Water footprint approaches in Life Cycle Assessment : State-of-the-art and a case study of hydroelectric generation in the Høyanger area

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) currently fails to include impacts of freshwater use, and specification of water accounts in terms of geography and quality. Water footprints can be included in LCA to account and assess freshwater use, in combination with traditional methods such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Risk Assessment (RI). A literature review is utilized to present the state-of-the-art for water footprint methods than can be combined with LCA. Based on identified methods, a theoretical framework for LCA of hydroelectric generation including water footprints is presented. Water footprint studies based on global averages have presented high water footprint values. The Høyanger hydropower scheme is used as a case study, assessing the change in water footprint values resulting from an impending upgrading and expansion of the power scheme in the area. This Master thesis calculate the water footprint of electricity produced in the Høyanger power scheme, using two methods. The first method (water footprinting according to Hoekstra) considers water losses through evaporation only. The second method (WF-3 developed by Herath and colleagues) accounts for both water inputs through precipitation and water losses through evaporation. Both methods produced significantly lower results than what have been presented in other water footprint studies of hydroelectric generation, with global average values of 68 and 22 m3/GJ. Employing the first method, weighted average water footprints decreased in value from 1.21 to 1.05 m3/GJ, indicating benign impacts of freshwater use changes as a result of the upgrading and expansion. The second method produced negative values for all studied power plants, indicating that the Høyanger region collects more precipitation than it loses through evaporation. Accounting for water inputs in addition to water outputs provides information of the water stress in the region. To add such information to the water footprints produced utilizing the first method, these were characterized according to a stress water index provided by Pfister and colleagues. The characterized values decreased from 0.013 to 0.012 m3/GJ. LCA can provide accounts for potential impacts of freshwater use. For complete qualitative environmental assessment, LCA should be used in a combination with EIA and RI. The EIA for the upgrading and expansion project was reviewed to add qualitative environmental information to the analysis

Doctor’s og patient’s delay ved diagnostisering, oppfølging og behandling av døvfødte barn? : En studie av veien frem til cochleaimplantat-operasjon.

ABSTRACT In Norway children with severe hearing loss have over the last few years been offered cochlear implants to restore their hearing. This is only done at Rikshospitalet (the national hospital in Oslo), and have so far included about 300 children. The recent years about 50 per year. Ideally the operation should take place before the age of twelve months, but in many cases the children have to wait considerably longer. Our goal was to determine on what level the process is held up. Is it the so called doctor’s delay or patient’s delay? We collected data from charts at Rikshospitalet, and listed all our findings in two groups called selection 1 and 2 depending on the years they got their implants. With this data we made statistical estimates of how long it took before the hearing loss was discovered, when treatment was initiated and when surgery took place. In addition the data included information on social factors, on family and on how the hearing loss was discovered. We also compared the two selections. There were few differences between the two selections, but a few variables showed a statistically significant increase in delay for those operated most recently. Other variables that seemed to influence the process were the number of middle ear infections and the presence of other disabilities in addition to the hearing loss. Our results mainly show that there are many possible delays in the process, and that the need for better guidelines and coordination is significant

Vannfotavtrykkstilnærminger i LCA : State-of-the-art og et case studie av vannkraft produsert i Høyanger

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) currently fails to include impacts of freshwater use, and specification of water accounts in terms of geography and quality. Water footprints can be included in LCA to account and assess freshwater use, in combination with traditional methods such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Risk Assessment (RI). A literature review is utilized to present the state-of-the-art for water footprint methods than can be combined with LCA. Based on identified methods, a theoretical framework for LCA of hydroelectric generation including water footprints is presented. Water footprint studies based on global averages have presented high water footprint values. The Høyanger hydropower scheme is used as a case study, assessing the change in water footprint values resulting from an impending upgrading and expansion of the power scheme in the area. This Master thesis calculate the water footprint of electricity produced in the Høyanger power scheme, using two methods. The first method (water footprinting according to Hoekstra) considers water losses through evaporation only. The second method (WF-3 developed by Herath and colleagues) accounts for both water inputs through precipitation and water losses through evaporation. Both methods produced significantly lower results than what have been presented in other water footprint studies of hydroelectric generation, with global average values of 68 and 22 m3/GJ. Employing the first method, weighted average water footprints decreased in value from 1.21 to 1.05 m3/GJ, indicating benign impacts of freshwater use changes as a result of the upgrading and expansion. The second method produced negative values for all studied power plants, indicating that the Høyanger region collects more precipitation than it loses through evaporation. Accounting for water inputs in addition to water outputs provides information of the water stress in the region. To add such information to the water footprints produced utilizing the first method, these were characterized according to a stress water index provided by Pfister and colleagues. The characterized values decreased from 0.013 to 0.012 m3/GJ. LCA can provide accounts for potential impacts of freshwater use. For complete qualitative environmental assessment, LCA should be used in a combination with EIA and RI. The EIA for the upgrading and expansion project was reviewed to add qualitative environmental information to the analysis

Constructing a Holistic Framework for Mobile Wallet Adoption in Emerging Countries - An Empirical Study with Evidence from Pakistan and Myanmar

The master thesis discusses the adoption of mobile wallets in South East Asian countries by proposing a holistic adoption framework based on recognized academic models. The framework is based on a telecom perspective. The theoretical model is mainly based on a literature study performed by the students during the fall, 2016, as well as additional thesis specific searches. The theoretical framework is first tested against the first case - Easypaisa in Pakistan, which is a relatively mature market. Based on findings from this case, the framework is revised before applied to the second case - Wave Money in Myanmar, a nascent MFS market, to assess the country's mobile wallet adoption potential. The cases are supported with empirical data collected from interviews with key stakeholders from both case countries

Allocation of water consumption in multipurpose reservoirs

acceptedVersio

Allocation of water consumption in multipurpose reservoirs

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources represented a benchmark in the assessment of water consumption from electricity production. The numbers for hydropower ranged from very low to much larger than the other renewable technologies, partly explained by methodological problems. One of the methodological shortcomings identified was the lack of guidance on how to allocate the water consumption rates in multipurpose reservoirs. This paper is, according to the authors’ knowledge, the first attempt to evaluate, test and propose a methodology for the allocation of water consumption from such reservoirs. We tested four different allocation methods in four different cases, all serving three to five functions, including drinking water supply, irrigation, flood control, industrial water, ecological flow and power generation. Based on our case studies we consider volume allocation to be the most robust approach for allocating water consumption between functions in multipurpose reservoirs. The spatial boundaries of the analysis should follow the boundaries of the hydraulic system. We recommend that data should preferably be gathered from one source for all functions, to ensure a consistent calculation approach. We believe the findings are relevant for similar allocation problems, such as allocation of energy investments and green-house gas emissions from multipurpose reservoirs