Browsing by Keyword "Environmental impact"
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Item Environmental impact evaluation for effective resource management in EAF steelmaking(2017-10) Matino, I.; Colla, V.; Cirilli, F.; Kleimt, B.; Unamuno Iriondo, I.; Tosato, S.; Baragiola, S.; Klung, J. S.; Peña Quintero, B.; De Miranda, U.; PROMETALThe assessment of the environmental impact of steelworks has been intensively discussed in the last decades, especially focusing on CO2 emissions and energy consumptions. Nowadays an increasing attention is paid to the evaluation of the resource efficiency and overall environmental impact; some work groups also focused on the development of various eco-efficiency indicators. ISO Standards are available for the environmental management system (ISO14000) and for GHG emission quantification (ISO14064) together with the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). However, a practical and comprehensive metric to quantify and monitor the different aspects contributing to the overall resource efficiency especially of an electric steelmaking is not yet available. The paper presents first results of the currently running research project entitled "Environmental Impact Evaluation and Effective Management of Resources in the EAF Steelmaking" (EIRES), which receives funding by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS). Within this project several Key Performance Indicators were selected in order to monitor the environmental performance of the whole steelmaking process in terms of energy consumption, water and air emissions, by-products and waste management. A tool was implemented in order to follow the temporal evolution of these KPIs on both real and simulated data, and suitable simulation models have been developed for scenario analyses.Item Innovative pre-fabricated components including different waste construction materials reducing building energy and minimising environmental impacts (InnoWEE)(2019-08-13) Fodor, Loredana; Ducman, Vilma; Ferrarini, Giovanni; Tamburini, Sergio; Tsoutis, Constantinos; Becherini, Francesca; Garrido-Marijuán, Antonio; Mezzasalma, Giulia; Rossi, Leonardo; Lezak, Emil; Bernardi, Adriana; Tecnalia Research & Innovation; EDIFICACIÓN DE ENERGÍA POSITIVAInnoWEE is a four-year project (from 2016 to 2020) financed by the European Community that involves ten partners from different European countries, as Greece, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Poland. The aim is to use the waste materials coming from construction and demolition processes of buildings and include them into a geopolymeric matrix with the purpose of producing prefabricated panels for different applications. Construction and demolition waste (CDW) materials with suitable characteristics have been selected to develop high performance geopolymeric panels for building walls envelopes and radiant panels for indoor walls and ceilings with low environmental impact. Field tests will be carried out in different sites in Europe characterized by different climatic conditions to check the simplicity of the installation procedure and the performance of the panels in terms of energy efficiency and environmental impact.Item Life cycle environmental and cost evaluation of heating and hot water supply in social housing nZEBs(2019-09-05) Hernandez, P; Hernandez, J; Urra, I; Grisaleña, D; PLANIFICACIÓN ENERGÉTICA; SISTEMAS TÉRMICOS EFICIENTESThis paper presents a comparative analysis of different space heating and hot water systems for a social housing project in Santurtzi, Spain. The building, comprising 32 apartment units and currently under construction, has been designed to minimize thermal energy demand, while ensuring comfort and quality of the internal environment for the social housing occupiers. The selection of the heating and hot water energy systems has been carried considering a life cycle perspective both for environmental and economic impacts. Different alternatives have been analysed which compare conventional gas boiler installation, which has been the norm for this type of social housing for the last decades, with various options based on heat pump technology. Life cycle analysis of the environmental effects of electrification of the thermal energy demand through heat pumps show a potential for reducing life cycle CO2 emissions. The economic evaluation done through life cycle costing, comparing investment, maintenance, replacement and operational costs of gas boiler with aerothermal and geothermal heat pump solutions, have shown however that gas heating solutions are still the most competitive economically. Increasing the overall efficiency of those heating and hot water systems that include heat pump technology, while reducing their uncertainty in operation is a key element to ensure competitiveness of heat pumps in the current market.Item Life cycle sustainability assessment of short chain carboxylic acid produced from municipal bio-wastes(2024-04-30) Lizasoain-Arteaga, E.; Sáez-de-Guinoa, A.; Parascanu, M. M.; Isasa, M.; ECONOMÍA CIRCULARBio-based products are a fast-growing market due to increasing consumer consciousness for sustainability. Although this is per se a positive trend, it leads to a higher demand for organic feedstocks which normally comes from primary agricultural sources and can lead to undesired deforestation or other land use changes to farmland. At the same time, Europe is facing another challenge related with the treatment of organic wastes. In this context, the project CAFIPLA developed an integrated process to convert heterogeneous organic materials to building blocks for the bio-based economy. This study performs a life cycle sustainability assessment (life cycle assessment, life cycle costing and social life cycle assessment) of the production of short chain carboxylic acids (SCCA) employing municipal bio-wastes as a feedstock. In addition to a hot-spot identification to detect the main sources of impact, a comparison of the novel technology with the current benchmark is carried out applying a cradle-to-gate approach and using 1 kg of SCCA as a functional unit. Results show the great performance of CAFIPLA in all the environmental categories analysed. Furthermore, the profitability of the plant is also verified, reaching a payback period below 6 years as long as the product is sold above 0.49 €/kg. Finally, the potential social risk associated to the supply chain is also improved with CAFIPLA technology.Item Patterns of territory settlement by Eurasian scops-owls (Otus scops) in altered semi-arid landscapes(2007-05) Martínez, J. A.; Zuberogoitia, I.; Martínez, J. E.; Zabala, J.; Calvo, J. F.; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOWe studied the habitat preferences of Eurasian scops-owls in a semi-arid Mediterranean region undergoing large-scale habitat alteration. Generalized linear models were used to examine patterns of habitat preference at three different spatial scales: core area, home range and landscape, comparing the habitat composition around occupied and unoccupied territories. At the core area scale, owls occupied dry land tree plantations, ephemeral rivers (ramblas) and riverine forests. At the home range and landscape scales, they preferred dry land tree plantations and ramblas, the model stressing the importance of the borders between them. The length of paved roads and the presence of conspecific neighbours were also significant variables in the landscape scale model. During the study period, the population declined by 52.4%. Territory desertion was probably prompted by the increasing use of dry land plantations, ramblas and riverine forests as building land. Environmental impact studies and assessments continue to disregard the potential of agro-landscape elements for regulating hydrological flows and for hosting fauna. The present study adds to a growing number of papers revealing the importance of traditional agro-landscapes in southeastern Spain, despite whose findings, no long-term, spatially explicit measures have been proposed by environmental authorities.