Lean and green management along the food life cycle

As industries´ decisions give environmental consequences both upstream and downstream the value chain, there is need of a tool for valuation of decisions and actions. The lean concept is one of those actions that have been used for a long time by several industries, while green lean is a relatively new concept. The question is: How green is lean along the life cycle? In our research project we have developed an actor based LCA methodology for the food industry, and will evaluate the environmental consequences of applying the lean concept along the food life cycle in a case study of pork. This paper presents scenarios on lean farming, lean industry, and lean life cycle, as well as gives ideas for lean collaboration along the value chain

Organising matters for the environment: Environmental studies of housing management and buildings

Buildings give rise to several environmental problems over the whole life cycle. To reduce these, technical measures with focus on energy are commonly used. However, environmental problems are more than energy and cannot be solved with technical measures alone. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between organisation and the environment. The question is how environmental effects of organising can be studied and how organisation and management influence environmental performance. These issues are explored in the field of housing management and life cycle assessment (LCA). Understanding is sought through comparative studies of housing management companies and their buildings, in which qualitative organisational data were collected from interviews, observations and internal documents and quantitative data were collected from internal documents (Papers II and III). A ‘hybrid’ methodology based on the concept of environmental assessment of organising (EAO) has been developed here (Paper I). Research literature on environmental management and indicators are also explored and compared with housing management practice (Paper IV). Furthermore, a life cycle methodology was used for the comparison of passive and conventional building chains including actors and their choices along the chain (Paper V). This thesis has shown that it is possible to study the environmental effects of organising by including humans in the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The way organisation and management influence environmental performance is through the combination of many actions. The concept of ‘action nets’ and the ‘theory of practice’ are found to be especially useful here. It is concluded that organising matters for the environment. A form of organising that pays close attention to the building and its physical flows seems to be important for a better environmental performance. Environmental indicators need to be specific for work processes and physical environmental flows. Passive house buildings are not always better than conventional buildings and that resident’s choice of eco-labelled electricity matters most

Illustrating limitations of energy studies of buildings with LCA and actor analysis

Does passive housing really have better environmental performance than conventional housing? Three passive houses and four conventional houses were compared using a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The comparison also provided an actor analysis for the building supply chain and building inhabitants. Results are presented for two scenarios: 'conventional choices' and 'green choices' by the actors. The comparison confirms that passive houses have lower energy use than conventional houses, but when the environmental impact of energy production is taken into consideration, the outcome is less clear. Conventional houses can be equally good environmentally in terms of global warming, acidification, or radioactive waste as typical passive houses with electrical heating depending on the actors' choices. Actor analysis shows that inhabitants' and material producers' electricity choice are very important, while other choices (e.g. green transport) are less important. The findings highlight the importance of environmentally responsible decisions throughout the whole life cycle and the need for appropriate behaviours and actions, along with implications for improved communication. Les logements passifs ont-ils un rendement environnemental vraiment meilleur que les logements classiques ? Trois maisons passives et quatre maisons classiques ont ete comparees en utilisant une methodologie faisant appel a l'analyse du cycle de vie (ACV). Cette comparaison a egalement fourni une analyse des acteurs concernant la chaine logistique dans le batiment et les habitants des immeubles. Les resultats sont presentes pour deux scenarios, les acteurs operant dans l'un des << choix classiques >> et dans l'autre des << choix verts >>. La comparaison confirme que les maisons passives ont une consommation energetique moindre que les maisons classiques, mais lorsque l'impact environnemental de la production d'energie est pris en compte, le resultat est moins clair. Selon les choix operes par les acteurs, les maisons classiques peuvent etre aussi bonnes en termes de rechauffement climatique, d'acidification ou de dechets radioactifs que les maisons passives types equipees de chauffage electrique. L'analyse des acteurs montre que les choix faits en matiere d'electricite par les habitants et les fabricants de materiaux ont beaucoup d'importance, tandis que les autres choix (par ex. transport vert) sont moins importants. Ces constatations mettent en evidence l'importance de la prise de decisions environnementalement responsables tout au long du cycle de vie, la necessite de comportements et de mesures adaptes, ainsi que les implications qui en decoulent en termes d'amelioration de la communication. Mots cles: analyse des acteurs, evaluation environnementale, logement, comportement des habitants, analyse du cycle de vie (ACV), batiment bas carbone, maison passive

The Usefulness of an Actor’s Perspective in LCA

This paper is an argumentation for adding an actor’s perspective to lifecycle assessment (LCA). The need for this perspective stems from a criticism about the usefulness of LCA interpretation methods comparing the relative contribution of life-cycle phases of a product. Our argumentation is based on four previously published studies providing practical examples of how value chain actors’ influence may be considered in an LCA and the benefit of doing so. Manufacturing sector examples show how one company's influence can be illustrated in results and how it may relate all relevant emissions to its own processes. The food sector study shows how to assess several value chain actors’ individual improvement potential. The final example, taken from building sector, explore how to consider the fact that actors in one part of the value chain can influence other actors to improve

Actor’s behavior matter – organising green product chains.

The industry in general and products are facing some major challenges in the coming years, such as consumer demands and scale of industrial systems, reduction of waste and climate change. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has emerged as a key method for environmental assessment of products, processes and technologies, and all material flows through society. The project includes the development of an Actor Based LCA methodology with focus on actors and their behaviour. Here recent results from a literature study and case studies from the building chain and the food chain are presented. Previous results show that environmental improvements can only be reached by changes of the chain as a whole e.g. changes in storage, transport or waste behaviour. Results also show that relationships between the actors of the life cycle may enable, or hinder, environmental improvement towards green chains as a whole. Future studies in the food industry will include questions on environmental organising of product chains: What is environmentally better - small scale or large scale chains, efficient supply chain or efficient chain as a whole

Passive housing - new roles and responsibilities for the building chain

Does passive housing really have better environmental performance than conventional housing? Three passive houses and four conventional houses were compared using a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The comparison also provided an actor analysis for the building supply chain and building inhabitants. Actor analysis shows that inhabitants’ and material producers’ electricity choice are very important. The introduction of passive house technology shifts responsibilities from building constructors to municipalities and residents, which is not currently communicated. To avoid shifting responsibility within the building chain and to meet future trends, communication needs improvement. The findings highlight the importance of environmentally responsible decisions throughout the whole life cycle and the need for appropriate behaviours and actions, along with implications for improved communication

Energy renovations in Europe – a literature study on drivers/barriers and trends

Energy renovations have been on the agenda since the energy crisis in the 1970s, and different kinds of measures have been introduced to increase the number of energy renovations, e.g. increase the knowledge on insulation and heating systems, introduce renewable technologies as solar power, introduce policies as energy label, introduce subsidies, increase consumer awareness as saving energy and costs or better indoor climate or environmental reasons like climate change. About 40 years after the energy crisis in the 70s, the energy literature is not only about the energy reduction potentials any more. The knowledge is quite good about those potentials. What is not known are the drivers and barriers is especially since the introduction of the energy label: why do homeowners perform energy efficiency measures and why not? Renovating kitchen and bathroom has become quite popular due to the general increase in comfort, but are these comfort issues more popular than energy efficiency measures? The goal of this literature study, performed in 2010, is to give an overview over recent European studies on energy renovations in Europe and their driver/barriers and trends. The specific questions have been: What are the drivers and the barriers of energy renovations in Europe? What are the (energy) renovation trends in Europe?The study on driver/barriers shows that cultural differences between the countries seem small. Interesting is that information and attitude matters most for energy renovation, while regulation and economy least matter. Weak drivers are technical conditions of buildings (except Switzerland), regulation (except the Netherlands and Eastern European countries), and economy (except Ireland). Strong drivers are information and social networks (except Ireland), awareness/attitude/aesthetics (except Ireland). Socio-economic aspects, such as age effects and education and income has no effect goes for all countries. Trends in all countries are to introduce policy measures and energy advice regarding information n and adapted to the homeowners to increase the number of energy measures. The study of renovation trends shows that most popular are comfort renovations, while insulation and heating systems are less performed. Regarding energy renovation measures, the trends are cultural different. While in the UK all measures are popular, Switzerland/Germany/Austria is focusing on insulation and comfort, and France is focusing on insulation, Finland on heating system and NL on comfort.For both part studies it seems that theories based on consumer psychology and consumer sociology matter more than the economic theories based on consumer rationality. Consumers are not acting rational and renovation trends are focusing on aesthetics and comfort

Understanding technical possibilities in organizational practice – housing management in Sweden

Today a variety of energy efficient technologies for residential buildings exist on the market e.g. low energy windows, heat reuse, insulation, zero energy technologies, etc. For water there exist both efficient technologies and alternative water treatment technologies e.g. … It is technically possible to reduce energy use down to more than one third of the average level of the year 2000, but environmental performance on buildings has not been changed since the 1980s (N\ue4ss\ue9n & Holmberg 2003). Managerial tools like EMS has been introduced since the 90s, but technical measures are still lacking. Why are technical measures lacking? Studies about environmental problems are mostly made from a technical-natural science or technical-systems science point of departure, looking for optimal technical or systems solutions. Some work with a social science point of departure do exist, e.g. management studies about the effects of environmental management systems solutions (Ammenberg 2003) or technical-economic studies finding a research paradox (N\ue4ss\ue9n 2005). Knowing about optimal technical solutions or environmental management systems solutions apparently is not enough, given the examples above. How are organising connected to the natural environment?Within the PhD-project the environmental performance of buildings were studied in an organisational context. The project includes comparative case studies of several ‘County governor style’ buildings and studies the change of organisational management practices and buildings environmental performance the over time. Observations on energy and water use show over 30% differences in average data and variation data over a period of 10 years. Differences in average data could be explained by renovation routines e.g. flexible renovation in favour of the building gave environmentally better result than periodical renovation measures. Differences in variation data over time could be explained by operation routines e.g. continuous operational measures gave environmentally better result than emergency operational measures. Analysis regarding operation and renovation indicates that organisational behaviour has an effect on environmental performance of buildings. In order to undertake environmental studies of an organisation a new systems method has been developed including LCA, organisational actions, and time.The research using environmental systems methods to study management practices shows that it is possible to get a better understanding of organisational behaviour connected to the natural environment. Knowing about technical possibilities is not enough. Understanding of practical possibilities in organisations is needed

Passive housing - new roles and responsibilities for the building chain

Does passive housing really have better environmental performance than conventional housing? Three passive houses and four conventional houses were compared using a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The comparison also provided an actor analysis for the building supply chain and building inhabitants. Actor analysis shows that inhabitants’ and material producers’ electricity choice are very important. The introduction of passive house technology shifts responsibilities from building constructors to municipalities and residents, which is not currently communicated. To avoid shifting responsibility within the building chain and to meet future trends, communication needs improvement. The findings highlight the importance of environmentally responsible decisions throughout the whole life cycle and the need for appropriate behaviours and actions, along with implications for improved communication