1,721,119 research outputs found
Environmental and economic assessment of durability of energy-using products: Method and application to a case-study vacuum cleaner
No full textThe article focuses on the quantitative assessment of the benefits and/or burdens of extending the lifetime of products. Longer lasting products can be less efficient than newer one, implying higher energy consumption, environmental impacts and costs. The article illustrates a set of indicators, named "Pro-EnDurAncE" (Environmental and Economic Assessment of Durability of Products), developed for the assessment of products durability from both environmental and economic perspectives. Pro-EnDurAncE indicators have been structured to capture various relevant aspects, as the impacts and costs of the studied product and of potentially replacing products, the maintenance and repair, the lifetime extension and the use of energy and auxiliary materials during the operation. The proposed indicators were illustrated upon a case-study vacuum cleaner. It resulted that extending the lifetime of this product produce environmental and economic benefits in the large majority of scenarios considered. For example, when the impacts of repair are negligible, the extension of the lifetime by 250 h (i.e. 5 years) avoids around 4.2% of Global Warming Potential impact compared to the replacement of the vacuum cleaner with a new one 15% more energy efficient. Analogously, despite the occurring repair costs, the economic benefits for extending the lifetime by 250 h are equal to 40€ (i.e. about 8.6% of the life cycle costs) compared to the replacement with a new product 15% more energy efficient. The article concludes that the Pro- EnDurAncE indicators are applicable to investigate the durability of products in several different scenarios and they are robust and flexible since the assessment can based on a large number of parameters and different scenarios. These indicators can be used to assess product at the design stage or to support policy measures to promote more durable products
Ten years of scientific support for integrating circular economy requirements in the EU ecodesign directive: Overview and lessons learnt
Full text linkThe paper presents and analyses the REAPro Research programme led at the JRC that allowed the Commission to move from the formulation in 2011 of a general policy need to improve circularity of products through design, to the concrete implementation in 2019 of innovative and ambitious circular economy criteria in entry market European legislation. This policy innovation entailed the robust development of complementary components along the policy process, including policy agenda setting (better formulation of the policy need), policy formulation (e.g. identification of indicators to measure resource efficiency of products), and policy implementation (initiation of standardization activities). The paper looks back into 10 years of scientific support to policy and draws some conclusions concerning the needs of scientific support for policy making
Advancing on comparability aspects for Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint
Full text linkThe Environmental Footprint (EF), with its Product and Organisation Environmental Footprint (PEF and OEF), is the method adopted by the European Commission to assess the environmental impacts of products, services, and organisations throughout their life cycle. Granting comparability of EF results is a key objective, in particular thanks to the definition of PEF category rules (PEFCRs) and OEF sector rules (OEFSRs). However, as following the experiences during the EF pilot phase (2014-2018), several issues relating to comparability call for more detailed guidance. Building on the existing Recommendation (EU) 2021/2279, we analysed further on: how to compare environmental impacts of organisations; how to compare environmental impacts of intermediate products; and how best define granularity of PEFCRs and OEFSRs. Each of these topics is discussed in a separate chapter of the report
The product oriented environmental Management Systems (POEMS): an experience in the Sicilian agricultural and food context
No full textIl metodo delle funzioni di trasferimento applicato ad un singola zona termica
No full textNel lavoro viene presentato un algoritmo basato sull’utilizzo dell’operatore Z-Trasformata per lo studio della trasmissione del calore all’interno di una singola zona termica costituita da pareti multistrato. L’algoritmo utilizzato è molto versatile e potrebbe venire utilizzato per il calcolo dei coefficienti delle funzioni di trasferimento nella simulazione del comportamento termico di un ambiente in free floating. Noti i coefficienti delle funzioni di trasferimento è possibile simulare in regime dinamico il profilo della temperatura di ciascuna superficie interna e dell’aria interna all’ambiente analizzato. L’algoritmo viene descritto in maniera completa in tutte le sue parti. Per valutare l’affidabilità dell’algoritmo è stato realizzato un confronto fra dati di simulazione ottenuti con esso e quelli ottenuti con il programma di simulazione termica denominato TRNSY
Life Cycle Assessment of repurposed electric vehicle batteries: an adapted method based on modelling energy flows
No full textAfter their first use in electric vehicles (EVs), the residual capacity of traction batteries can make them valuable in other applications. Although reusing EV batteries remains an undeveloped market, second-use applications of EV batteries are in line with circular economy principles and the waste management hierarchy. Although substantial environmental benefits are expected from reusing traction batteries, further efforts are needed in data collection, modelling the life-cycle stages and calculating impact indicators to propose a harmonized and adapted life-cycle assessment (LCA) method.
To properly assess the environmental benefits and drawbacks of using repurposed EV batteries in second-use applications, in this article an adapted LCA is proposed based on the comparison of different scenarios from a life-cycle perspective. The key issues for the selected life-cycle stages and the aspects and parameters to be assessed in the analysis are identified and discussed for each stage, including manufacturing, repurposing, reusing and recycling.
The proposed method is applied to a specific case study concerning the use of repurposed batteries to increase photovoltaic (PV) self-consumption in a given dwelling. Primary data on the dwelling’s energy requirements and PV production were used to properly assess the energy flows in this specific repurposed scenario: both the literature search performed and the results obtained highlighted the relevance of modelling the system energy using real data, combining the characteristics of both the battery and its application. The LCA results confirmed that the environmental benefits of adopting repurposed batteries to increase PV self-consumption in a house occur under specific conditions and that the benefits are more or less considerable depending on the impact category assessed. Higher environmental benefits refer to impact categories dominated by the manufacturing and repurposing stages. Some of the most relevant parameters (e.g. residual capacity and allocation factor) were tested in a sensitivity analysis. The method can be used in other repurposing application cases if parameters for these cases can be determined by experimental tests, modelling or extracting data from the literature
Analysing the contribution of automotive remanufacturing to the circularity of materials
Full text linkRemanufacturing can boost resource efficiency, circularity of raw materials and reduce environmental impacts. Material Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment tools are integrated to assess the contribution of remanufacturing in reducing both consumption and impacts of primary resources for passenger cars. Results show that remanufacturing allows keeping within EU about 150,000 tonnes of materials, which is particularly relevant for Critical Raw Materials, such as rare-earth elements. Also, remanufacturing contributes in decreasing environmental impacts of vehicle's key components, as combustion engines (up to 79% of Global Warming Potential reduction). Further work will address data gaps and it will include current/innovative mobility
Studio finalizzato all’ottimizzazione degli impieghi delle risorse energetico-ambientali nel settore agroalimentare siciliano
No full textUno strumento di supporto alla decisione nel campo dei software per la simulazione termica degli edifici in regime vario
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