Improved emergy indices for the evaluation of industrial systems incorporating waste management

Emergy analysis is able to account for ecosystems’ contribution to industrial activity. Accordingly, it is an ecologically conscious tool useful for assessing the environmental impact and sustainability of industrial systems. The emergy-based approach requires proper system boundary definitions and uses several standard indices. In this article some perspectives on the deficiencies of three standard emergy indicators - environmental loading ratio (ELR), emergy yield ratio (EYR) and emergy index of sustainability (EIS) - when applied to industrial systems involving waste management are put forward and suggestions for overcoming them given. In addition, in order to account for the impact of waste emissions on the environment, a simple impact amplification factor is proposed for inclusion in the improved emergy indicators. To demonstrate their usefulness and highlight their superiority over standard indices, the improved emergy indicators are used to evaluate the interaction between a commercial polyethylene production process incorporating waste management and its surrounding environment.     

Mapping the Influence of Food Waste in Food Packaging Environmental Performance Assessments

Scrutiny of food packaging environmental impacts has led to a variety of sustainability directives, but has largely focused on the direct impacts of materials. A growing awareness of the impacts of food waste warrants a recalibration of packaging environmental assessment to include the indirect effects due to influences on food waste. In this study, we model 13 food products and their typical packaging formats through a consistent life cycle assessment framework in order to demonstrate the effect of food waste on overall system greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cumulative energy demand (CED). Starting with food waste rate estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we calculate the effect on GHG emissions and CED of a hypothetical 10% decrease in food waste rate. This defines a limit for increases in packaging impacts from innovative packaging solutions that will still lead to net system environmental benefits. The ratio of food production to packaging production environmental impact provides a guide to predicting food waste effects on system performance. Based on a survey of the food LCA literature, this ratio for GHG emissions ranges from 0.06 (wine example) to 780 (beef example). High ratios with foods such as cereals, dairy, seafood, and meats suggest greater opportunity for net impact reductions through packaging‐based food waste reduction innovations. While this study is not intended to provide definitive LCAs for the product/package systems modeled, it does illustrate both the importance of considering food waste when comparing packaging alternatives, and the potential for using packaging to reduce overall system impacts by reducing food waste.     

Direct and indirect impacts of crop–livestock organization on mixed crop–livestock systems sustainability: a model-based study

Crop–livestock production is claimed more sustainable than specialized production systems. However, the presence of controversial studies suggests that there must be conditions of mixing crop and livestock productions to allow for higher sustainable performances. Whereas previous studies focused on the impact of crop–livestock interactions on performances, we posit here that crop–livestock organization is a key determinant of farming system sustainability. Crop–livestock organization refers to the percentage of the agricultural area that is dedicated to each production. Our objective is to investigate if crop–livestock organization has both a direct and an indirect impact on mixed crop–livestock (MC–L) sustainability. In that objective, we build a whole-farm model parametrized on representative French sheep and crop farming systems in plain areas (Vienne, France). This model permits simulating contrasted MC–L systems and their subsequent sustainability through the following indicators of performance: farm income, production, N balance, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (/kg product) and MJ consumption (/kg product). Two MC–L systems were simulated with contrasted crop–livestock organizations (MC₂₀–L₈₀: 20% of crops; MC₈₀–L₂₀: 80% of crops). A first scenario – constraining no crop–livestock interactions in both MC–L systems – permits highlighting that crop–livestock organization has a significant direct impact on performances that implies trade-offs between objectives of sustainability. Indeed, the MC₈₀–L₂₀ system is showing higher performances for farm income (+44%), livestock production (+18%) and crop GHG emissions (−14%) whereas the MC₂₀–L₈₀ system has a better N balance (−53%) and a lower livestock MJ consumption (−9%). A second scenario – allowing for crop–livestock interactions in both MC₂₀–L₈₀ and MC₈₀–L₂₀ systems – stated that crop–livestock organization has a significant indirect impact on performances. Indeed, even if crop–livestock interactions permit improving performances, crop–livestock organization influences the capacity of MC–L systems to benefit from crop–livestock interactions. As a consequence, we observed a decreasing performance trade-off between MC–L systems for farm income (−4%) and crop GHG emissions (−10%) whereas the gap increases for nitrogen balance (+23%), livestock production (+6%) – MJ consumption (+16%) – GHG emissions (+5%) and crop MJ consumption (+5%). However, the indirect impact of crop–livestock organization doesn’t reverse the trend of trade-offs between objectives of sustainability determined by the direct impact of crop–livestock organization. As a conclusion, crop–livestock organization is a key factor that has to be taken into account when studying the sustainability of mixed crop–livestock systems.     

Life cycle environmental and economic impact of a food waste recycling-farming system: a case study of organic vegetable farming in Japan

Purpose

Bio-based recycling systems and agricultural production using recycled materials are often evaluated separately. This study performs an environmental and socio-economic life cycle assessment (LCA) of a food waste treatment and spinach farming system in Japan. The environmental and economic tradeoffs of introducing a recycling system and the net environmental benefit of the substitution of market fertilizer considering operation changes are also examined.

Methods

Three scenarios were developed and compared. In the conventional (CV) scenario, food waste is collected, incinerated, and disposed of in landfill, and the farmer uses market organic fertilizer. The on-site composting (OC) scenario processes food waste using an on-site garbage disposer and transports compost to a nearby spinach farmer. Food waste in the centralized composting (CC) scenario is transported to a centralized composting facility and resultant compost is sent to the farm. Primary data were obtained from field experiments and interviews. Non-greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the field and nitrogen leaching to water systems were simulated using the denitrification–decomposition (DNDC) model.

The environmental LCA targeted climate change, eutrophication, and waste landfill. An input–output analysis estimated socio-economic indicators, namely gross added value and employment inducement effect.

Results and discussion

The scenario with the lowest impact is the CC scenario. Climate change and eutrophication impacts are highest in the OC scenario and waste landfill impacts are most significant in the CV scenario. The weighted impact by LIME2 can be reduced by 47% in the CC scenario and 17% in the OC scenario due to the recycling of food waste instead of dumping in the landfill. The difference in socio-economic indicators between the scenarios was relatively small, although the CV scenario encouraged more employment. The substitution effect of composting, as well as the environmental impact reduction of replacing market organic fertilizer with compost, will result in 28.7% of the avoided impacts in GHG emissions.

Conclusions

Both composting scenarios are feasible from an environmental and socio-economic perspective when compared with conventional organic production, although there is a tradeoff between waste landfill and GHG emissions for the on-site composting system. However, the OC scenario needs to save electricity to improve its environmental competitiveness with the CV scenario. When considering the substitution effect of composting, it is recommended to take into account that agricultural operation also changes.

     

Sustainable development of global supply chains—part 1: sustainability optimization framework

In global industry supply chains, environmental sustainability optimization addresses the overall consumption of resources and energy, the reduction of carbon emissions and generated waste to name a few. In this paper, we propose a holistic sustainability optimization framework for strategic network design of industry supply chains under consideration of economic, social as well as ecologic objectives. The framework is flexible to incorporate multiple sustainability indicators, alternative sustainability optimization strategies as well as a variety of internal and external industry-specific factors which impact the sustainability of the entire industry supply chain in the long-term. The core of the framework is an end-to-end closed-loop value chain model consisting of process, transport and product-in-use modules. For the first time, the product-in-use impact (“use” vs. “make”) is integrated in one network design approach. In addition, the model fully closes the loop from sourcing of raw materials via manufacturing towards reverse value chain steps such as disposal and recycling. Finally, we propose the minimize-time-to-sustainability approach as new optimization strategy for long-term network design problems focusing on minimizing the time, industry supply chain structures need to transform into sustainability steady states for all defined sustainability indicators such as CO₂e emissions, costs or social indicators based on defined target values. In part 2 of this paper the application of the optimization framework to the European automotive industry is shown.     

The production‐ecological sustainability of cassava,sugarcane and sweet sorghum cultivation for bioethanol in Mozambique

We present an approach for providing quantitative insight into the production‐ecological sustainability of biofuel feedstock production systems. The approach is based on a simple crop‐soil model and was used for assessing feedstock from current and improved production systems of cassava for bioethanol. Assessments were performed for a study area in Mozambique, a country considered promising for biomass production. Our focus is on the potential role of smallholders in the production of feedstock for biofuels. We take cassava as the crop for this purpose and compare it with feedstock production on plantations using sugarcane, sweet sorghum and cassava as benchmarks. Production‐ecological sustainability was defined by seven indicators related to resource‐use efficiency, soil quality, net energy production and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Results indicate that of the assessed systems, sugarcane performed better than cassava, although it requires substantial water for irrigation. Targeted use of nutrient inputs improved sustainability of smallholder cassava. Cassava production systems on more fertile soils were more sustainable than those on less fertile soils; the latter required more external inputs for achieving the same output, affecting most indicators negatively and reducing the feasibility for smallholders. Cassava and sweet sorghum performed similarly. Cassava production requires much more labour per hectare than production of sugarcane or sweet sorghum. Production of bioethanol feedstock on cultivated lands was more sustainable and had potential for carbon sequestration, avoiding GHG emissions from clearing natural vegetation if new land is opened.     

Sustainability of Nile tilapia net-cage culture in a reservoir in a semi-arid region

Among the tools used to measure sustainability in aquaculture, sets of indicators allow a holistic view of a system in its social, environmental, and economic dimensions. Approaches that align indicators with models such as the Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework can improve understanding of this sustainability. This study evaluated the sustainability of cage production systems for Nile tilapia in the Santa Cruz Reservoir, to determine whether a set of indicators used with the DPSIR conceptual model was effective to study the sustainability of the system. The 49 indicators used were calculated from information obtained from questionnaires and from monitoring the production system. Sustainability was also modeled and compared with hypothetical scenarios, with different fish stocking densities. The results indicated that the production system is economically feasible, generating profit and distributing income. However, the income generated benefits few people and is not fixed in the community. Environmentally speaking, the system is highly dependent on inputs, especially the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, and energy, as well as increasing sedimentation of nutrients in the reservoir. In the social dimension, the venture employs few workers. The modeling showed that the system is potentially sustainable, and that changes in stocking density decreased this sustainability. In summary, the system showed many sustainable features, whereas some others need to be modified to improve the general sustainability.     

A consequential approach to life cycle sustainability assessment with an agent-based model to determine the potential contribution of chemical recycling to UN Sustainable Development Goals

Chemical recycling (CR) could support a circular approach for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment. In promoting the recirculation of recyclable carbon-containing waste as secondary feedstock for chemical production, it could contribute to resource conservation, emissions reduction, and supply security. To evaluate CR's contribution to the transition from a linear to a circular carbon economy—and correspondingly to the achievement of environmental, economic, and social sustainability as indicated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)—this study builds on extant literature of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) to investigate consequential environmental, economic, and social CR impacts. Specifically, an integrated approach whereby process-based life cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and social indicators are linked in the framework of an agent-based model is developed to investigate sustainability consequences of CR via gasification of residual MSW in Germany. Results suggest that CR contributes to reducing climate change and to addressing terrestrial acidification and fossil resource scarcity. However, its deployment will be associated with significant system costs. Hence, to promote CR implementation, measures such as obliging direct waste incineration to trade CO₂ certificates—provided that certificate prices increase sharply in the future—as well as implementing a recycling rate are found to be necessary to gap economic disadvantages. This study not only contributes to extending life cycle approaches for LCSA methodologically, it furthermore provides valuable insights into temporal and spatial interactions in waste management systems to inform science, industry, and politics about the sustainability impacts of CR on the achievement of the UN-SDGs. This article met the requirements for a gold-gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges .      

Emergy evaluations of three aquaculture systems on wetlands surrounding the Pearl River Estuary,China

Emergy and economic analysis, accompanied by sensitivity analysis, were used to evaluate the ecological economic characteristics of three fish aquaculture systems on wetlands surrounding the Pearl River Estuary in China. The sustainability of these systems was compared to two aquaculture systems and two wetland systems, to provide reference conditions for the best use of limited wetland areas. We found that the three systems studied had similar emergy characteristics, despite their very different economic characteristics. Counter intuitively, the high economic input and output mode did not have higher environmental impact or lower sustainability compared with low economic input and output mode. Apparently, the sustainability of an intensive aquaculture system is determined mainly by how many natural renewable resources are exploited. The large differences in economic benefit and environmental impacts between the mangrove reserve and the aquaculture systems demonstrated the important role of nature reserves on preserving the sustainability of an estuary. Transformity (TR) and Emergy Yield Ratio (EYR) are both indicators of system efficiency, but from different points of view, and they produced opposite results in assessing the efficiency of the same system in this study. The ratio of EYR to TR might be used in addition to the EYR and transformity as a discreet perspective on overall system production efficiency.     

Life cycle assessment of municipal waste water systems

Life Cycle Assessment was applied to municipal planning in a study of waste water systems in Bergsjön, a Göteborg suburb, and Hamburgsund, a coastal village. Existing waste water treatment consists of mechanical, biological and chemical treatment. The heat in the waste water from Bergsjön is recovered for the district heating system. One alternative studied encompassed pretreatment, anaerobic digestion or drying of the solid fraction and treatment of the liquid fraction in sand filter beds. In another alternative, urine, faeces and grey water would separately be conducted out of the buildings. The urine would be used as fertilizer, whereas faeces would be digested or dried, before used in agriculture. The grey water would be treated in filter beds. Changes in the waste water system would affect surrounding technical systems (drinking water production, district heating and fertilizer production). This was approached through system enlargement. For Hamburgsund, both alternatives showed lower environmental impact than the existing system, and the urine separation system the lowest. Bergsjön results were more difficult to interpret. Energy consumption was lowest for the existing system, whereas air emissions were lower for the alternatives. Water emissions increased for some parameters and decreased for others. Phosphorous recovery was high for all three alternatives, whereas there was virtually no nitrogen recovery until urine separation was introduced.     

Net Zero Fort Carson: Integrating Energy,Water, and Waste Strategies to Lower the Environmental Impact of a Military Base

Military bases resemble small cities and face similar sustainability challenges. As pilot studies in the U.S. Army Net Zero program, 17 locations are moving to 100% renewable energy, zero depletion of water resources, and/or zero waste to landfill by 2020. Some bases target net zero in a single area, such as water, whereas two bases, including Fort Carson, Colorado, target net zero in all three areas. We investigated sustainability strategies that appear when multiple areas (energy, water, and waste) are integrated. A system dynamics model is used to simulate urban metabolism through Fort Carson's energy, water, and waste systems. Integrated scenarios reduce environmental impact up to 46% from the 2010 baseline, whereas single‐dimension scenarios (energy‐only, water‐only, and waste‐only) reduce impact, at most, 20%. Energy conserving technologies offer mutual gains, reducing annual energy use 18% and water use 15%. Renewable energy sources present trade‐offs: Concentrating solar power could supply 11% of energy demand, but increase water demand 2%. Waste to energy could supply 40% of energy demand and reduce waste to landfill >80%, but increase water demand between 1% and 22% depending on cooling system and waste tonnage. Outcomes depend on how the Fort Carson system is defined, because some components represent multiple net zero areas (food represents waste and energy), and some actions require embodied resources (energy generation potentially requires water and off‐base feedstock). We suggest that integrating multiple net zero goals can lead to lower environmental impact for military bases.     

Application of LCSA to used cooking oil waste management

Purpose

Used cooking oil (UCO) is a domestic waste generated as the result of cooking and frying food with vegetable oil. The purpose of this study is to compare the sustainability of three domestic UCO collection systems: through schools (SCH), door-to-door (DTD), and through urban collection centres (UCC), to determine which systems should be promoted for the collection of UCO in cities in Mediterranean countries.

Methods

The present paper uses the recent life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) methodology. LCSA is the combination of life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle costing, and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA).

Results and discussion

Of the three UCO collection systems compared, the results show that UCC presents the best values for sustainability assessment, followed by DTD and finally SCH system, although there are no substantial differences between DTD and SCH. UCC has the best environmental and economic performance but not for social component. DTD and SCH present suitable values for social performance but not for the environmental and economic components.

Conclusions

The environmental component improves when the collection points are near to citizens’ homes. Depending on the vehicle used in the collection process, the management costs and efficiency can improve. UCO collection systems that carry out different kind of waste (such as UCC) are more sustainable than those that collect only one type of waste. Regarding the methodology used in this paper, the sustainability assessment proposed is suitable for use in decision making to analyse processes, products or services, even so in social assessment an approach is needed to quantify the indicators. Defining units for sustainability quantification is a difficult task because not all social indicators are quantifiable and comparable; some need to be adapted, raising the subjectivity of the analysis. Research into S-LCA and LCSA is recent; more research is needed in order to improve the methodology.     

Animal Board Invited Review: Comparing conventional and organic livestock production systems on different aspects of sustainability

To sustainably contribute to food security of a growing and richer world population, livestock production systems are challenged to increase production levels while reducing environmental impact, being economically viable, and socially responsible. Knowledge about the sustainability performance of current livestock production systems may help to formulate strategies for future systems. Our study provides a systematic overview of differences between conventional and organic livestock production systems on a broad range of sustainability aspects and animal species available in peer-reviewed literature. Systems were compared on economy, productivity, environmental impact, animal welfare and public health. The review was limited to dairy cattle, beef cattle, pigs, broilers and laying hens, and to Europe, North America and New Zealand. Results per indicators are presented as in the articles without performing additional calculations. Out of 4171 initial search hits, 179 articles were analysed. Studies varied widely in indicators, research design, sample size and location and context. Quite some studies used small samples. No study analysed all aspects of sustainability simultaneously. Conventional systems had lower labour requirements per unit product, lower income risk per animal, higher production per animal per time unit, higher reproduction numbers, lower feed conversion ratio, lower land use, generally lower acidification and eutrophication potential per unit product, equal or better udder health for cows and equal or lower microbiological contamination. Organic systems had higher income per animal or full time employee, lower impact on biodiversity, lower eutrophication and acidification potential per unit land, equal or lower likelihood of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and higher beneficial fatty acid levels in cow milk. For most sustainability aspects, sometimes conventional and sometimes organic systems performed better, except for productivity, which was consistently higher in conventional systems. For many aspects and animal species, more data are needed to conclude on a difference between organic and conventional livestock production systems.     

An integrative modeling framework to evaluate the productivity and sustainability of biofuel crop production systems

The potential expansion of biofuel production raises food, energy, and environmental challenges that require careful assessment of the impact of biofuel production on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil erosion, nutrient loading, and water quality. In this study, we describe a spatially explicit integrative modeling framework (SEIMF) to understand and quantify the environmental impacts of different biomass cropping systems. This SEIMF consists of three major components: (1) a geographic information system (GIS)‐based data analysis system to define spatial modeling units with resolution of 56 m to address spatial variability, (2) the biophysical and biogeochemical model Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) applied in a spatially‐explicit way to predict biomass yield, GHG emissions, and other environmental impacts of different biofuel crops production systems, and (3) an evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm for exploring the trade‐offs between biofuel energy production and unintended ecosystem‐service responses. Simple examples illustrate the major functions of the SEIMF when applied to a nine‐county Regional Intensive Modeling Area (RIMA) in SW Michigan to (1) simulate biofuel crop production, (2) compare impacts of management practices and local ecosystem settings, and (3) optimize the spatial configuration of different biofuel production systems by balancing energy production and other ecosystem‐service variables. Potential applications of the SEIMF to support life cycle analysis and provide information on biodiversity evaluation and marginal‐land identification are also discussed. The SEIMF developed in this study is expected to provide a useful tool for scientists and decision makers to understand sustainability issues associated with the production of biofuels at local, regional, and national scales.     

Integrated municipal waste management systems: An indicator to assess their environmental and economic sustainability

Tools based on Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) are routinely used to assess the environmental and economic performance of integrated municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to quantify the environmental impacts, whereas Life Cycle Costing (LCC) allows financial and economic assessments. These tools require specific experience and knowledge, and a large amount of data.The aim of this project is the definition of an indicator for the assessment of the environmental and economic sustainability of integrated MSW management systems. The challenge is to define a simple but comprehensive indicator that may be calculated also by local administrators and managers of the waste system and not only by scientists or LCT experts.The proposed indicator is a composite one, constituted by three individual indicators: two of them assess the environmental sustainability of the system by quantifying the achieved material and energy recovery levels, while the third one quantifies the costs. The composite indicator allows to compare different integrated MSW management systems in an objective way, and to monitor the performance of a system over time.The calculation of the three individual indicators has been tested on the integrated MSW management systems of the Lombardia Region (Italy) as well as on four of its provinces (Milano, Bergamo, Pavia, and Mantova).     

Sustainable goat production—Some global perspectives

The multi-dimensional nature of ‘sustainability’ including survival, resilience and efficiency is described as are the environmental, economic and social factors that underpin sustainability. Some of the current global trends and forces of change that impinge on goat production in the 21st century are also considered. The characteristics of some of the main goat systems and the people who keep them are described and the impact of some global trends (climate change, rising prices of food and fuel, environmental degradation, genetic erosion, dietary and lifestyle changes, social inequality and global insecurity) on the sustainability of goat production are considered. A ‘sustainability scorecard’ is developed as a tool to assess the ability of goat production systems to survive current trends and future shocks. Some case studies are presented from Africa, Afghanistan and the UK, including the pastoral systems of East Africa, emerging smallholder dairy systems in Africa, cashmere goat production in Afghanistan and a highly intensive niche dairy enterprise in the UK. The sustainability scorecard is applied to assess each system. Finally, conclusions are drawn about how to make goat systems more sustainable and resilient to the challenges they currently face and how goat keepers need to constantly adapt to changing circumstances in order to survive.     

Evaluation and Allocation of Greenhouse Gas Reductions in Industrial Symbiosis

Industrial symbiosis (IS) exchanges have been recognized to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, though methods for quantification of GHG emissions in IS exchanges are varied, and no standardized methods are available. This article proposes a practical approach to quantify total and allocated GHG emissions from IS exchanges by integrating the GHG protocol and life cycle assessment. The proposed method expands the system boundaries to include all IS companies, and the functional flow is set to be the sum of the main products. The total impact of a company is allocated to the main product. Three by‐product impact allocation methods of cutoff, avoidance, and 50/50 are proposed, and the total and distributed impacts of the IS systems in an industrial park are theoretically derived. The proposed method was tested to quantify GHG reduction in a real IS exchange developed between Korea Zinc (a zinc smelter) and Hankook Paper (a paper mill company) in the Ulsan Eco‐Industrial Park initiative. The total reduction of GHG emissions in this IS exchange, 60,522 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, was the same in the GHG protocol, whereas GHG distribution between two companies depended on the allocation method. Given that the reduction of GHG emissions from IS exchanges is the product of the collaboration of giving companies and receiving companies, the 50/50 allocation method is best from an equivalent‐responsibility and benefit‐sharing perspective. However, this study suggests a more practical implementation approach based on a flexible and negotiable method of allocating the total GHG reduction between stakeholders.     

Environmental hotspots of lactic acid production systems

Using selected bio‐based feedstocks as alternative to fossil resources for producing biochemicals and derived materials is increasingly considered an important goal of a viable bioeconomy worldwide. However, to ensure that using bio‐based feedstocks is aligned with the global sustainability agenda, impacts along the entire life cycle of biochemical production systems need to be evaluated. This will help to identify those processes and technologies, which should be targeted for optimizing overall environmental sustainability performance. To address this need, we quantify environmental impacts of biochemical production using distinct bio‐based feedstocks, and discuss the potential for reducing impact hotspots via process optimization. Lactic acid (LA) was used as an example biochemical derived from corn, corn stover, and macroalgae (Laminaria sp.) as feedstocks of different technological maturity. We used environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), a standardized methodology, considering the full life cycle of the analyzed biochemical production systems and a broad range of environmental impact indicators. Across production systems, feedstock production and biorefinery processes dominate life cycle impact profiles, with choice in energy mix and biomass processing as main influencing aspects. Results show that uncertainty decreases with increasing technological maturity. When using Laminaria sp. (least mature among selected feedstocks), impacts are mainly driven by energy utilities (up to 86%) due to biomass drying. This suggests to focus on optimizing or avoiding this process for significantly increasing environmental sustainability of Laminaria sp.‐based LA production. Our results demonstrate that applying LCA is useful for identifying environmental impact hotspots at an earlier stage of technological development across biochemical production systems. With that, our approach contributes to improving the environmental sustainability of future biochemical production as part of moving toward a viable bioeconomy worldwide.     

Sustainable development of global supply chains—part 2: investigation of the European automotive industry

In global industry supply chains, environmental sustainability optimization addresses the overall consumption of resources and energy, the reduction of carbon emissions and generated waste to name a few. In the second part of this paper, we apply the sustainability optimization framework developed in part 1 to the European automotive industry supply chain. Numerical experiments based on empirical industry data show the impact of optimization strategies on overall costs and emissions in the industry and the possible long-term development of the industry supply chain including the relocation of production capacities, the choice of transportation modes and the potential change towards lower emission products such as electric vehicles. In addition we demonstrate how the novel optimization strategy of minimizing the time-to-sustainability is applied and how it creates transparency of the feasibility of different sustainability targets, e.g. reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the minimum time is determined the industry would need to achieve the pre-defined targets. Related optimization results create new insights and provide decision support for policymakers and industry in developing sustainability strategies and specific targets.     

Economic and environmental feasibility of beef production in different feed management systems in the Pampa biome,southern Brazil

The economic and environmental sustainability of beef cattle from pasture use and preservation in specific biomes is still not well evaluated. In this context, the study of the feasibility of beef production in the Pampa biome stands out because of its relevance in southern Brazil. Thus, this paper aims not only to know the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in different feeding management systems of beef cattle, but also to evaluate the economic and environmental feasibility of that production. Seven typical production systems in the region were considered, and it was aimed to determine which one would be the most viable in the environmental and economic perspective. To achieve this aim, the paper was developed in two stages: the first considers greenhouse gases emissions calculation in all systems and; the second uses some investment analysis tools, such as the net present value (NPV), the internal rate of return (IRR) and the annualized profitability index (API). According to the results obtained from system production VII it is possible to optimize low greenhouse gases emission of beef production with a significant economic return, under certain feed conditions. Furthermore, the results verified from system production II it is possible to obtain beef production increases without the need of new livestock areas, and contribute to the proper use and preservation of the Pampa biome.