this sector using the two sides of the same coin: mitigation and adaptation strategies consistent with net-zero in healthcare settings.
Current Global Wood Harvest is Sufficient for Climate-Friendly Transition to Timber Cities
Alperen Yayla
Decarbonising the economy requires a large-scale transition from fossil carbon-containing feedstocks to minerals and biomass, notably wood in buildings. Increasing harvesting is under discussion to meet the supply of wood for ‘timber cities’, with potentially negative impacts on forests and biodiversity. Here, we investigate pathways to timber cities, including their impacts on land use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions, by quantifying global and regional wood cycles using Bayesian material flow analysis. We show that shifting wood fuel to industrial use and maximising circular use of wood can make timber cities possible with the current harvest volume. Our results reveal that these pathways have better environmental performance than increased harvesting, reducing total CO2-eq. emissions by 2100 by 40.8 Gt compared to business as usual. To achieve the wood transition, regional and cross-sectoral governance and planning are needed, addressing national-level pathways and inter-regional wood transportation. The most critical actions are reducing the use of virgin wood as fuel by promoting cleaner alternatives, and using wood waste more effectively globally, rather than expanding plantation forests.
Balancing Resource Use and Economic Growth: India, China and the Challenge of Ecological Unequal Exchange in Asia
Sangram Umesh Mane
The growing global economy is causing rapid growth in global resource use and uneven concentration of environmental harm in the developing part of the world, especially in Asian countries. To analyze this, the study applies the theory of ecologically unequal exchange (EUE). The literature review revealed how international trade leads to an unequal exchange of ecological resources and environmental impacts. To test this, the study expanded on the core-periphery economy theory and analyzed whether India and China are acting as semi-periphery economies and causing EUE in Asia using primary export flows from poor Asian countries to China and India and its impact on their physical trade balance. The novelty of this study lies in a further analysis of the relationship between a country’s physical trade balance and human development. Regression analysis using material flow indicators and other socio-economic variables confirmed the validity and robustness of the hypotheses.
Crushing it…? A First Look at the Norwegian Construction Aggregates Cycle Through the Lens of MFA
Jonna Ljunge
Construction aggregates literally provide the foundation of urbanized society as key components of concrete, asphalt, and various other infrastructure applications. Norway, a country rich in quality rock for crushing, is one of the largest per-capita aggregate producers in Europe. However, its current, predominantly linear, aggregate supply chain is increasingly criticized for its impacts on material and land resource availability. A key issue is the systematic excavation and subsequent disposal of geomaterials as part of construction activities. Although these resources may demonstrate equivalent properties as the energy-intensive output from primary production, flows of construction excavation materials (CEMs) and their role in the aggregates cycle are poorly documented and understood. This work presents in-progress research towards a first quantification of the Norwegian construction aggregates system. A Material Flow Analysis is used to highlight critical information gaps and inefficient system configurations and discuss challenges and opportunities in improving resource management.
Modelling Realistic UK Building Lifespans Through GIS and dMFA
Kristopher Price
Building lifespans are used in a range of calculations, including embodied and operational emissions and life cycle assessments (LCAs). These emission assessment methods are becoming widely used across the construction industry and have now been ratified in standards, such as EN 15978 (European Standard). Despite progress towards standardisation across different industries, these methods often produce limited conclusions due to uncertainty in their results. The development of a methodology which enables building lifespans to be accurately estimated will reduce this uncertainty and allow building LCAs and other tools to become more conclusive, driving sustainable action. This study explores a methodology using geographic information system (GIS) data to model the UK building stock. This data, combined with dynamic material flow analysis (dMFA) and further data from the construction and demolition industries, results in a lifespan model of various widespread UK building typologies, broken down by both year and building use.
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