310 research outputs found
Tranformative pathways for healthy and low-carbon urban metabolisms in European Cities
No full text0Khan, A. Z. Wouter Achten, Catherine Bouland in collaboration with the consortium members (2015, April). Tranformative pathways for healthy and low-carbon urban metabolisms in European Cities, H2020-SC5-04-2015, RIA stage-1 proposal, 15 p.iiTSEinfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe
Tranformative pathways for healthy and low-carbon European Cities by 2050
No full text0Khan, A. Z. Wouter Achten, Catherine Bouland in collaboration with the consortium members (2015, September). TRANCITIES-2050: Tranformative pathways for healthy and low-carbon European Cities by 2050, H2020-SC5-04-2015, RIA stage-2 final proposal, 209 p.iiTSEinfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe
Comparative life cycle assessment and life cycle costing of lodging in the Himalaya
No full textThe main aim of the study is to assess the environmental and economic impacts of the lodging sector located in the Himalayan region of Nepal, from a life cycle perspective. The assessment should support decision making in technology and material selection for minimal environmental and economic burden in future construction projects.
The study consists of the life cycle assessment and life cycle costing of lodging in three building types: traditional, semi-modern and modern. The life cycle stages under analysis include raw material acquisition, manufacturing, construction, use, maintenance and material replacement. The study includes a sensitivity analysis focusing on the lifespan of buildings, occupancy rate and discount and inflation rates. The functional unit was formulated as the ‘Lodging of one additional guest per night’, and the time horizon is 50 years of building lifespan. Both primary and secondary data were used in the life cycle inventory.
The modern building has the highest global warming potential (kg CO2-eq) as well as higher costs over 50 years of building lifespan. The results show that the use stage is responsible for the largest share of environmental impacts and costs, which are related to energy use for different household activities. The use of commercial materials in the modern building, which have to be transported mostly from the capital in the buildings, makes the higher GWP in the construction and replacement stages. Furthermore, a breakdown of the building components shows that the roof and wall of the building are the largest contributors to the production-related environmental impact.
The findings suggest that the main improvement opportunities in the lodging sector lie in the reduction of impacts on the use stage and in the choice of materials for wall and roof
Use of inadequate data and methodological errors lead to a dramatic overestimation of the water footprint of Jatropha curcas
No full textIn their recent article, Gerbens-Leenes et al. (1) calculated the water footprint (WF, the amount of water required to produce 1 GJ of energy) of several bioenergy crops. One of the most remarkable findings of this study was the very high water footprint of this species, which has serious management consequences. 

However, these results are in apparent contrast with recent findings on this species. We present evidence that several errors were made by the authors when calculating the water footprint of jatropha, which has lead to a dramatic overestimation. These errors include weaknesses concerning the data used for the calculation of the water footprint, as well as flaws in the calculation method, as we demonstrate in the letter. Based on peer-reviewed data, we furthermore provide a more correct, still rough, first estimate for the water footprint of this species, which would place it amongst the more water efficient bioenergy crops. 


Transitioning to a circular economy
No full textWe are living on a finite planet. Humankind is overstepping planetary boundaries, however. In 2021, worldwide consumption has exceeded the yearly bio-capacity of the Earth (what we call the overshoot day) on the 29th of July. For industrialised countries, the situation is far worse: In 2022, Belgium reached that overshoot day on the 26th of March. In the face of these urgent challenges of sustainable resource use, there is wide agreement on the need for a transition, a fundamental societal shift, towards, amongst others, a circular economy (CE), the focus of this book.
The book speaks deliberately of transitioning. This marks our focus on transition processes and activities. Discussions of ‘the transition’ easily get stuck in abstract visions, remote future goals and ideological statements about the desired world of tomorrow. By contrast, much more attention needs to be paid to concrete transformation processes that could lead towards these projected futures. Transition how? Where to? By whom?
We highlight that companies are key actors in CE transitioning. This edited volume presents key outcomes from the “Transitioning Belgian companies into circularity” research chair, established by Belgian Employers’ Federation FEB/VBO. Whilst focusing on the role of companies, we show how the private sector cannot bring about such societal transformations single-handedly. We consider companies
as embedded transition agents, i.e. as actors that operate as parts of broader business ecosystems.
The book results from collaborative work between researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Containing contributions by Jean Mansuy, Giulia C. Verga, Bonno Pel, Maarten Messagie, Philippe Lebeau, Wouter Achten, Ahmed Z. Khan, Cathy Macharis, Ela Callorda Fossati and Tom Bauler, it gathers expertise in sustainable urbanism, transition governance,
the redesign of systems, lifecycle analysis, and business model innovation
Transitioning to a circular economy
No full textWe are living on a finite planet. Humankind is overstepping planetary boundaries, however. In 2021, worldwide consumption has exceeded the yearly bio-capacity of the Earth (what we call the overshoot day) on the 29th of July. For industrialised countries, the situation is far worse: In 2022, Belgium reached that overshoot day on the 26th of March. In the face of these urgent challenges of sustainable resource use, there is wide agreement on the need for a transition, a fundamental societal shift, towards, amongst others, a circular economy (CE), the focus of this book.
The book speaks deliberately of transitioning. This marks our focus on transition processes and activities. Discussions of ‘the transition’ easily get stuck in abstract visions, remote future goals and ideological statements about the desired world of tomorrow. By contrast, much more attention needs to be paid to concrete transformation processes that could lead towards these projected futures. Transition how? Where to? By whom?
We highlight that companies are key actors in CE transitioning. This edited volume presents key outcomes from the “Transitioning Belgian companies into circularity” research chair, established by Belgian Employers’ Federation FEB/VBO. Whilst focusing on the role of companies, we show how the private sector cannot bring about such societal transformations single-handedly. We consider companies
as embedded transition agents, i.e. as actors that operate as parts of broader business ecosystems.
The book results from collaborative work between researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Containing contributions by Jean Mansuy, Giulia C. Verga, Bonno Pel, Maarten Messagie, Philippe Lebeau, Wouter Achten, Ahmed Z. Khan, Cathy Macharis, Ela Callorda Fossati and Tom Bauler, it gathers expertise in sustainable urbanism, transition governance,
the redesign of systems, lifecycle analysis, and business model innovation
Le vitrage du WTC est-il une option matérielle durable pour un projet de serre de tomates à Bruxelles?
No full textGreen spaces and flat roof surfaces in Brussels carry an important potential of development for urban agriculture and appear as a promising solution to take a step towards food self-sufficiency. On the other hand, Brussels also accumulates an important building material stock and rejects a large quantity of construction and demolition waste. A major reconfiguration of World Trade Center’s (WTC) towers 1 and 2 is currently under way in the Brussels North district, casting aside about 14 000m² of identical bronze-tinted double-glazed windows. Circular actors declared that no reuse option other than reusing them in urban greenhouses projects had been found. This Master’s thesis aims to verify whether reusing WTC glazing into a heated urban tomato greenhouse project is a more sustainable option than investing in a new horticultural glazing. Knowing that the most important part of the environmental impacts of a heated tomato greenhouse is its use phase, can reusing materials make a difference in the outcome? We used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to compare the environmental impacts of three glazing options applied to a prototype. The three scenarios chosen are: reusing the double glazing “as it is” (WTC double scenario), reusing only the clear glass pane of WTC glazing (WTC simple scenario), and using brand new horticultural glazing (professional scenario). We chose the functional unit “the thermal and luminous atmosphere for producing one ton of tomatoes in an 18,7m² glass greenhouse heated at a temperature of minimum 18°C all year long in Brussels climate”. It turns out that the tomato production under a WTC double glazing greenhouse has higher environmental impacts than the two other options. Indeed, it is more insulating but also causes a poor yield and requires a heavier structure. On the other hand, reusing the clear side of WTC glazing has a lower environmental impact than the professional glazing scenario.
Some improvement levers of our prototype efficiency suggest that a non-tinted double glazing might be more appropriate for a greenhouse project than WTC glazing. This leads us to question the absence of data concerning the state of Brussels glazing stock, that ends up in landfills, or in the best case scenario to recycling. It could be reused instead, but a good knowledge of Brussel’s global situation is essential in order to make informed decisions that will make a difference in connecting different sectors and heading to a general transition towards circular and autonomous cities.12. Responsible consumption and productio
The Warwick Hip Trauma Evaluation – an abridged protocol for the WHiTE Study : a multiple embedded randomised controlled trial cohort study
No full textFractures of the proximal femur are one of the greatest challenges facing the medical community, constituting a heavy socioeconomic burden worldwide. The National Hip Fracture Audit currently provides a framework for service evaluation. This evaluation is based upon the assessment of process rather than assessment of patient-centred outcome and therefore it fails to provide meaningful data regarding the clinical effectiveness of treatments. This study aims to capture data from the cohort of patients who present with a fracture of the proximal femur at a single United Kingdom Major Trauma Centre. Patient-centred outcomes will be recorded and provide a baseline cohort within which to test the clinical effectiveness of experimental interventions
Sustainability and land use impact of using forests as bioenergy resource
No full textiiTSEinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
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