Browsing by Keyword "Eco-efficiency"
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Item Eco-efficient and highly productive machine tools by means of an holistic eco-design approach(2010) Zulaika, Juan Jose; Dietmair, Anton; Verbeeten, Wilco; Campa, Francisco Javier; De Lacalle, Luis Norberto López; MAQUINASMachinery manufacturers are facing the challenge of designing machine tools that are productive, accurate and reliable and that at the same time consume the least possible amount of material and energy resources. In view of this, this paper presents a multidisciplinary methodology for designing milling machines that achieve a high level of productivity while at the same time ensuring high machining quality and less energy consumption during their use phase. Following this methodology, an eco-productive milling machine has been designed and manufactured which, combining different technologies (light materials, active vibration damping system etc.), has managed to reduce the inertias involved in servo-drives by over 50%, with a corresponding reduction in energy consumption, whereas the productivity of the machine - measured in terms of metal removal rate- has been increased by 100% in such a way that productivity and eco-efficiency have been combined in a single machine: the eco-productive milling machine.Item Environmental assessment of domestic solar hot water systems: a case study in residential and hotel buildings: A case study in residential and hotel buildings(2015-02-01) Zambrana-Vasquez, David; Aranda-Usón, Alfonso; Zabalza-Bribián, Ignacio; Jañez, Alberto; Llera-Sastresa, Eva; Hernández, Patxi; Arrizabalaga, Eneko; PLANIFICACIÓN ENERGÉTICADomestic solar hot water systems (SHWS), which are used to reduce domestic energy use, represent one of the most widely known technologies of solar thermal applications. Taking into account the sizing of these systems during its design phase, it is also important to consider the effects on the environment of their use from a life cycle perspective. An evaluation method based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is used in this paper to analyse the environmental implications of SHWS considering the production, use, maintenance and end-of-life stages. As a case study, 32 different types of SWHS to meet the hot water demand (HWD) of 2 dwellings and 2 hotels, located in the region of Aragón in Spain, are studied. The aim of the case study is to compare the environmental performance of SHWS and to select the best environmentally friendly solution while considering their energy pay-back time (EPBT). From an environmental point of view, comparing the results obtained in all cases studies, e.g., in terms of kg CO2 eq, the use of biomass as fuel for the auxiliary system in each SHWS considered provides the greatest environmental benefit in comparison with the other fuels, usually followed by the use of natural gas. However, in terms of the EPBT, because biomass is the fuel with lowest environmental impact and associated embodied energy, the avoided embodied energy due to the solar contribution in SHWS is the lowest in the biomass case, thereby resulting in a higher value of the EPBT.Item An integrated processmachine approach for designing productive and lightweight milling machines(2011-07) Zulaika, J. J.; Campa, F. J.; Lopez De Lacalle, L. N.; MAQUINASThis paper provides an integrated approach for designing large milling machines, taking both mass reduction of mobile structural components and the maximum material removal rate into account. This approach considers a representative milling operation and a productivity target as a starting point, and then deals with the design of the machine to achieve the targeted productivity with structural components of minimum mass. The procedure is based on modeling the interactions between process and machine by means of a stability model of the milling process in modal coordinates. The model allows the identification of the mechanical design parameters that limit the productivity as well as the threshold values that must be met to ensure the targeted productivity. Those values are reached in an iterative procedure that minimizes the mass of the critical structural components of the machine. This approach has been applied to the re-design of an actual milling machine, on which, once built and adjusted, the machining tests conducted have shown increases above 100% in productivity, consuming at the same time 13% less energy due to mass reduction above 20% in mobile structural components. In this way, an eco-efficient milling machine that performs highly productive machining processes has been designed and built.Item Measuring eco-efficiency in European regions: Evidence from a territorial perspective: Evidence from a territorial perspective(2020-12-10) Bianchi, Marco; Valle, Ikerne del; Tapia, Carlos; Tecnalia Research & Innovation; ECONOMÍA CIRCULAREco-efficiency indicators represent a valuable instrument supporting policy decisions geared at sustainability. However, in order to provide effective guidance, eco-efficiency should be assessed considering the heterogeneous territorial settings, and thus the underlying economic structures that regions exhibit. Starting from the most common definition of eco-efficiency as the ratio of economic output to environmental input, this paper aims to investigate regional eco-efficiency patterns in Europe, paying particular attention to territorial heterogeneity. The study relies on the metafrontier Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to (1) assess the comparative evolution of eco-efficiency in 282 European regions between 2006 and 2014, and (2) estimate the technology and conditional efficiency gaps that regions display considering their dominant territorial features (i.e. urban, intermediate and rural). The results show an overall upward trend in eco-efficiency across European regions recorded between 2006 and 2014. However, there is no evidence that regions are converging equally to similar levels of eco-efficiency. On the contrary, a rather complex EU core-periphery pattern seems to be emerging. Most of the Eastern regions have made significant progress in reducing the technological divide. However, the same cannot be said for their resource management, which has become the main driver of inefficiency. On the other hand, the significant losses of human capital experienced by many Southern intermediate and rural regions seem to be the basis of their widening technological gap. These results suggest that future efforts to improve eco-efficiency should be aimed at encouraging an efficient use of productive factors within each region, going beyond generic urban/rural approaches and therefore implementing place-based policies building on a good understanding of the complex linkages between the physical, social and economic environments within individual regions. To the best of our knowledge, the analysis of regional eco-efficiency performance based on territorial structures represents a major contribution to previous literature in this field.Item Research plan on the development of a holistic eco-design methodology for conceiving eco-efficient and highly productive machine tools(2010) Zulaika, Juan Jose; MAQUINASMachinery manufacturers are facing the challenge of increasing the productivity of their machines while assuring at the same time high levels of accuracy and reliability. This increase in the productivity is being achieved anyway at the expense of increasing also the consumption of material and energy resources. In view of this, this paper presents a methodology for designing machine tools that achieve high levels of productivity while reducing their material content for the production phase, reducing thus also the energy consumption during their use phase. Following this methodology, a complete milling machine has been designed and produced which, combining different technologies (light materials, active damping etc.), has reduced the inertias involved in servo-drives by over 50%, with a corresponding reduction in energy consumption, whereas the productivity of the machine has been increased by 100%, in such a way that productivity and eco-efficiency have been combined in a single machine: the eco-productive milling machine.